Remote Microsoft® SQL Server™ Use with IT Assistant Step-by … · 2005-09-02 · June 2005 Remote Microsoft® SQL Server™ Use with IT Assistant Step-by-Step Enterprise Systems

June 2005

Remote Microsoft® SQL Server™ Use with

IT Assistant Step-by-Step

Enterprise Systems Group (ESG)

Dell OpenManage™ Systems Management

Dell White Paper

By Krishna Mohan

[email protected]

Revision Date: 8/16/2005 Page 2 Systems Management Group

Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................... 3 General overview of IT Assistant’s components................................................................ 4 High Level Overview on How to Configure IT Assistant to Use a Remote Database 5 Pre-requisites............................................................................................................................. 7 Steps: On Configuring ITA to Use a Remote SQL Compliant Database....................... 8

Deploy the ITA Database to REMOTE_DB_SERVER................................................ 9 Connecting ITA to Database on REMOTE_DB_SERVER ....................................... 12

Pros and Cons.......................................................................................................................... 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 22 Figures Figure 1: Overall component View ........................................................................................................... 4 Figure 2: Initial ITA Installation with Default Database on ITA Station ............................................. 5 Figure 3: ITA Configuration Using Database on Remote SQL Server ................................................. 6 Figure 4: Overview of the Steps to Transfer the ITA Database to a Remote Server........................... 8 Figure 5: Running Command Line dcdbmng /r from the ITA Bin Directory........................................ 9 Figure 6: Detach database Dialogue.......................................................................................................... 9 Figure 7: System Data Sources................................................................................................................. 10 Figure 8: If ITAssist exists in the System Data source. ......................................................................... 10 Figure 9: Confirmation to delete the ITAssist data source................................................................... 11 Figure 10: Unmodified Configuration File dconfig.ini........................................................................... 12 Figure 11: Modified Configuration File dconfig.ini where ITA database is attached to a default

instance of the SQL Server................................................................................................................ 13 Figure 12: Modified Configuration File dconfig.ini where ITA database is attached to a non default

instance of the SQL Server................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 13: Logon Credentials: Local System account ........................................................................... 15 Figure 14: Logon Credentials: Administrator account ......................................................................... 15 Figure 15: dcnetmon DependOnService with MSSQLServer................................................................. 16 Figure 16: dcnetmon DependOnService without MSSQLServer........................................................... 17 Figure 17: dcconnsvc DependOnService with MSSQLServer ................................................................ 17 Figure 18: dcconnsvc DependOnService without MSSQLServer .......................................................... 18 Figure 19: Dependencies of the ITA Network Monitoring Service .................................................... 18 Figure 20: Dependencies of the ITA Connection Service ..................................................................... 19 Figure 21: ODBC Data Source: System DSN.......................................................................................... 20


Section 1 Introduction

Dell OpenManage™ IT Assistant (ITA) uses Microsoft® SQL Server™ compliant databases including the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) and SQL Server 2000. Beginning with ITA version 7.0, previous versions such as MSDE 1.0 and SQL Server 7.0 are no longer supported. By default, if there is no SQL compliant database present during the IT Assistant installation, the included copy of MSDE will be installed. In addition to providing higher performance and more features than MSDE, an existing installation of SQL Server can also be configured to host the IT Assistant database remotely over a network. This paper provides the detailed information on how to configure ITA version 7.0 and later to use Microsoft® SQL Server™ running on a remote server.


Section 2

General overview of IT Assistant’s components

The IT Assistant systems management console is a multi-tiered application consisting of the services tier and the client user interface (UI) tier.

• The IT Assistant services tier consists of the IT Assistant Network Monitoring Service, IT Assistant Connection Service and the IT Assistant database.

• The IT Assistant client UI is the console view to manage and monitor all devices. There can be multiple client UI connections to a single IT Assistant services tier.

Note: For this paper, if not otherwise specified, ITA refers to the IT Assistant services tier.

Figure 1: Overall component View


Section 3 High Level Overview on How to Configure IT Assistant to Use a Remote Database

In Error! Reference source not found., ITA is installed on the management station on the left, which will be referred to as ITA_STATION. The system on the right is a dedicated SQL Server, which will be referred to as REMOTE_DB_SERVER. These two systems are connected through a high speed LAN.

