IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus: Administration Guide

4. Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page 371.
This edition applies to version 7, release 3, modification 1 of IBM Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus (product number
5724-S44) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2011.
US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.

5. Contents
About this publication . . . . . . . . vii
Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
What this publication contains . . . . . . . . vii
Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Tivoli technical training. . . . . . . . . . . x
Support information . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Conventions used in this publication . . . . . . x
Chapter 1. Configuring the ObjectServer 1
Alert processing in the ObjectServer . . . . . . 1
Using the ObjectServer properties and command-line
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
ObjectServer properties and command-line options 3
Running the ObjectServer in secure mode . . . . 17
Client tool updates using IDUC . . . . . . . 20
Specifying the IDUC update interval . . . . . 20
Specifying the IDUC port. . . . . . . . . 20
Configuring the ObjectServer for multicultural
support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Data storage and checkpointing . . . . . . . 22
Data storage using memstores . . . . . . . 22
Introduction to checkpointing . . . . . . . 23
nco_check_store checkpoint verification utility . . 24
Changing the table_store memstore soft and hard
limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Sending alerts to the ObjectServer using
nco_postmsg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
nco_postmsg properties and command-line
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
nco_postmsg examples and resulting INSERT
statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 2. Configuring a proxy server 35
Starting the proxy server . . . . . . . . . . 35
Starting a proxy server by using process control 35
Starting a proxy server by using services
(Windows). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Starting the proxy server manually . . . . . 36
Proxy server properties and command-line
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Connecting to the proxy server . . . . . . . . 39
Running the proxy server in secure mode . . . . 39
Chapter 3. Configuring a firewall bridge
server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A standard firewall bridge server configuration . . 44
A multiple firewall bridge server configuration . . 46
Firewall bridge server failover configuration . . . 47
Starting the firewall bridge server . . . . . . . 49
Starting a firewall bridge server by using process
control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Starting a firewall bridge server by using
Windows services . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Starting the firewall bridge server manually . . 49
Firewall bridge server properties and
command-line options . . . . . . . . . . 50
Trusted hosts definition file . . . . . . . . . 54
Firewall bridge server command language . . . . 55
SHOW PROPS and GET CONFIG . . . . . . 55
GET PROP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
SHOW DATAFLOWS . . . . . . . . . . 56
SET LOG LEVEL TO . . . . . . . . . . 57
SHUTDOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 4. Using Netcool/OMNIbus
Administrator to configure
ObjectServers. . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Getting started with Netcool/ OMNIbus
Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Considerations for multicultural support . . . 59
Starting Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator . . . 60
Connecting to an ObjectServer . . . . . . . 62
Connecting to a process agent . . . . . . . 64
Working with Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus
components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Secure sockets layer connections . . . . . . 66
Selecting ObjectServer objects to configure . . . 67
Setting preferences in Netcool/ OMNIbus
Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Exiting Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator . . . 71
Managing authorization with users, groups, roles,
and restriction filters . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Configuring roles . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Configuring groups. . . . . . . . . . . 76
Configuring users . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Configuring restriction filters . . . . . . . 84
Configuring menus, tools, and prompts . . . . . 86
Customizing menus . . . . . . . . . . 86
Configuring tools . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Configuring prompts . . . . . . . . . . 93
Configuring automations . . . . . . . . . . 97
Configuring triggers . . . . . . . . . . 97
Configuring procedures . . . . . . . . . 107
Configuring signals . . . . . . . . . . 115
Configuring the visual appearance of the event list 118
Creating and editing conversions . . . . . . 118
Deleting conversions . . . . . . . . . . 118
Creating and editing event severity colors for
Windows event lists . . . . . . . . . . 119
Creating and editing column visuals . . . . 120
Deleting column visuals . . . . . . . . . 121
Creating and editing classes . . . . . . . 121
Deleting classes . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Configuring ObjectServer databases, files,
properties, connections, and channels . . . . . 122
Configuring databases . . . . . . . . . 122
Viewing and changing ObjectServer properties 127
Configuring ObjectServer files . . . . . . . 128
Monitoring ObjectServer connections . . . . 130
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2011 iii

