© 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.The information contained herein is subject to change without notice

Introduction to HP Availability Manager

Barry Kierstein

Hewlett-Packard

Overview of This Session: • Availability Manager Overview• Availability Manager Components• Availability Manager Installation• Availability Manager Configuration• System Overview – Node monitoring and Event

evaluation• Hands-on topics

−Node data

−Single Process data

−Fixes

−Customizations

Availability Manager Overview – Let’s get started!

Availability Manager Overview• Real-time display of system(s) being monitored;

similar to MONITOR but with additional capabilities• Error and Information display: issues warnings

when resources are low• Can be used to “fix” various problems• Display portion is easy to learn (point and click)• Default setup is a good place to start finding

performance bottlenecks and resource contentions• With some customization, the Availability Manager

helps pinpoint problems specific to the systems being monitored

Availability Manager Overview• Collects data on one or more nodes (systems),

analyzes the data, displays it, and issues warnings

• For Alpha and VAX, requires only an OpenVMS license to collect data

• For I64, requires the EOE platform, or Avail_Man PAK to collect data

• Separate installation kit:−Included on the CD-ROM distribution kit−Download is available from the OpenVMS homepage

• Manuals included in hardcopy documentation kit, distribution kit, and on-line documentation kit

Availability Manager Groups• Systems can be grouped together for analysis• All members of an OpenVMS Cluster must

have the same group name for correct clusterwide data collections

• Unclustered systems can be put into the same group

• Availability Manager can be configured to display information only from specified groups, reducing the number of systems being monitored

• Also knows as AMDS groups

Availability Manager Components• Three parts:

−Data Collector gathers data on system(s) being monitored

−Data Analyzer collects data from the Data Collectors and displays the data

−Data Server allows Data Analyzers to collect data over an IP-based wide area network (WAN)

Availability Manager Components• Data Analyzer:

−A Java-based application

−Runs on OpenVMS Alpha platform from V7.3-2 and later with Motif or X-Windows

−Runs on OpenVMS I64 platform from V8.2-1 and later with Motif or X-Windows

−Runs on Intel platforms under Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional

Availability Manager ComponentsSystem Overview window

Availability Manager Components• Data Collector:

−Consists of an OpenVMS device driver, configuration and startup files• Device driver file is RMDRIVER.EXE on VAX,

SYS$RMDRIVER.EXE on Alpha and I64• Device shows up with $ SHOW DEVICE RMA0: command

−Runs on Itanium, Alpha and VAX platforms−Runs on OpenVMS V6.2 and later−Sends out a Hello multicast message to

announce an OpenVMS system to the Data Analyzer

−Only collects data when a Data Analyzer sends a data collection request, uses little CPU time

Availability Manager Components• Data Server

−The Availability Manager uses its own protocol (AMDS protocol) for communication between the Data Analyzer and each Data Collector• Connection not dependent on network software to work

(IP, DECnet, LAT, etc.)

• Data collection and fixes often work even when the network on the system is not functioning or the system is hung

Availability Manager Components• Data Server

−Data Server allows a Data Analyzer to collect data over an IP-based network• Data Server resides on the same extended LAN as the

OpenVMS systems so it can communicate to the Data Collectors using the AMDS protocol

• Data Analyzer connects to the Data Server using an IP-based secure socket connection over a WAN or LAN

−A Data Server can accept connections from several Data Analyzers

−A Data Analyzer can connect to several Data Servers• For redundancy, one could have two Data Servers on the

same LAN

Availability Manager Installation• Availability Manager kits

−OpenVMS Data Collector kit and manifest for secure delivery• Contains files for each OpenVMS version and platform• Can use SYSMAN> DO command to install on a cluster• If updating the Data Collector, a system reboot is

necessary to remove the old Data Collector

−OpenVMS Data Analyzer/Server kit and manifest• Contains files for both the Data Analyzer and Data Server• System reboot is not necessary with this kit

