Attribute group testing

You can use attribute group testing to test the attributes groups of the agent you created with Agent Builder, one attribute group at a time. You can test many attribute groups before you complete the attribute group definition. For example, you can initiate testing from the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Agent Wizard when you are defining the attribute groups of a new agent. You can also initiate testing from the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Agent Component Wizard when you are adding attribute groups to an existing agent.

• Start the Testing procedure in the following ways:
  1. During agent or attribute group creation click Test on the relevant data source Information page.
  2. After agent creation, select an attribute group on the Agent Editor Data Source Definition page and click Test . For more information about the Agent Editor, see Using the Agent Editor to modify the agent.

  After you click Test in one of the previous two steps, the Attribute group Test window is displayed. This window is different for different data sources,

  Agent Builder supports an attribute group test function for most data sources.

  For more information about the test procedures for specific attribute groups, see the following Testing sections:

  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), for more about the WMI test procedure, see Testing WMI attribute groups
  • Windows Performance Monitor (Perfmon), for more about the Perfmon test procedure, see Testing Perfmon attribute groups
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), for more about the SNMP testing, see Testing SNMP attribute groups
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) event sender, for more about the SNMP event test procedure, see Testing SNMP event attribute groups
  • Java Management Extensions (JMX), for more about the JMX test procedure, see Testing JMX attribute groups
  • Common Information Model (CIM), for more about the CIM test procedure, see Testing CIM attribute groups
  • Log file, for more about the log file test procedure, see Testing log file attribute groups
  • Script, for more about the script test procedure, see Steps for monitoring output from a script
  • Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), for more about the JDBC test procedure, see Testing JDBC attribute groups
  • Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ping, for more about the ICMP test procedure, see Testing Ping attribute groups
  • Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Availability, for more about the HTTP test procedure, see Testing HTTP attribute groups
  • SOAP, for more about the SOAP test procedure, see Testing SOAP attribute groups
  • Transmission Control Protocol socket (TCP) socket, for more about the socket test procedure, see Testing socket attribute groups
  • Java application programming interface (API), for more about the Java API test procedure, see Testing Java application attribute groups

  Some data sources do not have an attribute group test function, for example:

  • When you can use the Agent Builder browser to view live data on a system. For example, you can view the processes that are currently running on the system (processes). Other examples are when you can view the services that are installed on the system (windows services) and the Windows Event Logs that are present.
  • There is little or no customization that you can do in the agent (AIX® Binary Log, command return code).
  • Joined and Filtered attribute groups cannot be tested by using the attribute group test function because these groups are based on multiple attribute groups.

  Note:

  1. Use the full agent test to test data sources that cannot be tested by using the attribute group test function. For more information about the full agent test, see Full agent testing.
  2. When you test data sources, after you click Collect Data, data might not be displayed at all or might not be current after the first click. In such cases, click Collect Data a second time to display current data.
• Debugging:

  Each data source that is tested has a test directory that is created for it by Agent Builder. This directory is used for the test runtime environment of the data source. Log files that relate to tests run on the data source are stored under this directory. The log files can be useful to help debug issues that are found during testing.

  Note:

  1. The location of the test log file is shown as a status message in the Test window after you click Start Agent and also after you click Stop Agent.

  2. All test data source directories are deleted when the Agent Builder is shut down.