This section includes the following topics:
The Dashboard tab provides an overview of Precise components. It displays information that allows the Precise administrator to determine (at a single glance) the health of his installations. This tab analyzes and reports on your system’s current Precise status.
The Dashboard tab indicates the following situations:
The Dashboard tab is divided into two areas: the Category Details table (left pane) and the Main area (right pane). Each area can include different control elements, such as tabs and view controls, and displays information in various formats, such as tables.
The Category Details table area lists all the components, such as: Agents, FocalPoints, and Licenses, that are monitored by the Precise main FocalPoint, grouped by category.
The Main area provides information regarding the category selected in the Category Details area. Once a certain component is selected in the Category Details table, the upper portion of the Main area displays details (a list of the entities) for the selected category. Once a particular entity is selected in the upper portion of the Main area, the lower portion of the Main area displays additional relevant details for the entity. This information will help the user pinpoint a problem.
In the Dashboard tab, above the Category Details area, is the view controls bar. This bar includes:
The Category Details table displays all the components monitored by the Precise main FocalPoint, grouped into categories. The categories are displayed in the table by their error severity level, which is defined by the component in each category with the highest error severity level.
You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
The Main area (right pane) will display tables based on the selection made previously on the Category Details table. The following table shows the information displayed in the Category Details table.
Table 3-1 Category Details table
Header | Description |
---|---|
Status | Indicates the highest severity error (if any) encountered by one of the category’s components, as follows: Red. Indicates that at least one of the category’s components encountered a high severity error. Orange. Indicates that at least one of the category’s components encountered a medium severity error. Yellow. Indicates that at least one of the category’s components encountered a low severity error. Green. Indicates that none of the category’s components encountered errors. Indicates components configured to experience downtime in the defined time frame. Errors for this component are ignored. Indicates problematic components that have been acknowledged and are currently being handled. These components, and the errors resulting from them, are excluded from their category’s total and are grouped together in this category. For more information, see Defining problematic components as acknowledged. |
Category | Indicates a group per technology, such as:
|
Total components | Indicates the total number of components in the selected category. |
Errors | The color-coded stacked bar indicates the number of underlying components that have an error. Only red (high) and orange (medium) severity errors are shown. Click on the icon on the header to switch between the following display methods:
|
The Main area displays different information depending upon which category is selected in the Category Details table. Clicking on the hyperlink for specific data items launches, in-context, the tab from which the data was derived.
The fish-eye displays text for the purpose of helping the user to understand and focus onto problems.
After selecting a category (Agents, FocalPoints, Warehouse processes, Licenses, Action items, or Acknowledged Items) in the Category Details table, the Detailed Description fish-eye displays text relevant to the selected category. For example: if Agents or Focalpoints are selected in the Category Details table, the Detailed Description fish-eye displays a detailed description of the current status for the selected Agents or FocalPoints. Recommendations to resolve the problem are also given.
Handling a problematic component and solving its underlying issues might take time, and continue over into additional time frames. By default, problematic components continue to produce error reports until the underlying issue is resolved. To avoid excess error reports stemming from the same problematic component, you can acknowledge the component as problematic and currently being handled. Components can be defined as acknowledged for a defined period of time or until specified differently.
While a component is defined as acknowledged, it doesn’t appear as part of its original category, but rather as part of a general “Acknowledged Items” category. Errors related to this item are therefore not included as part of their category’s total errors.
To define a component as acknowledged
To cancel a component’s definition as acknowledged
Either the FocalPoints category or the Agents category may be displayed. The FocalPoints category lists all of the Precise FocalPoints and the Agents category lists all of the Agents and the status for each, in the selected category. Agents whose status is stopped will be reported as problematic. (This option can be controlled from the Admin Dashboard settings).
You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See Managing agents.
The following table shows the information displayed in the FocalPoints or Agents table.
Table 3-2 FocalPoints or Agents table headings
Header | Description |
---|---|
Status | Indicates the highest severity error (if any) encountered by the component, as follows: Red. Indicates that the component encountered a high severity error. Orange. Indicates that the component encountered a medium severity error. Yellow. Indicates that the component encountered a low severity error. Green. Indicates that no component encountered errors. Indicates components configured to experience downtime in the defined time frame. Errors for this component are ignored. |
Node | Name of the node. |
Server | Name of the server on which the FocalPoint or Agent is running. |
Agent | Name of the FocalPoint or Agent. |
Description | A short description of the current status for the selected FocalPoint or Agent. |
Criticality | Displays the related instance(s) criticality setting. |
The Events table lists all the Precise events for the selected FocalPoint or Agent. Each row corresponds to an event. You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
The following table shows the information displayed in the Events table.
