Log Central supports Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the de facto industry standard for management of system and network resources. This capability enables monitoring and fault management of log resources or the Log Central system itself from any SNMP-compliant system manager.

Log Central includes an agent that can be used to monitor the Log Central processes on the machine on which it is running. Using this agent, you can instruct an SNMP manager, or an intelligent agent like the BEA Manager Agent Integrator, to poll to periodically check conditions-for example, to ensure that Log Central processes have not died. Log Central data collection agents as well as the Central Collector can also be configured to send event notifications-called traps in SNMP terminology-to SNMP managers when critical log messages occur.

This chapter describes how to integrate Log Central with an SNMP manager and includes the following:

• Facilities for Managing Log Central

• Setting Up SNMP Management of Log Central

• Integrating Events Generated by Agent Integrator Polling

Facilities for Managing Log Central

The facilities provided by Log Central for SNMP systems management are the following:

• Management Information Base Support for Log Central

• Process Monitor Agent

• Central Collector SNMP Trap Generation

• Data Collection Agent SNMP Trap Generation

Management Information Base Support for Log Central

A Management Information Base (MIB) describes the attributes of the managed resource in a way that an SNMP management system can understand. An SNMP MIB must be written in Abstract Notation One (ASN.1) and be formatted in conformity with the SNMP standards. Two MIB files are provided with Log Central that contain information for managing Log Central. These files fully conform to the SNMP standard and are ready for loading into your SNMP manager. The MIB files are:

bea.asn1

This file contains MIB definitions for other BEA Manager products as well as Log Central. The Log Central-specific part of this MIB is the Process Monitor MIB, which enables a manager to communicate with the Log Central Process Monitor agent (pm_snmpd). The Process Monitor MIB is described in Appendix D, "MIB Reference."

bea.asn1

This file contains MIB definitions for other BEA Manager products as well as Log Central. The Log Central-specific part of this MIB is the Process Monitor MIB, which enables a manager to communicate with the Log Central Process Monitor agent (pm_snmpd) Appendix D, "MIB Reference."

The Process Monitor agent (pm_snmpd) enables you to monitor the Log Central processes on the machine on which the agent is running. For example, you can find out the number of times the Process Monitor has restarted a process. The attributes of Log Central processes that can be managed with this agent are documented in Appendix D, "MIB Reference."

The Process Monitor agent can be run as a standalone SNMP agent or as an SNMP Multiplex Protocol (SMUX) subagent under a master agent such as the Agent Integrator.

Central Collector SNMP Trap Generation

The Central Collector has the ability to generate SNMP trap notifications in response to incoming log messages. This is simple to configure, using the Log Central Console Basic Trap Configuration window, but it is not as fine-grained as the trap generation capability of the data collection agents. The Central Collector can be configured to send a trap based on either the severity of the log message (a measure of the impact on users of the condition that the message is reporting) or, on the message type definition. If you base trap generation on the message definition, a trap is generated if the Trap Enabled attribute is set to YES.

Data Collection Agent SNMP Trap Generation

The data collection agents that you install on the managed nodes have the ability to generate SNMP trap notifications in response to log messages. To activate this feature, you need to define one or more agent filters in the Log Central configuration file (messaging.conf). You can define global filters that are used in common by all the log agents, or you can define filters that differ from agent to agent. This is described in Chapter 6, "Host and Filter Configuration."

Setting Up SNMP Management of Log Central

To set up Log Central for monitoring by an SNMP management system, do the following:

1. Decide what management information you want to collect.

   For example, you might want to consider which log messages that enter the Log Central system should generate SNMP traps for forwarding to your SNMP manager. Also, you might want to consult Chapter D, "MIB Reference," which provides information on the aspects of the Log Central processes that can be monitored using the Process Monitor agent.

2. Define the destination for SNMP traps in the BEA Manager configuration file.

   The TRAP_HOST entry in the BEA Manager configuration file (beamgr.conf) defines the machine and port used by Log Central components as the destination for trap notifications. By default this is the local host. Be sure to edit this file to point to the proper destination for traps. For more information, refer to the "Configuration Files" chapter in the Agent Integrator Reference Manual.

