Gateway Central

Installation of GATEWAY CENTRAL is described in the GATEWAY CENTRAL Installation Guide. Administration of GATEWAY CENTRAL is described in the GATEWAY CENTRAL Administration Guide. Users should be familiar with OSI’s documentation for NETeXPERT VSM (1.2.x, 5.0.x, 6.0.x), which describes in detail all functionality of the NETeXPERT product.

The following terms used in this document are trademarked properties of their respective owners:

NETeXPERT and VSM are trademarks of Objective Systems Integrators. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.

All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations.

The Tree View (left-hand frame in the GATEWAY CENTRAL interface) is where all deployed gateways can be viewed in a hierarchical fashion. Following is a graphic of the Tree View portion of the interface, sorted by Technology:

All system tree nodes are color coded and provide textual indication of the GATEWAY CENTRAL Agent status. In addition to the shown “ACTIVE” state (green), the status may be “FAILED” (red) or “INACTIVE " (orange). An “ACTIVE” state indicates that the agent is running and communicating with the VSM system. The “FAILED” state indicates that the agent was not shutdown gracefully. An “INACTIVE” state indicates the agent was shutdown gracefully, probably from a shutdown message issued from the VSM system.

When the status is “FAILED”, the gateway table shows the table entries in a dark grey color.

When the status is “INACTIVE”, the gateway table shows the table entries in a light grey color.

NOTE: You can prevent gateways from being edited on systems that are not active in GATEWAY CENTRAL by setting the portal.ignore.system.state property to false. This property can be changed in the gcClient.lax file located in the same directory as the gcClient executable.

2.1.1. Tree View Configuration

There are four default choices for configuring the Tree View, as seen in the graphic below:

When first started, the Tree View sorts the view by Technology:

There are also three other default views to choose from.

NOTE: Changing the Tree View configuration can take minutes, depending on the number of gateways/objects that require sorting. While the resorting is taking place, a message appears in the lower left corner of the screen asking the user to “Please wait… applying new tree configuration”.

New tree views can be added by using the Tree and Table Configurations dialog discussed in Section 2.3, “Custom Tree and Table Configurations”.

2.1.2. Gateway Start Groups

Regardless of the selected Tree View, Gateway Start Groups for any VSM 6.0 systems are also displayed in the tree under the Start Groups tree node. This allows the user to easily see which Gateways are associated with which Start Group and also to take actions on Gateways within specific Start Groups or Lists. The hierarchy of this section of the tree is not configurable, and is shown in the following screen shot:

Selection behavior of these tree nodes works in the same manner as the tree nodes in the other section of the tree.

These Start Groups and Lists are also configurable from within the GATEWAY CENTRAL Client by selecting Gateway | Start Groups and Lists from the Gateway menu. This opens the Gateway Start Groups dialog:

Gateway Start Groups are only available for VSM 6.0 systems. To create or modify Start Groups, a user must have ALL authorization. Information on the functionality of these groups can be found in the VSM 6.0 documentation.

The Gateway Status Panel (upper right frame) is where the operator can view all selected gateways and their operating status in real time. Below is a graphic of the Gateway Status Panel portion of the interface:

The colors of the background mean:

2.2.1. Table View Configuration

The table view can be changed by selecting a new view from the View combo box above the table. Initially there is only a single table view, called “Default”, which has columns that match Gateway Control, with the addition of Locked state and System name.

New table views can be added by using the Tree and Table Configurations dialog discussed in Section 2.3, “Custom Tree and Table Configurations”.

2.2.2. Gateway Status Panel Context Menu

The Gateway Status Panel has a context menu that can be accessed by optionally selecting gateways in the panel, then right-clicking on the panel. Selecting an item from this context menu affects all the selected gateways in the panel.

2.2.3. Finding Selected Gateway in the Tree View

You can find where in the Tree View a selected gateway resides by using the Show Gateway in Tree selection in the context menu. Note that this only works when a single gateway has been selected.

If the tree where this gateway is located is collapsed, it expands and highlights the gateway when this selection is made.

2.2.4. Gateways Table Mask

The Gateway Status Panel display can be customized further by using the Gateways Table Mask. There are several functions available that enable the user to define the attributes that are of greatest interest for viewing. Below is a graphic of the Gateways Table Mask:

2.2.4.1. Field

The Field: selection corresponds to the attributes that are part of the gateway configuration. To apply a filtering mask to any of these fields, choose the field from the selection box:

2.2.4.2. Pattern

The Pattern: text field allows the user to create a filter that is used against the choice made in the Field: box. To do this, a regular expression (as implemented in Java version 1.4.2) is entered into this box. Chapter 4, APPENDIX A – Regular Expressions contains information regarding the creation of regular expressions, or users may want to visit Sun Microsystems at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html to read the Javadoc on the subject.

