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BEST PRACTICES WHITE PAPER
Bringing the Power of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to Middleware Management
TABlE of ConTEnTS
ExEcutivE Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Look at thE Big PicturE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Bmc offErS a SoLution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
BMC Middleware Management Technology » 2
BMC ProactiveNet Performance Manager » 3
LEvEraging thE comBination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Middleware Administrators » 3
IT Operations » 4
BSM Implications » 5
architEcturE of thE intEgration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Exposing BMM Data to ProactiveNet » 5
Connecting ProactiveNet to the BMM Database Server » 6
configuring thE SoLutionS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Configuring BMM History Collection and Presentation » 7
Configuring the UDFs » 7
Configuring the BPM Agent Connection to the BMM Database » 8
Configuring ProactiveNet to Collect BMM Data from the BPM Agent » 8
Configuring the Consoles for Cross Launch » 8
concLuSion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1
ExECuTIvE SummARyMiddleware has become an integral component of today’s IT infrastructures and is essential to service delivery Consequently,
to ensure high quality service delivery, you must manage middleware with the same rigor and discipline as the other IT
infrastructure components That requires a unified approach to IT service management that includes middleware
BMC Software’s newly announced Middleware Management portfolio offers comprehensive middleware coverage with the
breadth and depth required for enterprise management of this key infrastructure component BMC delivers this technology
through two primary solutions — BMC Middleware Management – Performance and Availability and BMC Middleware
Management – Transaction Monitoring
You can easily integrate BMC Middleware Management solutions with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Through
this integration, you can apply the power of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management’s correlation technology to analyze
BMC Middleware Management data As a result, middleware administrators can take advantage of BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management’s advanced capabilities to facilitate middleware management Conversely, the IT operations staff
can take advantage of the BMC Middleware Management solutions to gain greater insight into middleware for improved
performance management and root cause analysis
The integration of BMC Middleware Management solutions with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management brings
middleware management into the BMC Business Service Management (BSM) environment It enables the IT staff to manage the
entire enterprise IT environment, including middleware, from the unified BSM platform
This paper discusses the business criticality of middleware and the need to manage it in the context of the overall IT
environment It examines how the integration of BMC Middleware Management and BMC ProactiveNet Performance
Management solutions addresses this need and it describes the resulting business benefits The paper also describes how to
configure the solutions to accomplish the integration
look AT THE BIg PICTuREAs IT technology has moved from centralized to distributed architecture, the number of physical devices in the data center —
servers, network devices, and storage devices — has increased dramatically The introduction of virtualization into the data
center has further driven up the number of devices because of the ease of creation of virtual devices
Each physical or virtual server may host one or more applications What’s more, composite applications are segmented into
components that interoperate to provide application services The components may run on different servers and each server
may host multiple components A component may both call other components and be called by other components Some
components may be supplied by external providers The result is a highly complex web of interacting software components
The components typically communicate through middleware of two main types The first is messaging middleware that passes
messages between components that use the same messaging protocol and data representation The two dominant messaging
middleware environments are IBM® and TIBCO middleware
The second type is Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), or broker software, that passes messages between components that use
different messaging protocols and data representations ESB software can also route messages The most common ESB/
broker middleware environments are from IBM, TIBCO, and Oracle (BEA)
Because of its pivotal role in applications, middleware is a critical part of the IT infrastructure and is involved in a large number
of IT services, including critical business services
Currently, many IT organizations manage middleware separately from other components of the IT infrastructure This
separation increases the difficulty of overall service management For example, when a performance problem occurs in a
service, it’s difficult to quickly determine the source of the problem Is it the physical or virtual device hosting the application? Is it
the application? Or is it the middleware? As a result, problems often trigger highly inefficient “all hands on deck” exercises
IT needs to take a unified approach to IT service management that encompasses all components of the IT infrastructure,
including middleware That requires viewing middleware in the context of the big picture of business processes and service
delivery For example, a business process may involve multiple services provided by multiple enterprise applications Figure 1
illustrates the big picture of an order entry business process
2
Figure 1 Order entry services
A unified approach eliminates the “all hands on deck” scenario in addressing problems in services that involve middleware
Here’s an example:
A retail chain has a mainframe pricing application that communicates through middleware with retail outlets that use Windows