Table 3-3 Events table headings
Header | Description |
---|---|
Level | Indicates severity:
|
Date | Displays the date and time the event occurred. |
Message | A short description of the current status. |
ID | The ID (identification number) for the specific event. |
The Warehouse processes table lists all warehouse processes in the selected category and the status for each. Warehouse Load processes that have stopped loading data will be reported as problematic (This option can be controlled from the Admin Dashboard settings).
You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
The following table shows the information displayed in the Warehouse processes table.
Table 3-4 Warehouse processes table headings
Header | Description |
---|---|
Status | Indicates the highest severity error (if any) encountered by the component, as follows: Red. Indicates that the component encountered a high severity error. Orange. Indicates that the component encountered a medium severity error. Yellow. Indicates that the component encountered a low severity error. Green. Indicates that no component encountered errors. Indicates components configured to experience downtime in the defined time frame. Errors for this component are ignored. |
Node | Name of the node. |
Instance | Name of the instance. |
Server | Name of the server on which the instance is installed. |
Product | Name of the product. |
Process | Name of the process. |
Last Run | The date of the last run for this process. |
Criticality | Displays the related instance(s) criticality setting. |
The Licenses table lists all licenses installed and the status for each. You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
The following table shows the information displayed in the Licenses table.
Table 3-5 Licenses table headings
Header | Description |
---|---|
Status | Indicates the licenses installed and the status for each. |
Server | Name of the server on which the FocalPoint or Agent is running. |
Agent | Name of the FocalPoint or Agent. |
Feature | A description of the license feature. |
Licensing Status | One of the following statuses:
|
Expiration Date | Expiration date for the currently installed license for a feature. |
To use the Precise product suite, you need the appropriate license file. All product keys are saved in a single license file managed by Precise FocalPoint. The Precise license file contains information about the product features that you are licensed to use. It also contains data about your information system environment, including CPU, model, server name, or IP addresses of the servers where the products run.
A license can be either temporary or permanent. Temporary licenses expire after a specific date, while permanent licenses enable you to use the products indefinitely.
You can gather server information for each server and features in your environment by taking an agent snapshot. This information is needed to pass to your customer support representative when you want to obtain a permanent license file. The information is saved as an XML file on your local drive. The path and the filename appear in a message box.
To create an XML file of all servers and features in your application
To create a file of all installed licenses in your application
To apply a license
The License Limitation Metrics category related table list all License Limitation Metrics installed and the status for each. You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
The following table shows the information displayed in the Licenses Limitation Metrics table.
Table 3-6 License Limitation Metrics
Label | Description |
---|---|
status | Indicates the License Limitation Metrics status for the installed technology/CPUs. |
Technology | Technology to which the License Limitation Metrics applies. |
Amount Installed | The number of instances of the relevant technology/CPUs that are installed. |
Amount of Applied Licenses | The limitation of the number of instances of the relevant technology/CPUs. |
The Action Items table lists all action items in the selected category and the status for each. You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184. See About the Action items view.
The following table shows the information displayed in the Action Items table.
Table 3-7 Action Items table headings
Header | Description |
---|---|
Icon | The icons display the criticality of the Action Item related instance, whether high, medium, or low. |
Status | Indicates the status of an Action Item. |
ID | The Action Item ID number. |
Node | Name of the node. |
Instance | Name of the instance. |
Server | Name of the server on which the FocalPoint or Agent is running. |
Origin | the origin of an Action Item. |
Status | Indicates the status of an action item, whether done, failed, pending, blocking, or executable. |
Update time | The date of the last run for this process. |
Criticality | Displays the criticality of the Action Item related instance, whether high, medium, or low. |
You can view information on and manage Precise agents by using the Agents tab. In this tab, the table includes the following columns:
This column displays all the environments that an instance belongs to.