A few simple examples of regular expressions:

Field: Gateway, Regular Expression: [Tt]est.* This matches any Gateway field that begins with an upper or lower case “T”, followed by the lower case letters “est” followed by 0 or more of any other character. The square brackets “[…]” define a character class, meaning that any one of the characters in the class will match. The period “.” means to match any character, and the asterisk “*” means to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding expression.

Field: Manager Class, Regular Expression: ^.*t$ This matches any Manager Class that ends in the lower case letter “t”. The caret “^” starts the search at the beginning of the field, the period “.” takes the place of any character, the asterisk “*” means zero or more occurrences, the “t” is the literal lower case letter “t”, and the dollar sign “$” ends the search at the end of the field.

Field: Locked, Regular Expression: true This is a literal match for the word “true” .

Some practice may be required to get the most from these expressions; however they are quite useful in refining the display to show exactly what the user is interested in.

2.2.4.3. Include/Exclude Radio Buttons

In applying the Field and Regular Expression selections, the user may want to include everything that matches or exclude everything that matches. This can be done by simply selecting the Include or Exclude radio button.

2.2.4.4. Apply/Reset Buttons

Once the Field, Regular Expression and Include/Exclude selections have been made, the filter is applied by pressing the Apply button. The display adjusts according to the rules of the mask. To undo the effect of the mask (and return to seeing everything in the display that was chosen in the Tree View), select the Reset button.

2.2.4.5. Lock Table

When clicked, the Lock Table button prevents the addition or removal of gateways from the table display. If a gateway is created while the table is locked, it is added to the table only when the table is unlocked by clicking Unlock Table. The only exception to the rule is any gateway that is deleted is removed from the display.

Lock Table is useful when monitoring specific gateways. For example, if you use table filtering to monitor gateways with a status of FAILED and a FAILED gateway stops, its changed status causes it to be dropped from the table display. Lock Table prevents a FAILED gateway from being dropped from the display so that it can be visually located and restarted.

While this button is in effect, table filtering cannot be edited.

2.2.4.6. Sort Order

The alphabetical order of the gateways displayed in the Gateway Status Panel can be changed from ascending to descending by selecting the appropriate column header in the Gateway Status Panel. When selected, the arrow shows the direction of sorting.

It is also possible to change the order of columns in the display by left-clicking and holding the column to be moved, and dragging it to its new position. Columns may be widened or narrowed by positioning the cursor over the dividing line between column header names (until the cursor turns into a double-headed arrow like this: ↔), then resizing it.

Finally, the Gateway Status Panel itself can be made larger or smaller by positioning the cursor over the bottom border of the panel (until the cursor becomes a double-headed arrow like this: ↕), and moving the mouse up or down to resize the panel. To hide or expose the panel completely, the arrows on the bottom border of the panel (▲▼) may be used. The up-pointing arrow covers the panel (replacing it with the Gateway Configuration Panel) and the down-pointing arrow exposes it (and covers the Gateway Configuration Panel).

2.2.4.7. Status Level Icons

The Status Level buttons allow the user to remove gateways that are in particular states. If all status levels are activated, the Status Level icons appear like this:

By clicking status level icons, an “X” is placed over the icon to indicate that it is no longer being displayed. For example, the Active (green) and Inactive (yellow) icons are selected, so gateways in those two states are removed from the display:

This allows a user to identify and work on gateways that are failed, or in any of the other states that are still visible.

2.2.4.8. Applied Table Mask and Gateway Counts

At the bottom of the gateway Status Panel, the label Applied Table Mask reminds the user of any masks in effect for filtering the display. If no mask is in use, this indicates “N/A”. The Total Count: label shows the number of gateways currently in the display and the number of gateways that have been selected by the user. Below is an example of each of these labels:

2.2.4.9. Hide Table Mask Settings

If the user doesn’t use table masks, or if a user wants to free up screen space for viewing other data, the Table Mask settings can be hidden from view. This is done by selecting View | Hide Table Mask Settings from the menu or by using the toolbar icon:

Customized Tree View and Table View configurations can be created, deleted, and modified in the Tree and Table Configurations dialog. To add tree or table views, simply click on the plus button below the appropriate view list. Similarly, clicking the minus button removes the selected view. Selecting an item from the Tree Views or Table Views lists allows that view’s configuration to be edited in the View Configuration portion of the dialog.

