Configuring and Managing up.time

Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings

Configuration parameters that are not directly tied to, thus do not require a restart of, the up.time Core service can be modified directly in the up.time GUI (shown below):

Modifying uptime.conf File Settings

Configuration parameters that are directly tied to the up.time Core service are found in the uptime.conf file. uptime.conf is a text file that you can modify in any text editor, and can be found in the root up.time installation directory.

In addition to the up.time database, uptime.conf parameters affect a variety of up.time behavior.

Stopping and Restarting up.time Services

In addition to the Web interface, the up.time Monitoring Station consists of the following services:

• DataStore
• Web server
• Data Collector (also called the Core)

These services run in the background and start automatically after the operating system on the server hosting up.time starts. However, system administrators may need to stop the up.time services - for example, before making configuration changes to the uptime.conf file, performing an upgrade, or archiving the DataStore.

Database Settings

The database settings are used to determine how up.time communicates with the DataStore, and how it will perform a database health check. The following are the database-related parameters in the uptime.conf file.

Monitoring Station Web Server

Monitoring Stations include a Web server component that drives the user interface. Any Monitoring Station that is accessed by users or administrators requires a URL. The Web address used to access the Monitoring Station is configured through the following uptime.conf parameter:

httpContext = http://<hostname>:<port>

• <hostname> is the host name of the server on which up.time is running (e.g., localhost)
• <port> is the port on which the up.time Web server is listening for requests (e.g., 9999 ); you can optionally omit the port number

If the up.time interface is being accessed via SSL, the value for this parameter should be stated as https instead of http .

SMTP Server

up.time uses a mail server to send alerts and reports to its users. After installing up.time for the first time, the administrator was asked to enter SMTP server information. These initial values can be modified in the Mail Servers configuration panel.

Modifying the SMTP Server Used by up.time

Configuring Global Data Collection Methods

A Windows-based Element can retrieve metric data either through the up.time Agent, or via WMI (see Agentless WMI Systems for more information). You can configure details for either method at a global level, in the form of agent connection information or WMI access credentials. Having global details defined simplifies individual Element configuration, and also allows you to switch the data collection method for multiple Windows Elements, at once, as a group.

When a system is part of the up.time inventory, its data collection method is either configured to be based on an Agent , or a WMI Agentless method. This configuration option is set when the system is first added as an Element. If agent and WMI details have been globally defined, when adding the Element, you will be able to Use the up.time Agent Global Configuration , or use WMI Global Credentials to skip configuration steps.

Once configured, this data collection method can later be switched from an agent-based, to agentless method, or vice versa. Although this change can be made on a per-Element basis, multiple Elements can also be switched in a single batch. In the latter case, the data collection method must be globally defined.

To configure data collection methods globally, you can provide information for either the up.time Agent, or your organization’s WMI credentials, or both. Note that batches of Elements can only be converted to a particular data collection source when that method has been globally configured in the Global Element Settings panel.

Global SNMP Configuration Settings

When you add a network device to up.time , as part of the configuration process, you must provide details about how SNMP has been configured to communicate with and manage other devices on the network. These details describe, among other things, the SNMP protocol being used, and encryption methods.

By default, SNMP-specific settings are inputted for each network-type device, as they are added to up.time . To facilitate this process, your network’s SNMP settings can defined globally in the Global Element Settings panel.

RSS Feed Settings

up.time displays a list of recent knowledge base articles in the My Portal panel. This list is fed to the My Portal panel via RSS (Really Simple Syndication, a method for delivering summaries of and links to Web content). Clicking the title of an article opens it in your Web browser.

By default, RSS feeds are drawn directly from the uptime software Support Portal without the use of proxy server information. If your Monitoring Station accesses the Internet through one, feeds will most likely not be available, and the following message will appear in the My Portal panel:

VMware vCenter Orchestrator Integration

Administrators can configure Action Profiles to automatically carry out tasks in the event of an up.time alert. One such task is the initiation of contact with VMware vCenter Orchestrator, and the execution of a workflow. To have access to this functionality, up.time needs to know how to communicate with Orchestrator.