6. Configuring channels. . . . . . . . . . 130
Using the SQL interactive interface in GUI mode 131
Chapter 5. ObjectServer SQL. . . . . 135
SQL interactive interface. . . . . . . . . . 135
Starting the SQL interactive interface . . . . 136
Running SQL commands in the SQL interactive
interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Running the SQL interactive interface in secure
mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Encrypting passwords in UNIX nco_sql scripts 141
Exiting the SQL interactive interface . . . . . 141
Creating, altering, and dropping ObjectServer
objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Restriction filters . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Reserved words . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
SQL building blocks . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Querying and manipulating data using
ObjectServer SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Inserting a new row of data into a table
(INSERT command) . . . . . . . . . . 173
Updating the data in table columns (UPDATE
command) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Deleting rows of data from a table (DELETE
command) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Retrieving data from a table or view (SELECT
command) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Logging information to ObjectServer files
(WRITE INTO command) . . . . . . . . 180
Displaying details of columns in a table or view
(DESCRIBE command) . . . . . . . . . 181
Adding or updating service status data (SVC
command) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Sending IDUC notifications to IDUC clients
(IDUC FLUSH command) . . . . . . . . 182
Changing the settings of the ObjectServer (ALTER
SYSTEM command) . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Setting the default database (SET DATABASE and
USE DATABASE commands) . . . . . . . . 184
Verifying your SQL syntax (CHECK STATEMENT
command) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Creating, modifying, and deleting users, groups,
and roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Creating a user (CREATE USER command) . . 185
Modifying the details of an existing user
(ALTER USER command) . . . . . . . . 186
Deleting a user (DROP USER command) . . . 187
Creating a group (CREATE GROUP command) 187
Modifying the details of an existing group
(ALTER GROUP command) . . . . . . . 187
Deleting a group (DROP GROUP command) 188
Creating a role (CREATE ROLE command) . . 188
Modifying the description of a role (ALTER
ROLE command) . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Using roles to assign permissions to users . . . 189
Deleting a role (DROP ROLE command) . . . 195
Creating, running, and dropping procedures . . . 196
SQL procedures . . . . . . . . . . . 196
External procedures . . . . . . . . . . 204
Running procedures . . . . . . . . . . 206
Dropping procedures . . . . . . . . . . 206
Configuring automation using triggers . . . . . 206
Creating, modifying, and deleting trigger
groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Creating, modifying, and dropping triggers . . 208
Standard Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus automations 231
Automation for service-affected events . . . . 236
Automation examples . . . . . . . . . 237
Chapter 6. Configuring accelerated
event notification. . . . . . . . . . 241
Configuring a probe to flag events for acceleration 241
Configuring a gateway for accelerated event
notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Configuring the alerts.status table to receive the
AEN flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Configuring channels to broadcast event data . . 243
Creating and editing channels . . . . . . . 243
Copying and pasting channels. . . . . . . 246
Deleting a channel. . . . . . . . . . . 247
Sending messages to channel recipients. . . . 247
Disconnecting Accelerated Event Notification
clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Shutting down Accelerated Event Notification
clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Configuring triggers to support accelerated event
notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Chapter 7. Using process control to
manage processes and external
procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
How process agents connect . . . . . . . . 251
Host name resolution at startup . . . . . . 252
Process control components . . . . . . . . 253
Process agents . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Process control utilities . . . . . . . . . 254
Creating and starting a process control network
system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Before you configure process control . . . . 255
Creating UNIX user groups for the process
control system . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Windows account requirements for the process
control system . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Configuring server communication information
for process agents . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Updating the default process control
configuration file . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Manually starting process agents . . . . . . 258
Process agent security considerations . . . . 264
Automatically starting process agents on UNIX 266
iv IBM Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus: Administration Guide

