Tools

Administration > Operations Console > Tools

Alternatively, click Tools.

The following are some examples of typical tools:

• Command tool to check the status of an Oracle Database instance. The tool is assigned to the configuration item type Oracle Database.

  If you are managing multiple versions of Oracle Databases, where the tool requires different parameters and options to check the status of the Oracle Database processes, you can create copies of the most appropriate tool and customize them for the different Oracle versions using the duplicate feature. Each tool is then dedicated to a specific version of Oracle.

• Command tool to check for firmware updates. The tool is assigned to the configuration item type Net Device.

• URL tool to search for problems with the operating system running on the host system. The tool is assigned to the configuration item type Windows (ConfigurationItem > InfrastructureElement > Node > Computer > Windows). Using known attributes for the configuration item type Node, such as ci.host_os and ci.host_osversion, the tool automatically recognizes the type and version of the operating system. You must only add keywords to refine the search. The tool runs the command shown in the following example:

  http://search.technet.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?Brand=technet&Query=${ci.host_os} ${ci.host_osversion} ${Additional Keywords}

When you create tools, you associate them with a particular configuration item type, for example, Node or Net Device. When you run a tool, you run it from an event that must be associated with the CI type for which the tool is specified.

If you configure a tool for a configuration item type, for example, Node, all configuration item types below Node in the hierarchy inherit the tool and it is also available for the configuration item types, Computer, Mainframe and VAX.

The Tools manager also displays inherited Tools from a higher CI type. The name of the CI type directly associated with the tool is displayed dimmed and in square brackets alongside the tool in the Tools pane, for example: Ping [Node]. Tools marked this way can still be edited, activated, and deactivated. But the changes will affect all configuration item types below the one in brackets.

Tool categories are used to grant controlled execution access to tools for operators. Each tool is assigned a category, and for operators to be able to use the tools with a certain category, they must be granted execution permissions for this tool category.

If you want to grant a user access to a specific tool category, you grant execution permissions explicitly for that OMi tool category. If you want to grant access to all tool categories for a user, you grant execution permissions for all OMi tool categories (Tool Categories top-level entry). For more information about user authorizations, see Users, Groups, and Roles.

Script and executable tools are executed from connected OM servers using the tool web service interface. Based on the configured target of the tool, the appropriate OM server is searched in the list of connected servers, then the tool request is forwarded and executed on the appropriate node (the OM server itself, or one of its managed nodes, if "Monitoring Target" has been specified).

The Outgoing Connection of the connected server must be set up using the opc_adm (UNIX) or HP-OVE-Admin (Windows) user for the tool web service to be able to execute tools. The tool user configured under Run as: in the Target tab must be an operating system user configured on the target system.

If required, you can insert parameters into the command, script, or URL. These parameters are replaced with values on tool launch.

Possible parameters are:

• CI attributes

  Note You can use the CI ID attribute by inserting it is as a parameter with the following syntax: ${ci.id}. CI ID cannot be selected from the CI attributes list.

• Infrastructure settings

• Event attributes

• Executing OMi User Name (display name)

• Executing OMi User Login (account name)

• Executing OMi User Timezone

• Executing OMi User Locale

• Monitoring host name (on the host that the monitoring HPE Operations Agent is running)

• Management server name

• Hosted on host name (the host on which the CI is hosted)

In the CI Types pane, select the configuration item type for which you want to view tools. The Tools pane displays a list of the tools configured for the selected configuration item type.

You can use the  Expand and  Collapse buttons to expand or collapse the CI tree. The  Expand button expands all CI types which are under the selected CI type. The  Collapse button collapses all open nodes except for the selected node.

If the CI Types list is filtered, (filtered) is displayed next to the CI Types title.

When CI types and their children have no objects assigned, their entries appear dimmed.

When objects are directly assigned to a CI type, their entries appear bolded.

1. In the CI Types pane, browse to and select the configuration item type for which you want to create a tool. For details, see How to search and filter CI types.

2. In the Tools pane, click the  New Item button to open the Create New Tool wizard.

3. Enter the following information:

   • Display name. External name for the tool. The external name is the name that you want to expose to users. The display name can be changed for localization purposes.

   • Name. Name you want to assign to the tool for internal use only. The name must be unique and is verified when saving. You cannot save a new tool if the name you choose is already in use.