For information about Action Profiles and VMware vCenter Orchestrator, see Action Profiles

Web Application Monitor Proxy Settings

When the Web Application Transaction monitor is recording a user session on an external site, it is intercepting URLs by acting as your browser’s proxy. For the monitor to do this, you must replace your organization’s proxy server information with the Web Application Transaction monitor in your browser settings. In order for the monitor to access the Internet, you must provide your proxy settings in up.time .

This monitor-specific proxy information is used during transaction recording; during session playback, the proxy normally used by up.time (defined by the httpProxy* settings) is used.

For more information about the Web Application Transaction monitor, see Web Application Transactions.

You can change up.time ’s proxy server configuration by manually inputting settings in the up.time Configuration panel, as outlined in Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings

Remote Reporting Settings

If you are using a reporting instance (an up.time instance that only generates and serves reports), the remote reporting settings enable you to specify the location of the reporting instance, and the port on which it is listening.

User Interface Instance Settings

A UI instance is an up.time installation that does not perform any data collection tasks, and is primarily used for real-time monitoring and report generation. When there are many up.time users who do not need to perform full administrative tasks, UI instances can divert traffic from a core Monitoring Station implementation, improving data-collection performance and UI responsiveness.

You can manually configure UI instance settings with the following uptime.conf parameters:

Creating an up.time UI Instance

To create a UI instance, do the following:

1. Install a new instance of up.time on another server.
   You can use the standard up.time installer; when prompted to provide DataStore configuration information, ensure the UI instance has the same database settings as the core Monitoring Station (see Database Settings for more information).
2. Enable the newly installed up.time as a UI instance by editing the following uptime.conf parameters:
   
   • uiOnlyInstance=true
   • uiOnlyInstance.monitoringStationHost=<hostname>
hostname is the hostname or IP address of the core, data-collecting Monitoring Station, with which this UI instance will communicate

   • uiOnlyInstance.monitoringStationCommandPort=9996
     the port through which the UI instance can communicate with the core Monitoring Station

     Unless your core Monitoring Station has been customized, it is configured to use port 9996 to communicate with a UI instance. If you wish to use a different port, you must ensure matching uptime.conf values exist on both the UI instance and core Monitoring Station. Contact uptime software Support for more information.

3. Shut down the Data Collector service on the UI instance.
4. Ensure you are logged in with a domain account, and that this account has access to the <installDirectory>/gadgets directory on the Monitoring Station.
5. To accommodate sharing user-created gadgets, on the core Monitoring Station system, make the <installDirectory>/gadgets directory accessible by the UI instance system.
   How you make the /gadgets directory accessible depends on the Monitoring Station platform: 
   
   • On Linux, you can use NFS to share the directory on the core Monitoring Station, then mount it on the UI instance
   • On Windows, you can use the mklink command to create a symbolic link on the UI instance that points to the /gadgets directory on the core Monitoring Station, such as in the following example:
     mklink /D "C:\Program Files\uptime software\uptime\gadgets" "\\host\gadgets"
     You will most likely need to modify sharing and security permissions for the directory.
6. Restart the Data Collector service on the UI instance.

Scrutinizer Settings

Scrutinizer is a NetFlow analyzer that can be installed to monitor network traffic managed by compatible switches and routers. Scrutinizer can be integrated with the Global Scan dashboard, as well as up.time’s graph generation for node-type Elements, and other hosts that are also monitored with Scrutinizer.

In order to access Scrutinizer, up.time needs to be pointed to your installation.

Splunk is a third-party search engine that indexes log files and data from the devices, servers, and applications in your network. Using Splunk, you can quickly analyze your logs to pinpoint problems on a server or in a network, or ensure that you are in compliance with a regulatory mandate or Service Level Agreements. You install Splunk on a server in your datacenter.

When values are provided for the Splunk settings listed below, the Splunk icon will appear in the My Portal panel beside the names of services that are in WARN or CRIT states. When you click the Splunk icon, you will be automatically logged in to your Splunk search page.

You can change your up.time-Splunk integration by manually inputting settings in the up.time Configuration panel, as outlined in Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings.

Archive Categories

The following table lists the statistical categories whose archiving can be configured, along with the corresponding DataStore database table:

Configuring an Archive Policy

To set an archive policy, do the following:

1. On the up.time tool bar, click Config.
2. In the tree panel, click Archive Policy.
3. For the following categories, specify the number of months worth of data that will be retained in the DataStore before being removed and archived:
   
   • Overall CPU/Memory Statistics
   • Multi-CPU Statistics
   • Detailed Process Statistics
   • Disk Performance Statistics
   • File System Capacity Statistics
   • Network Statistics
   • User Information Statistics
   • Volume Manager Statistics
   • Retained Data
   • vSphere Performance Data
   • vSphere Inventory Data
   • Network Device Performance Data
4. Ensure the Enable Archiving checkbox is selected.
5. Click Set Archive Policy.
6. Optionally, you can click the Archive Now button to immediately create archives of the data in your DataStore.
   up.time will check the DataStore entries and archiving anything that is older than the limits you have configured.

Restoring Archived Data

If you need to generate graphs or reports on older data that have already been archived and is no longer in the DataStore, you can import specific archives using the restorearchive command line utility. The command’s parameters allow you to import archives in the following manner:

• a single archive that represents a specific archive category and date; the collected data for each archive category and 24-hour period is exported to individual XML files
• all archives for a specific date (i.e., 24-hour period)

Exporting and Importing the DataStore

In cases where you need to perform a wholesale backup of the existing DataStore (e.g., migrating your DataStore to another database), up.time includes two command-line utilities:

• fulldatabasedump: creates a compressed XML file of the contents of your DataStore
• fulldatabaseimport: imports the archived data back into your DataStore

Logs

The following logs are available for troubleshooting. Depending on the type of investigation, output from multiple logs can be correlated.

2006-02-23 12:28:20,082 - kdawg: ADDSYSTEM [cfgcheck=true, 
port=9998, number=1, use-ssl=false, systemType=1, hostname=10.1.1.241, 
displayName=MailMain, systemSystemGroup=1, serviceGroup=, description=, 
systemSubtype=1]

Problem Reports

When you encounter a problem with up.time, Customer Support needs a specific set of information to diagnose and fix the problem. up.time can automatically collect this information and compress it in an archive which you can send to Customer Support.

The archive contains the following:

• up.time configuration files
• system information
• log files
• database information and error files
• Java hs_err_pid error files
• a listing of the DataStore directory
• optionally, a copy of the configuration data from the DataStore

The archive is saved to the GUI/problemreports directory on the Monitoring Station and has a file name with the following format:

prYYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.zip

• YYYYMMDD is the date on which the report was generated (e.g., 20101224)
• HHMMSS is the time at which the report was generated (e.g., 202306)

Service Monitor Thread Counts

By default, the number of Java threads allocated to service and performance monitors is 100. This can be modified with the following uptime.conf parameter:

serviceThreads=100

Java Heap Size

By default, the JVM's heap memory is to a maximum of 1 GB. If your monitoring deployment has a lot of service monitors running or reports to generate, you can the increase the amount of Java heap memory (e.g., 1.5 GB) to improve performance.

Adjusting the Java Heap Size

The amount of memory allocated to the JVM can be adjusted by modifying one of the following parameters, depending on your Monitoring Station platform:

On Linux, edit the <uptimeInstallDir>/uptime.jcnf file and modify the following:

-Xmx1G

vm.heapsize.preferred=1024m

Note that the default heap size is measured in gigabytes in the Linux configuration file, and megabytes in the Windows configuration file.

Status Thresholds

The Global Scan threshold settings determine when a cell on the Global Scan dashboard changes state to reflect a host’s status change: green represents normal status, yellow represents Warning status, and red represents Critical.