On the View Configuration portion of the dialog, clicking the plus or minus buttons adds or removes view entries. You can also reorder these entries by selecting an entry and clicking the up or down array buttons.

For tree views, the order of the view configuration items determines the hierarchy of the tree. For table views, the order of the view configuration items determines the order of the columns in the table. When entries are selected, the data in the Entry Options section populates and can be edited.

For table views, only the Field: parameter may be used.

After modifying a currently displayed tree view, use the Refresh (green arrow) button to update the displayed tree view with the new configuration.

The Gateway Configuration Panel (lower right frame) shows the configuration parameters of any one gateway (selected in the Gateway Status Panel). It looks similar to the figure below:

This panel displays the configuration parameters for a gateway selected in the Gateway Status Panel. Only one gateway’s parameters can be displayed at a time. If multiple gateways are selected, there is no data displayed.

If the user has been granted sufficient application rights, the gateway parameters may be changed by editing the available fields. More on this topic can be found in Section 3.5, “Modifying Gateways” in this guide.

Many of GATEWAY CENTRAL’s functions can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding toolbar icon. The toolbar icons are described below; the functions themselves are described in Chapter 3, GATEWAY CENTRAL Functions.

Stopping GATEWAY CENTRAL is done the same way as most other applications running in a graphical interface; by using the Close button in the top-right corner of the GATEWAY CENTRAL window:

Or, the user can use the File | Exit choice from the menu.

In order to view or act on gateways, they first must be selected from the Tree View. This works exactly as any other windows-based tree: a left-click of the mouse over the object you want to use selects it, and it becomes highlighted.

Note that a number of folders need to be opened before the individual gateways can be seen. The gateways are contained within the hierarchy defined by the chosen tree view configuration located above the tree view panel.

Note also that the gateway icons in the tree view are colored in a manner similar to the gateways in the status panel. These colors have the same meaning.

Any of the objects in the tree view may be selected for viewing in the status panel. For example, to see all gateways for a particular system, the system node is selected in the tree, and the gateways are seen in the Gateway Status Panel.

In the figure below, system vsm50 is selected.

Any of the parent folders can be selected in the same way, and all of its contained gateways are displayed in the Gateway Status Panel.

Additionally, by holding down the control key and left-clicking tree objects, any combination of gateways may be selected for viewing. To select a range of tree objects, hold down the shift key and click the first object in the range, then the last object. All objects between and including the first and last object are displayed.

Starting gateways is done by selecting the gateways from the display in the Gateway Status Panel. To start one gateway from the Gateway Status Panel:

Stopping gateways works similarly. First select the gateways to stop by selecting them in the Gateway Status Panel:

Gateways can be created by using the following menu selection or toolbar icon:

A Select a System dialog box opens containing all registered systems. Select the system where this gateway is to be deployed, and press the OK button.

The Create Gateway dialog box opens, containing all parameters for creating the new gateway:

Some fields are populated with default values. These can be overtyped with new values if required. The user then enters the parameter data into each field as follows:

Information about the gateway host follows:

Dialog information for this gateway:

End of line characters are defined here:

Gateway operational options are defined next. These all default to unchecked (turned off):

The gateway priority is defined here:

User notes field:

Lock state panel:

Custom state panel:

The Event Storm Configuration panel fields can be used to setup event storm parameters for a gateway. Detailed information about these parameters can be found in Agilent provided gateway administration documentation.

If you make an error, an Invalid Configuration message displays.

For example, one such error is to fail to provide a unique host and port combination for the gateway. This is illustrated below with the Host Address: and Port: fields.

Other entry errors can result in the Required Fields Missing window being displayed.

Once all required and optional parameters have been entered, press the Save button to deploy the gateway to the selected system and gateway host. The gateway appears in the Tree View for the selected system, and can be started by following the instructions under Section 3.2, “Starting and Stopping Gateways”.

An existing gateway can be used as a base for creating new gateways by using the following menu selection or toolbar icon:

The base gateway’s properties are opened in a new window where the user can edit the properties in order to create the new, unique, gateway. This does not change the base gateway’s configuration.

An existing gateway can have its configuration parameters modified easily. First, the gateway is selected from the Gateway Status Panel:

Note that in the graphic above, the selected gateway (with the black background) has its configuration parameters visible in the Gateway Information panel. Gateway parameters are grayed out, indicating that parameters are read-only. Next, push the Edit button (or select File | Edit from the menu):

Once the Edit mode has been entered, the gateway parameters appear in black font, and are editable.