   • Description. (Optional) Brief description of the tool. If the tool is one instance of the same tool, the description can include information about the operating system (or application) version it is intended for.

4. Optional. Select a category for the tool.

   Tool categories are used to group tools that are to be accessible for a specific group of users. The Default category is the default selection.

   To select a custom category, click Other category and select a category from the list. You can also use the Browse (...) button to open the Select a Category dialog box, select the category that you want to use, and click OK. If a suitable category is not available, you can define a new category using the  New Item button in the Select a Category window. For details, see How to Define Tool Categories.

5. Click Next.

6. Select the type of Tool to be created (Executable, Script, or URL), and click Next.

7. Complete the subsequent panes. The number of panes depends on the tool type:

   • Executable: Complete the command and target panes.

   • Script: Complete the script and target panes.

   • URL: Complete the URL pane.

     Note For URLs, you can test your configuration before saving the settings.

8. Command page. Enter the Command specification that is executed on tool launch. The maximum executable command length is limited to 2500 characters including resolved parameters. (xxx/2500) indicates the number of characters contained in the command being specified and the maximum number of characters supported.

   If required, you can insert parameters into the command field. These parameters are replaced with values on tool launch. See for Runtime parameters for a list of possible parameters.

9. Script page. Select the Language in which the script is written. Supported scripts are Perl, JavaScript, VBScript, and Microsoft Windows Script Host.

   Enter the text of the script to be run. The maximum script length is limited to 2500 characters including resolved parameters.

   If required, you can insert parameters into the script field. These parameters are replaced with values on tool launch. See for Runtime parameters for a list of possible parameters.

10. Target page. Select the target on which the tool (executable or script) can be run.

    Possible targets are:

    • Monitoring Host (related node CI of the selected event, for example a system being monitored by an HPE Operations agent that can execute the tool).

    • Management Server (for example, the OM management server)

    • Other Host

    The Other Host text field is free form with the possibility to insert parameters. These parameters are replaced with values on tool launch. See for Runtime parameters for a list of possible parameters.

    Select the operating system account under which the command or script must be run. The possible options are:

    • Monitoring Agent User: agent account credentials are used to execute the command or script.

    • Operator Specified User: on tool launch, the operator is prompted for user credentials.

    • User: credentials of the specified user account are used to execute the command or script.

11. URL page. Enter the URL specification that is executed on tool launch.

    If required, you can insert parameters into the URL field. These parameters are replaced with values on tool launch. See for Runtime parameters for a list of possible parameters.

12. Click Finish to save and activate your new tool configuration.

13. Optional. Click  Deactivate Item to deactivate your new tool configuration if it is not immediately required.

If you deactivate a group of tools it can happen that the deactivated tool is still shown in the Actions panel in the Event Perspective. Refresh the browser to see an accurate list of available tools. Deactivated tools appear dimmed in the list of tools and are no longer available in the Actions panel or context menus.

You can search for specific CI types and view CI types that match specified filter criteria. There are two filters:

• Show only CI types with assigned tools.

  • Search for a specified CI type. In the Search field, enter a string with more than two characters. The first CI type in the CI Types tree to match the specified string is highlighted. If that CI is not initially visible, the CI tree is expanded to display the CI Type.

    Note The search string must be at least three characters long. Searching is automatically started as soon as the third character is entered and the first match is highlighted. This prerequisite avoids searches being started too often and resources being blocked. Names with less than three characters can be found by clicking on the  Search Content button.

    Click the  Search Content button to find the next occurrence of the CI Type for which you are searching.

  • Filter the CI tree. In the Filter pane, select Show only CI types with assigned tools. The CI Types pane displays only those CI types that have tools assigned.

    Note You can use the Show only CI types with assigned tools filter and the filtering by a selected view together. The result displays only CI types contained within the specified view and with assigned tools.

• View (Show CI types contained within a specified view). You can use the filter to display all CI types that are contained within a certain view.

  Note  

  Join relationships defined in views are ignored.

  If you apply a view to the filter CI Types tree which removes all CI types with assignments, the ConfigurationItem entry remains in normal text, indicating that assignments exist. Remove the view, or select a more appropriate view to display the CI types with assignments that you require.

  1. In the Search pane, select View.

     The View field becomes active.