The application keeps the retail stores updated on the latest promotional pricing It’s critical that the pricing information reach all
retail stores in a timely fashion to prevent mischarging customers
For some reason, the pricing information is no longer getting to the retail stores in a reasonable amount of time Is the problem
in the mainframe application, the Windows application, or the middleware? Through a big picture view of the price updating
application, the IT staff sees that the messages are leaving the mainframe, passing though the middleware in a normal
fashion, but waiting for the store-side Windows application to process them This indicates that the problem is in the Windows
application Armed with this knowledge, the middleware administrator can work directly with the owner of the Windows
application to address the problem rather than wasting time digging into the mainframe application or middleware components
BmC offERS A SoluTIonBMC provides a solution that brings middleware into the big picture The solution combines two BMC technologies: BMC
Middleware Management technology and BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management data correlation technology
BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT TECHnologyBMC Middleware Management technology includes the following solutions The first is BMC Middleware Management –
Performance and Availability This solution monitors all key properties of middleware components, and supports popular
middleware technologies
The data gathered by BMC Middleware Management – Performance and Availability can include:
Time between invocation and corresponding response of each middleware component »HTTP Servlet or EJB interface method response time »WebSphere MQ queue data, including enqueue and dequeue rates, oldest message age, and failure/dead letter queue depth »WebSphere MQ channel data, including channel status, and sender and receiver status »WebSphere Message Broker Message Flow data, including pool size and elapsed time »Message Flow Node data, including elapsed time and CPU time per node »
Business Process
Transport Layer-JMS -MQ-HTTP(S) -XMS
Mediation Layer-Message Broker-WESB
Transport Layer-JMS -MQ-HTTP(S) -XMS
Services
Web App(WAS)
POS Siebel Shipping / EDI Billing App(CICS)
OrderEntryBegin Order
ApprovalOrder
ShippingOrderBilling End
3
BMC Middleware Management – Performance and Availability aggregates historical data in a BMC Middleware Management
database, which can be a DB2®, Oracle®, or Microsoft SQL Server You configure the BMC Middleware Management –
Performance and Availability solution to determine what data is to be collected and how often The solution can present the data
in user defined views, reports, and charts
The second solution is BMC Middleware Management – Transaction Monitoring, which tracks how specific transactions are
moving through the process BMC Middleware Management – Transaction Monitoring looks at the content of messages to allow
tracking of business transactions and their content and timing from hop to hop as they move through middleware environments
BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnTBMC ProactiveNet Performance Management detects performance abnormalities in IT environments, providing an early
warning of impending performance problems It also identifies probable root causes of problems
The solution provides an advanced data correlation capability Traditional correlation solutions employ two types of correlation
The first is time-based in which only those events that occurred at approximately the same time are correlated The second
type is topology-based, which takes into account the physical and logical topology of IT resources Physical topology correlation
considers events that are generated by physically interdependent IT resources (such as servers and network devices) to be
correlated Logical topology correlation considers those events generated by logically interdependent IT resources (such as
applications and databases) to be correlated
In addition to time-based and topology-based correlation, BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management employs a third and
more advanced type of correlation that distinguishes between normal and abnormal behavior It also employs an automatic
learning process that analyzes workload profiles and determines the normal operating behavior of the environment It uses
this information to automatically set baselines for normal/abnormal event determination It then generates events only when it
detects abnormal conditions, greatly decreasing the number of events to which the IT staff must respond It also automatically
and continually readjusts the baselines to accommodate normal workload variations over time
What’s more, BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management employs advanced techniques to correlate performance data and
forensic data to generate intelligent events that indicate probable causes of abnormal events It creates a short list of probable
causes, ranked by probability, facilitating problem triage and resolution
lEvERAgIng THE ComBInATIonIntegrating the BMC Middleware Management solutions with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management enables the IT
staff to combine the advanced correlation and diagnostic capabilities of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management with the
transaction data monitoring and middleware management capabilities of the BMC Middleware Management solutions The
combination provides two complementary views of the IT environment, each from a different perspective
First, BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management provides a comprehensive IT infrastructure-oriented view This view
includes all the hardware and software assets in the infrastructure, their physical and logical topologies, the services
provided by the assets, the business priorities of the services, and the business processes supported by the services Second,
the middleware management solutions provide an application-oriented view of the IT infrastructure This view shows the
transaction flow through the components of composite applications, including such components as web services, middleware,
