HP OpenView System Administration Handbook [Electronic resources] : Network Node Manager, Customer Views, Service Information Portal, HP OpenView Operations نسخه متنی

7.2 Application Integration using Web Launcher Registration Files (WLRF) and Network Presenter Registration Files (NPRF)

WLRFs and NPRFs are similar to the ARF in that they allow custom applications to integrate with NNM. While ARFs are used to integrate the application into the native GUI, WLRFs are used to integrate an application into the web launcher, and NPRFs are used to integrate an application into the Network Presenter.

7.2.1 Creating Your Own WLRF

The purpose of the WLRF is to provide access to additional applications for users who use the web interface instead of the ovw GUI. You may develop your own WLRFs to customize the web launcher. The web launcher can be accessed by selecting

ToolsHP OpenView Launcher from the menu bar. Figure 7-6 illustrates a customized version of the web launcher. The WLRF described in this section provides the customizations shown.

The syntax of the WLRF is similar to the ARF, and many of the blocks described in the ARF section (Description, Action) are also used in the WLRF. Two additional blocks are required in the WLRF: the

list block which defines the list of items in the top portion of the launcher and the

tab block which defines the tabs (or icons) in the lower section of the launcher. The lists in Figure 7-6 include "Configuration" and "Monitoring Tools." The tabs include the six tabs shown at the bottom of Figure 7-6. All WLRF files must reside in a subdirectory under $OV_WWW_REG/launcher/C. Similar to the ARF registration directory, this directory is dynamically parsed when the user starts NNM.

The Tab block corresponds to the MenuBar block in the in the ARF. The tab block in Zman's sample WLRF describes the custom toolbar icon and two folder items. Each item has an icon associated with it. The launcher icons are located in the directory $OV_WWW/htdocs/C/images/launcher. The three items contained in the tab block include

• Management Tasks
  Toolbar icon (mgtarea.20.gif)

• Monitoring Tools
  Folder icon (infofold.16.gif)

• Configuration
  Folder icon (folder.16.gif)

The precedence of each menu item determines the occurrence of the item in the list. Since the precedence of

"Configuration" is higher than that of

"Monitoring Tools," "Configuration" appears closer to the top of the list. The precedence value is 1 to 100, 100 being the top of the list.

The

ActiveHelp keyword in the WLRF indicates the help message displayed in the status line as you pass the cursor over the item. Figure 7-6 displays the

Configuration tools active help message for the

Configuration tab item. The

f.list keyword references the list block item.

The list block describes the name of the item to be displayed, the icon, active help, and the action to be taken. The list block items correspond to items

Event Correlation Configuration and

Full

SNMP

Data Access , shown in Figure 7-6. The sample WLRF contains two list items:

• Monitor
  Full SNMP Data Access

• ConfigureEC
  Event Correlation Configuration

The

f.action keyword in the list block references the action block that is executed when selected. Each of the two actions used in the sample WLRF call a URL provided by the implementation of NNM. No new applications have been developed for this example. The sample WLRF contains two action blocks:

• MySnmpPresenter

• Configure Event Correlation

The action for

MySnmpPresenter provides full access to SNMP data. This functionality is similar to that of the SNMP MIB Browser in the native NNM GUI. See Figure 7-7 for the access to SNMP data provided by

MySnmpPresenter . When a node name is given,

MySnmpPresenter provides the ability to query any MIB variable for the given device.

The second action provided by the sample WLRF,

Event Correlation Configuration , is also a URL that exists in NNM. NNM provides five basic correlations to minimize the effects of event storms. Figure 7-8 displays the Event Correlation.

The WLRF provides access to the same URL provided by the native NNM GUI. Before discussing the WLRF access to the Event Correlation, a description of the pre-defined correlations follows. The Event Correlation may be accessed from the native GUI by following two steps:

7.2.1.1 Configuring Event Correlation

The purpose of event correlation in NNM is to reduce the number of events received by NNM to a reasonable number of messages in the alarm browser. NNM includes the

Event Correlation Services [1] (ECS) to help manage event storms and define relationships between different types of events. During an event storm, many events may be correlated into a single event. NNM provides five pre-defined correlations, three of which are enabled by default, as shown in Figure 7-8. The NNM administrator can customize the default correlations. The following paragraphs describe the default correlations.

[1] The five correlations provided with NNM are ECS circuits that provide basic correlation functionality. Additional circuits may be built with the separately purchased ECS Designer product.

