Problem 8: Problems with the self-describing agent feature

At this code level, monitoring agents were enhanced to add self-description capability that automatically distributes each agent's operating configuration directly to the local monitoring server, which then distributes those agent configuration files first to the hub monitoring server, if necessary, and then to the various IBM Tivoli Monitoring components that require it.

Before IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.2.3, before an agent could connect to a Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server, you were required to manually update the monitoring server, as well as other Tivoli Management Services components such as the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server and the Tivoli Data Warehouse, with information necessary for it to recognize and process data sent by that agent. As of V6.2.3, this "seeding" step becomes unnecessary.

By default, the self-describing capability is disabled on z/OS® hub monitoring servers. Enabling the self-describing capability of monitoring agents ensures that the proper level of application data is installed on monitoring servers and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal. If the self-description feature is activated, runtime verification checks for updated application data. If inconsistent conditions are detected, application data is propagated from the agent to the various monitoring servers, which are automatically updated without requiring recycling of the hub monitoring server.

If you enabled the self-describing features on a z/OS hub monitoring server, configure a high availability hub. For more information, see IBM Tivoli Monitoring: Configuring the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server on z/OS.

When you run your hub server on a distributed platform before connecting your IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks agent and before you install your IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks agent, you must ensure that IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.2.3 Fix Pack 1 is installed as a prerequisite requirement.

The IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks agent is installed with self-describing support enabled. Once self-description is enabled at the hub Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server that the agent is reporting to, the application support file updates are automatically synchronized, and, if relevant, the updates are deployed to the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server and the connected Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server.