and backend components These two complementary views are analogous to having both a map of city streets and a view of the
traffic flow through those streets
Both middleware administrators and the IT operations staff benefit
mIddlEWARE AdmInISTRAToRSMiddleware administrators can take advantage of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management’s dynamic baselining capability
to automatically set and continually adjust baselines for BMC Middleware Management objects, such as queue depths or
message rates The administrators can configure BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to automatically generate
intelligent events when abnormal conditions are detected, that is, when conditions exceed the baselines For example, a large
daily batch application may always cause a queue to back up Setting a hard queue depth threshold may result in an alert being
generated each time the batch application is run, even though the increase in queue depth is within the normal range for the
batch application Instead of setting a hard threshold, BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management the current queue depth
4
for the batch application to that of other daily batch runs and generates an alert only if the depth exceeds the normal range
This predictive analysis enables middleware administrators to move proactively to head off issues before they result in service
degradation while avoiding false positive alerts
In addition, through BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management, middleware administrators can get a “big picture” view of the
IT environment to help them gain greater insight into issues For example, a queue manager outage that normally requires an
alert to the middleware administrator may be due to an outage of the Linux system on which the queue manager runs Because
BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management has awareness of the Linux server status as well as the queue manager status,
alerts can be better directed
IT oPERATIonSOperations personnel benefit in that they can view BMC Middleware Management reports and graphs to “look inside” the
middleware and gain additional insight into performance and availability issues Here are two examples:
Figure 2 BMC Middleware Management graph
The graph in Figure 2 shows application processing across two load-balanced servers The load balancing was effective for
most of the visible time period, however, from 13:00 – 13:15, all application processing was being routed to Server2 (shown
in blue) while the Server1 processing (shown in red) dropped to zero Seeing this, the IT operations staff switched to the BMC
ProactiveNet Performance Management view and saw that Server1 was operating normally This narrowed the failure to the
application instance running on Server1 rather than in Server1 itself The operations staff referred the problem to the application
developer for resolution
5
Figure 3 BMC Middleware Management report
The BMC Middleware Management report in Figure 3 shows response times of a set of WebSphere Application Server EJB
methods (Each EJB declares an interface consisting of one or more EJB Methods Each EJB Method is a specific function of the
bean ) Through the chart, the operations staff can see which methods are the limiting factors in the bean code In this example,
the table is sorted by response time As can be seen, the updateWarehouseInventory method is taking too long (over 24 seconds
which is the limit of the performance of the bean) Having gained this insight, the operations staff can task the application
developer to target efforts to improve the code for that particular method
BSm ImPlICATIonSThe integration of BMC Middleware Management solutions with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management brings
middleware management into the BMC BSM environment, so that all IT groups, including middleware administrators, operate
from the same unified BSM platform
Bringing middleware into the BSM environment enables middleware administrators to work far more efficiently with other IT
groups in a wide variety of areas, including database management, application management, event management, incident and
problem management, performance management, and capacity management The result is higher service quality and lower costs
ARCHITECTuRE of THE InTEgRATIonThe integration of the BMC Middleware Management solutions with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management is
straightforward and consists of simply configuring the solution components The configuration enables BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management to access the parameters monitored by the BMC Middleware Management solutions in the same
manner as it does data from other monitoring solutions
The configuration consists of two steps:
First, you expose the BMC Middleware Management database to BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management in the same 1
manner as you would expose this database to other management tools This enables BMC ProactiveNet Performance
Management to execute queries against the BMC Middleware Management database
Then, you configure ProactiveNet to execute queries periodically against the BMC Middleware Management database in 2
the same manner as it executes queries on other performance databases The database appears to BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management as just another performance history database
ExPoSIng BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT dATA To BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnTYou expose the data in the BMC Middleware Management database to BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management
through user defined functions (UDFs) The BMC Middleware Management solutions provide a library of UDFs to facilitate
implementation You simply select the appropriate UDFs based on the database management system you use — DB2, Oracle, or
MS SQL Server
6
ConnECTIng BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnT To THE BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT dATABASE SERvER