Network Connector Down

When a routing device's interface goes down, NNM automatically determines which device has malfunctioned and which devices are inaccessible due to the malfunction. The inaccessible devices are tagged as secondary devices. By default, NNM increases the polling frequency of secondary devices by a factor of two during an outage. If the global polling frequency is five minutes, the polling frequency for inaccessible (secondary) devices is set to ten minutes. The multiplier for secondary devices, as shown in Figure 7-9, can be configured by the following steps:

The administrator can also define a list of "important" nodes that should never be treated as secondary devices even though they are inaccessible due to an outage. For example, if you have a mission critical server such as a database server, you may want to treat it differently from other devices. If defined as an important node, it is always polled at the global frequency. A filter must be configured to define important nodes. Filter definitions are covered in Chapter 9, "Scalability and Distribution." After defining the filter, the filter name can be used in the Identify Important Nodes Using Filter field, shown in Figure 7-9.

The Secondary Failures dialog box can also be used to set the event status for important nodes to Down or Unknown. Failure for all other nodes (nonimportant) can be set to Down, Unknown, or Unchanged. Another option is to completely suppress events for secondary failures.

Correlation Composer

The correlation composer simplifies the process of modifying existing event correlations and allows you to define new ones.

Pair Wise

The Pair Wise correlation matches an event to one or more previous events. For example, if an interface were to go down and come up on a device within a reasonable amount of time, the two events would be correlated. The node up event causes a node down event to be removed from the alarms browser and correlated under the node up event. This correlation is enabled by default.

Repeated Events

The Repeated Event correlation identifies multiple events having the same root cause. When multiple identical events arrive from the same source, the repeated event correlation suppresses duplicates and displays them under the one alarm. You may include additional events that are correlated as repeated events, resulting in fewer (but more informative) alarms. This correlation is enabled by default.

Scheduled Maintenance

The Scheduled Maintenance correlation allows the administrator to configure planned network maintenance. Events generated by the specified devices during the scheduled maintenance period are excluded from the alarms browser. This correlation is disabled by default.

7.2.2 Zman's Sample WLRF

The following WLRF is available for download from the server http://www.phptr.com/title/0130352098 for both Unix and Windows systems. Obtain the Readme file for Chapter 7 for a description of the files available and install procedures. You can parse the WLRF to check for accurate syntax by executing the command

regverify $OV_WWW_REG on Unix and

regverify %OV_WWW_REG% on Windows.

Application "Student Applications"
{
DisplayString "Student Applications";
Version "1";
Copyright { "no copyright" };
Description {
"Module 3",
"Stans fine application experiment"
}
Tab <60> "Management Tasks" Icon "launcher/mgtarea.20.gif"
ActiveHelp { "Administrative Applications" }
{
<30> "Monitoring Tools"
Icon "launcher/infofold.16.gif"
ActiveHelp { "Monitoring tools" }
f.list "Monitor";
<35> "Configuration"
Icon "launcher/folder.16.gif"
ActiveHelp { "Configuration tools" }
f.list "ConfigureEC";
}
List "Monitor"
{
<60> "Full SNMP Data Access"
Icon "launcher/mgtarea.20.gif"
ActiveHelp { "Access to the full SNMP data presenter." }
f.action "MySnmpPresenter";
}
List "ConfigureEC"
{
<70> "Event Correlation Configuration"
Icon "launcher/evcorconf.16.gif"
ActiveHelp { "start Event Configuration window" }
f.action "Configure Event Correlation";
}
Action "MySnmpPresenter" {
URL "/OvCgi/snmpviewer.exe?Context=";
WebWindow "My_SNMP_Data_Presenter" {
Type limited;
Width 800;
Height 600;
}
}
Action "Configure Event Correlation" {
URL "/OvDocs/ecs/ecscmgl";
WebWindow "ECS_Event_Configuration" {
Type full;
Width 650;
Height 500;
}
}
}

The WLRF listed previously could easily be modified to allow access to documentation to satisfy the Sealey Inc. requirement for online documentation.

7.2.3 Creating Your Own NPRF

The NPRF allows you to add custom applications to the Network Presenter. The sample NPRF provides access to the Object Database and Topology Database applications as defined previously by the ARF in this chapter. Applications implemented in the NPRF must be web-based (accessible via a URL) applications. This section provides the

Zman menu bar shown in Figure 7-10. You can customize the menu bar, toolbar, and the symbol popup menu of the Network Presenter by defining a NPRF.

The sample NPRF calls the same utilities previously described in the sample ARF, including

xnmappmon, ovobjprint , and

ovtopodump . While the interface to the information is different, the resulting information provided by the application is exactly the same. The "

O " and "

T " toolbar buttons shown in Figure 7-11 are provided by the sample NPRF.