The Resource Scan threshold settings determine the size of the gauge ranges on the Resource Scan view: green represents normal status, yellow represents Warning status, and red represents Critical status.

You can change the thresholds used to determine status by manually inputting settings in the up.time Configuration panel, as outlined in Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings. 

Platform Performance Gatherer Check Intervals

The Platform Performance Gatherer is a core performance monitor that resides on all agent-based Elements.

By default, the Platform Performance Gatherer checks the host Elements’ performance levels every 300 seconds. You can change the interval by manually inputting settings in the up.time Configuration panel, as outlined in Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings. 

performanceCheckInterval=300

Changing the Number of Days Reports Are Cached

You can change a report’s expiry time limit by manually inputting settings in the up.time Configuration panel, as outlined in Modifying up.time Config Panel Settings.

Change the expiry limit through the following parameter (the default value is shown):

reportCacheExpiryDays=30

Changing the Published Report Location

This can be modified with the following uptime.conf parameter:

publishedReportRoot=<location>

If the intended published report directory is on a system other than the Monitoring Station, the provided location should be a full network path to the system in addition to the directory path on that system.

Status Alert Acknowledgement

When services reach a warning or critical state, administrators can flag an alert as “acknowledged,” which prevents subsequent alerts from being broadcasted, giving them time to investigate the issue. See Acknowledging Alerts for more information.

Service status alert acknowledgements can be reported in the status tables on the Global Scan dashboard. By default, status alert acknowledgement counts are not shown; if enabled a new column (labelled ACK) appears in the Service Status section of Global Scan. When the current status of a monitor is acknowledged, it appears in the ACK column instead of in the WARN or CRIT column.

You can enable or disable status acknowledgement (i.e., add or remove the ACK column from the status tables) through the following parameter (the default value is shown):

acknowledgedSeparate=false

3D Graphs

When performance and availability graphs are generated, the Graph Editor is used to manipulate the appearance of graphed data (see Using the Graph Editor). Transformations from a three-dimensional perspective are possible if the user account permits it (see Adding Users), and the user is connecting to the Monitoring Station using Internet Explorer.

This 3D presentation option can be disabled outright. You can determine whether ActiveX graphs are displayed in 3D for users with Internet Explorer through the following parameter (the default value is shown):

default3DGraphs=true

Custom Dashboard Tabs

Custom dashboards can be added to My Portal to display custom content that is relevant to the particular user who is currently logged in. Up to 50 dashboards can be added, each of which is accessed through, and viewed in, its own tab at the top of My Portal.

A custom dashboard tab is configured by pointing up.time to a custom Web page, and indicating which User Group will be able to view it. You can enable and configure the first dashboard through the following parameters:

myportal.custom.tab1.enabled=true
myportal.custom.tab1.name=<DashboardNameOnTab>
myportal.custom.tab1.URL=<URLtoCustomPage>
myportal.custom.tab1.usergroups=<UserGroupName>

Values for the first three parameters are required. If no name is specified for the User Group parameter (or, if no User Groups have been defined), the custom dashboard will be visible to all up.time users. Thus, a User Group parameter is only required if you want to restrict or refine user access to a particular custom dashboard.

To create additional tabs, add the same set of parameters, but increment the tab count:

myportal.custom.tab2.enabled=true
myportal.custom.tab2.name=<DashboardNameOnTab>
myportal.custom.tab2.URL=<URLtoCustomPage>

Installing or Updating a License

To install or update a license, do the following:

1. In the Tree panel, click License Info .
   If you currently have an up.time license, it is displayed in the License Information subpanel.
2. Paste the new or updated license into the License Key text box.
3. Click Update License .

Setting a Notification Group for vSync-Related Licensing Errors

In the License Notification section of the License Information page, you can select the Notification Group that receives alerts should there be any licensing errors related to syncing with VMware vSphere.

For more information, see Managing vSync.