Figure 4 Connecting to the BMC Middleware Management database server
As Illustrated in Figure 4, the connection between BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management and the BMC Middleware
Management database server involves of the following components:
The Proactive Operations Platform Server The repository for all data collected by BMC ProactiveNet Performance »Management The server analyzes data, creating profiles, for each metric, that defines normal variation in parameter value
over time It detects deviations from the profiles (abnormalities) and uses this information to create alerts and to perform
probable cause analysis
BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Agent Collects data from monitored systems and other monitoring tools »BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Proxy Component within the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management »Agent that allows the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Agent to connect to and collect data from multiple BMC
Performance Manager Agents
BMC Performance Manager Agent Software agent that resides on each monitored system »BMC Middleware Management Knowledge Module Provides the intelligence and encapsulated knowledge for the BMC »Performance Manager Agent It defines what parameters the BMC Performance Manager Agent monitors, and how to collect
and present the data
The server accesses the BMC Middleware Management database through the BMC Performance Manager Agent and the
Knowledge Module, all installed on the BMC Middleware Management database server The Agent collects data through the
Knowledge Module using a Perl script that operates through an ODBC connection The Knowledge Module executes the Perl
script according to the schedule that you specify
ProactiveNetServer
ProactiveNetAgent
ProactiveNetProxy
BPMAgent
BMM DatabaseServer
BMM KnowledgeModule Perl Script
BMMDatabase
ODBC
7
ConfIguRIng THE SoluTIonSThis section describes the configuration of the BMC Middleware Management and BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management
solutions to permit BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to access the BMC Middleware Management database It is
assumed that you have already installed BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management and BMC Middleware Management –
Performance and Availability or BMC Middleware Management – Transaction Monitoring
ConfIguRIng BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT HISToRy CollECTIon And PRESEnTATIonFirst, you determine what middleware data you want to collect and how often This is done in the BMC Middleware Management
solution by setting the history rules and sampling interval
To set the history rules, select the History tab of the BMC Middleware Management – Management Console and perform the
following steps:
Select, from a list of available object types, the type of object (such as an MQ Queue or a Service Response Time) on which 1
you want to keep history
Select, from a list, which parameters of that object type (such as queue depth) that you want to collect 2
Select the data compression interval For example, you may want to keep the response time for every transaction for 1 day, 3
but after that keep only the average response times for all transactions in a given hour In this case, you would choose 1 hour
as the data compression interval
You then set the sample interval in the BMC Middleware Management Configuration Monitor
You can create reports that present the history data in the form of spreadsheets The BMC Middleware Management solutions
include templates that are prepopulated for each object You can customize the reports to meet specific requirements
You can also create charts and graphs of the data for any middleware object, enabling you to easily analyze and compare the
data aggregated by the BMC Middleware Management solution Charting is controlled by a wizard You simply step through the
wizard to create the general chart you want You can then customize the appearance and labeling of the chart Several chart
types are available, including two-dimension charts (line, scatter, area, and step), and three-dimension charts (bar, x bar and
range, Pareto, and linear regression)
ConfIguRIng THE udfSThe BMC Middleware Management solutions include a History Reporting Toolkit that contains useful functions, procedures,
and views to assist in quickly building the UDFs As a result, building UDFs doesn’t require extensive knowledge of the BMC
Middleware Management data model The toolkit includes UDFs for views, table functions, scalar functions, advanced queries
(non-aggregate), and advanced queries (aggregate)
NOTE: Instead of creating a rule many times, you can create a template once and associate objects with the template A
template applies the same history rule or set of history rules to similar objects, such as queues, throughout the enterprise
You can edit templates to customize them to your specific requirements BMC Middleware Management – Performance and
Availability and BMC Middleware Management – Transaction Monitoring include a number of pre-written templates
NOTE: For a detailed description of configuring BMC Middleware Management history collection and presentation, refer to
the BMC product documentation for BMC Middleware Management – Performance and Availability
8
To configure the UDFs:
Connect to your database as a highly authorized user (such as the schema owner) 1
Execute the BMC Middleware Management provided scripts matching your database and version 2
Check the log files to ensure that the UDFs are correctly installed 3
ConfIguRIng THE BmC PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgER AgEnT ConnECTIon To THE BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT dATABASETo configure the BMC Performance Manager Agent to connect to the BMC Middleware Management database, perform the
following steps:
On the BMC Middleware Management Database Server:
Install the Perl Interpreter1
Install the BMC Performance Management Agent2
Install and preload the BMC Middleware Management Knowledge Module supplied with the BMC Middleware Management 3
solution
Install the ODBC driver supplied with the BMC Middleware Management solution4
Configure the BMC Middleware Management Knowledge Module with the BMC Middleware Management Database instance 5
name, user name, and password
ConfIguRIng BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnT To CollECT BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT dATA fRom THE BmC PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgER AgEnTYou must configure BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to connect to the BMC Performance Manager Agent
running the BMC Middleware Management Knowledge Module To do so, you configure the BMC ProactiveNet Performance
Management Proxy to connect the ProactiveNet Agent to the BMC Performance Manager Agent and to retrieve the BMC
Middleware Management parameters The procedure is a follows:
Launch the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Administration Console and select Tools -> Configure -> BMC 1
PATROL Proxy
Enter the connection details for the BMC PATROL Proxy Agent2
Add the BMC Performance Manager Agent, ensuring that all connection credentials are correct3
Once the proxy has successfully connected to the agent, a list of application classes present on the agent is displayed4
Expand QNAMI_TOPIC and select all instances of the QNAMI METRICS application class5
Click Finish6
ConfIguRIng THE ConSolES foR CRoSS lAunCHYou can configure the BMC Middleware Management and the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Consoles for cross
launch That permits BMC Middleware Management users to launch the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Console
from the BMC Middleware Management console, and it permits BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management users to launch
the BMC Middleware Management Console from the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Console In this way, users
can quickly and conveniently switch between BMC Middleware Management and BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management
NOTE: The exact details of configuring the UDFs depend on your operating system and database platform For a detailed
description of configuring UDFs for your environment (such as DB2 on AIX), refer to the BMC product documentation for
BMC Middleware Management – Performance and Availability
NOTE: For more details on the configuration procedure, see the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management
Administration Guide
9
ConfIguRIng lAunCH of BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT fRom THE BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnT ConSolETo configure BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to launch the BMC Middleware Management Console, you create a
script from the ProactiveNet Administration console, using the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Diagnostic Wizard
The procedure is straightforward:
Select Tools -> Diagnostic Wizard -> Script1
Click Add2
In the Name field, enter Launch BMM Console3
Select URL and enter the URL http://<bmmservicehost>:15007/ (that launches the BMC Middleware Management – 4
Management Console)
Click Next5
Select All and click Next6
From the list of monitor types, select all occurrences of QNAMI metrics, click the > button, then click Next7
In the Access Control section, select the user groups you wish to enable to cross launch the BMC Middleware Management – 8
Management Console, then select Finish
You can now cross-launch to the BMC Middleware Management – Management Console from the BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management User Console by navigating to an instance of a QNAMI_Metrics Monitor and selecting Tools ->
Diagnostics -> BMM Console
ConfIguRIng lAunCH of BmC PRoACTIvEnET PERfoRmAnCE mAnAgEmEnT fRom BmC mIddlEWARE mAnAgEmEnT – mAnAgEmEnT ConSolEConfigure BMC Middleware Management to launch from the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management Console as follows:
From the BMC Middleware Management – Management Console, click on Edit1
Click on Button tool2
Click on the location where you want to place the button3
Right click on the button and select properties to tailor the button4
Click on the Commands and Links tab5
Click on the URL radio button and type the URL of the BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management User Console into 6
the textbox
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 . © 2010 Bmc Software, inc . all rights reserved . *127217*
ConCluSIonComposite applications play an essential role in the delivery of critical business services and middleware is a crucial link in
most composite applications Consequently, it’s imperative that IT keep middleware components running at the performance
and availability levels required by the business Now you can tap the power of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management to
enhance middleware management by integrating with BMC Middleware Management solutions through simple configuration
Through this integration, you’ll increase the efficiency and effectiveness of both middleware administrators and the IT
operations staff in managing middleware Middleware administrators can take advantage of BMC ProactiveNet Performance
Management’s proactive management capabilities The operations staff can gain greater insight into middleware through the
availability of BMC Middleware Management aggregated data
In addition, you’ll integrate middleware management into the overall fabric of Business Service Management That results
in higher quality of service, lower costs, and less risk of service disruptions and noncompliance with internal polices and
external regulations
Business runs on IT. IT runs on BmC Software.Business thrives when IT runs smarter, faster, and stronger That’s why the most demanding IT organizations in the world
rely on BMC Software across both distributed and mainframe environments Recognized as the leader in Business Service
Management, BMC provides a comprehensive and unified platform that helps IT organizations cut cost, reduce risk, and drive
business profit For the four fiscal quarters ended December 31, 2009, BMC revenue was approximately $1 90 billion
Visit www.bmc.com for more information