Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

Transcription

1 Front cover Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery Solution to automatically install endpoint code on new workstations Implement NetView discovery-initiated scanning and distribution Learn NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager Vasfi Gucer Ashish Bahuguna Olusegun Egungbohun Paul Field Carrie Horwedel Rajesh Kannaujia ibm.com/redbooks

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3 International Technical Support Organization Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery April 2003 SG

4 Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Notices on page ix. First Edition (April 2003) This edition applies to Tivoli Management Framework Version 4.1, IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager Version 4.2, and IBM Tivoli NetView Version Copyright International Business Machines Corporation All rights reserved. Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

5 Contents Figures vii Notices ix Trademarks x Preface xi The team that wrote this redbook xi Become a published author xiii Comments welcome xiii Chapter 1. Introduction Short description of the solution Systems overview Objectives Features Benefits of the solution Tivoli management solution, Configuration Manager, and NetView.. 4 Chapter 2. High-level design and architecture Architecture overview Products used in the solution Infrastructure diagram used for testing our scenarios Step one: Discovering new nodes with NetView Discovering new nodes with NetView: Process flow Step two: Automated endpoint installation script Summary of the winstlcf command The logic the script follows Automated endpoint installation script: Process flow Step three: Automated inventory scans Configuring inventory profiles or using scripts to create profiles Inventory scan scenario using Activity Planner Brief overview of Activity Planner Distributing a scan using the command line interface Step four: Extending the solution Creating a software distribution package Distributing a software package using Activity Planner Distributing a software package using the command line interface NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. iii

6 Chapter 3. Implementation Discovery of nodes by NetView Prerequisites to discover the nodes with NetView Summary of steps to discover nodes with NetView Tivoli management agent installation on discovered nodes Tivoli management agent installation prerequisites Summary of steps to install Tivoli management agent on nodes Inventory scan on nodes with Tivoli management agent installed Inventory scan prerequisites for nodes Summary of inventory scan steps Software Distribution and Inventory details Software Distribution and Inventory prerequisites Software Distribution and Inventory steps Chapter 4. Installation, configuration, and administration Installation sequence Tivoli Management Region server RDBMS host RIM host IBM Tivoli NetView NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager Source host Gateways and depots Setting up your environment: Installing the solution Configuration UNIX scenario: Configuration and script execution Windows NT scenario: Configuration and script execution Tivoli policy regions, profile managers, and tasks Administration and troubleshooting Troubleshooting the scripts Generic problem determination outline Troubleshooting Tivoli Management Framework Version Troubleshooting Software Distribution Troubleshooting Inventory Chapter 5. NetView Integration Module implementation and scenarios NetView Integration Module components NetView Integration Module component list Installing NetView Integration Module components Using IBM Tivoli Network Diagnostics for Configuration Manager Accessing Network Diagnostics from the command line interface Accessing Network Diagnostics from the NetView console Configuring and using Tivoli Discovery from NetView iv Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

7 5.5.1 Configuring Tivoli Discovery Displaying your Tivoli environment Generating reports Configuring and using Tivoli Wake on LAN IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager Installing the IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Module components Installing IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Adapter Installing IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Module Installing RDBMS tables and views Creating the NetView Inventory query library Using IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Module Tivoli Inventory schema additions Chapter 6. Extending the solution and best practices Possible extensions of the solution Best practices Definition Strategy Scope Appendix A. Scripts used in this publication rk_first.sh rk_second.sh rk_third.sh rk_fourth.sh Appendix B. Additional material Locating the Web material Using the Web material System requirements for downloading the Web material How to use the Web material Abbreviations and acronyms Related publications IBM Redbooks Other resources How to get IBM Redbooks IBM Redbooks collections Index Contents v

