IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2

Installing the System Monitor Agent on Windows systems

The System Monitor Agent packages provide IBM® Tivoli® Monitoring OS agents whose reduced footprint makes them ideal for customers who need fully autonomous OS agent monitoring in environments where disk space or image transmission bandwidth is in short supply. These OS agent packages offer a significantly reduced bundle size and installed footprint.

The System Monitor Agents support direct Netcool/OMNIbus integration without a connection to a Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server. The System Monitor Agent instead sends SNMP alerts directly to an SNMP Event Collector such as Netcool/OMNIbus.

Installation times are significantly reduced due to the small size of the System Monitor Agents. These agents use simplified flat-file, machine-independent configuration. Configuration files no longer contain references to the host name or system where the file is located; with this change, you can share and transport common configuration files across your network.

Note:
  1. Beginning with V6.3, Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (32 bit and 64 bit) is a prerequisite for the System Monitor Agent on Windows systems:
    • Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
    • Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64)
    As both 32 bit and 64 bit agents can be installed on a 64 bit system, you should install both packages on a 64 bit Windows system. For more information go to the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/default.aspx.
  2. A System Monitor Agent must not be installed into a system where existing IBM Tivoli Monitoring components (including other monitoring agents) are already installed, with this exception: Agents built with Agent Builder V6.2.2 or subsequent may be installed alongside a System Monitor Agent, provided they run in the same mode as the Windows System Monitor Agent itself: if the Windows agent runs in 32-bit mode, only 32-bit Agent Builder agents are supported; if the Windows agent runs in 64-bit mode, only 64-bit Agent Builder agents are supported. 32-bit Agent Builder agents can be regenerated using Agent Builder to create 64-bit Windows binaries that you can install with the 64-bit Windows System Monitor Agent.
  3. The NT Micro Agent in the system_monitor_agent directory of the IBM Tivoli Monitoring installation media only supports 8.3 format path values, with no special characters and no spaces, as an installation path. The bat files that install the NT Micro Agent do not support long paths or paths that are enclosed in double quotes. Use a short path without special characters or spaces to install the NT Micro Agent.
You must invoke a silent installation procedure to install the System Monitor Agent that monitors the Windows operating system: 
silentInstall.cmd -p response_file
where:
response_file
is the name of the updated version of the nt_silent_install.txt response file you created that names the components to be installed and where.

On completion of the install script, the OS agent for Windows is installed, configured with a default configuration, and started.

Contents of the silent response file

The silent response file supports the following records:
comments
Any line beginning with a semicolon (;) is treated as a comment.
Keyword=value
These lines define variables in the silent response file. Do not include spaces before the keyword or immediately before or after the equal sign (=). Values must not contain the following characters:
  • $
  • =
  • |
Note: By default the silentInstall.cmd installation script checks the processor architecture on which it is running; if it discovers it is running on a 64-bit x86_64 CPU, silentInstall.cmd installs the System Monitor Agent in 64-bit mode. Otherwise the agent is installed in 32-bit mode.

To force installation of the 32-bit System Monitor Agent on an x86_64 CPU, set variable OS_ARCH to 32 in the nt_silent_response.txt file. (OS_ARCH can also be set to 64, to force installation of a 64-bit agent. If OS_ARCH is blank or unspecified, the installer determines which agent to install based on the host processor.)

The silent response file supports the following variables:
License Agreement
(Required) This variable accepts the license agreement for the System Monitor Agent. In the sample response file, simply uncomment the line containing the License Agreement variable, or set the variable to I agree to use the software only in accordance with the installed license.
Install Directory
(Required) This variable specifies the directory where the System Monitor Agent will be installed. Characters supported for the Install Directory are alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), and hyphen (-).
KDC_FAMILIES_OVERRIDE
(Optional) This variable overrides the value assigned to the KDC_FAMILIES variable the agent uses at run time. In the sample response file, uncomment the line containing the KDC_FAMILIES_OVERRIDE variable and specify the wanted protocols to be enabled. If left commented out, the installer uses a value of: 
IP.PIPE PORT:1918 IP use:n IP.SPIPE use:n SNA use:n
This example sets the default protocol to IP.SPIPE, using listening port 3660, and with all other protocols disabled: 
KDC_FAMILIES_OVERRIDE=IP.SPIPE  PORT:3660  IP.PIPE use:n  IP use:n SNA use:n
For more information about the supported protocols and modifiers, see Tivoli Monitoring protocol usage and protocol modifiers.
Note: Failure to specify at least one active protocol results in the System Monitor Agent not starting. To rectify this you can manually edit the KDC_FAMILIES registry entry value.
EncryptionKey
(Optional) This variable sets the encryption key used for storing passwords and other protected content. The default value if not specified is IBMTivoliMonitoringEncryptionKey.
Note:
  1. Do not use any of the following characters in your key:
    &
    ampersand
    |
    pipe
    '
    single quote
    =
    equal sign
    $
    dollar sign
    In addition, do not specify double-byte (DBCS) characters.
  2. Ensure that you document the value you use for the key. Use this key during the installation of any components that communicate with this monitoring server.
InstallLog
(Optional) This variable overrides the default location of the installation log created by the silentInstall.cmd command. The default value if not specified is %CANDLE_HOME%\InstallITM\ibm_tivoli_micro_install.log. In case of an installation error where the installation directory was not created, the installation log will be created in the %TEMP% directory as ibm_tivoli_micro_install.log. Characters supported for the InstallLog are alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), and hyphen (-).

A sample nt_silent_install.txt response file can be found in directory \agents\system_monitor_agent\WINDOWS\ on the Agents DVD.

Parent topic: Monitoring your operating system via a System Monitor Agent

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