Nimsoft Documentation Nimsoft Probes Technical cisco_unity v1.2x Probe Documentation Last Update: 27 April 2011 Copyright 1998-2011, Nimsoft Corporation www.nimsoft.com Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 1
Contents Document History 3 Prerequisites and Supported Platforms 4 Requirements... 4 Installation Notes... 4 Important... 4 Perfmon and ntservices probe... 4 Remote Serviceability Kit... 4 cisco_unity 5 Cisco_unity Configuration... 6 The application window... 7 The checkpoint monitoring properties... 21 Defining a host to be monitored... 23 Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 2
Document History Version Date What s new? 1.2x 27-April-2011 Added Notes for perfmon and ntservices probes Added note for Remote Serviceability Kit Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 3
Prerequisites and Supported Platforms Requirements Software: Cisco Unity 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, 7.x Nimsoft probes: perfmon 1.11, ntservices 2.21 Platform: Hardware: Please refer to the Platform Support Matrix located in the Download section of http://support.nimsoft.com None Installation Notes Install the package into your local archive Drop the package from your local archive onto the targeted robot(s) Double-click the probe for initial configuration. Important Perfmon and ntservices probe Note: The cisco_unity probe is using perfmon and ntservices as helper probes for collecting data from the Cisco Unity server. In order for the perfmon probe to access the performance objects on a remote Cisco Unity server, you will need to configure perfmon with a default user that has access to these objects. See perfmon documentation for details. Remote Serviceability Kit Note: To enable SNMP counters on the Unity server, the Cisco Unity Remote Serviceability Kit (RSK) need to be installed. Details/download of the RSK can be found here: "Cisco Unity Tools" Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 4
cisco_unity This description applies to cisco_unity version 1.21 Cisco Unity Unified Messaging is an application delivering powerful unified messaging (e-mail, voice, and fax messages sent to one inbox) and intelligent voice messaging (full-featured voice mail providing advanced functions) to improve communications, boost productivity, and enhance customer service capabilities across your organization. With Cisco Unity Unified Messaging, you can listen to your e-mail over the telephone, check voice messages from the Internet, and send, receive, or forward faxes to wherever you are. Cisco Unity Voice Messaging features robust automated-attendant functions that include intelligent routing and easily customizable call-screening and message-notification options. The Nimsoft Cisco_unity probe The Nimsoft Cisco_unity probe is a tool for managing the health and performance of your Cisco Unity systems and services. This probe monitors a set of checkpoints on defined agents running the Cisco Unity software. The probe includes a set of predefined checkpoints available on most hosts running the Cisco Unity software. These checkpoints are grouped in different classes, and you can choose to hide checkpoints that are not available on the hosts. The probe also includes a UI, which can be used to: Configure the general properties of the probe. Define the hosts to be monitored. Group folders can be created to place the hosts in logical groups. Activate the checkpoints to be monitored and set the monitoring conditions for these checkpoints. Create your own alarm messages. Monitor the different checkpoints. The measured values will be presented as a graph. The probe is QoS enabled, supporting the Nimsoft SLA system. It will send QoS data on profiles where it has been enabled. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 5
Cisco_unity Configuration The probe is configured by double-clicking the line representing the probe in the Infrastructure Manager. This brings up the configuration tool for the probe. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 6
The application window The window consists of a row of tool buttons and two window panes. The left window pane The left window pane shows the various groups and all hosts belonging to a group. Under each host, you will find a number of classes, a way of sorting the different checkpoints. Selecting a group, all hosts in that group will be listed in the right pane. Selecting a host, all predefined checkpoints will be listed in the left pane. Selecting a class, the predefined checkpoints belonging to that class will be listed in the left pane. Note the symbols indicating if a monitored host responds or not: Indicates that the host responds. Can access all checkpoints. Indicates that the host does not respond (host stopped etc.) Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 7
Indicates that the host responds, but there are some authentication problems (wrong user name or password specified?). This indicator will appear if you define a host that is NOT a Unity host. Note that you will still be able to monitor some windows checkpoints. Initializing, waiting for measured values from the profile. Indicates that the profile is created and stored, but is not active. Also note that the checkpoints initially are NOT activated. You must activate the ones you want to monitor. Note that the option Enable Monitoring option in the checkpoint s monitor properties dialog then also will be ticked (see the section Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 8
