Last Updated: Oct 17, 2007

Halcyon PrimeAlert Products FAQ

PrimeAlert for Oracle

1.1 Why does the PrimeAlert for Oracle module have a Down (black) alarm condition with the message "Module Status is Not Accessible" even though the Oracle server is running?

1.2 Why does the Agent have Oracle connections open even after the PrimeAlert for Oracle module has been unloaded?

1.3 What are the minimum privileges required for an Oracle user to load the Oracle module?

1.4 Does your Oracle module support non-ascii (i.e. UTF8) character sets??

PrimeAlert for Sybase

2.1 Can the PrimeAlert for Sybase module be installed on a remote machine instead of on the Sybase server host?

2.2 Why is the output for Database Sizes and Transaction Logs sizes different from Sybase stored procedures like sp_helpdb and sp_spaceused?

PrimeAlert for Sybase Replication Server

3.1 Why does the RepServer module have a Down (black) alarm condition even though the Sybase Rep Server is running?

3.2 I followed the suggestion in Question 3.6 for monitoring the RSSD transaction log, but I still don't receive an alarm notification from the RepServer module before that module shuts itself down. What should I do?

PrimeAlert ScriptPack

4.1 Are there any scripts available to check if the host is still ping-able, ftp-able and telnet-able?

PrimeAlert WebPortal

5.1 What is the PrimeAlert WebPortal?

5.2 Does the WebPortal support SSL?

5.3 Is the functionality of the WebPortal the same as the SunMC console?

5.4 What is the difference between the WebPortal and the SunMC Web Interface?

5.5 Can I use my own web server with WebPortal?

PrimeAlert Reporter

6.1 What is the PrimeAlert Reporter?

6.2 What do I need to run the Reporter?

6.3 How often does the Reporter poll and store data?

6.4 How much space is required to store historical data?

6.5 How often does the Reporter process listing poll for data?

6.6 How much disk space is required to store process listings?

6.7 Where is all the collected data from PrimeAlert Reporter stored?

6.8 Can I use the Reporter for capacity planning?

6.9 Can I use the Reporter to measure system and application performance?

6.10 Why does the Reporter module show an empty table in the "Objects" section?

6.11 What processes and sub-processes are run for the Reporter module?

6.12 Do I need to upgrade any other modules when I install Reporter?

6.13 How do I disable the feature of "periodically saving a list of running processes with their resource statistics"?

PrimeAlert EventAction

7.1 What is PrimeAlert EventAction?

7.2 Why do I need PrimeAlert EventAction?

7.3 Where do I install PrimeAlert EventAction?

7.4 How do I setup alphanumeric paging in Sun MC?

7.5 How do I setup EventAction to avoid receiving repeated alarms?

7.6 Can I use EventAction to escalate problems not fixed within a given time?

7.7 How do I setup EventAction to send email notifications with direct links to events?

7.8 How do I forwards Sun MC events to third party products?

7.9 I would like to do integration of status traps with an external manager. How can this be done?

7.10 Sometimes my PrimeAlert EventAction module seems to trigger multiple events, even for old or closed alarms. What is going on?

7.11 If an event occurs that matches more than a single action what happens?

7.12 Does EventAction run action on the SunMC Server, or the SunMC Agents?

7.13 I do not own PrimeAlert FileBrowser. Can I still view the event history?

7.14 Why doesn't EventAction work after I apply the lastest Solaris patch for SunMC?

PrimeAlert for Cisco Routers

8.1 What Cisco devices are supported by the PrimeAlert for Cisco Router Module?

PrimeAlert Agent for Linux

9.1 I don't have RedHat Linux 6.0 or 6.1. Will it still run?

9.2 Linux runs on Alpha/PowerPC etc.. Are these architectures supported?

9.3 SunMC shows hardware information for many Sparc hosts. Does your Linux Agent show hardware information as well?

9.4 Is the Linux Agent GPL?

PrimeAlert EventAction AlarmRouter Pack

10.1 Can the AlarmRouter pack be used to forward SNMP traps to frameworks other than HP Openview or Micromuse Netcool?

10.2 Does the Halcyon PrimeAlert AlarmRouter Pack allow me to integrate events into BMC Patrol or NetIQ?

PrimeAlert for Microsoft SQL Server

11.1 Why does the PrimeAlert for SQL Server module have a Down (black) alarm even though SQL Server is running?

11.2 What user should be used and are there any security concerns? What are the minimum privileges for the SQL Server user to load the SQL Server module?

