HP NonStop SPI & HP Operations Center Manager

Reflex - HP NonStop Smart Plug-In (SPI) for HP Operations Center for Windows (formerly HP OpenView Operations™)

The hp OVO Smart Plug-In technology demands a greater level of sophistication for central enterprise control and goes beyond basic event alerting. The Reflex SPI offers a comprehensive view of your entire hp NonStop network (including HP NonStop Integrity and Blade technology) from the hp OVO Management Console.

Before the introduction of the hp Smart Plug-In technology, the extent and depth of monitoring and interaction provided could only be realistically achieved using more proprietary, platform specific products beyond enterprise management solutions. The Reflex SPI naturally extends hp OVO with the required tools, operator initiated commands and service tree views for complete hp NonStop platform management.

Maintaining the enterprise management layer and ensuring it is in-step with updates to the hp NonStop network for hardware, middleware and your live applications is simplified by design, using an advised software strategy. The Reflex SPI compliments the hp OVO Management Console by delivering tools that allow for easy, single-click administration of new hp NonStop policies, alerts and service tree updates. The NSK based Reflex Smart Plug-In agents are engineered to provide very low utilisation of NonStop resources in relaying alerts to hp OVO. A ‘listen rather than interrogate’ design principle allows the Reflex SPI to perform real-time notification of NonStop issues without jeopardising any of your live application performance, or response times.

The hp OVO alert relay mechanisms on the NonStop platform are further optimised by incorporating pre-filtering rules. This approach strips out unwanted events allowing selective and sensible filtering of critical NonStop server and application alerts for major subsystems, which includes TCP/IP, MQ Series, XPNET™ and BASE24™. This unique feature provides hp OVO end users with the confidence that all events displayed in the hp OVO ‘Active Message’ Management Console views, are real NonStop issues.

The Reflex SPI takes full advantage of the hp OVO Service Views approach by quickly alerting on potential problem areas for your NonStop network. Users of hp OVO can represent NonStop subsystems, by node and by their own chosen alias names for key system areas or business functions, e.g. ATM network stations, live application files, suspect looping processes and BASE24 switch interchanges.

The service view display offered by the Reflex SPI will quickly isolate any deficiencies in your ability to meet agreed SLAs by underlining key failing critical path components, subsystems and application processes. This approach allows for the service provision of your NonStop network to be proactively maintained rather than being compromised when a number of key NSK components have failed.

The Reflex SPI provides the hp OVO Management Console with all the traditional troubleshooting capabilities associated with the Guardian Event Management Service (EMS), including Probable Cause and Recommended Action, and all mandatory EMS tokens and the user applied hp OVO severity settings. Also available through the hp OVO Console are secure Task Automation (both manual and system initiated), detailed NSK component information, configuration, statistics and user requested real-time object status.
HP OVO tools are provided for service tree topology detection of NSK subsystems (both Guardian and application), hp OVO policy and event acknowledgement import and running the Reflex GUI Client.

Reflex Smart Plug-In functions provide a comprehensive and future proofed strategy for managing your entire NonStop network through the hp OpenView Operations solution. The Reflex SPI now makes it possible to deliver pertinent NonStop information and status, providing real and effective NonStop problem resolution to the enterprise management layer of the business, for the first time.

Approaches to HP OVO Enterprise Management Integration :

One of the observed shortfalls of integrated solutions for an Enterprise Management approach is the lack of appropriate levels of security, auditing and contingency for each proprietary platform monitored. In providing an integrated, end-to-end graphical view of service provision, the rudimentary design considerations engineered into key, industry-leading solutions should also be securely extended to the users of the enterprise layer of the business. This consideration is especially highlighted when relaying critical events away from a ‘NonStop platform’, to be dealt with by non-platform specific solutions. If this is to be the chosen approach for the business then consideration should be given to a number of key areas, which are highlighted in the data flow diagram.
 
Maintained Security for both Logon and Manual Task Initiation
A multi-tiered approach to security at the enterprise layer is imperative when allowing remote users access to the hp NonStop platform. Authorisation to access NSK tasks for remedying problems reported to the Enterprise layer of the business should be enforced locally, or on the hp NonStop platform. The user database should be encrypted and secure. The ability to allocate event-viewing functions, task functions and other interactive features as separate user facilities at the enterprise layer is extremely beneficial. This will provide a more secure and controlled environment that allows for both junior and administrator level access to be defined. Individual tasks should be split by type, thereby allowing tasks relating to each application or system area on the hp NonStop platform, to be linked to an appropriate user responsible for that business function.
 
Comprehensive Auditing of all User Actions
All user actions relating to task initiation should be audited. This should include the time at which the task was started, the Enterprise user initiating the task, the platform the task was initiated from, e.g. a WIN32 GUI at the Operations Bridge, and the NSK task name that was initiated. Audit reporting, historical look-up and archiving functions should also be provided.
 
Supplied Troubleshooting Functions should be Maintained
The hp NonStop platform is unique in its provision of probable Cause, Effect and Recommended texts for each event generated to the primary collector. In relaying events away from the NSK platform for remote viewing, it would not be sensible to denature this troubleshooting function for those who are less knowledgeable in hp NonStop related issues. The option to allow these texts to be viewable at the Enterprise layer should be provided where the Enterprise Manager is being used for problem resolution as well as SLA monitoring.
 