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9 Figures 2-1 Our Tivoli infrastructure for the scenarios Discovering new nodes with NetView: Process flow Automated endpoint installation script: Process flow The script checks the exclusion list before proceeding Script execution Endpoint statistics for the newly installed endpoint Output from an inventory query for unep The nv_exclude.lst file Output from an inventory query for endpoint unep Activity Planner showing New_Endpoint_Scan plan Activity Plan Monitor showing the successful inventory scan Endpoint statistics for the newly installed node Activity Plan for Endpoint_SWD Activity Plan Monitor showing successful installation Tivoli environment used in the scenarios Install Product selection Select Product to Install list Clients to Install On list Successful installation message NetView Report example Select Product to Install list Start the installation Successful installation message Policy Region window Set Managed Resources dialog box Profile Manager window Create Profile dialog box New profile icon NetView Inventory Profile dialog box Add Entry to NetView Inventory Profile dialog box NetView Inventory Profile: Objects To Export list Distribute Profile dialog box Add Scheduled Job dialog box NETVIEW_QUERIES dialog box Extension of the solution to IBM Tivoli Monitoring Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. vii

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11 Notices This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A. IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user's responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-ibm product, program, or service. IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to: IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, North Castle Drive Armonk, NY U.S.A. The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice. Any references in this information to non-ibm Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk. IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. Information concerning non-ibm products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-ibm products. Questions on the capabilities of non-ibm products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products. This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business enterprise is entirely coincidental. COPYRIGHT LICENSE: This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrates programming techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM for the purposes of developing, using, marketing, or distributing application programs conforming to IBM's application programming interfaces. Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. ix

12 Trademarks The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both: AIX 5L AIX AS/400 DB2 IBM ibm.com NetView OS/2 OS/390 OS/400 Redbooks Redbooks (logo) RS/6000 Tivoli Tivoli Enterprise Tivoli Enterprise Console Wake on LAN WebSphere The following terms are trademarks of other companies: ActionMedia, LANDesk, MMX, Pentium and ProShare are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both. C-bus is a trademark of Corollary, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. SET, SET Secure Electronic Transaction, and the SET Logo are trademarks owned by SET Secure Electronic Transaction LLC. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. x Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

13 Preface This IBM Redbook describes a solution to provide readers with the ability to automatically install endpoint code and perform inventory scans and required software distributions on new workstations that have been discovered by IBM Tivoli NetView, reducing the time and effort it takes to manually gather and maintain current information in a distributed environment. Using IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager Version 4.2 and NetView Version 7.1.3, this solution will benefit the reader by providing reliability, potential cost reduction, and rapid time-to-value incentives, which free up administrators and allow them to focus on actual IT needs. To get a common understanding of the solution, we provide an overview of the high-level design and architecture, including the different customer environments where this solution can be applied, followed by implementation, scenarios, and extending the solution. This IBM Redbook also covers the IBM Tivoli NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager (formerly called Tivoli Integration Pack for NetView, TIPN) implementation and scenarios. This publication will assist customer and business partners support staff and managers, and IBM systems engineers who are involved in Tivoli sales or implementation services in general. The team that wrote this redbook This redbook was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization, Austin Center. Vasfi Gucer is an IBM Certified IT Specialist working at the ITSO, Austin Center. He worked with IBM Turkey for 10 years and has been with the ITSO since January He has more than 10 years experience in systems management, networking hardware, and distributed platform software. He has worked on various Tivoli customer projects as a Systems Architect in Turkey and the U.S. Vasfi is also a Certified Tivoli Consultant. Ashish Bahuguna has been working for IBM Global Services, India for three years and is currently working as an IT Specialist in Tivoli Services within the IBM Strategic Outsourcing group. He has extensive experience in large deployments of IBM Tivoli product suites. He holds a B.S. in Electronics and Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. xi

14 Telecommunications Engineering and has five years experience in systems management, networking hardware, and distributed platform software. He is an IBM Tivoli Certified and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and holds two IBM Patent Awards. Olusegun Egungbohun is an IT Analyst with Softworks Limited in Nigeria, specializing in the design, implementation, and support of enterprise management and security systems. He has over six years IT experience covering networking, systems management, administration, and support. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and Economics, and he is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA). Paul Field is an IT Specialist from Johannesburg, South Africa. He joined the Server Systems Operations division of IBM Global Services in January 2000, as a part of the IBM graduate recruitment program. He has worked in the Tivoli Technical Infrastructure team in South Africa for the past two years and has experience in systems management, administration, and support. He supports the core suite of Tivoli Systems management products, as well as performing Windows and AIX system administration functions. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, with majors in Information Systems and Accounting. Carrie Horwedel has eight years project management experience, distinguished by a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Her broad experience includes managing multiple software and manufacturing projects, as well as consulting on project management methodology. She previously worked as a Program Manager for the Tivoli Framework group before her arrival to the ITSO, Austin Center as a Project Leader supporting IBM Tivoli products. Rajesh Kannaujia is currently working as a Deputy Manager (IIS Projects) with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), India. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science and has more than 12 years experience in the IT field. For the past three years, his team has been involved with the implementation and administration of an Enterprise Systems Management (ESM) solution at BCPL using IBM Tivoli solutions. Before working with ESM projects, he worked as a INGRES DBA and UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT Exchange Administrator, as well as designing, developing, and implementing the various in-house applications in UNIX shell scripts, Ingres, COBOL, and ISP with DB2 and SQL 7. Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project: Elizabeth Barnes, Stephen Hochstetler International Technical Support Organization, Austin Center xii Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