The checkpoint monitoring properties). You have also the possibility to hide/show the ones that are not available on the host by clicking the rightmost tool button ( Show/Hide checkpoints that are not available ). Right-clicking in the pane opens a pop-up menu, giving you the following possibilities: New Host Available only when a group is selected. Opens the profile dialog, enabling you to define a new host to be monitored. New Group Available only when a group is selected. Opens the profile dialog, enabling you to define a new group. Use the group folders to place the hosts in logical groups. New Available only when a host is selected. Opens the profile dialog, enabling you to define a new host to be monitored. Edit Available only when a host is selected. Opens the profile dialog for the selected host, enabling you to modify the properties for the host. Rename Lets you rename the selected group or host. Note that you are not allowed to rename the group Default. Delete Lets you delete the selected host or group. Note that you are not allowed to delete the group Default. Refresh Makes a refresh to reflect the current values of the objects listed in the right window pane. Note: When attempting to refresh a host that does not respond, the checkpoints description fields in the right pane will appear with red letters. Information Available only when a host is selected. Opens an informational window, containing system and configuration information about the selected host. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 9
Moving a host from one group to another: You may easily move a host from one group to another by left-clicking the host, dragging and dropping it in another group. The right window pane The right window pane is multifunctional and shows: Hosts when a group is selected in the left-pane. All predefined checkpoints when a host is selected in the left-pane. The checkpoints belonging to the selected class when a class is selected in the left-pane. Note the meaning of the different icons in the window: This indicator may be: Green (means OK) Red (indicates an error situation) Black (means the checkpoint is not active) Yellow (the last measurement failed) Blue (the alarm threshold is breached) Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 10
This indicator means that the checkpoint is not available at the host. This indicator will also preliminary appear for checkpoints that are available at the host if configuration changes have been made and the probe has been restarted. The indicator will disappear when measured values are returned from the checkpoint. Right-clicking in the pane gives you the following possibilities: Edit Opens the Monitor Properties dialog, enabling you to modify the monitoring properties for the selected checkpoint. Delete This option is available for user-defined objects only and will delete the selected object. (The probe includes a set of predefined checkpoints available on most hosts running the Unity software, but you may also define your own objects to be monitored). Activate Activates the selected checkpoint to be monitored by the probe. Note that you may also activate it by clicking the check-box belonging to the checkpoint. Note that the Enable Monitoring option in the properties dialog (opened by right-clicking the checkpoint and selecting Edit) for the checkpoint must be ticked before this option works. Deactivate Deactivates the selected checkpoint (if activated), and the probe will stop monitoring the checkpoint. Monitor Opens the monitor window for the selected checkpoint, showing the values recorded since the probe was started. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 11
Note: The horizontal red line in the graph indicates the alarm threshold defined for the checkpoint. When clicking and holding the left mouse button inside the graph, a red vertical line appears. If you continue to hold the left mousebutton down and move the cursor, you can read the exact value at different points in the graph. The value is displayed in the upper part of the graph on the format: <Day> <Time> <Value>. Right-clicking inside the monitor window lets you select the backlog (the time range shown in the monitor window). In addition, the right-click menu lets you select the option Show Average. This adds a horizontal blue line in the graph, representing the average sample value. Note the status bar at the bottom of the monitor window. The following information can be found: The number of samples since the probe was started. The minimum value measured. The average value measured. The maximum value measured. The backlog This is the time range shown in the monitor window. The backlog can be selected to 6, 12, 24 or 48 hours by right-clicking inside the graph. Note that the graph can not show a time range that is greater than the selected Sample Period setting in the Setup section of the GUI. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 12