3. Configure basic trap generation (if desired).

   The Log Central Console has a tool called Basic Trap Configuration that allows you to set up the Central Collector to issue traps under conditions that you specify. This tool is described in Chapter 9, "Using the Log Central Console."

4. Load the Log Central MIBs into the management system.

   You may want to look at the Agent Connection for M3 and TUXEDO Systems Reference Manual for examples of how this is done, or else consult the documentation for your management system. The necessary files are:

   bea.asn1
   bea_lc_trap.asn1

5. Configure the management system to take appropriate action in response to Log Central trap notifications.

   You may want to change the way in which Log Central SNMP traps are displayed on your management console, or the actions that the management system takes in response to specified events. You might choose to ignore some routine informational notifications. For example, the OpenView Event Configuration window allows you to modify the event configuration to ignore an event, to generate a pop-up notification, or to run a program or script when the event is received. If you are using OpenView, you might also want to create a separate category for Log Central events. For more information, refer to the Agent Connection for M3 and TUXEDO Systems Reference Manual.

6. The management system needs to recognize the enterprise of the Log Central traps.

   For example, in HP OpenView, you must create a new enterprise entry using the object identifier (OID) for Log Central. The enterprise name is beaSystemDescr and the OID is .1.3.6.1.4.1.140.1.1.

7. Define Agent Integrator polling rules to poll the Log Central Process Monitor (if desired).

   A polling rule is defined by a RULE_ACTION entry in the BEA Manager configuration file (beamgr.conf). This is described in the Agent Integrator Reference Manual. When a user-defined threshold is crossed, the Agent Integrator sends an enterprise-specific trap to the destination specified in the TRAP_HOST entry in the BEA Manager configuration file. The enterprise name and OID of the trap are the same as for Log Central traps (see Step 6). If you use this option, you will need to also follow the procedure outlined under "Integrating Events Generated by Agent Integrator Polling."

8. Configure the Data Collection Agents to generate SNMP traps (if desired).

   The Message Sender (a component of the data collection agent on a managed node) can generate traps in response to incoming log messages based on filters that you define in the Log Central configuration file (messaging.conf). This allows a more fine-grained selection of which log messages prompt generation of SNMP traps than is possible using the Basic Trap Configuration window on the Log Central Console. You can select messages for SNMP trap generation based on any attribute contained in the message header, or based on text in the body of the message. Agent filter configuration also allows you to specify different SNMP trap generation rules for each managed node, if desired. However, messages cannot be selected for trap generation at the Message Sender based on attributes contained in the message definition (such as Severity or Description) because the definition database is available only to the Central Collector. For more information, refer to Chapter 6, "Host and Filter Configuration."

Agent Integrator can be used to do polling of resource attributes monitored by the Process Monitor agent, or other managed resources. To integrate the Agent Integrator threshold-checking activity with the management system, do the following:

1. Set up the Agent Integrator polling rules.

   A polling rule is defined by a RULE_ACTION entry in the BEA Manager configuration file (beamgr.conf). This is described in the Agent Integrator Reference Manual.

2. The management system will need to recognize the enterprise of the Agent Integrator traps.

   For example, in HP OpenView, you must create a new enterprise entry using the object identifier (OID) for Agent Integrator. The enterprise name is beaSystemDescr and the OID is .1.3.6.1.4.1.140.1.1.

   The Agent Integrator generates an enterprise-specific SNMP trap when the condition defined in the rule is satisfied (evaluates to TRUE). The traps generated by the Agent Integrator use the same enterprise identifier as traps generated by Log Central.

3. Configure the management system to recognize the events generated by Agent Integrator.

   For example, in HP OpenView, you can add a new event type by selecting Event Configuration Edit Add Event. In this case you would use the following as the event number:

   .1.3.6.1.4.1.140.1.1.0.specific_trap_number

4. Configure the management system to respond appropriately to incoming Agent Integrator events.

   This involves essentially the same process as described under Step 5 under "Setting Up SNMP Management of Log Central."

For more information about Agent Integrator, consult the Agent Integrator Reference Manual.