15 Debbie Bandera, Patrick Davis, Dave Ertl, Mark Fantacone, Craig Lawton, Jonathan Lewis, Mike Mallo, Christopher Peters, Lorin Ullmann, Brian Vassberg, John Whitfield IBM U.S. Become a published author Join us for a two- to six-week residency program! Help write an IBM Redbook dealing with specific products or solutions, while getting hands-on experience with leading-edge technologies. You'll team with IBM technical professionals, Business Partners and/or customers. Your efforts will help increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction. As a bonus, you'll develop a network of contacts in IBM development labs, and increase your productivity and marketability. Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at: ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html Comments welcome Your comments are important to us! We want our Redbooks to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments about this or other Redbooks in one of the following ways: Use the online Contact us review redbook form found at: ibm.com/redbooks Send your comments in an Internet note to: redbook@us.ibm.com Mail your comments to: IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization Dept. JN9B Building 003 Internal Zip Burnet Road Austin, Texas Preface xiii

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17 1 Chapter 1. Introduction The solution covered in this IBM Redbook is designed to automatically install endpoint code and do inventory scans on new workstations discovered by IBM Tivoli NetView. This solution is based on IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager Version 4.2 and NetView Version This redbook will also cover the NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager component (formerly called Tivoli Integration Pack for NetView, TIPN) implementation and scenarios. The solution described in this book can also be applied to other IBM Tivoli products, such as IBM Tivoli Monitoring, where it will automatically start monitoring new workstations. In this chapter, we discuss the following topics: Short description of the solution Systems overview Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. 1

18 1.1 Short description of the solution Automated installation of endpoint code and inventory scanning on newly discovered endpoints is a highly desired functionality by Tivoli customers worldwide. The solution described in this book provides this requested functionality. In today s IT environment, it is critical to keep your servers, workstations, and other devices up-to-date in terms of software system levels in order to comply with the ever-changing requirements of your business. Using traditional methods to install endpoint code and assess inventory, you must travel to each system, install the code, write down the software and hardware inventory information you collect, and enter the information into a spreadsheet or database program. When users upgrade software and hardware, you must update the spreadsheet or database. This method is time-consuming and difficult to keep current. As a result, administrators and accounting personnel cannot automatically reuse inventory information to perform system and software upgrades and management tasks. However, with the Inventory component, gathering and maintaining up-to-date inventory information in a distributed environment is quick, accurate, and easy. By this automated process, manual intervention is reduced to the barest minimum, freeing administrators and IT staff from mundane tasks to concentrate on actual IT needs. 1.2 Systems overview Objectives In this section, we provide an overview of the solution. We cover the following topics: Objectives Features Benefits of the solution Tivoli management solution, Configuration Manager, and NetView Our objectives are to provide an automated solution with the following features: Capable of installing endpoint code on newly discovered workstations Capable of doing an inventory scan on these workstations 2 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