The tool buttons The configuration tool also contains a row of tool buttons: General Setup button Clicking this button opens the Setup dialog for the probe, allowing you to modify the general probe parameters. See General Setup below. Show User Specified Objects The probe includes a set of predefined checkpoints available on most hosts running the Unity software, but you may also define your own objects to be monitored. Clicking this button, all user-specified objects will be listed in the right pane. Right-clicking in the right pane and selecting New, the User Object dialog appears, enabling you to define a new object. See the description Showing the user specified objects (below). Create a New Group Folder button Creates a new group folder in the left window pane. See Creating a new group folder below. Use the group folders to place the hosts in logical groups. Create a New Host Profile button Creates a new host to be monitored in the selected folder in the left window pane. See Defining a host to be monitored below. Message Pool Manager button This option lets you customize the alarm text, and you may also create your own messages. See Launching the Message Pool Manager (below). Show/Hide checkpoints that are not available button Clicking this button hides checkpoints that are not available at the selected host from the list. Clicking the button again will make the unavailable checkpoints appear in the list again. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 13
General Setup Clicking the General Setup button opens the General Setup dialog. Field General Log-level Set the detail level for messages logged to the logfile. Log as little as possible during normal operation to minimize disk consumption, and increase the amount of detail when debugging. SNMP Community String SNMP request timeout Show SNMP Error Specify (add or delete) SNMP community strings to be used. Select the timeout value for the SNMP requests. Use the default value, or select another value (in seconds) using the slider. In the case of an SNMP error, a general error message appears on the screen. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 14
Field If this option is checked, you will get a more detailed error message, describing the specific error that occurred. Advanced Check Interval Sample period Max number of threads Select the Check interval from the drop-down list. Valid choices are: 1 minute 5 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes 1 hour Check interval is the time gap between each time the probe collects the monitor data and writes to the database. Select the Sample period from the drop-down list. Valid choices are: 6 hours 12 hours 24 hours 48 hours Sample period is the time range within which the monitored values are picked when calculating the average value (used when setting the alarm threshold). A Sample period of 24 hours means that the samples stored within the last 24 hours will be used. Specifies the maximum number of profiles the probe can run simultaneously. The valid range is 0-100. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 15
Showing the user specified objects The probe includes a set of predefined checkpoints available on most hosts running the Unity software, but you may also define your own objects to be monitored. Clicking this button, previously user specified objects will be listed in the right pane. Right-clicking in the right pane and selecting New, the User Object dialog appears, enabling you to define a new object. This enables you to extend objects that are not a part of the Cisco Unity standard objects, but are available from the windows performance system. The User Object dialog appears, enabling you to define a new object. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 16
When clicking the Apply button in the probe GUI, the new user object will be added to the list of user defined objects and also under the User Objects subnode under each host listed in the left pane. When restarting the probe, the probe has to wait for a couple of minutes before it can show the measured values for the new user defined object. Field Login Profile Select one of the defined hosts from the dropdown list as a Login Profile. Performance Object Selector Object Name Counter Name Instance Name Select the name of the new object from the dropdown list. These are objects that are not a part of the Cisco Unity standard objects. Select the counter name from the drop-down list (e.g. Disk Transfers/sec. if object LogicalDisk is selected). Select the instance name from the drop-down list Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 17
Field (e.g. disk drive D: if object LogicalDisk and counter Disk Transfers/sec is selected). Object Preferences Make Available as QoS Unit Write an optional description of the object in this field. Check this option to make the measured value available as QoS. Specify the unit of the QoS value, such as pages/sec, calls, connections, %. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 18
Creating a new group folder You may create a new group folder by clicking the New Group Folder tool button and giving the new folder a name. Creating a new host profile You may create a new host profile by selecting the group it should belong to and click the New Host Profile tool button. A dialog-box will appear and prompt you for the hostname or IP-address to the CISCO device to monitor and some additional parameters. See the section Defining a host to be monitored. Launching the Message Pool Manager The Message Pool Manager can be opened by clicking the Message Pool button in the Tool bar. The alarm messages for each alarm situation are stored in the Message Pool. Using the Message Pool Manager, you can customize the alarm text, and you may also create your own messages. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 19
Note that variable expansion in the message text is supported. If typing a $ in the Alarm text field, a dialog pops up, offering a set of variables to be chosen. Show/Hide checkpoints that are unavailable You can select to show or hide the checkpoints that are not available at the selected host from the list of checkpoints in the right window pane by clicking the Show/Hide checkpoints that are unavailable button in the Tool bar. Clicking this button hides checkpoints that are not available at the selected host from the list. Clicking the button again will make the unavailable checkpoints appear in the list again. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 20
The checkpoint monitoring properties Double-clicking a checkpoint in the right window pane opens the Monitor Properties dialog for the checkpoint, enabling you to modify the monitoring properties for the checkpoint. Field Monitoring object Enable Monitoring This field allows you to create your own description of the monitoring object (checkpoint). If desired, replace the original description text with a description of your own choice. This is the name of the monitoring object (checkpoint) and cannot be changed. This field contains a description of the checkpoint monitor object. Ticking this option activates the monitoring of the checkpoint. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 21
Field Note that the checkpoint will also be ticked in the list of checkpoints in the right window pane when this option is selected, and that you can enable/disable monitoring of the checkpoint from that list. Value Last/Current sample Compute average Operator Decides which value to be compared with the Threshold value defined below. The two options are: Last/current value Average value Uses the last measured value to be compared with the Threshold value defined below. Computes the average of the values measured in the time interval selected from the drop-down list. You may select one of the predefined intervals from the drop-down list or you may type your own value in the field. Select from the drop-down list the operator to be used when setting the alarm threshold for the measured value. Example: => 90 means alarm condition if the measured value (current sample or average value see above) is above 90. = 90 means alarm condition if the measured value (current sample or average value see above) is exact 90. Threshold Value Unit Message The alarm threshold value. If this value is exceeded (see value and operator above). Read only field, specifying the unit of the monitored value. (For example %, Mbytes etc.). Select the alarm message to be issued if the Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 22
Field Token Publish Quality of Service (QoS) specified threshold value is breached. These messages are kept in the message pool. The messages can be modified in the Message Pool Manager (see Launching the Message Pool Manager). Select this option if you want QoS messages to be issued on the checkpoint. Defining a host to be monitored You may create a new host profile by selecting the group it should belong to and press the New Host Profile icon in the menu-bar. A dialog-box will appear and prompt you for the hostname or IP-address to the CISCO device to monitor and some additional parameters. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 23
Field Hostname or IP address Active Group Specify the name or IP address of the host to be monitored. Use this option to activate or deactivate monitoring of the checkpoints on the host. Note that you may also activate/deactivate monitoring of the various checkpoints individually (see The checkpoint monitoring properties). Select from the drop-down list which group folder you want to put the host. Use the group folders to place the hosts in logical groups. Alarm Message The alarm message to be issued if the host doesn t respond. Using the Message pool, you can edit this message or add other messages. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 24
Field A short optional description of the monitored host. Windows Authentication User name and password Domain The login properties (a valid user name and password with administrator privileges) on the monitored host. If the monitored host is on another domain, use a domain user name and password (see above) and specify the domain name here. If the monitored host is on the same domain as the computer hosting the probe, you may use a local user name and password on the monitored host and leave this field blank. Test Clicking this button checks if your windows authentication works. SNMP Authentication Community /password Test Select the SNMP community string to be used from the drop-down list (these community strings must have been created on the monitored device). Clicking this button checks if your SNMP authentication works. Nimsoft Documentation: cisco_unity v1.2x 25