SiteScope User's Guide

WebSphere Application Server Monitor

The SiteScope WebSphere Application Server Monitor allows you to monitor the availability and server statistics of a IBM WebSphere Application Server 3.5.x and 4.0. The error and warning thresholds for the monitor can be set on as many as ten WebSphere Application Server performance statistics.

Usage Guidelines

The WebSphere Application Server Monitor allows you to monitor the server performance statistics from IBM WebSphere 3.5.x servers using the performance monitoring interface provided with WebSphere. You can monitor multiple parameters or counters with a single monitor instance. This allows you to watch server loading for performance, availability, and capacity planning. Create a separate WebSphere Application Server Monitor instance for each WebSphere Application Server in your environment.

Before you can use the WebSphere Application Server Monitor, there are a number of configuration requirements involving the server environment. An overview follows:

You must first install the IBM WebSphere Administrator's Console on the SiteScope server. Select Custom Installation option during installation. Select Administrator's Console and IBM JDK 1.2.2. in the Choose Application Server Components dialog box. You will need to specify the machine you want to monitor during the installation.
You must enable EPM Counters on the WebSphere server. You can enable the EPM counters for the application you want to monitor via the WebSphere Administrator's Console. Select the Performance option and expand the Performance Modules tree in the dialog box that opens. In order to manage different levels of performance data, right-click the performance modules and choose a performance level. Then click the Set button.
Alternatively, you can set the EPM Specification to:
epm=high:epm.beanMethodData=none
by using the WebSphere Administrator's Console.
If security has been enabled on the WebSphere server, the server security ring must be copied to the admin client.

The default run schedule for this monitor is every 10 minutes, but you can change it to run more or less often using the Update every setting.

If security has been enabled on the WebSphere server, you must copy the security keyring from the WebSphere server to SiteScope. A keyring is a certification used by the server to identify the client.

Completing the WebSphere Application Server Monitor Form

To display the WebSphere Application Server Monitor Form, either click the Edit link for an existing WebSphere Application Server Monitor in a monitor table, or click the add a Monitor link on a group's detail page and choose the "Add WebSphere Application Server Monitor" link.

Complete the items on the WebSphere Application Server Monitor Form as follows. When the required items are complete, click the Add Monitor button.

Server

Choose the server you want to monitor. Use the choose server link to view a list of servers or to enter a path name. On Unix servers, enter the full pathname of the server.

Counters

Choose the server performance parameters or counters you want to check with this monitor. The table list to the right of this item displays those currently selected for this monitor. Use the choose counters link to bring up the counters selection screen. check or clear the check boxes on the choose counters screen to select between one to ten counters to monitor on this server. There are a large number of server parameters or counters available for the WebSphere Application Server Monitor. Establishing a connection with the performance servlet should reveal a list of the available counters. A partial list of the counters is listed below.

MemoryFree
MemoryTotal
MemoryUse
BeanDestroys
StatelessBeanDestroys
StatefulBeanDestroys
NumGetFound
NumPutsDiscarded
ActiveThreads
TotalThreads
PercentTimeMaxed

ConnectionWaitTime
ConnectionTime
ConnectionPercentUsed
NumTransactions
ActiveTransactions
TransactionRT
RolledBack
Timeouts
TransactionSuspended
ServletErrors
SessionsInvalidated

Target

Enter the logical name of the server you want to monitor. If this field is left empty, the hostname entered above will be used.

Update every

Enter how frequently the monitor should read the server statistics. The drop-down list to the right of the text box lets you specify time increments of seconds, minutes, hours, or days. You must specify a time increment of at least 15 seconds.

Title (Optional)

Enter a name for this monitor. This name appears in the Name text box on the monitor table when you open the group's detail page. If you don't enter a name, a default name will be created.

Advanced Options

The advanced options give you the ability to customize error and warning thresholds. If you choose not to set them, SiteScope will use pre-set defaults if available. If a default is not available, SiteScope will not be able to utilize the condition.

Disable

Check this box to temporarily disable this monitor and any associated alerts. To enable the monitor again, clear the box.

WebSphere Directory

Enter the path to a WebSphere 3.5x Directory. The directory you enter here should contain at least a valid Admin Client installation.

Verify Error

Check this box if you want SiteScope to automatically run this monitor again if it detects an error. When an error is detected, the monitor will immediately be scheduled to run again once.

Note: In order to change the run frequency of this monitor when an error is detected, use the Update every (on errors) option below.

Note: The status returned by the Verify Error run of the monitor will replace the status of the originally scheduled run that detected an error. This may cause the loss of important performance data if the data from the verify run is different than the initial error status.

Warning: Use of this option across many monitor instances may result in significant monitoring delays in the case that multiple monitors are rescheduled to verify errors at the same time.

Update Every (on error)

This options allows you to set a new monitoring interval for monitors that have registered an error condition. For example, you may want SiteScope to monitor this item every 10 minutes normally, but as often as every 2 minutes if an error has been detected. Note that this increased scheduling will also affect the number of alerts generated by this monitor.

Schedule (Optional)

By default, SiteScope's monitors are enabled every day of the week. You may, however, schedule your monitors to run only on certain days or on a fixed schedule. Choose the Edit schedule link to create or edit a monitor schedule. For information about creating schedules, read these instructions.

Monitor Description (Optional)

Enter additional information about this monitor. The Monitor Description can include HTML tags such as the <BR> <HR>, and <B> tags to control display format and style. The description will appear on the Monitor Detail page.

Report Description (Optional)

Enter a description for this monitor that will make it easier to understand what this monitor does. The description will appear on Management Reports and on the info pop-up for a monitor.

Depends On (Optional)

To make the running of this monitor dependent on the status of another monitor or monitor group, use the drop-down list to select the monitor or group on which this monitor is dependent. Select None to remove any dependency.

Depends Condition (Optional)

If you choose to make the running of this monitor dependent on the status of another monitor, choose the status condition that the other monitor or monitor group should have in order for the current monitor to run normally. The current monitor will be run normally as long as the monitor or group on which it depends reports the condition selected in this option.

List Order (Optional)

By default, new monitors are listed last on the Monitor Detail page. You may use this drop-down list to choose a different placement for this monitor.

Setting Monitor Status Thresholds

SiteScope Application Monitors allow you to set multiple threshold conditions to determine the status reported by each monitor. The individual conditions are combined as logical OR relationships so that when one or more of the conditions (for example any of the conditions for Error if) are met the monitor status is set to the applicable condition. If multiple conditions are met for more than one status condition (such as conditions for both error and for warning), the status for the monitor is set to the highest valued condition. Thus a match of an error condition and a warning condition would be reported as an error status, error being the highest value, warning the next highest and good the lowest value.

Error if: Use one or more of the selection boxes in this item to define one or more error conditions for this monitor. Use the drop-down lists in these items to change error threshold(s) relative to the counters you have selected to check with this monitor. After choosing a counter or parameter, use the comparison operator drop-down list to specify an error threshold such as: >= (greater than or equal to), != (not equal to), or < (less than) and enter a comparison value in the box provided. Comparison values should be entered as whole numbers.
Warning if: Use one or more of the selection boxes in this item to define one or more warning conditions for this monitor. Use the drop-down lists in these items to change warning threshold(s) relative to the counters you have selected to check with this monitor. Set these value relative to those you set for the error threshold in the Error if item.
Good if: You can set this monitor to return a good status for certain conditions. You may define those conditions here. Complete this item as you would for the Error if and Warning if items.