19 Scalable in medium or large customer sites Reliable Rapid installation Customizable for additional requirements or future enhancements Use of standard IBM Tivoli desktop and products Features The solution can be used as a plug-in-and-operate component. The solution was designed to provide the following features: Easy installation Customizable for future enhancements Use of standard Tivoli products and procedures Independent of product database schema changes Use of standard RDBMS Interface Module (RIM) access to databases available in previous versions of Tivoli products Benefits of the solution Enterprises are becoming more demanding and require faster and more diverse deployment, change, and asset management in order to achieve their goals. This solution is the answer to helping businesses keep up with demanding deployment and asset issues. Some of the benefits to be derived by applying this solution include: Reliability Under administrator control, the system will bring new devices under management and do the appropriate inventory scan for each machine and operating system. Manual intervention is reduced to a minimum. Cost reduction Again, by reducing the amount of manual intervention and freeing administrators from mundane tasks, the IT staff is able to concentrate efforts on actual IT needs. Rapid time-to-value The solution may be used as a plug-in-and-operate component by automatically and continuously adjusting your environment to comply with your time-to-change and cost-to-change requirements. Chapter 1. Introduction 3

20 1.2.4 Tivoli management solution, Configuration Manager, and NetView The following sections provide a brief description of the Tivoli management solution, IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager, and IBM Tivoli NetView. Tivoli management solution Tivoli enterprise management solution provides a consistent management interface to different operating systems and services. It enables administrators to manage users, systems, databases, networks, and applications from one interface and provides a streamlined way to automate and delegate routine, time-consuming tasks. Tivoli consists of an underlying infrastructure known as Tivoli Management Framework and a growing set of Tivoli and third-party management applications that can utilize this framework to manage heterogeneous systems and applications in a consistent manner. Because it uses object technology, the distributed object framework performs the same functions in the same way on platforms with different operating systems (UNIX, Windows NT, OS/390, OS/2, NetWare, and so forth). The basic Tivoli environment employs a three-tiered architecture that consists of the Tivoli server (Tivoli Management Region), managed nodes, and endpoints. The Tivoli server and managed nodes are created by installing Tivoli Management Framework. Endpoints are created by installing endpoint services and select Tivoli Management Framework software on a system. A single system can be the host for a managed node, a gateway, a repeater, and multiple endpoints. When these managed resources are installed in your distributed network, they become your Tivoli environment. See the IBM Redbook An Introduction to Tivoli Enterprise, SG for further details. IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager, Version 4.2, is a solution for controlling software distribution and asset management inventory in a multiplatform environment. It focuses on deploying and managing software in complex, distributed enterprise environments. IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager is a key solution to rapidly and efficiently deploying complex mission-critical or desktop productivity applications to multiple locations from a central point and to gather and maintain the inventory information about hardware and software assets, easily, quickly, and accurately. Tivoli Configuration Manager consists the following main components: Inventory Software Distribution 4 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

21 Software Distribution enables you to install, configure, and update software remotely within your network. Inventory enables you to gather and maintain up-to-date inventory asset management information in a distributed environment. This aids system administrators and accounting personnel to manage complex, distributed enterprises. Tivoli Configuration Manager also provides the following services: Activity Planner Change Manager Resource Manager Web Interface Enterprise Directory Query Facility Activity Planner enables you to define a group of activities that originate from different applications in an activity plan, submit or schedule the plan for running, and monitor the plan while it runs. Change Manager functions with Activity Planner to support software distribution, inventory, and change management in large networks. It uses reference models to simplify the management of the network environment. You can use Resource Manager, together with Software Distribution and Inventory, to perform the management operations for pervasive devices. Resource Manager is installed on a Tivoli server and on the gateways. You can use the Web Interface to install and manage various Tivoli Configuration Manager Web objects. The Web Interface has a server component that pushes software packages, inventory profiles, and reference models from the Tivoli region to the Web Gateway where they are stored until they are pulled by the Web Interface endpoint. With enterprise directory integration, you can exploit organizational information that is stored in enterprise directories in order to determine a set of targets for a software distribution or an inventory scan. The Enterprise Directory Query Facility enables you to select a specific directory object, or container of directory objects, as subscribers for a reference model or an activity plan. Our main focus in this book, however, is on the Inventory component of IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager. Chapter 1. Introduction 5