Ensure that NonStop Mechanisms have been Employed
A key sentiment for those concerned about employing Enterprise Management platforms not traditionally associated with fault tolerance, is the exporting of NSK duties to those remote boxes. Needless to say that if this model is adopted by the business then NonStop relay mechanisms should be implemented by design and incorporated within the chosen solution. The solution should incorporate NonStop dynamic re-routing of events to a secondary box in the event of failure. It should also allow connections to the hp NonStop platform (for task initiation and status checking), to be transferred successfully in the event of partial TCP/IP process failure.

Benefits

The Reflex Smart-Plug-In (SPI) is hp certified and engineered to extend a feature rich set of functions to the hp OVO end user for managing all aspects of hp NonStop systems.

• Comprehensive Monitoring for hp NonStop Systems
  
   
• Monitoring of all Application Components
  
   
• Monitoring of all Hardware Components and System Software
  
   
• Performance Thresholds Monitored
  
   
• NonStop Subsystem Breakdown in hp OVO Service Views
  
   
• Complete End-to-End EMS Event Management
  
   
• Full Automatic Detection
  
   
• Operator Initiated and System Initiated Tasks
  
   
• Maintained HP NonStop Security and Automatic Auditing
  
   
• BASE24™ and XPNET™ Support
  
   
• Detailed Object Information, Configuration and Real-Time Health accessible.
  
   
• Probable Cause and Recommended Action
  
   
• Batch and Job Schedule Monitoring
  
   
• A True NonStop Approach
  
   
• User-friendly Graphical Interface for Advanced Troubleshooting

HP NonStop Status Agents

The Reflex SPI makes use of a considerable number of NonStop status agents that are all accessible within the hp OVO Management Console. These agents deal with hp OVO end user requests for more information relating to any object event alert raised by the hp NonStop platform.

Agents included cover all files types (including ENSCRIBE, OSS and SQL), WebSphere MQ (IBM MQ Series), OSI/MHS, CPUs, Disks, PATHWAY components, NSK Processes, Spooler, all NonStop hardware, TCP/IP and X25 objects, MultiBatch™ jobs and XPNET™ components.

Users of hp OVO are also able to request real-time status of any of these components in order to verify health after the initiation of a Smart Plug-In task or after user intervention. This combination of rich EMS alert feeds and user requested status checks guarantees efficient use of NSK based resources for centralised enterprise control with hp OVO.

HP NonStop BASE24™ and XPNET™ monitoring

The Reflex SPI makes use of an advised approach for BASE24™ and XPNET™ monitoring, developed after discussions with both the users and technicians close to the application. The Smart Plug-In provides extensive health checking, discovery and mapping for BASE24™ application and XPNET™ component types within the hp OVO Management Console. Users of hp OVO are also able to request detailed configuration information, real-time status and current statistics for any of the offending XPNET™ nodes, stations, lines, processes, links and devices.

Pre-deliverable event transit files ensure that each layer of the BASE24™ application is monitored in hp OVO. This includes the logical XPNET™ event ranges for component state changes as well as the device handler and manufacturer device type events. Alerts for the various ATM issues relating to cash amounts, hopper levels and general device status can be relayed with plug-and-play configuration, to the hp OVO Service Trees.

A True NonStop Approach

In relaying NSK alerts away from the NonStop platform for display in the hp OVO Management Console, true NonStop approaches need to be employed by design. The main and supporting processes for the Reflex SPI are coded with NonStop check pointing technology to recover automatically when the primary process fails. The event relay mechanisms of the Smart Plug-In even include a contingency back-up for re-routing messages dynamically to an alternative TCP/IP address in the event of PC Server or TCP/IP communication failure.

A second level of connectivity verification is included by way of both NSK and Reflex Smart Plug-In event heartbeats. If the event pulses are not received by the hp OVO Server after a configurable timeframe, the service trees within hp OVO will detail a potential compromise in hp NonStop monitoring for the affected NSK node. This is recorded in hp OVO directly against heartbeat and event monitor signifiers and also in the graphical topology view.

These failure and recovery approaches to hp NonStop network monitoring are not optional considerations for central enterprise control and are delivered as standard, as part of installing the Reflex SPI.

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Hardware and software pre-requisites for the Reflex product are detailed below:

• HP NonStop (ServerNet or Integrity platforms)

• Guardian D38 Operating System (or above)

• TMF

• SQL runtime system (SQL/MP runtime), or alternatively, NonStop SQL product

• Pathway (TS/MP)

• TCP/IP

• Non-RDF/DRNET Audited Volume *

* It is recommended that Reflex is installed on a Non-RDF/DRNET Audited Volume. If this is a cause for concern, please contact Insider Technologies Ltd to discuss further.

Reflex is installed using a menu driven TACL macro for easy deployment. The macro will perform checks and output the results of each stage of the Reflex product install so that if problems are encountered they can be resolved easily.

Windows Platform for GUI Install:

• Modern Pentium PC Specification

• 32Mb on-board RAM

• 20Mb free hard disk space

• Minimum 17” monitor recommended

• Graphics Resolution: 1027 x 768 x 16 minimum

• Windows XP, Vista, 7 

* For escalation of HP NonStop issues to enterprise management solutions, email or mobile SMS, a dedicated Windows box is required.