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EMI- External Monitoring Interface

The External Monitoring Interface may replace the older SNMP-based monitoring technology. The EMI is based on the JMX technology, providing MBeans for all concerned components of the AE system.

General

The External Monitoring Interface (EMI) is a tool which is used for monitoring the technical status of the AE. The EMI is based on the JMX protocol. JMX is a Java technology that supplies tools for managing and monitoring applications, system objects, devices and service-oriented networks.

The main idea for this JMX based solution is its possible use as a standalone application (monitoring can be done with each JMX based client, for example with Java Mission Control - the free JMX console) or integration into existing monitoring environments, that support JMX (for example HP-OpenView or IBM Tivoli).

Automic strongly recommends using this JMX-based monitoring solution instead of the older SNMP-based monitoring. JMX represents state-of-the-art technology, enabling easy integration with existent monitoring solutions. In addition the following advantages may be observed:

Based on a secure network protocol (TCP, instead of UDP)
Integrates modern security measures (e.g. SSL, Proxy)
Allows interaction with the AE system, thus enabling actions like starting components, etc.

What is JMX

JMX: The Java Management Extension, a set of specifications for application and network management in the Java development and application environment.

MBean: JMX facilitates the centralized management of managed objects (called MBeans), which acts as Java wrappers for applications, services, components and devices in a distributed network.

MBean Server: The spine of the JMX architectural frame, allowing server components to plug in and discover all manageable objects.

Details

The EMI solution stores the specific information and makes it available for JMX clients as Java Beans. The content (the MBeans) are write protected and may only be changed from inside the AE system. The EMI solution provides two types of monitoring - active and proactive:

The active type is represented by notifications.
Notification is a JMX-functionality, which enables MBeans to generate notifications, e.g. for signal state changes or detecting problems.
The status of MBeans may be proactively queried, the second so-called proactive type.

The EMI solution connects to an AE and supervises the defined areas.

Its monitoring capability is restricted to one system/client at a time.

Monitoring

The monitoring possible with the EMI solution reflects the components visible in the AE's System Overview. Basically the same components may be monitored, regarding activities, messages, errors and warnings (for example, agents, database, cache, licenses, MQ, users, etc.)

The additional MBeans for control are those dedicated to the status of the EMI itself or the MessageBox (send notifications only), where MessageBox represents the Message Window in the UserInterface of the AE.

This image shows the MBean content displayed in Java Mission Control:

On the left you see the tree containing all MBeans available, on the right the attributes, type and description of the selected MBean are shown.

When selecting the "Notification" tab on the right hand-side, you will also find a 'Subscribe' checkbox there. Any user of the EMI may activate it, which will result in the display of Notification information for that particular MBean.

The MessageBox represents the Message Window of the AE's UserInterface, where the system's messages are displayed.

Each Notification represents one message sent from the AE and additionally shows the time stamp, severity, type and internal message representation.
The internal message representation is defined in the MSL file and in the MBean's attribute User Data. The Message record in the Notification consists of the combination of User Data values and the internal message representation .

The :SEND_MSG command generates messages in the AE, which will be broadcast to the MessageBox MBean as Notification. Thus the messages can be monitored via the EMI as well.

Fail safe behavior

The EMI solution makes use of the AE's communication process (CP) list functionality, where automatic retries to connect to different communication processes are implemented as default.

When connections to the AE system are established or lost, the EMI MBean will be notified and updated.
Additionally, when the connection to the AE system is lost, all MBeans (except EMI and MessageBox) will be removed from the server.
- After a connection has been re-established, the MBeans will be rebuilt automatically.

Requirements

As the EMI solution is based on Java, Java SE version 1.7 or later is required.

Supplied Files

The EMI solution is delivered with the following files you need for installation and configuration:

File name	Description
emi.jar	Binary file with the EMI solution
uc4.jar	Communication interface for the AE
emi.ini	INI file
uc.msl	Translation file

You will find these files in the directory: IMAGE:MONITORING

MBeans provided

AgentBean - represents the Agent object on the system

CacheBean - represents the statistics information for a single system cache instance

ClientBean - represents the monitored client ( With one instance of the EMI one AE client can be monitored at a time)

CollectionBean - describes several MBeans registered as one group on the MBeanServer. For example, Users represents a collection of UserBeans.

EMIBean - describes the status of the EMI solution, provides information about the connection and the connection status and displays this information in its Notification tab.

DatabaseBean - represents the DB information used in an AE system. The Mbean instance will have the same name as the DB on the DB system.

LicenceBean - represents the instance of a single license in the System Overview

MQEntryBean - represents a single message queue table used by the AE for message flow. The attributes of this Mbean can be used for the basic KPI of the AE.

QueueBean - represents the Queue object

ServerBean - represents an AE Server instance, equivalent to the Automation Engine entry in the System Overview

WorkloadBean - describes one row in the System Workload Table

UserBean - represents an instance of one user present in the AE system

Installation

	1.	Installation of files

Install Java SE on the host system.
Unpack the delivered files to a directory of your choice.
Adjust the relevant parameters in the INI file.

	2.	Starting the EMI Solution

In order to start the EMI solution, use the following command. In case you stored the INI file in a different location, you can define a path here:
java -jar emi.jar [path/to/ini/file/emi.ini]

Testing

Install the Java JDK
Start Java Mission Control using jmc.exe, which you find in JDK_HOME\bin\
Choose all process of the EMI solution, …\emi.jar
In the context menu click Start JMX Console.
Choose MBean Browser, so that you are able to see all the Beans and attributes. In the group Automic you will find the system which is monitored and there you can browse for the Beans (Data) which you are interested in.
Now you can browse and monitor the beans (data), where each of them will be updated with the next polling interval you configured in the INI file.
You also can click on MessageBox and Subscribe for notifications. After that you will receive the System messages automatically, without polling.