22 Components used by Inventory Inventory relies on the following components to collect and store information: The Tivoli Management Region server, which is responsible for issuing scan requests to the target systems. The Inventory application, which includes both the graphical user interface (GUI) components and the command line interface (CLI) utilities. The Inventory gateway application, which allows a managed node to act as a gateway for distributing inventory profiles to endpoints. The relational database management system (RDBMS) server and the configuration repository in the RDBMS. The configuration repository is the RDBMS that contains the schema (tables and columns) in which software and hardware inventory information is stored. The configuration repository schema provides a structure for storing information collected during an inventory scan. The RDBMS interface module (RIM) host, which enables Inventory to communicate with an RDBMS. One or more RIM objects, which connect Inventory to the RDBMS for access to the configuration repository. You can configure multiple RIM objects to write Scalable Collection Service (SCS) data in parallel to the configuration repository. The Web Gateway component, if you plan to distribute scans to pervasive devices or allow users to perform inventory scans using the Web Interface. SCS uses the following components for Inventory collections: Repeater sites organized into a repeater hierarchy. Repeater sites are systems that use the multiplexed distribution (MDist 2) service. MDist 2 parameters control the way that information is distributed throughout a Tivoli environment. A repeater hierarchy is the order in which information flows from one repeater to the next and then to the targets of the distributed data. SCS uses a collector hierarchy that mirrors the MDist 2 repeater hierarchy. SCS sends data upstream through this hierarchy, in the opposite direction of MDist 2 distributions. (See the Tivoli Management Framework Planning for Deployment Guide Version 4.1, GC for more information about configuring a repeater hierarchy.) 6 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

23 Collectors, which are repeater sites on which SCS has been installed. Specifically, a collector is an SCS daemon process on either a managed node or gateway that stores and then forwards data to other collectors or to the inventory data handler. This guide refers to any managed node as a collector if SCS has been installed on the node and the node is part of the repeater hierarchy. Collectors are composed of the following components: The depot, which persistently stores data that has been collected from scan targets or other collectors. The queues, which hold the collection table of contents (CTOCs). CTOCs contain, among other things, the name and size of the data file and the source and destination of the collected data. The input queue controls the order in which CTOCs are processed for collection. The output queue controls the order of the CTOCs as they are sent out from the collector. The completed, deferred, and error queues hold CTOCs for completed and deferred data collection and error conditions, respectively. A multithreaded scheduler daemon, which processes input and output queues and controls data flow through the collector depot. A collection manager, which maintains the collector hierarchy based on repeater hierarchy information obtained from the MDist 2 repeater manager. An inventory data handler, which is the Inventory object that receives data from collectors and sends the data to one or more RIM objects. The inventory data handler can be considered the final collector in an Inventory system. Like collectors, the inventory data handler has a depot and queues. However, the inventory data handler decompresses and decodes the data and sends it to one or more RIM objects rather than requesting collection from an upstream collector. The status collector, which collects, stores, and distributes status information for each target in a scan. You can configure the status collector to keep lists of completed scans, successful scans, failed scans, and error messages. The status collector maintains this information throughout the scan, so scan status information is available during the scan. The status collector is installed on the same managed node as the inventory data handler. If that node fails and is restarted, status information tracked by the status collector is automatically restored. The inventory callback object, which performs the following functions: When inventory data cannot be collected using the collector hierarchy, MDist 2 sends the data to the inventory callback object, which sends it to the inventory data handler. The data is then sent through one or more RIM objects to the configuration repository. Chapter 1. Introduction 7

24 For endpoint scans, MDist 2 sends a status message to the inventory callback object indicating whether it successfully delivered the inventory profile to the target. This message indicates only that the endpoint processed the profile, not that the scan data successfully reached the configuration repository. A pervasive callback object. For pervasive device scans, MDist 2 sends a status message to a special pervasive callback object. This message indicates only whether the job for the devices to be scanned was created successfully on the Web Gateway component; the data is not sent through one or more RIM objects to the configuration repository until a device actually connects to the Web Gateway component and a scan occurs. IBM Tivoli NetView In today's computing environments, network management is of strategic importance. IBM Tivoli NetView extends traditional network management to ensure the availability of critical business systems and to provide rapid resolution of problems. NetView is a scalable, comprehensive, distributed network solution that helps provide you with the flexibility to manage mission-critical networks. It helps ensure availability of critical business systems and rapid problem resolution. IBM Tivoli NetView discovers TCP/IP networks, displays network topologies, correlates and manages events and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, monitors network health, and gathers performance data. Tivoli NetView meets the needs of managers of large networks by providing the scalability and flexibility to manage mission-critical environments. IBM Tivoli NetView accomplishes these through its functionality, including: Policy-based management With IBM Tivoli NetView SmartSets, you can group network resources that require similar management and apply policies to these groups. As a result, you can manage a set of resources as though it were a single device. With SmartSets, you can group resources by type, location, vendor, services offered, or other characteristics. For example, you can create a SmartSet containing Cisco routers and then develop a policy requiring these routers to have CPU utilization collected every 30 minutes. As new devices are discovered and added to the SmartSet, policies can automatically extend to include them. As a result, CPU utilization can be automatically collected against these new devices. 8 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