11.3 The module loaded ok but the Resources table has a black star for the status icon and some of the properties is empty.

11.4 The total number of user connections is higher than the maximum number of connections. What's wrong?

11.5 Can I monitor remote SQL Servers? (ie. loading the module on a Windows system with the DSN pointing to an MS SQL server on another host)

PrimeAlert Agent for Microsoft Windows

12.1 How do I configure the PrimeAlert Agent for Windows using multiple network interfaces?

PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Application Server (formerly iPlanet Application Server)

13.1 The Processes table of the module is generating an alarm on the number of engine processes running (of a specific engine type) even though all the required processes are running. How do I fix this problem?

PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Directory Server (formerly iPlanet Directory Server)

14.1 Does the PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Directory Server module monitor the Sun ONE Meta Directory product, the SUN One Certificate Server, or the Sun ONE Directory Proxy Servers?

14.2 Does the PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Directory Server module monitor replication?

14.3 What is the recommended method for monitoring a multi-master replication setup?

PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Web Server (formerly iPlanet Web Server)

15.1 What web servers does this module support?

PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Portal Server (formerly iPlanet Portal Server)

16.1 What modules are packaged with the Sun ONE Portal Server?

16.2 After I load the PrimeAlert for iPlanet Portal Server module, it goes into a "down" state. (Black Alarm). How can I fix this?

PrimeAlert for Sun ONE Messaging Server (formerly iPlanet Messaging Server)

17.1 What modules are packaged with the Sun ONE Messaging Server?

PrimeAlert for Veritas Volume Manager

18.1 What versions of Veritas Volume Manager are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (Sun MC)?

18.2 Can I access the raw output of Veritas Volume Manager commands through the Sun Management Center GUI?

18.3 What are the possible values for the Status column in the Devices Table?

18.4 What are the Exit Code and Error Messages fields in the "Device Table Update Status" section for?

18.5 Disk Status is listed in two places, in the Device Table in the "Devices" section, and in the Disk Table inside the "Disk Group - Disk Status" section. Where should I configure the alarm?

18.6 What are the possible values for the Status column in the Devices Table?

18.7 I am using Veritas Volume Manager in a clustered environment. What is the appropriate or recommended solution for monitoring it in this case?

18.8 How can I see the current alarm thresholds in this module in Sun Management Center (Sun

PrimeAlert for Veritas NetBackup

19.1 What versions of Veritas NetBackup are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

19.2 Does the Veritas NetBackup module include any monitored objects that can be used as performance indicators of nightly backups?

PrimeAlert for Veritas Cluster Server

20.1 What versions of Veritas Cluster Server are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

20.2 How do I go about setting up the PrimeAlert for Veritas Cluster Server module in a Sun Management Center environment (SunMC)? Do I need to install it on all clustered nodes?

PrimeAlert for Veritas File System

21.1 Does Halcyon have a Sun Management Center (SunMC) module to monitor the Veritas File System (VFS)?

PrimeAlert Module Scheduler

22.1 Is there a way a specific Sun Management Center (Sun MC) module in a certain host can be turned on and off dynamically by some script/program/command?

22.2 What are some typical applications of this module?

22.3 Are any scripts provided with the module?

22.4 Does ModuleScheduler 1.0.0 supports SunMC 3.0 on Solaris 8 (2.8) or 9 (2.9)?

PrimeAlert for Apache Web Server

23.1 What versions of Apache Web Server are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

23.2 Does Apache need any special compilation flags to work with the module?

23.3 Does the Apache Web Server require any "httpd.conf" options to be set to work with the module?

23.4 Can this module be used to monitor and report on Apache web server performance?

PrimeAlert for Network Appliance

24.1 Which Network Appliance systems are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

24.2 Does this module require any specific settings on the Network Appliance system to function in Sun Management Center?

PrimeAlert for Brocade Switch

25.1 Which Brocade Switches are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

25.2 Does this module require any specific settings on the Brocade Switch to function in Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

25.3 Does the module accept SNMP traps from the switch that is being monitored?

PrimeAlert for Hitachi Storage

26.1 What Hitachi Storage systems are supported in Halcyon's module for Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

26.2 Does this module require any specific settings on the Hitachi Storage to function in Sun Management Center (SunMC)?

PrimeAlert Instant Paging

27.1 Is there any way to receive Sun Management Center (Sun MC) event notifications if our email system goes down?

27.2 If I use the PrimeAlert InstantPaging software, do I still need PrimeAlert EventAction?

PrimeAlert Adapter for IBM Tivoli

28.1 What Halcyon PrimeAlert products are required to integrate Sun Management Center (Sun MC) with IBM Tivoli?

28.2 What are the advantages of using the PrimeAlert Adapter for Tivoli from Halcyon as compared to the Sun Management Center (Sun MC) IBM Tivoli integration available from Sun?

PrimeAlert Adapter for HP Openview

29.1 What Halcyon PrimeAlert products are required to integrate Sun Management Center (Sun MC) with HP Openview?

29.2 What are the advantages of using the PrimeAlert Adapter for Openview from Halcyon as compared to the Sun Management Center (Sun MC) HP Openview integration available from HP?

PrimeAlert Adapter for Micromuse Netcool

30.1 What Halcyon PrimeAlert products are required to integrate Sun Management Center (Sun MC) with Micromuse Netcool?

PrimeAlert Neuron Agent

31.1 What is the PrimeAlert Neuron Agent?

31.2 How can I forward Neuron events to other 3rd party products (enterprise managers)?

31.3 What operating systems and modules and are supported with the Neuron Agent?

31.4 What are the requirements for sending SNMP Traps from Neuron to 3rd party managers?

Sun Management Center 3.0 FAQ

Product Questions

1.1 What is Sun Management Center?

1.2 What is Sun Enterprise SyMON?

1.3 What does Sun Management Center do?

1.4 How does Sun Management Center work?

1.5 What are Sun Management Center's hardware requirements?

1.6 What operating systems does Sun Management Center support?

1.7 Where can I get Sun Management Center?

1.8 Does Sun Management Center integrate with other management tools?

1.9 What kind of security does Sun Management Center offer?

1.10 What processes are part of Sun Management Center?

1.11 What modules are available for Sun Management Center?

1.12 How can I use Sun Management Center to monitor my own applications?

1.13 Where can I find more information about Sun Management Center?

1.14 Where can I learn more about the Sun Management Center developers environment?

1.15 What are the new features in Sun Management Center 3.0?

1.16 Do I need to know Oracle to install Sun Management Center?

1.17 How do I add non-Sun agents into the Sun Management Center topology for monitoring?

1.18 Why are large tables in the Sun Management Center console not appearing properly?

General Questions

2.1 Can Sun Management Center agents be extended to alarm on the status of enterprise-specific MIB objects?

2.2 Does Sun Management Center support RMON (RFC 1757)?

2.3 How does Sun Management Center handle alarms / thresholds / health monitoring type SNMP traps?

2.4 How do I override default alarm limits?

2.5 Are user-defined alarm, threshold, severity parameters kept in persistent storage?

2.6 How do I switch a Sun Management Center agent running on a host connected to multiple networks from one network to the other?

2.7 How do I view Sun Management Center log files using Sun Management Center?

2.8 How do I view previously matched lines that have been alarmed on after the pattern match in alarm matches a new line?

2.9 How do I plot an object's historical data to a graph?

2.10 What is a remote server context?

2.11 Where can I get the MIB for Sun Management Center agent and its modules?

2.12 The Java console seems to be slow. Any suggestion?

2.13 How can I monitor the server components and ensure they are always running?

2.14 Can standard rules be distributed over multiple machines running Sun Management Center agents?

2.15 What is the platform process?

2.16 I moved an Agent to a different server context. How can I remove the remaining context information from the first server?

2.17 Does Sun Management Center support any of Sun's storage arrays? If so, how do I get array information from within my console?

2.18 How can I use Sun Management Center to monitor other platforms?

2.19 I'd like to change the Sun Management Center SNMP community string to something other than "public". What do I have to do?

2.20 How do I run multiple topology Agents?

Module Questions

3.1 Why doesn't Sun Management Center run my own script as an alarm action?

3.2 Why is the Health Monitoring Module always telling me that I need to add more swap?

3.3 Why is the Health Monitoring Module always telling me that I have too much swap?

3.4 How can I use the File Scanning Module to scan for strings if I am uncertain when a file is created or destroyed?

3.5 What is the difference between Matches and Total Matches in the File Scanning Module?

3.6 Why does the Process Monitoring module report that a specific process is not running when I can see the process when I do a ps command?

3.7 How does the HP JetDirect Module determine printer status alarm severity?

3.8 Can I get MIBs for PrimeAlert Modules for Sun Management Center?

Troubleshooting Questions

4.1 What can I do to make Sun Management Center run faster?

4.2 What do I do if the Sun Management Center console doesn't appear on my Windows NT/9x/2000 desktop?

4.3 What do I do if the console hangs during login?

4.4 What do I do when I login and get the message "The specified user is not a Sun Management Center user. This user must be added to the "esusers" configuration file."?

4.5 Why do I get the message "The server does not support the selected security scheme. Please select a different security option in the 'Options' dialog" when I log in?

4.6 Why do I get the message "Cannot obtain the user session. The server is down or not accepting additional sessions" when I log in?

4.7 What do I do when I login and get the message "The specified server host is invalid. Please verify the provided host information."?

4.8 What do I do when I login and get the message "Could not connect to Server. Check Server status and verify it is using port number [xxxx]."?

4.9 What do I do when I get the message "Unable to load console info" when trying to open the details window for my Agent?

4.10 What do I do when I try to create an object or load a module and get the message "Insufficient security privilege..."?

4.11 When trying to unload/disable a module I get the error "Insufficient security privilege to unload/disable a module" in the popup window. What do I do?

4.12 What do I do when I get the message "Cannot find agent process. Please check host/port." when I try to create a node for my Agent?

4.13 What do I do to start my Agent after modifying the Virtual Size (or Resident Set Size) Critical Alarm limit?

4.14 Why on some systems InstallShield setup is not adding a shortcut to the Start Programs menu (NT console)?

4.15 How can I see which alarms have been acknowledged?

4.16 When I start my Agent, it immediately dies. The agent.log has error entries regarding "ip2host". What is wrong?

4.17 I've changed the IP address of one of my Agents. What changes need to be done in SunMC?

Sun Management Center 2.x FAQ

Product Questions

1.1 What are Sun Management Center's hardware requirements?

1.2 What operating systems does Sun Management Center support?

1.3 What processes are part of Sun Management Center?

1.4 1.4 What modules are available for Sun Management Center?

1.5 1.5 How much CPU/memory can I expect the SunMC Agent and Server processes to consume?

General Questions

2.1 The Java console seems to be slow. Any suggestion?

2.2 How can I monitor the server components and ensure they are always running?

2.3 I moved an Agent to a different server context. How can I remove the remaining context information from the first server?

2.4 Does Sun Management Center support any of Sun's storage arrays? If so, how do I get array information from within my console?

Module Questions

3.1 Why is the Health Monitoring Module always telling me that I have too much swap?

Troubleshooting Questions

4.1 What can I do to make Sun Management Center run faster?

4.2 What do I do if the Sun Management Center console doesn't appear on my Windows NT/9x/2000 desktop?

4.3 What do I do if the console hangs during login?

4.4 What do I do when I get the message "Unable to load console info" when trying to open the details window for my Agent?

4.5 When I bring up the module list window for the Agent on the server layer, why do I see a module that was installed on another system? When I try to load this module, I get "Module load failed" in the 'Module Parameters' window?

4.6 What do I do when I try to create an object and get the message "Create denied. Check online help for license info."?

4.7 What do I do when I get the message "Cannot find agent process. Please check host/port." when I try to create a node for my Agent?

4.8 I create a topology object, or discover a Sun Management Center Agent, and a 'blue folder' icon appears (same icon when creating a 'General Group' object). Not only is the icon different, but I only see the Info and Browser tabs in the Host Details console.

4.9 Agent suddenly aborts with 'Excessive Virtual Memory Use' in the agent.log file. What is causing this?

4.10 My Event Manager is terminating soon after starting up, and its logfile contains this message: "unable to open lockmgr session".

Disclaimer
Sun Management Center/Sun Enterprise SyMON is a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Halcyon makes no warranty or representation, either expressed or implied, with respect to this software and documentation, its quality, performance or fitness for a particular purpose. This documentation is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment or representation by Halcyon Monitoring Solutions, Inc.