7. Automatically starting process agents on
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Managing your process control system
configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Configuring and managing process control from
the command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Defining processes, services, and hosts for
process control . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Managing process control using the process
control utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Using Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator to manage
process control . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Connecting to a process agent . . . . . . . 286
Displaying and configuring status information
for a process agent . . . . . . . . . . 288
Displaying the processes and services for a
process agent . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Configuring services for a process agent . . . 290
Configuring processes . . . . . . . . . 293
Copying and pasting a service or process
between process agent hosts . . . . . . . 298
Running an external action . . . . . . . . 299
Stopping a process agent . . . . . . . . 299
Using process control to run external procedures in
automations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Chapter 8. Performance tuning . . . . 301
Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus key performance
indicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
ObjectServer key performance indicators . . . 302
Probe key performance indicators . . . . . 305
Gateway key performance indicators . . . . 306
Best practices for performance tuning . . . . . 307
Run the ObjectServer with profiling enabled . . 307
Collect statistical information about triggers . . 309
Review and revise your system architecture . . 311
Enable the stats_triggers trigger group . . . . 311
Review and revise your probe configuration
files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Configure event flood detection . . . . . . 312
Manage the volume of information in the
alerts.details table . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Use a monitoring agent to monitor and manage
Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus resources . . . . . 313
Review and amend your SQL queries, and
create a selection of well-designed, efficient
indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Track the performance trends at regular
intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
SQL query guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . 315
Optimization rules for SQL queries . . . . . 315
Indexing guidelines . . . . . . . . . . 318
Example usage of indexes with SQL queries . . 319
Example usage of indexes with triggers or
procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Best practices for creating triggers . . . . . . 321
Appendix A. ObjectServer tables . . . 327
Alerts tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
alerts.status table . . . . . . . . . . . 327
alerts.details table . . . . . . . . . . . 340
alerts.journal table . . . . . . . . . . . 341
alerts.iduc_messages table . . . . . . . . 341
alerts.application_types table . . . . . . . 342
master.class_membership table . . . . . . 342
Service tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
service.status table. . . . . . . . . . . 343
System catalog tables . . . . . . . . . . . 344
catalog.memstores table . . . . . . . . . 344
catalog.databases table . . . . . . . . . 344
catalog.tables table . . . . . . . . . . 344
catalog.base_tables table . . . . . . . . . 345
catalog.views table . . . . . . . . . . 346
catalog.files table . . . . . . . . . . . 346
catalog.restrictions table . . . . . . . . . 347
catalog.columns table. . . . . . . . . . 347
catalog.primitive_signals table . . . . . . . 347
catalog.primitive_signal_parameters table . . . 348
catalog.trigger_groups table . . . . . . . 348
catalog.triggers table . . . . . . . . . . 348
catalog.database_triggers table. . . . . . . 349
catalog.signal_triggers table . . . . . . . 350
catalog.temporal_triggers table . . . . . . 350
catalog.procedures table . . . . . . . . . 350
catalog.sql_procedures table . . . . . . . 350
catalog.external_procedures table . . . . . . 351
catalog.procedure_parameters table . . . . . 351
catalog.connections table . . . . . . . . 352
catalog.properties table . . . . . . . . . 352
catalog.security_permissions table . . . . . 352
catalog.profiles table . . . . . . . . . . 353
catalog.indexes table . . . . . . . . . . 354
Statistics tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
catalog.profiles table . . . . . . . . . . 354
master.stats table . . . . . . . . . . . 355
catalog.trigger_stats table . . . . . . . . 356
catalog.channel_stats table . . . . . . . . 356
Client tool support tables . . . . . . . . . 357
alerts.resolutions table . . . . . . . . . 357
alerts.conversions table . . . . . . . . . 358
alerts.col_visuals table . . . . . . . . . 358
alerts.colors table . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Desktop tools tables . . . . . . . . . . . 359
tools.actions table . . . . . . . . . . . 359
tools.action_access table . . . . . . . . . 360
tools.menus table . . . . . . . . . . . 361
tools.menu_items table . . . . . . . . . 361
tools.prompt_defs table . . . . . . . . . 361
tools.menu_defs table . . . . . . . . . 362
Desktop ObjectServer tables . . . . . . . . 362
master.national table . . . . . . . . . . 362
master.servergroups table . . . . . . . . 363
Security tables for backward compatibility. . . . 363
IDUC tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
iduc_system.channel table . . . . . . . . 364
iduc_system.channel_interest table . . . . . 364
iduc_system.channel_summary table . . . . 364
iduc_system.channel_summary_cols table . . . 365
iduc_system.iduc_stats table . . . . . . . 365
Service-affected events tables . . . . . . . . 365
precision.service_affecting_event table . . . . 366
Contents v