Figure 2: Initial ITA Installation with Default Database on ITA Station On the ITA_STATION the ITA database is deployed to the local SQL Server compliant database that is either installed via the OpenManage Applications CD (MSDE 2000) or located by the ITA installation program (SQL Server 2000 or MSDE 2000 installed by the customer). The IT Assistant Network Monitoring Service and the IT Assistant Connection Service access the ITA database that resides on the local server. As a dedicated database server, REMOTE_DB_SERVER has a fully fledged SQL Server installed. In order to configure ITA on the ITA_STATION to use the remote SQL Server residing on REMOTE_DB_SERVER (Figure 1), it is necessary to have the ITA database reside on the database server REMOTE_DB_SERVER, and then make the IT Assistant Network Monitoring Service and IT Assistant Connection Service on ITA_STATION access that database.


The diagram shown in Figure 3 illustrates the initial ITA installation configuration using the default database on the local server ITA_STATION. While the diagram shown in Figure 4 illustrates that configuration once ITA_STATION is changed to use the remote SQL Server database residing on REMOTE_DB_SERVER.

Figure 5: ITA Configuration Using Database on Remote SQL Server


Section 4 Pre-requisites

This section will discuss the pre-requisites that are required prior to making the changes that allow for the use of a remote database as the ITA database.

• On both the ITA_STATION and REMOTE_DB_SERVER make sure that the SQL Server service (MSSQLServer) is running via the service control panel. Start the SQL Server services either via the SQL Server Service Manager on the system tray or through the SQL Server Enterprise Manager’s SQL Server group.

• Ensure that the SQL Server compliant database versions on both the

ITA_STATION and the REMOTE_DB_SERVER are the same. If SQL Server 2000 is on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER then make sure MSDE 2000 or SQL Server 2000 is being used on the ITA_STATION.

• Ensure that the SQL Server on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER uses the same

authentication as that used on the SQL Server on ITA_STATION. Since ITA services log onto SQL Server using NT Authentication, make sure that both the ITA_STATION and the REMOTE_DB_SERVER use the same authentication with Administrator rights, are logged in with the same account, and that the SQL Server databases on both servers are configured to use this account. In this example, assume the username is “administrator” on both servers with identical passwords, and that both systems reside in the same NT domain.


Section 5 Steps: On Configuring ITA to Use a Remote SQL Compliant Database.

This section will discuss in detail the various steps that need to be performed on an existing ITA (version 7.0 and above) in order to use a remote SQL Server database. The sequences of steps required are depicted in Figure 4 and are explained in detail below.

Figure 6: Overview of the Steps to Transfer the ITA Database to a Remote Server


Deploy the ITA Database to REMOTE_DB_SERVER

• On the ITA_STATION, stop IT Assistant Connection Service and IT Assistant Network Monitoring Service from the Service Control Manager. This stops ITA services from accessing local ITA database. Also, make sure that no other program is accessing the local ITA database named ITAssist. If a database program such as SQL Server’s Enterprise Manager and/or Query Analyzer is running, close the program or ensure that the program is not accessing local ITA database called ITAssist.

• On the ITA_STATION, detach the ITA database from local SQL Server by running the IT Assistant database management utility via a command line: “dcdbmng /r” from the IT Assistant bin directory, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 8: Running Command Line dcdbmng /r from the ITA Bin Directory When the ITA database has been successfully detached you will notice a pop-up dialog box as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 10: Detach database Dialogue This can also be executed via the following SQL statement against the local master database:

exec sp_detach_db @dbname=ʹITAssistʹ

• To ensure that the database is detached, start ODBC Data Source Administrator from the start->settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Data Sources (ODBC) and go to the System DSN tab, as shown in Figure 11. Make sure that there


should not be a system data source with the name ITAssist. If there is, remove that data source by clicking on the remove tab, as shown in Figure 8 and 9.

Figure 12: System Data Sources

Figure 13: If ITAssist exists in the System Data source.


Figure 14: Confirmation to delete the ITAssist data source.

• On the ITA_STATION, navigate to the Data folder under MSDE or SQL Server installed location. By default this would be C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL and copy the ITA database file ITAssist_Data.MDF to the desired path on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER. For this example let us consider the desired path to be DB_PATH.

• On REMOTE_DB_SERVER, attach the database file ITAssist_Data.MDF located in DB_PATH to the local SQL Server. This can be done by executing the following SQL statement against the local master database:

exec sp_attach_single_file_db @dbname=ʹITAssistʹ,@physname=ʹDB_PATH\ITAssist_Data.mdfʹ

First argument @dbname specifies name of the database and should be kept as ITAssist. Second argument @physname specifies where the database file is located and user should customize it to reflect the correct location of file ITAssist_Data.mdf. If there are several instances of the SQL Server on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER, then you can execute the above SQL statement and attach the ITAssist to any one instance of your SQL Server. However it is recommended that ITAssist be attached to the default instance of the local master database. The default instance of the SQL Server by default would be: “local” or have the system name, in this case “REMOTE_DB_SERVER”. This can be viewed in the SQL Server group of the SQL Enterprise Manager. All non default instances of the SQL Server will have the instance name attached to it. For this example: consider MYINST1 and MYINST2 as the two non default instances of the SQL Server. These SQL Server instances will be: REMOTE_DB_SERVER\MYINST1 and REMOTE_DB_SERVER\MYINST2. This can also be viewed in the SQL Server group of the SQL Enterprise Manager. If the REMOTE_DB_SERVER’s SQL Enterprise Manager does not have a complete list of all the SQL Server instances on the system then you would need to register these non default instances for this to show up. At this point, the SQL Server on REMOTE_DB_SERVER has a copy of the ITA database that resides on ITA_STATION. ITA, however, is not yet aware of that SQL Server database. The next steps establish the ITA connection to the remote SQL Server containing the ITA database.


Connecting ITA to Database on REMOTE_DB_SERVER

• On the ITA_STATION, navigate to the configuration directory where ITA is

installed. Edit the configuration file dconfig.ini, by replacing each string that says “(local)” under the sections [ITAssist_Odbc_Attributes] and [Master_Odbc_Attributes] with the name of the SQL Server that sits on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER. In the case where, ITA database resides in the default instance of the SQL Server, it is “REMOTE_DB_SERVER” (name of the database server). In the case where ITA database resides in a non default instance of the SQL Server, say MYINST1, then it is “REMOTE_DB_SERVER\MYINST1”.

Figure 15 shows the dconfig.ini file prior to the change. Figure 16 shows the modified file when connecting to a default instance of the SQL Server on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER. Figure 17 shows the modified file if when connecting to a non default instance of the SQL Server (MYINST1) on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER. Be sure to know where the ITA database resides, either the default or non default instance and make the changes accordingly to the dconfig.ini file and save it.

Figure 18: Unmodified Configuration File dconfig.ini


Figure 19: Modified Configuration File dconfig.ini where ITA database is attached to a default instance of the SQL Server.


Figure 20: Modified Configuration File dconfig.ini where ITA database is attached to a non default instance of the SQL Server.

• Now on the ITA_STATION, change the ITA services logon credentials from using the Local System account (as shown in Figure 21) to the common account used to log onto the local SQL Server on both ITA_STATION and REMOTE_DB_SERVER. In this case, it is the local Administrator account (as shown in Figure 22).

This operation needs to be done for both the ITA Connection Service and ITA Network Monitoring Service. To perform these actions, right click on the individual services from the Service Control Manager and select Properties. Now select the Log On tab to change the logon credentials. Once this is completed save the changes.


Figure 23: Logon Credentials: Local System account

Figure 24: Logon Credentials: Administrator account


• This next step is optional and it is required only if you plan to stop the SQL Server service from running on the ITA_STATION. This will explain in detail on how to release the ITA services from requiring SQL Server service running locally on the ITA_STATION.

During ITA installation, ITA services are created to depend on the SNMP service and the SQL Server’s MSSQLServer service. The dependency on SQL Server’s service can be removed by editing the registry for the ITA services on the ITA_STATION.

Note: before editing the registry, make sure you save a copy of the registry and understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. On the ITA_STATION open the Microsoft Window’s Registry Editor by typing regedit on the prompt from the start -> run. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\dcnetmon Double click on value DependOnService to edit its data. This registry value is a UNICODE multiple string and its initial Value Data is “SNMP MSSQLServer” as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 26: dcnetmon DependOnService with MSSQLServer

Remove MSSQLServer to make the value data same as that shown in Figure 27. Save the changes. This will remove the dependency of the ITA Network Monitoring Service on SQL Server service.

Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\dcconnsvc Double click on value DependOnService to edit its data. This registry value is a UNICODE multiple string and its initial Value Data is “SNMP MSSQLServer dcnetmon” as shown in Figure 28.


Figure 29: dcnetmon DependOnService without MSSQLServer

Figure 30: dcconnsvc DependOnService with MSSQLServer Remove MSSQLServer to make the value data same as that shown in Figure 31. Save the changes and close Registry Editor. This will remove the dependency of the ITA Connection Service on SQL Server service.


Figure 32: dcconnsvc DependOnService without MSSQLServer Check the dependencies of the ITA Network Monitoring Service and the ITA Connection Service on ITA_STATION by right-clicking on the individual services from the Service Control Manager and select Properties to bring up the service’s property dialogue box and click on the Dependencies tab as shown in Figure 33 and 34. The services should not depend on MSSQLServer Service. Restart ITA_STATION to let these changes take effect.

Figure 35: Dependencies of the ITA Network Monitoring Service


Figure 36: Dependencies of the ITA Connection Service After this is completed, SQL Server’s MSSQLServer Service is no longer required on ITA_STATION. The SQL Server service can be stopped, or the SQL Server program (MSDE or SQL Server) can even be removed from ITA_STATION if there are no other programs depending on it.

• On ITA_STATION, check to see if the ITA Connection Service and ITA Network Monitoring Service from the Service Control Manager have started, if not start these services. ITA should now begin to access the ITA database deployed on the SQL Server of the REMOTE_DB_SERVER.

Note: if the ITA services dependency on the local SQL Server service has not been removed as described in previous step, SQL Server service on ITA_STATION needs to be running for ITA services to be started, even though that SQL Server database is not actually used by ITA.

• To verify that the ITA_STATION has successfully connected to the ITA database on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER, start ODBC Data Source Administrator from the Control Panel->Administrative Tools on the ITA_STATION and go to the System DSN tab, as shown in Figure 37. There should be a system data source named ITAssist.


Figure 38: ODBC Data Source: System DSN

• Now open the ITA user interface that is installed locally on ITA_STATION, or connect remotely from a different system2 to the ITA_STATION.

This now completes the steps necessary to have ITA services on ITA_STATION use the ITA database residing on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER, as described in Figure 39.

2 IT Assistant’s user interface beginning with version 7.0 can be remotely accessed via different web browsers on both Microsoft Windows operating systems and Red Hat Linux operating systems. To remotely access the ITA user interface, point your web browser to https://<ITA_STATION>:2607, where ITA_STATION is the host name or the IP Address of the system on which IT Assistant is running and 2607 is the default IT Assistant connection port.


Section 5 Pros and Cons

Pros:

Running the ITA database on a dedicated SQL Server system can potentially:

• Reduce or even remove the memory footprint of the database server on ITA_STATION.

• Improve the performance of ITA in environments managing thousands of systems if the remote database server has more disk space and higher I/O throughput;

• Reduce the number of SQL Server installations that need to be done on different ITA_STATIONS by letting different ITA databases reside on separate instances of SQL Server which is installed on the REMOTE_DB_SERVER.

Cons:

• Running the ITA database locally on the same server as the ITA service components eliminates the network traffic required to communicate with a remote database.

To determine if you should run the ITA database locally or remotely largely depends on: the number of systems in your environment, your network topology and traffic, and the hardware configuration of both the ITA station and database servers.

Consider enlisting the assistance of a database administrator in determining which configuration will work best in your environment.


Section 6 Conclusion

In conclusion, this white paper:

• Provides information necessary for an administrator to configure IT Assistant to locate the ITA database on a remote SQL database server.

• Pros and Cons towards using a remote SQL Server for ITA database.

THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photography. Dell and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark and SQL Server is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

©Copyright 2005 Dell Inc.. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

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Remote Microsoft® SQL Server™ Use with IT Assistant Step-by … · 2005-09-02 · June 2005 Remote Microsoft® SQL Server™ Use with IT Assistant Step-by-Step Enterprise Systems