25 Integration with leading vendors such as Cisco To help manage your expanding network, IBM Tivoli NetView integrates with CiscoWorks2000 and provides the device configuration to help efficiently manage Cisco devices. The IBM Tivoli NetView Java Web console and CiscoWorks2000 work together to help simplify the management, configuration, and availability of Cisco equipment in a distributed, heterogeneous environment. Automated event response Tivoli NetView uses a rules-based event correlation engine that graphically constructs guidelines to implement business policies, and it can help diagnose root problems without reporting all symptomatic events. It can manage events locally or centrally, or by propagating them to other Tivoli applications, such as IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console, for advanced event correlation. In addition, Tivoli NetView can handle a variety of actions when responding to events and exceeded thresholds, including paging, , and programmable responses to specific failures. Router fault isolation Router fault isolation is a root-cause analysis feature built in to Tivoli NetView. In the event of a serious network problem, router fault isolation can immediately focus on the failing device and mark affected network regions as unreachable. In response, Tivoli NetView can reduce networking polling of the affected networks, potentially reducing overall event traffic. Without a router fault isolation feature, customizing this function could be expensive and time-consuming. This feature can help simplify root-cause analysis of network failures. Network topology management TCP/IP networks are more complex than ever. Technologies, such as MPLS, Hot Standby Router Protocol by Cisco, and unnumbered serial interfaces, allow for greater network flexibility while also presenting greater network management challenges. In supporting these technologies, Tivoli NetView can help you manage and represent complex topologies and provide accurate status information. In addition, networks often consist of a wide variety of devices, such as hubs, routers, bridges, switches, workstations, PCs, laptops, and printers. With NetView, you can choose which of these devices to manage. Many network management platforms let you exclude a node from being managed, but NetView further enables you to specify which nodes, device types, or address ranges to include or exclude. It can help you focus on your most important devices, and the most important information about those devices. Chapter 1. Introduction 9

26 Widely available management With its scalable design, the IBM Tivoli NetView Web console lets you observe network activity from many locations. Using the Web console, you can view events, node status, and SmartSets and also perform network diagnostics, such as ping, traceroute, demand poll, nongraphical generated Management Information Base (MIB) application, and MIB browser. Distributed network management Tivoli NetView offers flexibility in a distributed environment. With IBM Tivoli NetView Mid-Level Manager, you can distribute management functions to remote locations that cannot support full-scale management. It can perform status polling, threshold setting, event automation, and automatic detection of new or deleted devices. Tivoli NetView Mid-Level Manager also can help minimize administrative overhead and avoid the need for dedicated management systems throughout the network. The NetView Web browser interface lets users view network information from any supported Web browser. NetView also can be configured to operate in a regional mode. When set up this way, NetView can manage a local region, such as a campus or building, and forward selected information to a central NetView server. This can enable local management to handle most problems, while staff members in the network operations center monitor critical systems. It also can enable management in regions where SNMP and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic cannot flow (such as the DMZ). Integration with Tivoli Enterprise products IBM Tivoli NetView can be used by itself to provide network management capabilities, or it can be integrated with other Tivoli Enterprise products for extended capabilities. For example, integration with IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console lets you consolidate and perform correlation against enterprise events, including network events. With Tivoli Inventory, network device information can be added to the Tivoli Inventory database. 10 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

27 2 Chapter 2. High-level design and architecture This chapter provides a high-level design and architure overview of the proposed solution. We also describe the products used, how they were configured, and the scripts we created to achieve the solution. In this chapter, we discuss the scenarios that we used for the solution in this book, and we also cover the necessary checks before implementing the solution in your environment. In this chapter, we discuss the following topics: Architecture overview Step one: Discovering new nodes with NetView Step two: Automated endpoint installation script Step three: Automated inventory scans Step four: Extending the solution NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager Copyright IBM Corp All rights reserved. 11