The current status of an agent can be any of the following statuses:
Icon | Description | |
---|---|---|
The agent is starting up. | ||
The agent is running. | ||
The agent is stopped. | ||
The agent is running but has encountered a problem. See the agent log files for details, verify the agent (using the Verify button), or contact Precise Technical Support. | ||
The agent is in failed status. This occurs in case the agent has problems. For example, in case it has crashed at least three times in an hour. See the agent log files for details, verify the agent (using the Verify button), or contact Precise Technical Support.
| ||
Precise FocalPoint cannot retrieve the current agent status. See the Precise FocalPoint logs and the agent log files for details. See Viewing a log file from the Agents tab. |
You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” on page 184.
You can select several agents to start/stop or refresh status. The following table describes the different procedures for selecting multiple agents.
Table 3-8 Selecting agents
Select | Action |
---|---|
An individual agent | Click a specific row in the table. |
An arbitrary set of agents | Click the first agent row, hold down the <Ctrl> key, and then click all other required agent rows. |
A consecutive group of agents | Click the first agent row, hold down the <Shift> key, and then click the last agent row. |
Agent command buttons appear at the bottom of the Agents tab.
Using the Agent command buttons, you can perform the following actions on one or more agents in the table:
Installation Verification Procedure process findings are also reflected in the AdminPoint Dashboard tab.
Log files record information, warning, and error messages. They may be helpful to understand the scope of a problem and provide directions to solve it.
In AdminPoint you can view a log file from the Agents tab.
To view a log file from the Agents tab
In AdminPoint you can save the log file using the log file dialog box.
To save a log file
Through the Setup tab, you can view and manage various setup functions:
On the Installation tab, you can add a new application to the Precise system.
To add a new application
You can edit existing application via the Edit dialog box. In the Edit dialog box, you can perform any of the following editing options:
You can customize the application's column headers and their contents as displayed on the application's table in both AdminPoint and StartPoint.
To customize column headers on a table
Through the Management tab, you can view and manage various functions:
Known in previous versions as the Patch view, the Updates view in version 9.0 displays available updates and manages their application process. Using the Updates view, you can check which updates were applied to your servers, view the update properties, and launch the update application process. For more information about applying updates, see Applying an update.
To view and manage updates
Server Status. This mode displays all servers that the update selected in the “For” drop-down menu should be applied to, and the current application status. The Server Status table displays the following information:
Header | Description | |
---|---|---|
Update ID | Name of the update. | |
Server | Name of the server. | |
Status | An icon that indicates whether the update was applied successfully or with errors. | |
Application Type | Indicates how the update was applied to the server. The application types include:
| |
Applied On | The date and time that the update was applied on the server. | |
Node | Name of Framework node that the selected server is part of. | |
Installed Agents | List of all agents that are currently installed on the server. |
Update Status. This mode displays all updates currently loaded and their status for all relevant servers. The table displays the following information:
Header | Description | |
---|---|---|
Update ID | Name of the update. | |
Server | Name of the server. | |
Status | An icon that indicates whether the update was applied successfully (insert icon) or with errors (insert icon). | |
Application Types | Indicates how the update was applied to the server. The application types include:
| |
Applied On | The date and time that the update was applied on the server. | |
Node | Name of framework node that the selected server is part of. | |
Product | Name of the Precise components that are affected by the update. |
You can control the way data is displayed in the table. See “About sorting data” and "About filtering data" on page 184.
To apply an update
In the “Select Updates” screen, locate the desired update in the Available Updates table. If the update does not appear, click Add Update and enter the file path from the folder you downloaded the update to. Alternatively, click the browse button, select the path, and click OK. The update now appears in the Available Updates table.
For more information regarding a specific update, see the Description area at the bottom of the screen. To view all information for the update, scroll down or click the expand icon at the top right of the area to open a new window with the information. |
Selecting an update to appear in the Available Updates table does not apply the update. The update application process begins only after the servers have been selected.
Select the desired update in the Available Updates table and move it to the Updates to Install table using the arrows between the two tables.
If there is a newer update that contains the update you selected, the newer update will be selected and appear in the Available Updates table. |
Click Next. The Select Servers screen appears, displaying all servers and their update status.
By default, all the servers will be selected to be updated. You can choose to exclude servers from the application process at this time by removing the selection mark next to them.
In some cases, applying the update to one server will only be allowed if another server is updated at the same time. In these cases, you will be prompted to include the relevant servers in the selection to be updated. |
After the update application is complete, post-action items will appear on screen. Perform these action items. You can decide to perform these action items at a later stage.
