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BMC Remedy Health Advisor 1.0.00

BMC Remedy Health Advisor Guide

July 2012

If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Design and Development by email at [email protected].

Contacting BMC Software

You can access the BMC Software website at http://www.bmc.com. From this website, you can obtain information about the company, its products, corporate offices, special events, and career opportunities.

United States and Canada

Address BMC SOFTWARE INC2101 CITYWEST BLVDHOUSTON TX 77042-2827 USA

Telephone 713 918 8800 or800 841 2031

Fax 713 918 8000

Outside United States and Canada

Telephone (01) 713 918 8800 Fax (01) 713 918 8000

© Copyright 2012 BMC Software, Inc.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

UNIX is the registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries.

The information included in this documentation is the proprietary and confidential information of BMC Software, Inc., its affiliates, or licensors. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable End User License agreement for the product and to the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in the product documentation.

Restricted rights legendU.S. Government Restricted Rights to Computer Software. UNPUBLISHED -- RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. Use, duplication, or disclosure of any data and computer software by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions, as applicable, set forth in FAR Section 52.227-14, DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227-7014, DFARS 252.227-7015, and DFARS 252.227-7025, as amended from time to time. Contractor/Manufacturer is BMC Software, Inc., 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042-2827, USA. Any contract notices should be sent to this address.

http://www.bmc.com

mailto:[email protected]

Customer Support

You can obtain technical support by using the Support page on the BMC Software website or by contacting Customer Support by telephone or email. To expedite your inquiry, please see “Before Contacting BMC Software.”

Support website

You can obtain technical support from BMC Software 24 hours a day, 7 days a week athttp://www.bmc.com/support. From this website, you can:

■ Read overviews about support services and programs that BMC Software offers.■ Find the most current information about BMC Software products.■ Search a database for problems similar to yours and possible solutions.■ Order or download product documentation.■ Report a problem or ask a question.■ Subscribe to receive email notices when new product versions are released.■ Find worldwide BMC Software support center locations and contact information, including email addresses, fax

numbers, and telephone numbers.

Support by telephone or email

In the United States and Canada, if you need technical support and do not have access to the Web, call 800 537 1813 or send an email message to [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:<yourSupportContractID>, such as SupID:12345.) Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

Before contacting BMC Software

Have the following information available so that Customer Support can begin working on your issue immediately:

■ Product information

— Product name— Product version (release number)— License number and password (trial or permanent)

■ Operating system and environment information

— Machine type— Operating system type, version, and service pack— System hardware configuration— Serial numbers— Related software (database, application, and communication) including type, version, and service pack or

maintenance level

■ Sequence of events leading to the problem

■ Commands and options that you used

■ Messages received (and the time and date that you received them)

— Product error messages— Messages from the operating system, such as file system full— Messages from related software

http://www.bmc.com/support



License key and password information

If you have a question about your license key or password, contact Customer Support through one of the following methods:

■ E-mail [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:<yourSupportContractID>, such as SupID:12345.)

■ In the United States and Canada, call 800 537 1813. Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

■ Submit a new issue at http://www.bmc.com/support.



Contents

Preface 7

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7AR System documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 1 About BMC Remedy Health Advisor 11

What is Health Advisor?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Health Advisor architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Health Advisor client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Health Advisor server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Plugins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Health Advisor key functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14AR System server monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Data security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Events and alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16AR System server licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18AR Server server statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Health Advisor console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Reporting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2 Onboarding and installing Health Advisor 21

Onboarding overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Installing the Health Advisor client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Before you start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Running the installer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Locating installed Health Advisor client files for UNIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Changing the monitored server password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Uninstalling Health Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Uninstalling a Health Advisor client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Manually removing the Health Advisor client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 3 Using the Health Advisor console 31

Health Advisor console overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Console tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Server Status list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Contents 5

Server states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Events tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Filtering events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Ignoring events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Closing events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Subscribing to events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Viewing or modifying a subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Removing a subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Reports tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Configuration tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Enabling or disabling a plugin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Servers tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Server Information list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Scheduling Downtime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Audit tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Searching audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Viewing audit items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 4 Using Health Advisor Reports 49

Finding reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Accessing any report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Accessing specific reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Running reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Completing the Parameter dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Creating reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Viewing report results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Exporting reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 5 Maintaining Health Advisor 61

Maintance for customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Changing the account password in the client configuration file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

6 BMC Remedy Health Advisor Guide

Preface

This guide discusses the installation and use of the BMC Remedy Health Advisor application. It also discusses the use of Health Advisor reports.

NOTE For the 1.0.00 release, the BMC Remedy Health Advisor application is available only in the English language.

AudienceThis guide is written for customers whose internal IT service provider or external service provider has deployed BMC Remedy Health Advisor.

AR System documents The following table lists documentation available for AR System 7.6.04.

Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format is available on AR System product installation DVDs, on the Customer Support website (http://www.bmc.com/support), or both.

You can access product help through each product’s Help menu or by clicking Help links.

Title Description Audience

Concepts Guide1 Overview of AR System architecture and features; includes information about add-on products that extend AR System functionality and a comprehensive glossary for the entire AR System documentation set.

Everyone

Installation Guide Instructions for installing AR System. AdministratorsIntroduction to Application Development with BMC Remedy Developer Studio

Information about the development of AR System applications, including an introduction to using BMC Remedy Developer Studio.

Developers2

Form and Application Objects Guide

Information about AR System applications and their user interface components, including forms, fields, views, menus, and images.

Developers

Preface 7



Workflow Objects Guide Information about the AR System workflow objects (active links, filters, and escalations) and how to use them to create processes that enforce business rules.

Developers

Configuration Guide Information about configuring AR System servers and clients, localizing, importing and exporting data, and archiving data.

Administrators

BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide Information about configuring the mid tier, setting up applications for the mid tier, and using applications in browsers.

Administrators

Integration Guide Instructions for integrating AR System with external systems by using web services, plug-ins, and other products, including LDAP, OLE, and ARDBC.

Administrators/Developers/Programmers3

Optimizing and Troubleshooting Guide

Information about monitoring and maintaining AR System and AR System applications to optimize performance and solve problems.

Administrators/Developers/Programmers

Database Reference Database administration topics and rules related to how AR System interacts with specific databases; includes an overview of the data dictionary tables.

Administrators/Developers/Programmers

BMC Remedy Distributed Server Option Guide

Information about implementing a distributed AR System server environment with BMC Remedy Distributed Server Option (DSO).

Administrators

BMC Remedy Flashboards Guide

Instructions for creating, modifying, and administering flashboards to display and monitor AR System information.

Administrators/Developers

C API Reference Information about AR System data structures, C API function calls, and OLE support.

Programmers

C API Quick Reference Quick reference to C API function calls. ProgrammersJava API Information about Oracle Java classes, methods, and

variables that integrate with AR System. For the location of the JAR file containing this online documentation, see the information about the Java API in the Integration Guide.

Programmers

Java Plug-in API Information about Java classes, methods, and variables used to write plug-ins for AR System. For the location of the JAR file containing this online documentation, see the information about plug-ins in the Integration Guide.

Programmers

BMC Remedy Email Engine Guide

Instructions for configuring and using BMC Remedy Email Engine.

Administrators

Error Messages Guide Descriptions of AR System error messages. Administrators/Developers/Programmers

Master Index Combined index of all books. EveryoneBMC Remedy Approval Server Guide

Instructions for using BMC Remedy Approval Server to automate approval and signature processes in your organization.

Administrators

Release Notes Information about new features, compatibility, and international issues.

Everyone



AR System documents

1 The full title of each guide includes BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 (forexample, BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.6.04 Concepts Guide), except theBMC Remedy Migrator Guide and BMC Remedy Encryption Security Guide.2 Application developers who use BMC Remedy Developer Studio.3 C and Java programmers who write plug-ins and clients for AR System.

Release Notes with Known Issues

Information about new features, compatibility, international issues, installation planning, and open issues.

Everyone

BMC Remedy Developer Studio Help

Instructions for using BMC Remedy Developer Studio to develop AR System forms, workflow objects, and applications.

Developers

BMC Remedy Data Import Help

Instructions for using BMC Remedy Data Import. Administrators

BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool Help

Instructions for configuring BMC Remedy Mid Tier. Administrators

BMC Remedy Browser Help

Instructions for using AR System forms in browsers. Everyone

BMC Remedy Migrator 7.6.04 BMC Remedy Migrator Guide

Outlines procedures for installing BMC Remedy Migrator, setting options, and performing migration tasks.

Administrators / Developers

BMC Remedy Migrator online help

Procedures for setting BMC Remedy Migrator options and performing migration tasks.

Administrators / Developers

BMC Remedy Encryption Security 7.6.04 BMC Remedy Encryption Security Guide

Provides an overview of the BMC Remedy Encryption Security products and explains how to install and configure them.

Administrators


Preface 9

Chapter

1
About BMC Remedy Health Advisor
This section introduces BMC Remedy Health Advisor, and describes its architecture and key functions.

The following topics are provided:What is Health Advisor? (page 12)Health Advisor architecture (page 12)Health Advisor key functions (page 14)Health Advisor console (page 19)Reporting (page 20)



What is Health Advisor?Health Advisor is a tool that monitors different aspects of the deployment, configuration, execution and utilization of the BMC Remedy Action Request System (AR System) servers.

The real-time monitoring capability of Health Advisor helps maintain and optimize the overall health and performance of a monitored AR System server. This monitoring capability facilitates proactive prevention and corrective measures.

Health Advisor architectureHealth Advisor is based on a client/server architecture, which includes the Health Advisor server and Health Advisor client.

Figure 1-1: Health Advisor architecture

Health Advisor clientThe Health Advisor client is a Java application running in your environments. It runs on the same machine as the AR System server. The client periodically wakes up, performs monitoring operations, reports results back to the Health Advisor server via a SOAP/HTTP-based web service, and then sleeps until the next operation.


Health Advisor architecture

The client performs the following managing operations:

Periodic sign of activity to the AR System server

Verify server responds to clients

Collect email engine configuration settings

Collect arerror.log content

Collect entry count within a given form

Monitor pending application records

Collect license usage and user session information

Collect BMC Remedy AR System server statistics

Health Advisor is based on a plugin architecture, which allows for the addition of new capabilities.

Health Advisor serverThe Health Advisor server primarily consists of a BMC Remedy AR System application with integration to BMC Remedy ITSM Incident Management.

The Health Advisor server provides the following main functions:

Report interface—A web-based interface that presents the collected results on demand.

Client commands—The Health Advisor server publishes commands to the clients via web services. The clients execute the commands and return information back to the Health Advisor server.

Service Provider console—A BMC Remedy Mid Tier interface enabling the management of AR System server information, alerts, commands, and support tasks.

PluginsEvery function that a Health Advisor client can perform is implemented as a plugin. This includes the core processes of checking for new commands from the Health Advisor server and the periodic signal of activity, which confirms that the Health Advisor client is alive and running. All commands which can be sent from the Health Advisor server to the Health Advisor client are implemented as plugins. You can find these plugins in the Service Provider console by clicking the Plugins tab of the Server Info tab.

Plugins in Health Advisor provide the following benefits:

Control—You have control over the commands that the Health Advisor client executes, by enabling or not enabling the plugins you do not want to be used with your monitored servers.



For example, if you do not want a service provider to be able to monitor the configuration of your AR System server, then you can disable the Configuration plugin and the command will not be available to Support from the Health Advisor server. When a plugin is disabled, commands are not sent to the client.

Extendability—The plugin architecture allows Health Advisor to be easily extended with additional functionality or with customer-specific functions.

Health Advisor key functionsThis section explains the following Health Advisor functions:

“AR System server monitoring” on page 14

“Data security” on page 16

“Events and alerts” on page 16

“AR System server licenses” on page 18

“AR Server server statistics” on page 19

“Health Advisor console” on page 19

AR System server monitoringThe Health Advisor client verifies that all the AR System servers being monitored are available at regular intervals (usually every minute). The status of all AR System servers is sent back to the Health Advisor server and recorded. If an AR System server is found to be unavailable, then the Health Advisor server checks whether the AR System server downtime is scheduled before updating its status.

The following AR Server status can be recorded:

Live

Scheduled downtime

Health Advisor client down

Not responding

Unknown

Access denied

Not Monitored

Pending Status Update

On logging into Health Advisor console, the current status of all of the AR System servers is shown on the Servers tab as seen in Figure 1-2:


Health Advisor key functions

Figure 1-2: Servers tab in Health Advisor Customer console

You can double-click the server name to display details held by Health Advisor for that AR System server.

AuditThe Health Advisor server provides an audit trail of all actions performed on both the Health Advisor client and server.

Audit records will record the following:

Date Time—Timestamp when the action occurred

User—Name of the user who performed the action

Server Name—Name of the AR System server the action affected

Short Description—Description of the action

You can search and review an audits from Health Advisor from the Audit tab as shown in Figure 1-3:



Figure 1-3: Audit tab in the Health Advisor console

Data securityAll data held in Health Advisor about your AR System servers and environment is protected by AR System Row Level Access. Only the service provider will have access to view your data.

It is not possible for other customer's or users of Health Advisor to view your data either via the Health Advisor console or a report.

Events and alertsThis section explains the following:

“Events” on page 16

“Event notifications” on page 17

“Event subscriptions” on page 18

“Email notifications” on page 18

EventsHealth Advisor registers an event whenever a potentially service-affecting incident is detected. Events can be reviewed on the Health Advisor console as shown in Figure 1-4:


Health Advisor key functions

Figure 1-4: Events tab in the Health Advisor Customer console

Health Advisor can detect and record the following core event types:

AR Error Log

Server Access Denied

Server Unavailable

Entry Count breaches

Escalation Thread Failed

Health Advisor Client Unavailable


The following details are recorded for each event:

Time

Status

Server Name

Priority

Summary

Occurrences

Event notificationsYou can subscribe to events and receive email notifications when an error conditions occurs. You can configure whether to receive notifications immediately upon error detection or after the error condition has been raised for a certain period of time (in this case, notifications are not sent if the error condition corrects itself). Email notifications are sent as an HTML email message.



Event subscriptionsOne of the most important features of Health Advisor is the ability to subscribe to alerts for events. You can access this powerful and flexible feature from the Health Advisor console. The event subscription interface is shown in the following figure:

Figure 1-5: Subscription window in the Health Advisor console

Email notificationsAll notifications sent to you from Health Advisor Event Subscriptions will be sent as an HTML email message.

AR System server licensesHealth Advisor can track both the number of registered Licenses for the AR System servers and license usage (for example, how many users are connected with what type of licenses). This makes sure that you can proactively plan BMC Remedy AR System license allocation. The licenses available for the AR System servers can be reviewed using the Health Advisor console as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1-6: License in Health Advisor Customer console


Health Advisor console

AR Server server statisticsHealth Advisor can amend the Server Statistics settings for the AR System servers. The Health Advisor client also sends the data recorded in the Server Statistics form back to the Health Advisor server. This data is primarily used for reporting purposes.

You can configure the Health Advisor client to delete records from Server Statistics after they have been sent back to the Health Advisor server. This facilitates the minimum possible impact from measuring Server Statistics on the AR System server.

Health Advisor consoleWhen you have successfully logged into the Health Advisor console, the Home page displays.

Figure 1-7: Home page in the Health Advisor Customer console

You can navigate around the Health Advisor console using the navigation buttons across the top of the page:

Home—View the current state of the monitored servers

Events—View events that Health Advisor identifies which can affect the monitored servers

Reports—Run reports on data gathered by Health Advisor

Configuration—View and modify the configuration of Health Advisor



Servers—view details of the monitored servers

Audit—view the audit of the actions performed in Health Advisor

Logout—log out of the application and terminate your session

Contact Us—send an email to your service provider

ReportingUsing the AR System Report Console, which provides a single interface for all reporting functions, you can access and run formatted Health Advisor reports. The Web report type is supported by reporting components that are installed with the BMC Remedy Mid Tier.

For more information on Health Advisor reports, see Chapter 4, “Using Health Advisor Reports.” For more information on the Report Console, see the BMC Mid Tier Guide.


Chapter

2
Onboarding and installing Health Advisor
This section provides an overview of the onboarding process and explains how to install the client (the client-side software), and provides system requirements.

The following topics are provided:Onboarding overview (page 22)Installing the Health Advisor client (page 22)Uninstalling Health Advisor (page 28)



Onboarding overviewThis section describes the general tasks you—as a Health Advisor customer—and your Health Advisor service provider must do during the onboarding process:

Step 1 You provide a host name to your service provider.

Step 2 Your Health Advisor service provider provides you with the following:

Health Advisor client ID

Server ID

You will enter this information when you install the Health Advisor client in step 3.

Account

Login instructions

You will use this information when you access the Health Advisor application in step 4.

Step 3 You install the Health Advisor client.

For details, see “Installing the Health Advisor client” on page 22.

Step 4 You log in to the Health Advisor console, go to the Configuration tab, and enable all available plugins.

For details, see “Configuration tab” on page 40 and “Enabling or disabling a plugin” on page 42.

Installing the Health Advisor clientThe Health Advisor client is the client-side software that runs in the background, collects information about an AR System server, and forwards that information to the Health Advisor server.

The Health Advisor client can be installed on the same machine as the monitored AR System server or any machine which has network connectivity to the monitored AR System server.

NOTE If the Health Advisor client is installed on a different machine from the AR System server, then some features of Health Advisor will not be available.


Installing the Health Advisor client

PrerequisitesThe following are required to install the Health Advisor client:

Java 6 Runtime Environment or later

Web connectivity to the Health Advisor server, for example, directly through the firewall on port 443 (SSL)

The Health Advisor client attempts to contact Health Advisor web services using HTTP at a URL specific for each support center. Your service provide will provide the URL with a client.

Confirm with the network administrator whether it is preferable to connect directly or via the internal web proxy server before installation. Corporate IT might rquire a web proxy for outbound connections. The Health Advisor client supports standard proxy server authentication.

Health Advisor supports the following:

NOTE The versions of the Windows and UNIX® platforms that are supported for BMC Remedy AR System Server are supported by Health Advisor. For details on the compatible Window and UNIX platforms and versions, see the compatibility matrix at http://www.bmc.com/support.

The Health Advisor client monitors the AR System server from version 7.5.00 or higher, and supports all operating system versions supported by version 7.5.00 or higher.

Windows platform

UNIX platform, supporting the following environments:

Hewlett Packard HP-UX (PA-RISC / Itanium)

IBM AIX® (Power)

Novell SUSE Linux® (x64)

Oracle Solaris® (SPARC)

Red Hat Linux (x64)

Before you startBefore you start installing the Health Advisor client, do the following:

Get a Health Advisor client and server IDs from your service provider. For details on using this information during installation, see step 7 on page 26.

Make sure you have the AR System server name, port, administrative user name and password available. For details on using this information during installation, see step 8 on page 26.

The Health Advisor client installer prompts you for this information.




If you are installing the Health Advisor application on UNIX, do the following:

a Log in as the root user.

b If you are running the installation on a local terminal, run X terminal (xterm).

c Log in as root by using the following command:$ su — root$ password : ******#

d Verify that the JAVA_HOME variable has been set by using the following command:# echo $JAVA_HOME**If JAVA_HOME variable is not set please set this variable.**# export JAVA_HOME=<java-install-dir>

Running the installerYou must run the suite installer to install the BMC Remedy Health Advisor client.

NOTE You must run the installer as a user with full Administrator (Windows) or root (UNIX) privileges.

To run the suite installer on Windows

1 Launch the installer.

If a public Java 6 Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed, you can launch the installer by double-clicking the installer in Windows Explorer.

If you do not have a public JRE installed, you must run Java from a command prompt with the following comand:java -jar healthadvisor-client-installer.jar

If you are launching the installer as a UNIX root user, do the following:

a Go to the directory where you downloaded the Health Advisor application installer.

b Run the installer by using the following command:$ java -jar healthadvisor-client-installer.jar

If X terminal is enabled, the installer displays as a graphical user interface. If X terminal is not enabled, the installer displays in the console window.

The Installer window opens.



Figure 2-1: BMC Remedy Health Advisor Client Installer

2 Accept the End User License Agreement.

3 Select the Installation Directory.

4 Select the Java Runtime Environment, then click Next.

Figure 2-2: Client Installer - Java Runtime Environment

5 Confirm the Service Provider Details, then click Next.

6 Configure the HTTP Proxy Configuration, then click Next.

The Health Advisor client supports HTTP proxy servers. An HTTP proxy is used when a Health Advisor client might not have direct HTTP access to the Health Advisor server due to security concerns of the customer. In such a case, your IT organization sets up an HTTP proxy through which all HTTP traffic flows.



Figure 2-3: Client Installer - HTTP Proxy Configuration

7 Configure the Client Configuration, then click Next.

Figure 2-4: Client Installer - Client Configuration

8 Configure the Monitored AR System server settings, then click Next.



Figure 2-5: Client Installer - Monitored AR System Server Configuration

9 Click Install.

Locating installed Health Advisor client files for UNIXThe following tables list the files that are created when you install the Health Advisor client for different UNIX environments. The installer also creates other client-related folders and files which are not listed in these tables.

In the UNIX environments listed in the following tables, S40HADClient and K40HADClient are symbolic links.

NOTE BMC recommends that you retain the installed file structure.

Linux and Solaris locations

HP-UX locations

Table 2-1: Health Advisor client file locations for Linux and Solaris

File Location

skhadclient.sh /etc/init.d

S40HADClient /etc/rc2.d for startupK40HADClient /etc/rc2.d for shutdown

Table 2-2: Health Advisor client file locations for HP-UX

File Location

skhadclient.sh /sbin/init.d

S40HADClient /sbin/rc2.d for startupK40HADClient /sbin/rc2.d for shutdown



AIX locations

Changing the monitored server passwordConsider changing the password of the monitored AR System servers that are configured for the Health Advisor client after you complete the installation. The Change Password utility allows you to change the password of multiple monitored servers in one session.

To change the password of monitored servers with the Change Password utility

1 Go to the <installDir>/bin directory.

2 Launch the changepassword utility.

Figure 2-6: Change Password utility

3 In the Monitored Server Name list, select the name of the monitored server which you want to update.

4 In the New Password field, enter a new password.

5 Click Apply New Password.

6 If you want to change the password of other monitored servers, repeat steps 3 through 5.

7 To apply your changes, click Save All Changes And Exit.

Uninstalling Health AdvisorThis section explains how to remove a Health Advisor installation.

Table 2-3: Health Advisor client file locations for AIX

File Location

skhadclient.sh /etc

S40HADClient /etc/rc.d/rc2.d for startupK40HADClient /etc/rc.d/rc2.d for shutdown


Uninstalling Health Advisor

Uninstalling a Health Advisor clientWhen installed, the client includes an uninstaller utility that stops the client service, unregisters the client service, and removes files.

NOTE This utility will not remove any data stored on the Health Advisor server related to this client.

The uninstall utility, located in the installation directory of the Health Advisor client, is named uninstall.jar.

NOTE As an alternative to using the uninstall utility, you can manually remove the Health Advisor client. For details, see “Manually removing the Health Advisor client” on page 30.

To uninstall a Health Advisor client Running uninstall.jar

NOTE You must run the uninstall utility as a user with full Administrator privileges.

1 Launch the uninstall utility.

If a public Java 6 Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed, you can launch the uninstall utility by double-clicking uninstall.jar in Windows Explorer.

If you do not have a public JRE installed, you must run Java from a command prompt with the following command:

<jre-install-dir>\bin\java -jar <client-install-dir>\uninstall.jar

2 In the introduction panel, click Next.

3 After reviewing the End User License Agreement, click Accept.

4 Enter the installation directory of the Health Advisor client, then click Next.

The uninstall utility only continues if it can find the client configuration file under <installDir>/config/com.bmc.arsys.healthadvisor.client.properties.

5 Click Uninstall.

The Progress panel reports any errors or issues which occur during removal of the Health Advisor client.

6 Click Exit.

The uninstall utility removes all files under the installation directory except for uninstall.jar, ant.install.log, and ant.install.properties. These remaining files can be removed manually after exiting the uninstall utility.



Manually removing the Health Advisor clientThis section explains how to manually remove the Health Advisor client if you did not use the uninstall utility (uninstall.jar) to remove the client.

Stopping the Health Advisor client service (Windows)The uninstall utility will stop the Health Advisor client service.

You can stop the Health Advisor client service by doing one of the following:

Stopping the client service from the Windows service manager

Stopping the client service by running the StopBMCRemedyHealthAdvisorClientService.bat script under the <installDir>/bin directory.

Unregistering the Health Advisor client service (Windows)The uninstall utility will unregister the Health Advisor client service.

Make sure to stop the Health Advisor client service before manually unregistering the Health Advisor client.

You can manually unregister the Health Advisor client service by running the UninstallBMCRemedyHealthAdvisorClientService.bat script under the <installDir>/bin directory.

Unregistering the Health Advisor client removes the registry entries under:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ BMCRemedyHealthAdvisorClient

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apache Software Foundation\ProcRun 2.0\BMCRemedyHealthAdvisorClient


Chapter

3
Using the Health Advisor console
This section describes the functionality of the Health Advisor console.

The following topics are provided:

Health Advisor console overview (page 32)

Console tab (page 33)

Events tab (page 34)

Reports tab (page 40)

Configuration tab (page 40)

Servers tab (page 43)

Audit tab (page 47)



Health Advisor console overviewWhen you successfully log into Health Advisor, the Console tab appears.