28 2.1 Architecture overview To cover the broadest possible customer scenarios, we approached the design and testing on the two most common platforms, UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT. Obviously, the solution we provide will be deployable on both these platforms, so no script alteration is needed, provided you have the prerequisite products installed Products used in the solution Table 2-1 gives you an idea of the products we used to formulate the solution. Table 2-1 Tivoli products Tivoli products Tivoli Management Framework Product level and comments Version or later. IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager Version 4.2. IBM Tivoli NetView NetView Integration Module for Configuration Manager (packaged with IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager) RDBMS Version 7.1 or later is recommended. Formally known as Tivoli Integration Pack for NetView (TIPN). Any supported relational database management system Infrastructure diagram used for testing our scenarios The diagram illustrated in Figure 2-1 on page 13 represents the infrastructure we used for testing the solution. 12 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

29 Our Tivoli Infrastructure for the Scenarios Tivoli Management Region Server (UNIX) NetView Managed Node (Windows NT) Gateway Endpoint Two-way interconnection Tivoli Management Region Server (Windows NT) Database Server RIM Host IBM Tivoli Configuration Manger NetView Integration Module Managed Node (NT) NetView NetView Integration Module Database Client Gateway Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint Figure 2-1 Our Tivoli infrastructure for the scenarios Stage one: IP address and operating system from NetView The solution was broken down into three identifiable components. The first stage was the NetView component. This entailed using certain NetView commands to query the NetView database to obtain IP addresses of newly discovered nodes along with the operating system type if the node was SNMP enabled. Stage two: Automatically installing the endpoint agent After the IP address and operating system type is determined, this information is parsed through to the second stage. We describe this stage as the automated endpoint installation process. Depending on the SNMP agent type, we attempt to install the endpoint code. Stage three: Distributing inventory and software profiles Now, we proceed to stage three: automated inventory, software distributions, or any other product distributions you want to add, for example, a distributed monitoring profile. We provide two options. The first option uses the functionality of Activity Planner (a component of IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager) to make Chapter 2. High-level design and architecture 13

30 the necessary distributions. The second option assumes that Activity Planner is not installed and, therefore, uses the command line functionality for distributions of your inventory and software profiles. 2.2 Step one: Discovering new nodes with NetView The script involved in this stage uses the NetView auto discovery node feature to query the NetView object database, using inherent NetView command line functions, as explained in Chapter 3, Implementation on page 25. Note: The scripts that make up the solution are provided on an AS IS basis in Appendix A, Scripts used in this publication on page 143. You can also download the scripts from the IBM redbooks site. See Appendix B, Additional material on page 163 for instructions about how to download the scripts Discovering new nodes with NetView: Process flow Figure 2-2 on page 15 shows a process flow diagram for the first stage in the Tivoli management agent (TMA) installation. 14 Implementing Automated Inventory Scanning and Software Distribution After Auto Discovery

31 Administrator input Step one in automated Tivoli management agent installation Exclusion list Yes, valid device Check exclusion list Excluded? Yes, do not proceed, exit No, proceed Check object database if previously installed Yes, update log file Installed? Obtain IP from NetView and MIB value if possible IP/MIB value valid? No, proceed to TMA installation script No, not valid OS type Yes, update log file Check exclusion list Excluded? No, proceed Yes, do not proceed, exit Check object database if previously installed Installed? No, proceed to OS detection script Figure 2-2 Discovering new nodes with NetView: Process flow Devices are either SNMP enabled or not. If the community names have been set correctly for your environment, NetView will keep track of this information in its object database. As previously noted, NetView will discover nodes that are SNMP enabled and non-snmp enabled. The challenge is to separate out the non-snmp devices from the SNMP devices, as well as determine the operating system types if possible. By running an ovobjprint command, we can pull out all the SNMP agents that are present in the NetView environment. Based on this result, we can dynamically build our queries, according to the types of SNMP agents discovered. Now that we have a list of SNMP agent types, we mapped them to operating system types using a lookup table (provided with the scripts). Chapter 2. High-level design and architecture 15