WebSphere

IBM® WebSphere Application Server is the foundation of the IBM WebSphere software platform, and a key building block for a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). As the premier Java™ 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE™) and Web services application platform, WebSphere Application Server delivers a high performance transaction engine that can help you build, run, integrate and manage dynamic On Demand Business™ applications.

To monitor a WebSphere application server within your PATROL environment:

Before setting-up the monitoring of a WebSphere AS, you need to download the WebSphere.jar files created to work with Monitoring Studio from the Sentry Software website and store them in (%Patrol_Home%\bin). These files are essential in order to connect to your WebSphere AS through Monitoring Studio. The files for WebSphere 5.x are different from those for WebSphere 6.x, so please ensure you download the correct files from the Sentry Software website.

After ensuring that the required files are present on the local host, right-click the main Monitoring Studio icon > KM Commands > New > Java MBean polling (JMX) and from the drop-down list, select the environment: WebSphere 5.x, 6.x or 7.x.

WIZ_JavaMBeanPolling_1WebSphereWelcome

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Welcome Page

Difference in connecting to 5.x versus 6.x: The main difference between the 5.x and 6.x versions is that WebSphere 5.x requires IBM JVM whereas WebSphere 6.x requires Sun JVM 1.5 and above. Please ensure you have the right java virtual machine depending on the version of your WebSphere application servers.

Step 1: Enter the environment connection information and the additional information

WIZ_JavaMBeanPolling_2WebSphereConnectionInfo

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Connection Information Page

Host: Name of host server where the WebSphere application server is installed

SOAP Port: Enter port number. The first profile created on WebSphere is by default given the number 8880 and every profile created on WebSphere is allotted a new SOAP port number by increasing the count from 8880. This can be modified.

To connect to the WebSphere AS, it is essential to connect to certain credential files: ClientKeyFile.jks and ClientTrustFile.jks.
These files are profile-specific and are created and stored by WebSphere under %IBM_HOME%\profile\profilename\etc.
Depending on the security of your environment, you can either give the path to these files on where the WebSphere AS resides, or, just copy them from there to your local file-system.

TrustStoreFile path: Enter the path to the file ClientTrustFile.jks.

TrustStore password: Enter the password created on WebSphere for your profile (default WebAS)

KeyStoreFile path: Enter the path to the file ClientKeyFile.jks

KeyStore password: Enter the password created on WebSphere for your profile (default WebAS)

Server name: Name of the WebSphere application server.

Node name: Enter node name allotted to your profile. By default WebSphere assigns a unique node name to each profile created.

Click Next.

Step 2: Enter the connection account credentials

WIZ_JavaMBeanPolling_3WebSphereCredentials

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Connection Account Credentials Page

Principle: Enter the username

Credentials: Enter the password

Path to Java on the local server: Enter your java home path and ensure that all the settings are correct.

Connection timeout period: Default is set to 120 seconds; you can change this if you wish. When this timeout is reached, Monitor Studio considers the host to be unreachable and triggers an alert on the ExecutionStatus parameter.

Click Next. Ensure that all the settings are correct. If the credentials entered are correct, Monitoring Studio connects to the application server and presents a list of domains for you to select from.

Step 3: Select the domain

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Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Domain Selection Page

Select the domain to monitor and click Next.

Step 4: Select the key property

WIZ_JavaMBeanPolling_5WebLogicSphereProperty

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Key Property Page

Select the key property to monitor from this domain and click Next.

Step 5: Select the attribute

WIZ_JavaMBeanPolling_6WebSphereAttribute

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Attribute Selection Page

Select the attribute from the list and click Next.

You can only select one attribute at a time. To monitor several attributes of the same key property, you are required to go through the wizard each time.

Step 5a: Select parameters to collect

When you select a numeric attribute (boolean, integer, number) at the previous step, an additional panel is displayed to allow you to select the parameters to collect.

WIZ_NumericValue_6Param

Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Parameters Selection Page

▪	Value: Reports the actual value collected upon data polling

▪	Delta: Calculates the difference between values collected during two consecutive polling.

▪	DeltaPerSecond: Reports the value resulting of the division of the Delta by the number of seconds elapsed between the collection times

•	Select the option "Discard negative Delta values" if you do not want negative values to be reported on the graph.

•	Use the Rescaling option to configure Monitoring Studio to rescale the value that is being extracted in order to have a more readable graph in the PATROL Console. The available rescaling options are:

▪	No rescaling

▪	Divide the value by a value that then gives you the reading in terms best suited to you

▪	Multiply the extracted value by a constant factor

This can be useful if you extract numeric values in bytes but prefer to show a graph in megabytes. In such a case, you would divide the values by 1048576 (1024*1024).

Step 6: Monitoring Studio settings

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Java MBean Polling Wizard (WebSphere Environment) — Settings Page

Object display name: Label displayed in the PATROL Console for this WebSphere monitoring.

Object internal identifier (ID): PATROL internal identifier.

What thresholds do you want to set for the newly created instance? A drop-down list allows you to select the mode of setting alert thresholds:

•	Use default thresholds: Uses the default thresholds set by Monitoring Studio

•	Set custom thresholds: Allows you to customize the thresholds for all parameters of the instance

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Use default thresholds and customize them: Sets the default Monitoring Studio thresholds on certain parameters (see list of parameters with default thresholds) and then allows you to customize any/all of them. This is mainly intended to help save time if you wish to customize the thresholds of just one of many parameters for the instance, and leave the default settings for the others.

If you select Use default thresholds and customize them; on clicking Finish, the Set Thresholds panel will appear, certain parameters for the instance may appear with an asterisk symbol - indicating that they already have thresholds. You can then customize (any/all) the thresholds of the parameters as per your specific needs.

•	Do not set any thresholds for now: No thresholds will be set on any parameter of the instance, and as a result no alerts will be triggered. Monitoring Studio will poll the object and return the output of the polling, but will not raise any alerts until you set thresholds.

Thresholds can be set or modified at anytime by right-clicking on the instance > KM commands > Set Thresholds.

Click Finish. An icon for the monitored instance will appear under the main Monitoring Studio icon bearing the name entered/displayed in the Object display name field; and at the next collect you will see values for the newly monitored object. You can add a string or numeric value search if you wish.

WebSphere objects are instances of the SW_JMX class.