The two action blocks in the NPRF,

ObjectDB_Info and

TopoDB_Info , define the action to be executed when the associated items are selected. The output from the

TopoDB_Info action is shown in Figure 7-12. The

TopoDB_Info action is referenced from three locations:

The menu bar

ZmanOV Database InformationTopology DB

The toolbar "T" button

The symbol popup item Topology DB Info

Both

TopoDB_Info and

ObjectDB_Info actions are available from all three locations.

The differences between the ARF and the NPRF are the use of bitmaps for the toolbar and the directories in which the files must reside. The Network Presenter requires XPM format for the toolbar icons. NPRF files must reside in the

$OV_WWW_REG/jovw/C directory structure. Create a separate subdirectory for each application. If an NPRF application accesses a CGI file, the CGI must reside in

$OV_WWW/cgi-bin .

7.2.4 Zman's Sample NPRF

The following NPRF is available for download from the server http://www.phptr.com/title/0130352098 for both Unix and Windows systems. Obtain the Readme file for this chapter for a description of the files available and install procedures. You can parse the WLRF to check for accurate syntax by executing the command

regverify $OV_WWW_REG on UNIX and

regverify %OV_WWW_REG% on Windows.

/*
* Danger, Wil Robinson! This is a Zman Hack!
*
*/
Application "Zmans cool cgi-boo apps "
{
Description { "Zman", "Launch Zmans Cgi Applications" }
Version "NNM Release B.06.00";
Copyright {
"Copyright (c) 1990-1999 Bogus Data, Inc",
"Many reservations."
}
DisplayString "Zmans Launch Zmans Cool Cgi Apps thingy";
MenuBar "Zman" _Z
{
"OV Database Information" CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.menu "DB Info";
"Tests" CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.menu "TestMenu";
}
Menu "DB Info"
{
"Object DB" CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "ObjectDB_Info";
"Topology DB" CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TopoDB_Info";
}
Menu "TestMenu"
{
"TestCgi" _C CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TestCgi";
"TestSettings" _S CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TestSettings";
"TestObjprint" _O CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TestObjprint";
"TestTopodump" _T CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TestTopodump";
"TestMapdump" _M CONTEXT "AllContexts" f.action "TestMapdump";
}
Action "ObjectDB_Info"
{
MinSelected 1;
MaxSelected 10;
URL "/OvCgi/zweb_objprint?$OVwNumSelections&$OVwSelections";
WebWindow "zweb_objprint" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 800;
Height 600;
}
}
Action "TopoDB_Info"
{
MinSelected 1;
MaxSelected 10;
URL "/OvCgi/zweb_topodump?$OVwNumSelections&$OVwSelections";
WebWindow "zweb_topodump" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 800;
Height 600;
}
}
Action "TestCgi"
{
URL "/OvCgi/test-cgi";
WebWindow "TestCgi" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 800;
Height 440;
}
}
Action "TestSettings"
{
URL "/OvCgi/test-settings?$OVwNumSelections&$OVwSelections";
WebWindow "TestSettings" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 900;
Height 600;
}
}
Action "TestObjprint"
{
URL "/OvCgi/test-ovobjprint";
WebWindow "TestObjprint" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 625;
Height 250;
}
}
Action "TestTopodump"
{
URL "/OvCgi/test-ovtopodump";
WebWindow "TestTopodump" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 620;
Height 540;
}
}
Action "TestMapdump"
{
URL "/OvCgi/test-ovmapdump";
WebWindow "TestMapdump" {
Type limited;
Scrollbars on;
Width 555;
Height 555;
}
}
PopupItem <0> "PopupSeparatorZ1" Context (AllContexts || WantPopupMenus)
TargetSymbolType ANY f.separator;
PopupItem <0> "ObjPrint" CONTEXT (AllContexts || WantPopupMenus)
TargetSymbolType ANY f.action "ObjectDB_Info";
PopupItem <0> "TopoDump" CONTEXT (AllContexts || WantPopupMenus)
TargetSymbolType ANY f.action "TopoDB_Info";
ToolbarButton <0> "TBAR_SEPZ1" Context "AllContexts" f.separator;
ToolbarButton <0> @"C/toolbar/objectinfo.24.gif"
Context "AllContexts" f.action "ObjectDB_Info";
ToolbarButton <0> @"C/toolbar/topoinfo.24.gif"
Context "AllContexts" f.action "TopoDB_Info";
}