Oracle Auto Service Request (ASR) is a secure, scalable, customer-installable software feature of Oracle Premier Support for Systems and Oracle/Sun Limited Warranty support that provides auto-case generation when specific hardware faults occur. The ASR Manager software and system, which is an implementation of ASR for Oracle, accepts fault telemetry data sent from one or more assets.
Visit the Oracle ASR product page (http://www.oracle.com/asr) for details on the features and benefits of ASR. For a list of products supported by ASR Manager, see:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/nav/products.htm
Note:
ASR is not a monitoring solution and is not a substitute for the normal monitoring processes/services that customers have.The following chapters provide installation, configuration, and troubleshooting information for the ASR Manager software:
This overview chapter provides details about:
Understanding the architecture and the nomenclature of ASR is key to a successful installation. The following list describes the key components involved with ASR:
The ASR Manager is a system that centrally accepts hardware telemetry data sent from a group of ASR Assets. The ASR Manager filters the incoming data and forwards potential fault telemetry to Oracle/ASR Backend systems. For the ASR Manager, you should also know:
The ASR Manager is always installed first, followed by ASR Assets.
You have the option to install more than one instance of an ASR Manager. The reasons to do this may be to support a large amount of ASR Assets and/or for organizational reasons, such as grouping ASR Assets by data center, support group, subnet, or other grouping scheme as needed.
Note:
Even though an ASR Asset communicates its telemetry to one ASR Manager only, an ASR Manager can serve as a relay for other ASR Managers by sharing a common network connection to Oracle Support.The ASR Manager system can be installed as an ASR Asset. This way, the ASR Manager system can report its own hardware telemetry, as does an ASR Asset.
The telemetry data that is sent from the ASR Manager to the Oracle /ASR Backend Systems is encrypted.
ASR Assets are qualified systems that are configured to report its hardware telemetry to an ASR Manager. For a complete list of hardware qualified for ASR, see:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/nav/products.htm
Oracle/ASR Backend Infrastructure
The ASR backend infrastructure at Oracle collects all telemetry data forwarded to it from the ASR Manager, or ASR Managers if multiple instances are installed. The fault-rule technology on these backend systems ascertains the reality of the fault telemetry, and forwards recognized faults to Oracle's Service Request system. From there, the following actions occur:
A Service Request, also called a case, is created and assigned to an Oracle Support Engineer. At the same time, an e-mail notification of the Service Request is sent to your support contact on record associated with the system reporting a fault.
The Service Request is handled in accordance with the asset's Support or Warranty contract.
Once an Oracle Support Engineer begins working on the Service Request, the engineer may collect additional information from you to better determine resolution to the hardware issue. Resolution to the issue may involve system configuration or the following possibilities:
Order and ship a replacement part with installation instructions to you. These are called Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs).
Order and ship a replacement part to the customer site to be installed by an Oracle Field Engineer. These are called Field Replaceable Units (FRUs).
Note:
See the ASR Security White Paper for more information about the architectural flow.All of the systems that compose the Auto Service Request infrastructure have been built to provide confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. The Auto Service Request security strategy has been designed with multiple layers of encryption, authorization, access controls and data security, to ensure that organizational data is protected.
There are several ASR implementations for various Oracle products. For details, see the Oracle Auto Service Request Security White Paper:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/doc.41/e37468/toc.htm
The ASR assets send hardware telemetry data to your selected ASR Manager. The hardware you select for ASR coverage must be qualified. Qualified ASR assets have been tested and verified to be supported by the ASR backend infrastructure.
Qualified ASR asset hardware must be associated with a valid support identifier in My Oracle Support (https://support.oracle.com).
To verify that your hardware is qualified for ASR (including any operating system restrictions), check the list of qualified ASR products at:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/nav/products.htm
After you have verified your ASR asset system(s), record the host name(s) and hardware type of each.
Designated ASR Managers support Oracle Auto Service Request running Linux or Solaris operating systems:
ASR Manager is supported on the following versions of Linux:
Oracle Linux 5.3 or later.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 or later.
To check your version of Linux, run the following command:
/etc/enterprise-release
The output of this command should look like this:
Enterprise Linux Server release 5.3 (Carthage)
The following Solaris releases are supported for ASR Manager systems:
Solaris 11
Solaris 10, Update 6 (10u6), or later
To check your Solaris version, run:
cat /etc/release
If your qualified ASR asset indicates a particular patch version, verify your patch level:
patchadd -p | grep <patch number>
To download any required patches, visit My Oracle Support (login required) at https://suppport.oracle.com.