  2. Select a view from the list or use the Browse Views (...) button to open the Views selection dialog box, select the view that you want to use, and select OK.

     The CI Types tree is updated to display only the CI types that match the view selected.

     You can use the  Expand and  Collapse buttons to expand or collapse the CI tree. The  Expand button expands all CI types which are under the selected CI type. The  Collapse button collapses all open nodes except for the selected node.

     If no item matches the filter, the No CI type found that match the filter message is displayed.

     Note You can use the Show only CI types with assigned tools filter and the filtering by a selected view together. The result displays only CI types contained within the specified view and with assigned tools.

Click  Refresh to refresh the contents of the tools list. Use if new content becomes available while you are working or you uploaded new contents (for example, from another user or the command-line tool).

Click  Revert to restore customer-modified factory-predefined tools to factory settings. This option has no effect on tools purely defined by the customer.

Content types are referred to using the following terminology:

• Predefined Content

  Predefined content is usually content provided by HPE or HPE Partners and is designed to provide the initial configurations for an OMi installation. After installing a predefined content pack, you may change these initial artifacts to suit your environment and management needs. Any modified predefined artifacts are labeled as Predefined (Customized). It is not possible to remove predefined artifacts, but you can revert any customized artifacts to their original, "predefined" values.

• Custom Content

  Custom content is content that is created by the customer, for example for managing a custom, in-house application, and is labeled as Custom.

• Customized Content

  Modified predefined artifacts are labeled as Predefined (Customized).You can revert any customized artifacts to their original, "predefined" values.

In this task, you learn how to define a new tool category and make it available for assigning to tools. If you need a new tool category, click the  Manage Tool Categories button, or select an existing tool and open the edit tool dialog box or use the  New Item button in the Select a Category window.

1. In the Tools pane, click the  Manage Tool Categories button.

   Alternatively, browse to and select the configuration item type for which you want to create a tool or edit an existing tool.

   Click the Other category radio button.

   Click the Browse (...) button.

   The Select a Category window opens.

2. Click the  New Item button in the Select a Category window.

   The Create New Tool Category dialog box opens.

3. Enter a unique tool category name, display name, and a description of the requirement for the tool category.

4. Click OK to save your new tool category.

5. This category can now be assigned to the selected tool from the Select a Category window.

When initially configuring a tool or if the expected tool execution does not work from your OMi system, it is recommended to start testing the simplest possible setup as follows:

1. Select an active connected server so that it is not necessary to search for the target server by querying all connected servers. An ideal choice would be an OM system where the Outgoing Connection is specified as an OM administrator account (for example, opc_adm on an OM for UNIX system).

2. Create a sample Executable test tool for the Node CI type.

3. Specify the following command for the test tool without runtime parameters:

   • Unix: /bin/pwd

   • Windows: c:\windows\system32\ipconfig.exe

4. Specify your OM server system in the Target page in the field under Run On: > Other Host.

5. Under Run as:, select Monitoring Agent User. This rules out wrong or mistyped passwords.

6. Click Finish to save the test tool and run the tool to check whether tool execution on the selected node is possible.

7. When simple tool execution on the selected node is possible, add the required complexity, step by step, until the full functionality of the tool is achieved.

Make sure a tool or a tool instance is configured for the related CI of the selected event.

Make sure a tool or a tool instance is configured for the selected configuration item type.

If the OM server is running on a cluster, it is possible that events contain the physical address of one of the cluster nodes as the originating node and not the virtual cluster node itself. If a tool is executed after the original node is no longer active, tool execution fails.

To avoid this issue, define the physical nodes of the cluster and the virtual node as connected servers, and define the virtual node as the execution host for the physical nodes.

In this way, when a tool is executed, the physical host is found by the originating node of the event, the execution is then forwarded to the virtual node, and then finally redirected to the active node.

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Characters that are considered invalid in tool parameters are set by default in the Infrastructure Settings. If you receive an "invalid character" error while running tools, go to Administration > Setup and Maintenance > Infrastructure Settings. Select Applications, then choose Operations Management in the drop down menu. Scroll down to Operations Management - Tool Parameters Settings and edit the Illegal Tool Parameters for Commands and Illegal Tool Parameters for Scripts so that the settings do not include any characters that you include in your tool parameters.