As an exercise, let’s change the Max. Line Length parameter from the default 256 to 512. The change is made by positioning the cursor in the Max. Line Length field, highlighting the value or backspacing over it to clear it, then entering the new value:

After all configuration changes have been made, press the Save button on the toolbar, select File | Save from the menu, or press Ctrl-S:

All changes to this gateway configuration are now saved to the database. Upon saving, the gateway automatically stops and restarts, applying the new configuration.

To undo any changes made to a gateway configuration before it has been saved, use the File | Refresh choice. This returns the gateway to its saved configuration (before any changes have been made):

A gateway or gateways can be deleted by first selecting them from the Gateway Status Panel, then using the File | Delete menu choice:

All selected gateways are stopped and removed from the NETeXPERT database, and the netExAdmin process cache is updated. The deleted gateways no longer appear in the Tree View.

To deploy a previously created gateway to a different NETeXPERT system, first choose the gateway to deploy from the Gateway Status View, and then choose Gateway | Deploy Gateway… from the menu or press the Deploy Gateway icon from the toolbar:

Select a NETeXPERT system to deploy the gateway to from the following list:

The gateway is deployed to the new system using the same configuration. The gateway is not started by default.

There are three occasions where gateways need to be reinitialized:

Each type of reinitialization is covered in a separate section below.

3.9.2. All Gateways on All Systems

To reinitialize all gateways on all systems managed by GATEWAY CENTRAL, select Gateway | Reinitialize ► from the menu or the context menu (right-click). This brings up the choices for reinitialization:

All gateways are reinitialized.

3.9.3. All Gateways for Selected Systems

To reinitialize gateways on selected systems only, make the following choice (also available from the context menu (right-click):

To continue, confirm the warning displayed below:

This brings up the Select Systems dialog box:

One system can be selected, or by holding down the control key, multiple systems can be selected. Once the selection has been made, choose OK.

All gateways on the selected system(s) are reinitialized.

3.9.4. Reinitialize Selected

To reinitialize just certain selected gateways, first select the gateways from the Gateway Status Panel. Then, select the Reinitialize Selected menu choice (also available from the context menu using a right-click):

Only the selected gateway(s) is reinitialized.

3.9.5. Reinitialize Events

When gateway events have been added or modified, reinitialization of gateway events is required before the gateways have access to the new or changed rules. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select Event | Reinitialize… from the menu or context menu (right-click). This brings up a dialog box containing the registered systems and their manager classes.

2. Choose a system(s), then the manager class(es) to reinitialize and push the Add Selected Class to Reinitialize List button.

3. Once all manager classes have been added, click the OK button to start the reinitialization process.

3.9.6. Reinitialize Dialogs

Dialog reinitialization is required when dialogs have been added or modified. There are three options for doing this in GATEWAY CENTRAL:

• Immediately... Reinitialize regardless of running dialogs.

• After Dialog Completion... Wait until running dialogs have completed.

• After Queued Dialog Completion... Wait until all running/queued dialogs have completed.

1. Select Dialog | Reinitialize… → (your choice of reinitialization type above) from the menu. This brings up the Select Classes to Reinitialize dialog box (below).

2. Selecting a system displays its classes. Select the class(es) for reinitialization, then press the Add Selected Class to Reinitialize List button.

3. Once all classes are listed, press the OK button to reinitialize the dialogs.

GATEWAY CENTRAL allows locking and unlocking of gateways by the administrator to prevent gateways from being manipulated. The reasons for this may be to prevent a gateway configured in a redundant manner (on more than one NETeXPERT system) from being started on more than one system, or to prevent a gateway from starting when it is stopped for maintenance. Locking a gateway prevents it from being started or stopped, but does not interfere with gateway processing if it is running when it is locked.

To lock a gateway(s), select the gateway(s) from the Gateway Status Panel and then select Gateway | Lock Gateway from the menu, from the context menu (right-click), or from the toolbar:

The gateways that are locked display the locked gateway icon in the tree view.

Also, locked gateways appear bold and italicized in the gateway table.

Unlocking gateways works exactly the same way as locking: select the gateways from the Gateway Status Panel, the select Gateway | Unlock Gateway from the menu, from the context menu (right-click), or from the toolbar.

Unlocked gateways display a normal gateway icon in the tree view.

Gateway archives are files comprised of the data as it is received from the monitored device. This data is sometimes referred to as raw data. By default, a new archive file is created each day for every gateway, if archiving is enabled. GATEWAY CENTRAL allows archiving to be started or stopped from the GATEWAY CENTRAL console.

To enable archiving for a gateway(s), first select the gateway(s) from the Gateway Status Panel, then select the Gateway | Archive On selection from the menu, or from the context menu (right-click).