−Windows 2000/XP kit• Normal Windows installation, requires a reboot to install a

driver• Install using Administrator account or equivalent

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Collector configuration

−Data Collector password• In file SYS$MANAGER:AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT

• Authentication between Data Analyzer and Data Collector

• A Data Collector can have several passwords allowing for various access rights and scopes

• Considerations for passwords

−Access rights – Read, Write and Control

−Scope for a particular password

• OpenVMS – password for all OpenVMS systems

• AMDS group – common for clusters

• Individual node

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Collector configuration

−Data Collector settings• In file SYS$MANAGER:AMDS$LOGICALS.COM

• AMDS$GROUP_NAME – set as desired, one per cluster

• AMDS$DEVICE – Network adapter used for communications using the AMDS protocol

−Data Analyzer connections to Data Collectors

−Data Server connections to Data Collectors

−Note: Data Analyzer to Data Server connections use the IP protocol. The network adapters used are controlled by the IP stack on the particular system.

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Collector configuration

−Data Collector settings• Hello multicast message settings

−AMDS$RM_DEFAULT_INTERVAL – Broadcast interval in seconds for Hello multicast messages when the system is not being monitored

−AMDS$RM_SECONDARY_INTERVAL – Broadcast interval in seconds for Hello multicast messages when the system is being monitored

−Determines how quickly the Data Analyzer discovers all the systems. For instance, if the secondary interval is 20 seconds for each system on a LAN, then it will take up to 20 seconds for all the systems on the LAN to be discovered.

−Each message is one packet of around 200 bytes, contributes little to the network traffic

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Collector configuration

−Data Collector startup• SYS$STARTUP:AMDS$STARTUP is used to start and stop

the Data Collector, P1 is the function−START – Loads the configuration data and passwords,

and starts the Data Collector. Put this in command in SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM after the network stacks have been started so the MAC addresses of the network adapters have their final value

−STOP – Stops the Data Collector−RESTART – Stops and restarts the data collector. This is

useful if you change the configuration data or passwords, and want the changes loaded into the Data Collector

−STATUS – Current status of the Data Collector−HELP – List of possible functions

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Server configuration

−Authentication between the Data Analyzer and the Data server is by Kerberos public and private keys

−Create key pair on Data Server system• Start Data Analyzer, create keys, export public key

−Create key pair on Data Analyzer system• Start Data Analyzer, create keys, copy to Data Server

system

−Covered in Chapter 2 of the Availability Manager Users Guide

Availability Manager Configuration• Data Analyzer configuration

−Import any Data Server public keys• Start Data Analyzer

• Import keys in Network Connection dialog box

−Input Data Collector passwords• Use the Security tab in the Customization dialog box

• Passwords can be entered at the appropriate level

−OpenVMS level – Customize in System Overview

−AMDS group level – Right-click on group in System Overview

−Node level – Customize in Node pane or right-click on a node

Availability Manager Startup• The first window to appear is the System

Overview Window• Event data also goes to the event log file AnalyzerEvents.LOG

• On OpenVMS, you can set the location of the event log file with logical names

System Overview Window• Initially the System Overview window is empty.

Systems are displayed as the Hello multicast message is received from each Data Collector

• Shows all the systems being monitored in one window

• Information includes the Name, Utilization, O.S. and Hardware versions

• Allows customizations at the application and operating system levels

• Shows the connection used to gather the data (network adapter, connections to Data Servers)

Availability Manager Network Connection dialog box

Availability Manager System Overview Window

Availability Manager Data Server Statistics

Availability Manager Read from Data Server Statistics

Availability Manager Group Overview Window

Availability Manager Node CPU Modes

Availability Manager Disk Volume Summary

Availability ManagerSingle Disk

Availability Manager Lock Contention

Availability Manager Node fixes

Availability Manager Process General fixes

Availability Manager Process Memory fixes

Availability Manager Process Limit fixes