If there are no pre- or post-action items, the wizard will automatically move from through the “Preparing”, “Pre Action Items”, “Apply update”, and “Post Action Items” screens. |
The action items management mechanism tracks and automates manual action items required for installations and updates. You can manage action items by displaying which action items have been performed and which have not.
Through the Action Items view, you can check if instance-related action items are pending, failed, or completed. You need to perform all action items because some of the action items block the related agent startup. This means you cannot start the related agent until performing the action item.
You can manually perform any action item. Once you have performed it, notify Precise of this by selecting the action item and clicking the Mark as done button.
Some action items support automatic execution. For such action items the "execute" button is enabled. You can instruct Precise to automatically perform the action item for you by selecting the action item and clicking "Execute". You can select several action items and click execute or mark as done.
Using the Status combo at the top of the view you can select to view only pending action items, failed action items, or completed action items:
Header | Description |
---|---|
ID | The action items resource identification number; this ID number may be used more than once. For example, there may be several messages with the same Action ID for different instances. |
Server | The name of the server where the action item was produced. |
Technology | The technology type of the monitored instance. Exists only for action items which have a value in the instance column. |
Instance | Name of the specific instance that is being monitored (if relevant). |
Action Item | The title of the action item. After clicking an action item, the action item's full text is displayed lower on the screen. You can also view the action item's full text in the tooltip of this column. |
Order | The order of Precise installation action items should be performed as specified - in ascending order. The specified order is necessary because of dependencies between action items. |
Status | This is an icon which indicates the status of Precise installation action items. The action item status can be one of the following: completed, failed, or pending. In the case of a failed status, the tooltip describes the reason for failure. |
Blocking | The icon indicates whether the start of the related agent is being blocked, until the action item has completed. |
Origin | This the source of the action item. The source can be any of the following: install, uninstall, update, or verification. |
Executable | A check mark indicates the action item is executable. An executable action item can be handled automatically by selecting the action items and clicking Execute. To execute the action item, additional user input (such as: user and password) may be required. |
Node | Name of Framework node. |
Update Time | Date and time when the action items were produced or last updated due to failure, execution or marked as done. |
Required Fields | This column displays the name of fields requiring user input before automatic execution of the action item. |
The legend for the action items table is:
Icon | Description |
---|---|
The action item was completed successfully. | |
Invocation of the action item failed. See this icon’s tooltip for the failure reason. | |
The action item was not yet performed. | |
The action item's related agent cannot be started until the action item is performed. | |
The action item can be automatically executed by Precise. Click execute to instruct Precise to execute it for you. |
On the Action Items view, the Dependencies On/Dependencies Off button will filter selected instances by displaying or not displaying their dependencies. By default, all instances and their action items are displayed as “Dependencies On”.
“Dependencies On” signifies that dependent action items will be displayed in the Action Items table regardless of any filters set on the table.
To not display dependencies
On the Action Items view, the Advanced button lets you set the way you want to execute the action items.
If you have many action items, click Advanced and select Expert mode. Once Expert mode is selected, the executing action items prompt for required inputs only once (at the beginning of the operation), and only update the status of the executed action items. The status of the executed action items does not display any popup messages for each problem encountered while executing action items.
To execute action items by Expert mode
Through the Nodes view, you can add new Framework nodes, or edit properties, or remove an existing Framework node.
To view and manage Framework nodes
The Display Nodes table displays a list of installed nodes. You can add a new Framework node to the list, rename, or remove a Framework node from the list.
The Display Nodes table displays the following columns for Framework nodes:
Using the Nodes command buttons, you can perform the following actions on one or more nodes in the Display Nodes table:
To edit a node (on the Nodes-Edit dialog box), enter the node name, proxy server name, and URL address. The following optional proxy settings can also be selected.
Enable the proxy relay to the servers. Unchecked by default. Use only when, for security reasons, the Precise Main FocalPoint cannot directly access the node’s production servers. Marking this check box causes the Precise Main FocalPoint to access the node’s production servers through the node's Precise FocalPoint.
Its use slows down system performance. |
The Inventory Report creates an excel file that lists details regarding installed servers, instances, License Limitation Metrics, and the PMDB. A generated report provides information for all nodes.
To generate an inventory report
A Precise application is a collection of instances that are organized to work together. An application includes one or more application tiers (AppTiers), and each AppTier can consist of one or more instances of the same technology.