You can download the latest Oracle ASR package from doc ID 1185493.1 in My Oracle Support:
https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1185493.1
In addition to the ASR software, you may need additional software for Oracle ASR to function, depending on the asset:
Note:
Beginning with ASR 5.0, Oracle Automated Service Manager (OASM) is no longer required. However, other applications (such as Secure File Transport (SFT)) still required OASM. When you update to ASR Manger 5.0, you may need to leave the installed version of OASM in place.ASR Manager systems require Oracle Java 7 - JDK 7 (JDK 1.7.0_13) or later JDK 7 updates or Oracle Java 8 (1.8.0_25 or later).
Note:
OpenJDK is not supported.You can download the latest version from the Java SE Downloads page:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/
To check your version of Java, run:
java -version
Note:
The default Java Virtual Machine (JVM) maximum heap size is 1536 MB (1.5 GB) and meets the ASR Manager requirements. Make sure your ASR Manager system has 1 GB or more memory available for allocation.Services Tools Bundle (STB) is a tool set (including Explorer and SNEEP) that helps ASR obtain required information from each ASR system before you can activate them, such as obtaining the system's serial number from firmware.
To verify that the necessary tools are installed on your system, run:
pkginfo -l SUNWexplo
To verify that your system's serial number is being reported correctly, run:
sneep -a
To verify that your system's attributes are being reported correctly, run:
stclient -E
Note:
If your system is using only a service processor-based telemetry source (ILOM, or XSCF on M-Series), STB does not need to be installed. See Verifying Telemetry for more information about telemetry sources.See Oracle Services Tools Bundle (STB) - RDA/Explorer, SNEEP, ACT (Doc ID 1153444.1) to download the latest Oracle Service Tool Bundle (STB) software from My Oracle Support:
https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1153444.1
The ASR Manager system must have an internet connection – either a direct connection or through a proxy. If you access the internet through a proxy, check with your network administrator to collect information needed to configure the ASR Manager system. You will need to know:
Proxy server name
Proxy port number
Proxy user name
Proxy password
ASR Manager Network Connectivity
Check and make note of the ASR Manager IP address. To obtain the IP address, run the following command from the ASR Manager:
ifconfig -a
To test the connection to Oracle, in a browser, go to:
https://transport.oracle.com/v1/
Note:
Thetransport.oracle.com IP address is 141.146.1.169.WARNING:
ASR Auto Update will not work for ASR Managers using either of these two end points:
transport.sun.com (141.146.156.47)
transport.sun.co.uk (141.146.156.48)
You may need to update your configuration to use transport.oracle.com (141.146.1.169).
Instructions for how to determine if this change is needed and how to make the change is provided in My Oracle Support (MOS) Doc ID 1954819.1:
https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1954819.1
You can also test your connection in a terminal window:
For Solaris:
telnet transport.oracle.com 443 /usr/sfw/bin/wget https://transport.oracle.com/v1/
For Linux:
telnet transport.oracle.com 443 /usr/bin/wget https://transport.oracle.com/v1/
If you receive a "connected" message, the connectivity is successful.
ASR Assets Network Connectivity
For ASR assets, contact your network administrator to confirm or enable the following:
Set-up firewall rules to allow bi-directional SNMP/UDP traffic to traverse between ASR Assets and the ASR Manager.
Notes:
If your asset is running Solaris 11 and if you are planning to use the ASR Manager Relay function, then ensure the designated HTTP(S) port is open to the ASR Manager.
If your asset is running Solaris 11 and if you are planning on a direct connect back to Oracle, then ensure connectivity with the following command:
telnet transport.oracle.com 443
Ensure that ASR assets can send SNMP telemetry data out on port 162 to the ASR Manager.
Note:
If your asset is running Solaris 11, then ensure it can send HTTP(S) telemetry data to the ASR Manager port configured.Ensure that the ASR Manager can communicate with Service Tags on ASR asset, via http, using port 6481.
Check and make note of the ASR Asset IP address. To obtain the IP address, run the following command:
ifconfig -a
If working with a system that has a service processor, such as a Blade system and some T and X-series systems, obtain the service processor and/or the chassis IP address. These will be required for ASR installation.
An integral component to ASR functionality is the hardware telemetry sources resident on your ASR assets. Depending upon your hardware type, you will have one or more hardware telemetry sources resident on your system. To determine the telemetry source for your ASR Asset, see the list of qualified hardware at:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37710_01/nav/products.htm
Once you find your specific hardware in the list:
In the columns titled Telemetry Source on: SERVICE PROCESSOR and Telemetry Source on: HOST, you will see the telemetry sources that are on your system. As indicated, some telemetry sources reside on a service processor (dedicated hardware), and others reside on the host itself. It is also common for some systems to have multiple telemetry sources.
Make a note of the telemetry sources on your system for later use in the installation process (for example, ILOM, FMA, XSCF, etc.).
If the telemetry sources have a Note indicator, review the note at the bottom of the table and make note of the requirements for that telemetry source. Keep the following in mind:
Any Solaris operating system or patch requirements should have been completed. Refer to Verifying Operating System Requirements, if necessary.
In some cases, the telemetry software must be upgraded for ASR. In other cases, the telemetry source requires a dedicated network connection.
In some cases, multiple telemetry sources cannot run together on the same system.
Oracle ASR supports a variety of telemetry sources for a wide range of hardware types. The types of hardware telemetry supported by Oracle ASR include:
Fault Management Architecture (FMA)
FMA is a capability in Solaris 10 and 11 that automatically diagnoses, isolates, and recovers from many hardware and application faults. As a result, business-critical applications and essential system services can continue uninterrupted in the event of software failures, major hardware component failures, and even software misconfiguration problems.
Solaris 10 can be configured to send SNMP traps to the ASR Manager.
Solaris 11 can be configured to send events to the ASR Manager via http(s) using the Solaris asradm command via the asr-notify service.
Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM)
ILOM is embedded into some platforms and comes with dedicated network and serial ports to provide remote management, configuration, and telemetry reporting. ILOM reports power and environmental problems as well as CPU and memory faults on certain servers.
Note:
Beginning with ASR 4.1, ILOM telemetry supports the SNMP v3 security protocol. SNMP v3 provides security (encryption and authentication) for any communication to an ASR asset.If your environment requires SNMP v3 to use the Oracle ASR service, you will need to configure both ASR Manager and any ASR Assets. See Configuring ASR Manager for SNMP v3 and Optional ILOM Setup: SNMP v3 for ASR Assets for more information.
M-Series Extended System Control Facility (XSCF)
XSCF incorporates a service processor separate from all other processors. XSCF regularly monitors server components including CPU, memory, disks, fan rotation and device temperatures.
Oracle Hardware Management Pack (OHMP)
OHMP allows ILOM events to be captured by the Host and forwarded through the Host network connection. OHMP is a telemetry source for T5xxx and some x64 servers.
My Oracle Support (MOS) is the primary online support site for Oracle Premier Support Customers. From MOS, you can search the solutions knowledgebase, download patches and software, and create service requests (SRs). You can access MOS at:
https://support.oracle.com
For Oracle ASR, you will use MOS to:
Complete the activation of ASR assets, as described in Activating ASR Assets and Approve ASR Assets in My Oracle Support.
View and update any service request (SR) generated from Oracle ASR.
Verify that you have the following access in MOS:
MOS account
You will need a valid MOS login name to install the ASR software components. You will use your MOS account to validate key information about the systems targeted for ASR installation (for example, serial numbers).
Support identifier
All ASR assets must be associated with a support identifier, which includes contact information to notify you when an SR is generated. Through your MOS account, you must be able to access the support identifier before you can complete any ASR installation.
For details about requesting access or validating your associated support identifier, see How To Manage and Approve Pending ASR Assets In My Oracle Support (Doc ID 1329200.1):
https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1329200.1
If support services for your ASR assets are provided by an Oracle Partner, the Partner is responsible for ASR activation in My Oracle Support. When ASR detects a fault, only the Partner is notified of the problem.
Note:
ASR will generate a technical Service Request (not draft) if support services are provided by an Oracle Support Provider Partner for Oracle Engineered Systems (excluding Oracle Database Appliance). For more information about Oracle Engineered Systems, see:http://www.oracle.com/us/products/engineered-systems
Contact your Oracle Support Provider Partner for details.
The Partner's My Oracle Support account must have access to their respective partner Customer Support Identifier (CSI) associated with the asset and must have administrator privileges. This will enable the account to manage the assets of the customer CSIs associated with the Partner CSI.
The Partner has the responsibility to:
Use My Oracle Support to:
Assign contacts to ASR assets. The contact must be a member of the Partner's organization, and the MOS account must be associated with the Partner's CSI.
[optional] Assign distribution e-mail addresses to ASR assets. This can be used to send ASR e-mail notifications to an e-mail list maintained by the Partner.
Activate ASR assets.
Maintain ASR asset information.
Provide a My Oracle Support username and password to register the ASR Manager, using a Partner e-mail address.
Provide service to their customers when ASR detects problems.
You can use My Oracle Support to view ASR asset status, but you cannot edit the ASR asset information.