Figure 3-1: Health Advisor console - Console tab

You can navigate around the Health Advisor console using the following navigation tabs at the top of the page:

Console—View the current state of your AR System servers

Events—View events that Health Advisor has identified which can affect your monitored servers

Reports—Run reports on data gathered by Health Advisor

Configuration—View and change the configuration of Health Advisor

Servers—View details of your monitored servers

Audit—View the audit of actions which have been performed in Health Advisor

Each of these Health Advisor functions is described in detail in this chapter.

You can also use the following using these tabs or links:

Logout—Log out of the Health Advisor console. Optionally, you can close the browser window. This will terminate your session.

Contact Us—Send an email to BMC Support.

Home—opens your home page, as configured in the AR System User Preference form. If no home page is configured, then the AR System home page opens.


Console tab

Console tabThe Console tab (Figure 3-1) allows you to view a list of all your servers which are monitored by Health Advisor. It also allows you to drill down to view details of each monitored server.

The Health Advisor client verifies that all of your monitored servers are available at regular intervals. The status of your monitored servers is sent to the Health Advisor Server and recorded. If a monitored server is found to be unavailable, then the Health Advisor server checks whether the monitored server downtime is scheduled before updating its availability status.

Server Status listYou can view the following information for each server in the Server Status list on the Console tab:

Current state of the server

For details on the information displayed in the Current States column, see “Server states” on page 34.

Server name

Customer Name

Current State Since—Date and time the monitored server entered its current state

User Count—Number of licenses registered to the server

In the Server Status list, you can also do the following:

Double-click a server in the list to go the Servers tab in the Health Advisor console. For more information on the Servers tab, see “Servers tab” on page 43.

Configure the display of the Server Status list by clicking Preferences, then clicking either Add Field, Remove Field, or Set Refresh Interval. After modifying the display, click Save. To return to the default display, click Reset.

Refresh the list by clicking Refresh.



Server statesThe Server Status list displays the current state of your monitored servers. Table 3-1 describes the possible states for a monitored server:

Events tabThis section describes the functionality of the Events tab. Health Advisor detects and records events whenever it detects a potentially service-affecting incident. You can review these events on the Event tab.

Figure 3-2: Events tab

Table 3-1: Current states for a monitored server

Server state Description

Unknown The initial state of a server before a heartbeat indicator has been received; indicates availability monitoring displayed on the Servers tab has been disabled.

Live The client is able to invoke calls against the monitored server.

Access Denied The client contacted the server but was denied access due to an authentication issue.

Not Responding The server is not running.Health Advisor Client Down

The Health Advisor Client is down; the server might or might not be running.

Pending Status Update Occurs after the Health Advisor Client Down state but before any other indicator has been received.

Scheduled Downtime Occurs during scheduled downtime.Not Monitored The server is not associated with any Health Advisor client.


Events tab

The Events tab displays the Events list, which shows all events logged for a selected monitored server or all monitored servers for a selected time period. Table 3-2 lists the event details that are recorded for each event:

The following event types can be detected and recorded by Health Advisor:

AR Error Log

DSO Entry Count Breached

Email Messages Failed

Entry Count Breached

Escalation Thread Failed

Health Advisor Client Unavailable


Server Access Denied

Server Unavailable

Filtering eventsYou can search for events by entering your desired search criteria in search fields on the Events tab, then clicking Search. You can reset all search fields to their default values by clicking Reset. Selecting “(clear)” for any of the fields selects all valid values for that field.

Table 3-2: Event Console details

Event v column Description

Event Date Time Data and time when the event was detected.Status Status of the event. Can be one of the following values:

Open—cause of the event is not resolved (default)Ignore—this event type can be safely ignored for the indicated serverClosed—the event is no longer live; the cause has been resolved.

Server Name The server monitored by Health Advisor.Priority Priority of the event. Can be one of the following values:

NotificationMinorWarningSevereCritical

Summary Summary of the event.Occurrences Number of times this event has been identified since this

event was first created.Incident ID Incident ID of the event.



Table 3-3 lists the fields on the Events tab.

Ignoring eventsIf you want to ignore an event, you can set the Event Status to Ignore. Any further occurrences of the event will update the Event Date Time and increment the Occurrences value, but will not trigger any alerts.

You can only ignore an event which has a status of Open.

To ignore an event

1 Select the event from the Event list.

2 Click View Event.

3 In the Status field in the Event Details window, click Ignore.

4 Click Yes to confirm.

The status of the event is now set to Ignore.

To change the status of an Ignore event

1 Select the Ignore event from the Event list.

2 Click View Event.

3 In the Event Details window, click Do Not Ignore.


The status of the event is now set to Closed. Any further events of this type will be logged as a new event.

Table 3-3: Events search criteria

Client state Description

Server Restricts the search to a specific server.Event Priority Restricts the search to events of the selected priority.Event Status Restricts the search to events with a specific status value. The

default value is Open.Logged Date Within Restricts the search to events in a selected time period.

Selecting any value, except All Periods, automatically populates the From and Until search fields. The default value is All Periods.You can also manually enter a search period range using the From and Until fields and their corresponding calendars.

Event Type Restricts the search to a specific event type.


Events tab

Closing eventsSome event types will automatically close when the event has been resolved. For example, a Server Unavailable event will automatically close when the server starts responding.

Some event types must be closed manually. For example, an AR Error Message event must be closed manually.

To close an event

1 Select the event from the Event list.

2 Click View Event.

3 In the Event Details window, click Close Event.

NOTE The Close Event button is only available if the event type must be closed manually.


The status of the event is now set to Closed. Any further events of this type will be logged as a new event.

Subscribing to eventsYou can submit a list of subscribers to receive email alerts for events on the Event Subscriptions tab. The subscribers can receive alerts based on the event type or event priority.

To subscribe to an event

1 On the Events tab, click Subscribe To Events.

2 In the Create New Subscription window, click Next.

3 In the Select Server window, select a Customer Name and Server (or select All Servers), then click Next.

This is the server for which you want to receive event notifications. Selecting All Servers will send notifications for all of your monitored servers.

Figure 3-3: Select Server window



4 In the Select Filter window, select Filter by Event Type or Filter by Priority.

Filtering by event or priority makes sure you are only sent notifications about the events in which you are interested.

Figure 3-4: Select Filter window

a If you select Filter by Event Type, select an Event Type and one or more actions in the Send notification when area, then click Next. If you select Event is open for as an action, enter a minutes value.

Figure 3-5: Select Event Type window

b If you select Filter by Priority, select an Event Priority and one or more actions in the Send notification when window, then click Next. If you select Event is open for as an action, enter a minutes value.

Figure 3-6: Select Event Priority window


Events tab

For example, selecting (Event Priority >= Severe) will trigger a notification for events with a priority of severe or critical. Table 3-4 lists the event priority levels.

5 In the Add Subscribers window, select one or more subscribers who will be sent notifications when this subscription is triggered by selecting a subscriber from the Subscriber field, then click Add Subscriber. You must add at least one subscriber.

Figure 3-7: Add Subscribers window

6 Verify each subscriber’s email address in the Email field.

7 When the Subscriber list is appropriately populated, click Next.

8 After reviewing the subscription information in the confirmation window, click Save Subscription.

Viewing or modifying a subscriptionYou can view or modify an existing event subscription.

To modify a subscription, see step 3 on page 37 through step 8 on page 39 in “Subscribing to events” for detailed instructions for modifying a subscription.

To view a subscription

1 On the Events tab, click View Subscriptions.

2 In the Event Subscription window, you can view or modify the monitored server to which the subscription is configured.

Table 3-4: Event priority levels

Server state Description

Notification No noticeable impairment of service.Minor Non service affecting fault.Warning Potentially service affecting or error affecting application

data.Severe Service affecting fault. One or more services may be affected

by this error.Critical Server is providing no service, or data integrity is severely

threatened.



Figure 3-8: Event Subscription window

NOTE You can also create a new subscription by clicking Create New Subscription, then following the steps in “Subscribing to events” on page 37.

Removing a subscriptionYou can remove an existing event subscription.

To remove a subscription

1 On the Events tab, click View Subscriptions.

2 In the Event Subscription window, select a subscription from the subscription list, then click Cancel Subscription.

Reports tabClicking the Reports tab opens the AR System Report Console, where you can access Health Advisor reports. For detailed information on the AR System Report Console, see Chapter 4, “Using Health Advisor Reports”.

Configuration tabOn the Configuration tab, you can control the installed plugins and commands Health Advisor executes by enabling or disabling the plugins that are executed for those servers.


Configuration tab

Figure 3-9: Configuration tab

The Configuration tab shows all installed plugins for a Health Advisor client, the history of the usage of that plugin, and allows a plugin to be enabled or disabled on a per-server basis.

For example, suppose you have installed a single Health Advisor client which monitors both your production and development environments. On the Configuration tab, you can allow all plugins for your development environment but strictly control the list of allowable plug-ins for your production environment.

Changes made on the Configuration tab are recorded on the Audit tab. For information on the Audit tab, see “Audit tab” on page 47.

Viewing installed plugins and their commandsYou can view installed plugins and their commands on the Configuration tab.

To view the installed plugins and their commands

1 On the Configuration tab, select a monitored server from the Select a Server list.

The Plugin list displays all of the installed plugins for the selected server.

2 In the Plugin list, select the desired plugin.



A description of the plugin, the number of its active commands, and the history of its commands appear. Table 3-5 describes the data in the History table.

Enabling or disabling a pluginYou can enable or a plugin on the Configuration tab.

NOTE You cannot disable a plugin if there are any active commands using the plugin. A message displays above the Command History table telling you the number of active command(s) using this plugin.

If you want to disable a plugin that has active commands, contact BMC Support for assistance to cancel all commands beforehand.

To enable or disable a plugin

1 On the Configuration tab, select a monitored server from the Select a Server list.

The Plugin list displays all of the installed plugins for the selected server.

Table 3-5: Plugin history

History parameter Description

Create Date The date and time when the command was created.Status The status of the command. The following values are valid:

Published—command is ready for processing by the Health Advisor clientReceiving—command has been received by the Health Advisor clientProcessing—command is being processed by the Health Advisor client.Complete—all processing on the command is complete.

Execution The execution type of the commands of the plugin. The following values are valid:

Immediate - the command will execute once onlyRecurring - the command will executed on a recurring basis at the configured frequencyScheduled - the command will execute once at a scheduled date and time

Interval For only recurring commands, indicates the time (in seconds) between recurring executions of the command.

Result Whether the command execution was successful or has failed.

Submitter User who submitted the command.


Servers tab

2 In the Plugin list, select the desired plugin(s).

To select multiple plugins at one time, select the check box of the respective plugins.

To select all plugins at one time, select the check box in the top row of the Plugin list.

3 Click Enable Selected or Disable Selected.

If there are no active commands for the plugin, the Confirm window opens.

4 In the Confirm window, click Yes.

Servers tabThis section describes the functionality available on the Servers tab.

Figure 3-10: AR System licenses information on the Servers tab

To select a server

1 If you click the Servers tab without previously selecting a server in a browser session, the Selection list window opens. Select a server, then click OK.



Figure 3-11: Selection list window

2 If you already have a server selected, click Change Server under the Server Information list (see Figure 3-11) to open the Selection list window.

Server Information listBy making a selection in the Server Information list on the Servers tab, you can do the following:

View AR System licenses—Select a product feature to view its details

View Email Configuration—Select a mailbox name and view the basic and advanced properties of a mailbox

View, create, and modifiy Scheduled Downtime—For details, see “Scheduling Downtime” on page 44.

View Server Configuration—View information about the configuration of your AR System servers. This selection presents the data displayed on the Server Information dialog used to display AR Server information in the BMC Remedy AR System Administration Console. For details on the information available for this selection, see the BMC Remedy AR System Server Configuration Guide.

Scheduling DowntimeSelecting Scheduled Downtime in the Server Information box allows you to register scheduled downtime for your monitored servers. If your monitored server is reported as “down” during a period of scheduled downtime, no alerts will be sent to that server.


Servers tab

Figure 3-12: Scheduled Downtime on Servers tab

On the Scheduled Downtime screen, you can do the following:

View all planned downtime (default), excluding any past incidents of scheduled downtime, for the selected monitored server by clicking Planned.

View all previous and planned scheduled downtime for the selected monitored server by clicking Previous & Planned.

Table 3-6 lists the details of the downtime table:

Table 3-6: Downtime table details

Downtime column Description

Frequency How frequently the downtime will occur. The following values are valid:

Once—downtime occurs once. For example, an application upgradeDailyWeeklyMonthly

Time Start Time the downtime starts.Time End Time the downtime ends.Date Date when the downtime will occur. Used only for

downtime with a frequency of monthlyWeekday Day of the week when the downtime will occur. Used only

for downtime with a frequency of weekly.Start Date Time Time when a downtime with a frequency of “once” will

start.End Date Time Time when a downtime with a frequency of “once” will

finish.



Creating a new downtimeYou can create a new downtime for a monitored server.

To create a new downtime

1 On the Servers tab, select a server to which you want to create a new downtime.

2 On the Scheduled Downtime screen, click New Downtime.

3 In the Scheduled Downtime window, select a Frequency. Complete the fields that appear based on the frequency you select. Figure 3-13 shows the fields which display for a frequency of weekly.

Figure 3-13: Scheduled downtime window with Weekly frequency

4 Click Save.

Modifying or removing scheduled downtimeYou can modify or remove a scheduled downtime for a monitored AR System server.

To modify a downtime

1 On the Servers tab, select a server to which you want to modify a scheduled downtime.

2 On the Scheduled Downtime screen, click View Downtime.

3 Edit the settings as desired.

4 Click Save.

To remove a downtime

1 On the Servers tab, select a server to which you want to remove a downtime.

2 On the Scheduled Downtime screen, click View Downtime.


Audit tab

NOTE Make sure you want to remove the scheduled downtime before performing the next step. There is no confirmation step.

3 Click Delete Downtime.

Audit tabThe Audit tab displays a list of installed plugins for a selected monitored server. You can enable or disable a plugin on this tab, and view the status and history of the commands using that plugin.

Full and immutable auditing of actions performed using Health Advisor is accomplished by recording all actions in a database table external to the AR System tablespace. Health Advisor reads and writes auditable actions to and from the external table.

Health Advisor audit records the following:

Name of the user who initiated the action

Timestamp when the action occurred

Name of the system server the action affected

Name of the Customer the action affected

Description of the action

You can search and review the Audit tab.

Figure 3-14: Audit tab



Searching auditsTo search audits, enter your desired search criteria in search fields on the Audit tab, then click Search. The search results appear in the Audit log list.

You can reset all search fields to their default values by clicking Reset.

Table 3-7 lists the fields on the Audit tab (Figure 3-14).

Viewing audit itemsTable 3-8 lists the items displayed in the Audit Log search results (Figure 3-14).

To display the details of an audit item, click the audit item row in the Audit Log.

Figure 3-15: Item details in the Audit Log

Table 3-7: Audit search criteria


Server Restricts the search to a specific system server.Search Period Restricts the search to an audit of all commands and changes

in a selected time period. Selecting any value automatically populates the From and Until search fields.Optionally, you can manually enter a search period range using the From and Until fields.

Table 3-8: Audit results


Date Time The date and time the action was recorded by Health Advisor.

User The name of user who triggered the auditable action.Server The name of the system server the action affected.Description A description of the audited action.


Chapter

4
Using Health Advisor Reports
Health Advisor provides reports on the availability and performance of your AR System servers and Health Advisor clients. Health Advisor reports are Web reports, and can be run on demand.

You can access Health Advisor reports through the AR System Report Console, which is an interface for Web-based reports.

For more information on the AR System Report Console, see the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide. The BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide provides details for several Report Console topics, including the following:

Running reports

Creating reports

This section is intended to supplement the information on the Report Console provided in the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide.

The following topics are provided:

Finding reports (page 50)

Running reports (page 55)

Creating reports (page 57)

Viewing report results (page 58)

Exporting reports (page 59)



Finding reportsYou can access Health Advisor reports in the Report Console by doing the following:

Click the main Report link located above the tabs

The main Report link enables you to access any Health Advisor report.

Click the Report links within the Health Advisor Clients, Events, or Server Info tabs

The Report link within a specific tab opens the appropriate report for that specific tab.

Accessing any report

To access any report through the main Report link

1 Go to any top tab in the Health Advisor Service Provider Console.

2 Click the Reporting link in the top right area of the home page.

Figure 4-1: Health Advisor Service Provider Console - Server Info tab

3 In the Report Console window, click the Category field.

Reporting link


Finding reports

Figure 4-2: Report Console - Category field

4 In the Category field, select Health Advisor > Category > Subcategory.

The reports for the selected subcategory display in the Report Console list.

Figure 4-3: Reports in Report Console list

Category field Health Advisor report categories

Report Console list



Table 4-1 lists the Health Advisor reports by category and describes each report:

Table 4-1: Health Advisor reports by category (Sheet 1 of 2)

Category Subcategory Report Description

Accounts Contacts Contact List Displays a list of customer contact information for a specified company.

Collected Data Availability Server Availability Displays the availability of an AR System server during a specified time period. The report contains a summary pie chart, a detailed bar chart, and a list of events that occurred during that period.

Configuration AR Server Configuration

Displays the AR Server Configuration for an AR System server during a specified time period, or displays only the most recent configuration.

Email Mailbox Configuration

Displays the email mailbox configuration for an AR System server during a specified time period, or displays only the most recent configuration.

Events AR Error Log Events

Displays a list of events created from the error log for an AR System server during a specified time period.

Event List Displays events for an AR System server during a specified time period. The report contains charts and lists that show the number and types of events that occurred.

Licenses AR License Overview

Displays licenses that the AR System server has configured during a specified time period, or displays only the most recent configuration.

User License Analysis - Overview

Displays your license usage on an AR System server during a specified time period. The report contains charts showing how many licenses were consumed, the users with the most and least activity, and the users with fixed licenses who did not log on.


Finding reports

Accessing specific reports

To access specific reports within the Health Advisor Clients, Events, and Service Info tabs

1 Go to the Health Advisor Clients, Events, or Server Info tabs.

2 On the subtabs listed in Table 4-2, click the Report link.

Collected Data (continued)

Users Detailed AR System User License Activity

Displays information about user activity on an AR System server. The report shows what license was consumed, how long users were connected, and how many API calls users made.

Monitoring Configuration

Command List for a Monitored Server

Command List for a Monitored Server

Displays the list of commands that were issued to a monitored server. The report shows all commands except for those that were created manually.

Command List for an Monitored Server - Active

Displays the list of commands that were issued to a monitored server. The report shows only the commands that are currently active.

Command List for HAD (Health Advisor) Client

Command List for HAD (Health Advisor) Client

Displays the list of commands that were issued to a Health Advisor client. The report shows all commands except for those that were created manually.

Command List for HAD (Health Advisor) Client - Active

Displays the list of commands that were issued to a Health Advisor client. The report shows only the commands that are currently active.

Event Subscriptions

Event Subscriptions

Displays the list of subscriptions on an AR System server during a specified time period. The report lists subscriptions by event type and by event priority.

Monitors Monitors for a server

Displays the list of Health Advisor monitors that are configured for a server.

Plug-Ins Client Plug-Ins Displays the status of the Health Advisor plug-ins that are currently installed on a Health Advisor client.

Table 4-1: Health Advisor reports by category (Sheet 2 of 2)

Category Subcategory Report Description



Table 4-2 lists the reports you can access within the tabs.

NOTE For descriptions of the reports listed in Table 4-2, see Table 4-1 on page 52.

For the reports on the Command subtab, make sure to additionally select either Show > Running Commands or Show > All Commands.

Figure 4-4: Show selections for reports on the Command tab

Table 4-2: Health Advisor reports you can access within tabs

Tab Subtab Report name

Health Advisor Clients Command History Command List for HAD (Health Advisor) Client - Active

Events Event Console Event ListEvent Subscriptions Event Subscriptions

Server Info Monitors Monitors for a serverEvents Event ListAR Configuration AR Server ConfigurationEmail Configuration Email Mailbox ConfigurationAR Licenses AR License OverviewAR Error Log > Error Log Events

AR Error Log Events

Commands Command List for a server - Active

Note: Select the Running Commands radio button.

Command List for a server

Note: Select the All Commands radio button.

Plugins Client Plug-Ins

Category field


Running reports

Running reportsThis section supplements the information provided in the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide, which provides information on the following topics:

Running a report

Adding to or overriding a report query at runtime

Using a query in a Web report

Completing the Parameter dialog boxThis section explains how to complete the Parameter dialog box for specific reports. When you run a specific report, the Parameter dialog box for that report opens.

Figure 4-5: Parameter dialog box for reports

Parameter fields for reportsTable 4-3 lists the fields commonly included in the Parameters dialog box for most Health Advisor reports.

NOTE As a best practice to promote legibility in report results presented in a bar chart, limit the date range to 30 units or less. For example, if you group results by day, then limit the date range to 30 days.

Table 4-3: Common report parameters

Field Description

Customer name Name of the customer.Server name Name of the monitored server.Start date Starting date for reports with a date range.End date Ending date for reports with a date range.



Table 4-4 lists other fields included in the Parameters dialog box for specific reports.

Selecting optional report parametersWhen you configure an optional parameter (a parameter not marked with a red asterisk *) that has selections in a drop-down list, the Report Console includes two additional items at the top of the drop-down list above the actual selections. As shown in Figure 4-6, the following two additional selections appear:

" " (empty string) (default value)—if selected, then the field is not included in the search.

Null Value—if selected, then the value $NULL$ is included in the search, which most likely will not be returned in a search.

Table 4-4: Parameters for reports

Field Report Description

Client name Command List for HAD (Health Advisor) ClientCommand List for HAD (Health Advisor) Client - Active

The name of the client.

Command status

Command List for a serverCommand List for HAD Client

The status of the command. Valid values are:

Null ValueDraftPublishedReceivedProcessedCompleteManually Created

Company name

Contact List Name of the company.

Event status AR Error Log EventsEvent List

The status of the event. Valid values are:Null ValueOpenIgnoreClosed

Group by Server Availability Date period for grouping report results. Select one of the following:

DayWeekMonth

Most recent Email Mailbox ConfigurationAR License Overview

Select this check box to limit the report results to the single most recent result.


Creating reports

Figure 4-6: Parameter dialog box with optional parameter selections in a drop-down list

For example, a report which uses Event Status as an optional parameter has three possible values:

Open

Ignore

Closed

The drop-down list that the Report Console shows has five items:

" " (empty string)

Null Value

Open

Ignore

Closed

Creating reportsFor information on creating reports, refer to the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide. This includes the following topics:

Using a query in a Web report to define additional qualifications

Controlling query overrides

NOTE Health Advisor reports cannot be customized.



Viewing report resultsYou can use the following to navigate through the pages of a report in the report viewer:

Toggle the table of contents—opens the table of contents in tree view style

Go to the first, previous, next, last, or a specific page

You can also do the following in the report viewer:

Export reports (see “Exporting reports” on page 59)

Print reports

Figure 4-7: Report viewer - example

To toggle the table of contents

1 Click the Toggle table of contents icon .

2 Click the nodes to open or close them.

Toggle TOC, Export, Print Go to pages


Exporting reports

Figure 4-8: Report viewer-example with table of contents tree open

3 Click the page number in the table of contents tree to show the page to the right in the report viewer.

Exporting reportsYou can save or export Health Advisor report data by clicking the export report icon located at the top left in the report viewer. You can save or export report data to use in a spreadsheet or other applications.

To export reports

1 Click the export report icon in the report viewer to open the Export Report dialog box.

Figure 4-9: Export Report dialog box

2 Select the Export Format from the list.



Figure 4-10: Export Report dialog box - Export Format list

3 Select which pages of the report you want to save or export.

4 If you selected the PostScript, PDF or PowerPoint format, select whether the output should zoom to Auto, Actual size, or Fit to whole page when opened.

5 Click OK.


Chapter

5
Maintaining Health Advisor
This section explains how to maintain Health Advisor.

The following topic is provided:Maintance for customers (page 61)

Maintance for customersThis section describes maintenance activities to be performed by the customers of a service provider.

Changing the account password in the client configuration fileWhen a customer sets up a Health Advisor client, an account on the monitored AR System server with administrator privileges must be identified. When the customer installs the client, the following information is stored in the Health Advisor client’s configuration file:

Name of the monitored server

Account name

Encrypted account password

You can update the account password in the client configuration file by doing one of the following:

Run the changepassword utility

The changepassword utility reads the configuration file and allows you to change the password for any given monitored server in the configuration file.

NOTE If you change the password of the account that Health Advisor is using to monitor your AR System server, you must use the changepassword utility to reflect the change in the client configuration file.

Chapter 5 Maintaining Health Advisor 61


Edit the configuration file with a text editor

Run the installer again

When the installer prompts you for the password, enter the new password.

NOTE The configuration file can contain information to connect to multiple monitored servers even though the installer only helps you set up one server.

To change the account password using the changepassword utility

1 Open the changepassword utility.

a In Windows, run the changepassword.bat file located in the %HAD_CLIENT_HOME%/bin folder.

b In UNIX, run the changepassword.sh file located in the $HAD_CLIENT_HOME$/bin folder.

In all cases, the changepassword utility opens the configuration file and finds only one monitored server. The Monitored Server Name field selects the one monitored server in the drop-down list.

2 Enter the new password.

3 Click Apply New Password.

When the new password has been applied, the Save All Changes And Exit button is activated.

4 Repeat step 2 if you want to change the password for other monitored servers that are defined in the client configuration file.

5 Click Save All Changes and Exit to save your changes.


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