The Precise agents installed on an AppTier monitor, process, and communicate performance-related information for that tier.
By default, an AppTier carries the name of its technology (such as ‘Oracle’). You can set the AppTier name to another significant name to be able to distinguish between different AppTiers. In AdminPoint, you can add a suffix to the technology name (such as ‘Oracle_PeopleSoft’), rename or edit an existing AppTier, and add or delete AppTiers.
Verify that you have renamed an AppTier before you add another AppTier of the same technology. |
Every AppTier has instances assigned to it. Instances can be assigned to more than one AppTier. An instance can be copied or moved from one AppTier to another. Applications, AppTiers, and instances belong to only one node; therefore you can manage all these entities only within the same node. For example, you can copy an instance only to applications that are part of the instance’s node.
AppTiers are combined in applications. By defining multiple applications, you can make your work more manageable, for example by distinguishing between a test application and a production application. You can also define applications to implement a security policy and authorize specific users to access performance information for only their application.
During the Precise installation, a default application based on the installed components is created. Using the Edit Application dialog box, you can change the default application or create a new application. You can also add, rename, or correlate applications.
The AppTier table, in the Edit application dialog box, lists all AppTiers in the application and their respective information source.The current correlation of an application is shown in the data flow diagram to the right of the AppTier table. Within Precise, you can view the data flow diagram on the StartPoint page and in the Overview tab of Insight.
To view and manage applications
The Applications table displays information in different columns for each instance. The user can customize each column header and its value.
Table 3-11 Display Applications table displayed columns
Column name | Description |
---|---|
Application | Name of the application. In the Agents table, AdminPoint displays all of the applications that an instance belongs to, according to the AppTiers it is part of. |
Node | Name of the node. |
AppTiers | Name of the AppTiers. |
Technologies | Name of the technologies within the application. |
SmartLink Application | If available, the name of the SmartLink application. |
Product | See Customizing custom columns in the environment. |
Type | See Customizing custom columns in the environment. |
Location | See Customizing custom columns in the environment. |
Tag | See Customizing custom columns in the environment. |
Comment | See Customizing custom columns in the environment. |
Using the applications command buttons, you can perform the following actions on one or more applications in the Display applications table:
On the applications view, you can add a new application to the Precise system.
To add a new application
Existing Environments can be edited via the Edit Environment dialog box. In the Edit Environment dialog box, you can perform any of the following editing options:
Configure the SmartLink correlation for the AppTier.
In the Edit Environment dialog box, the node for the selected environment is displayed. |
To edit an existing Environment
To rename an existing Environment
To change the AppTier order in the AppTiers table
Click OK to save the changes, or Cancel to close and not save the change(s).
Any AppTier change performed on an instance which is part of a cluster, is automatically applied to all instances of that cluster. |
The Environment map displays the data flow between AppTiers and displays the front-end AppTier.
To delete a relation (relation arrow), click an AppTier with an existing relation and drag the plus onto another related AppTier. To mark or clear an AppTier as front end, right-click on an AppTier to mark or clear the front-end mark.
To change the data flow between AppTiers
It is important that you indicate which AppTier is to the front-end. On the Environment map, a Front-end AppTier is marked with an arrow. You can change the Front-end AppTier whenever needed by unmarking a current Front-end AppTier and marking another AppTier as Front-end.
To change the Front-end AppTier for an environment
An AppTier's application can be configured via the Environments view. This enables related application associations in the related Precise product tab.
To configure an AppTier's application
Insight SmartLink correlates end-to-end activities across multiple tiers, and provides information on the environment’s performance, from the user’s perspective by tracking individual transactions. To use Insight SmartLink, you need to specify the SmartLink mode (application) to be applied to the selected environment.
There are two SmartLink modes for two types of applications:
For more information on Insight SmartLink, see the Precise Insight User’s Guide.
You can configure the Insight SmartLink correlation via the Edit Environment dialog box.
To configure Insight SmartLink correlation
Once configuration is finished, you must restart: Insight, Web, J2EE, Oracle FocalPoints and agents.
Only one SmartLink for PeopleSoft environment can be configured per specific PeopleSoft application. |
You can customize the environment’s column headers and their contents as displayed on the environment's table in both AdminPoint and StartPoint.
To customize column headers on a table
Through the Warehouse tab, you can view and manage PMDB statuses and processes. See “About the PMDB” on page 68.
| | | | | | | |