8. precision.service_details table . . . . . . . 366
precision.entity_service table . . . . . . . 366
Appendix B. SQL commands, variable
expressions, and helper buttons in
tools, automations, and transient
event lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
vi IBM Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus: Administration Guide

9. About this publication
Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus is a service level management (SLM) system that delivers
real-time, centralized monitoring of complex networks and IT domains.
The IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Administration Guide provides detailed information
about administrative tools, functions, and capabilities of Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus.
In addition, it is designed to be used as a reference guide to assist you in
designing and configuring your environment.
Intended audience
This publication is intended for administrators who are responsible for configuring
Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus.
What this publication contains
This publication contains the following sections:
v Chapter 1, “Configuring the ObjectServer,” on page 1
Describes how to configure the ObjectServer, which is the central repository for
data.
v Chapter 2, “Configuring a proxy server,” on page 35
Describes how to configure a proxy server to reduce the number of probe
connections to an ObjectServer.
v Chapter 3, “Configuring a firewall bridge server,” on page 43
Describes how to configure a firewall bridge server to allow probes to connect to
the ObjectServer from outside a secure network.
v Chapter 4, “Using Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator to configure ObjectServers,”
on page 59
Describes how to use Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator to configure and
manage ObjectServers.
v Chapter 5, “ObjectServer SQL,” on page 135
Describes the data structures of the ObjectServer and the syntax of ObjectServer
SQL.
v Chapter 6, “Configuring accelerated event notification,” on page 241
Describes how to configure Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus for accelerated event
notification of events that could present a risk to the system.
v Chapter 7, “Using process control to manage processes and external procedures,”
on page 251
Describes the components, configuration, and management utilities associated
with the Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus process control system. Also includes
information about configuring and managing process control using both
command utilities and Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator.
v Chapter 8, “Performance tuning,” on page 301
Describes how to monitor and fine tune Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus performance.
v Appendix A, “ObjectServer tables,” on page 327
Contains ObjectServer database table information.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1994, 2011 vii

10. v Appendix B, “SQL commands, variable expressions, and helper buttons in tools,
automations, and transient event lists,” on page 367
Provides reference information about common SQL commands, variable
expressions, and helper buttons that are used in tools, automations, and
transient event lists.
Publications
This section lists publications in the Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus library and related
documents. The section also describes how to access Tivoli publications online and
how to order Tivoli publications.
Your Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus library
The following documents are available in the Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus library:
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Installation and Deployment Guide, SC14-7604
Includes installation and upgrade procedures for Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus, and
describes how to configure security and component communications. The
publication also includes examples of Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus architectures and
describes how to implement them.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Administration Guide, SC14-7605
Describes how to perform administrative tasks using the Tivoli
Netcool/ OMNIbus Administrator GUI, command-line tools, and process control.
The publication also contains descriptions and examples of ObjectServer SQL
syntax and automations.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI Administration and User' s Guide, SC14-7606
Describes how to perform administrative and event visualization tasks using the
Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus Web GUI.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus User's Guide, SC14-7607
Provides an overview of the desktop tools and describes the operator tasks
related to event management using these tools.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Probe and Gateway Guide, SC14-7608
Contains introductory and reference information about probes and gateways,
including probe rules file syntax and gateway commands.
v IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Agent User' s Guide, SC14-7610
Describes how to install the health monitoring agent for Tivoli
Netcool/ OMNIbus and contains reference information about the agent.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Event Integration Facility Reference, SC14-7611
Describes how to develop event adapters that are tailored to your network
environment and the specific needs of your enterprise. This publication also
describes how to filter events at the source.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Error Messages Guide, SC14-7612
Describes system messages in Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus and how to respond to
those messages.
v IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Web GUI Administration API (WAAPI) User's Guide,
SC22-5403-00
Shows how to administer the Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus Web GUI using the XML
application programming interface named WAAPI.
viii IBM Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus: Administration Guide