Gateway archive files are stored in the following format on the host where the gateway runs:

$OSI_HOME/Archive/<hostname>.<Class>.<Manager>.<GatewayName>.<date>

Archives can be disabled in the same manner: select the gateway(s) to deactivate archiving for and then select Gateway | Archive Off from the menu or context menu (right-click).

Any archives previously created remain unaffected by deactivating the archiving process on gateways.

Traces and Watches can be activated and deactivated from the GATEWAY CENTRAL console. Traces for events and dialogs capture all logical operations while the dialog or events are operating against the selected gateway(s).

Watches capture only the dialog or event headers from the activated dialogs and events. Both of these are captured as text files and are stored in the $OSI_HOME/Log directory on the host where the gateway process runs.

To activate a dialog trace or watch, first select the gateways to run the trace or watch on from the Gateway Status Panel, then select Dialog | Dialog Watch On or Dialog | Dialog Trace On from the menu or context menu (right-click). An Event trace or watch is invoked similarly, but from Event | Event Watch On or Event | Event Trace On menu or context menu items:

The trace/watch results are written to disk until the user turns them off manually or the gateway process is stopped.

To stop the trace or watch, select the gateway(s) running the trace or watch from the Gateway Status Panel, then select Dialog | Dialog Watch Off or Dialog | Dialog Trace Off (for dialogs) or Event | Event Watch Off or Event | Event Trace Off (for events) from the menu or context menu (right-click):

All trace/watch files remain unaffected by deactivating the trace/watch.

Before a system can be managed by GATEWAY CENTRAL, it must first be registered. Registration creates the ability for GATEWAY CENTRAL to connect to the new system and load its data into the GATEWAY CENTRAL database. This is done by importing the gateways, which is discussed separately in Section 3.14, “Importing Gateways”. Registration is handled automatically once a GATEWAY CENTRAL Agent is started for a given system. More information regarding this process can be found in the GATEWAY CENTRAL Administration Guide.

To remove a system, select System | Remove System... from the menu:

Select the system to be removed from the Select Systems dialog and click the OK button. Once the operation is confirmed, the system is unregistered from GATEWAY CENTRAL and its agent shuts down.

Once systems have been registered with GATEWAY CENTRAL, the existing gateway configurations are imported into GATEWAY CENTRAL for management. The list of Gateways is requested from any system that becomes ACTIVE. The GATEWAY CENTRAL Server process automatically imports the Gateway definition if it receives a message from a Gateway that is not already being managed.

Gateway Events – events that are currently in gateway memory – may be dumped for examination by selecting the gateway(s) to dump events for and then selecting Event | Generate Event Dump from the menu or context menu (right-click):

The results are recorded in the $OSI_HOME/Log directory on the host where the gateway(s) are running.

There are a number of functions not covered in the preceding sections that are covered here.

3.16.1. Gateway Messages

Messages generated by gateway processes can be viewed by selecting Gateway | Gateway Messages. These messages pertain to all gateways, rather than to just individual gateways. These messages are generally sent to the error log (/var/adm/messages) but can easily be viewed here.

Messages are viewed in a new window.

3.16.2. Look and Feel

Look and Feel can be found by selecting Tools | Look and Feel from the menu. Choosing Look and Feel allows the user to change the appearance and operation of the graphical interface for GATEWAY CENTRAL. The selections are based on Java design guidelines that can be found at http://java.sun.com.

3.16.3. Management

The Management selection currently has two functions: Gateway Custom States and Sync Gateway Status.

Gateway Custom States opens a window that allows custom states to be added and removed for use in the Custom State field for a gateway’s configuration. This serves as a convenient way to tag specific gateways for custom operations - for running a script against gateways taggged with a specific Custom State, for example.

Sync Gateway Status allows GATEWAY CENTRAL to be synchronized with the NETeXPERT systems being managed, if the systems should go out of sync due to a communications loss or other problem.

3.16.4. Append Notes

Once a gateway has been highlighted, there are several ways to add notes to the gateway configuration panel. First, there are the selections from the menu bar (Gateways | Append Notes) and context menus (right-click the gateway on the Gateway Status Panel).

There is also a toolbar icon for this purpose. When a note is appended in this fashion, the username, date and time are prepended to the note.

It is also possible to add a note to many gateways by selecting multiple gateways before selecting the above choices, or by selecting a node in the Tree View at the desired level in the hierarchy, then using the Tree View context menu choice.

The Append Note to Gateways dialog box appears for entering notes after one of the selections above is made.

3.16.5. Help Menu

The Help menu contains information about the GATEWAY CENTRAL application and Longview Software. Toggling between the About and System tabs provide the views below: