nsdgtw-1.2

nsdgtw Guide v1.2 series

Nimsoft Monitor

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Contents 5

Contents

Chapter 1: nsdgtw 1.2 7

nsdgtw Overview .......................................................................................................................................................... 7

Chapter 2: nsdgtw Probe Deployment 9

Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Supported Platforms .................................................................................................................................................... 9

System Requirements .................................................................................................................................................. 9

Software Requirements ............................................................................................................................................. 10

Probe Deployment Information ................................................................................................................................. 10

Nimsoft Service Desk Integration ............................................................................................................................... 10

Create a Nimsoft User Account ........................................................................................................................... 10

Create a Web Services Account .......................................................................................................................... 12

Create Requester Organization ........................................................................................................................... 15

Chapter 3: nsdgtw Configuration 17

Probe Configuration Interface Installation for nsdgtw .............................................................................................. 17

Probe Configuration ................................................................................................................................................... 18

Field Mapping ..................................................................................................................................................... 21

Alarm Filters ........................................................................................................................................................ 23

Alarm Severity and SLA ....................................................................................................................................... 24

Worklog Configuration ........................................................................................................................................ 25

Advanced Configuration Settings ........................................................................................................................ 26

View Incidents in Nimsoft Service Desk .............................................................................................................. 28

Chapter 4: nsdgtw QoS Metrics 31

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting and FAQs 33

Chapter 1: nsdgtw 1.2 7

Chapter 1: nsdgtw 1.2

This description applies to nsdgtw probe version 1.2x.

This section contains the following topics:

nsdgtw Overview (see page 7) Documentation Changes (see page 8)

nsdgtw Overview

The Nimsoft Service Desk Gateway probe is a gateway between NMS and CA Nimsoft Service Desk. The probe works by subscribing to alarm assignments. If an alarm is assigned to the user specified in the probe setup, the alarm is entered as a Service Desk Call Request.

nsdgtw Overview

8 nsdgtw Guide

Documentation Changes

This table describes the version history for this document.

Version Date What's New?

1.2 January 2013 Updated Alarm Severity values to include Ticket Severity values or Ticket Priority values.

1.1 June 2012 Modified the probe to ensure that the severity for incidents is updated correctly based on the severity mappings configured for the probe. Also corrected the logic to save the last incident check timestamp to ensure that all alarms are successfully cleared/acknowledged and none are skipped or missed during processing.

1.1 October 2011 Added multi-tenancy support

1.0 April 2011 Gateway between NMS and Nimsoft Service Desk.

Related Documentation

Documentation for other versions of the nsdgtw probe

The Release Notes for the nsdgtw probe

Monitor Metrics Reference Information for CA Unified Infrastructure Management Probes (http://docs.nimsoft.com/prodhelp/en_US/Probes/ProbeReference/index.htm)

http://docs.nimsoft.com/prodhelp/en_US/Probes/AdminConsole/nsdgtw/ReleaseNotes/index.htmhttp://docs.nimsoft.com/prodhelp/en_US/Probes/ProbeReference/index.htm


Chapter 2: nsdgtw Probe Deployment

This section contains the prerequisites, system requirements and deployment information for the nsdgtw probe.


Prerequisites (see page 9) Supported Platforms (see page 9) System Requirements (see page 9) Software Requirements (see page 10) Probe Deployment Information (see page 10) Nimsoft Service Desk Integration (see page 10)

Prerequisites

The nsdgtw probe requires:

Nimsoft Service Desk web service user account access.

Nimsoft user account access within Infrastructure Manager.

Supported Platforms

Refer to the Compatibility Support Matrix for the latest information about supported platforms. See also the Support Matrix for Probes for more specific information about the probe.

System Requirements

The nsdgtw probe should be installed on systems with the following minimum resources:

Memory: 2-4GB of RAM. Probe's OOB configuration requires 256MB of RAM'

CPU: 3GHz dual-core processor, 32-bit or 64-bit

http://support.nimsoft.com/downloads/doc/NMSCompatibility_SupportMatrix_current.pdfhttp://support.nimsoft.com/downloads/doc/Platform_Support_Availability_current.pdf

Software Requirements

10 nsdgtw Guide

Software Requirements

The nsdgtw probe requires the following software environment:

Nimsoft Monitor Server 5.1.1 or later

Nimsoft Robot 5.23 or later

Java Virtual Machine 1.6 or later (typically installed with NMS 5.0 and above)

Probe Deployment Information

There are three ways to distribute archive packages. You can distribute the package within the web-based Admin Console (for supported probes), from within Infrastructure Manager, or use the standalone Distribution application. See Probe Deployment for more information on deploying probes.

Nimsoft Service Desk Integration

You must create two user accounts to integrate the nsdgtw probe with the Nimsoft Service Desk application.

Nimsoft user account (within Infrastructure Manager) (see page 10)

Nimsoft Service Desk web services user account (see page 12)

Create a Nimsoft User Account

The nsdgtw probe requires a Nimsoft user account in order to assign alarms generated through Infrastructure Manager.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Infrastructure Manager and Click Security > User Administration.

http://docs.nimsoft.com/prodhelp/en_US/Probes/GettingStarted/1931642.html



2. Right click inside the User Administration screen and select the New User option.

The New User dialog appears.

3. Enter the User name.


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4. Click the Set Password button to create a password for the user.

The Set Password dialog opens.

5. Enter the password, retype it and click the OK button.

6. Click OK to quit the New User dialog box, and the user is created.

Note: Nimsoft Service Desk username/password is used to connect the probe internally to Nimsoft Service Desk.

Create a Web Services Account

To use Web Services to access Nimsoft Service Desk, a Web Services user account must be configured in Service Desk. The Web Services client account must be configured as a contact record in Service Desk.

Note: To configure and use the Web Services user account, you must have the required Web Services license.



Follow these steps:

1. Click the Application Setup > Manage Contacts link in the Service Desk Navigation Panel.

The Manage Contact form is displayed.

2. Enter information in the First Name and Last Name fields.

This will be the Requester Name for the client. Both fields are required.

3. Enter additional information if desired, or leave the rest of the contact record form blank.

4. Click Apply Changes.

The new contact record is created.

The Contact Details, Location, Open Items, and other tabs are now displayed on the form. The Enable Login check box, Out of Office check box, and other related fields are enabled.

5. Select the Enable Login check box in the contact record section.

This allows the Web Services User access to the application.


14 nsdgtw Guide

6. Select the Location tab of the contact record and click Add Locations.

7. Relate the user to an organization and relationship as desired and click Apply Changes.

This will be the primary organization of the user. You can relate multiple organizations but only one organization can be marked as primary.

8. In the Application tab of the contact record:

a. Assign System User ID for the Web Services User

b. Assign License type as Web Services

c. Select the Disable Service Feedback check box as this contact is not needed to participate in the Service Feedback process.

d. Timezone must match the nsdgtw probe timezone.

e. Add Administration as Support Group using Add Role/Group button.


Your changes to the Web Services user account are saved.



Create Requester Organization

To use Web Services to access Nimsoft Service Desk, the Web Services user account must belong to a requester organization.

Follow these steps:

1. Select Application Setup > Manage Organization in the Service Desk Navigation Panel.

The Manage Organization form is displayed.

2. Enter information in the Name field.

This will be the Requester Organization for the client.

3. Enter additional information if desired, or leave the rest of the contact record form blank.


The new Requester Organization is created.


Chapter 3: nsdgtw Configuration

The Nimsoft Service Desk Gateway enables customers to automatically or manually create incidents from Nimsoft Monitor Alarms. It enables bi-directional synchronization of alarms/incidents.

When alarms are assigned to the Nimsoft user or are automatically assigned, the nsdgtw probe creates a new incident in the Nimsoft Service Desk. Once these incidents are closed in Nimsoft Service Desk then the nsdgtw probe automatically acknowledges the alarms from which these incidents were created in Infrastructure Manager.

Important: Please note that when using NAS AO rules or Auto assignment feature in nsdgtw probe, to auto-assign alarms to the Service Desk user for the purpose of creating tickets in the Service Desk system this must be thoroughly tested before put into production. Erroneous assignment rules can easily result in too many or even duplicate tickets being created.


Probe Configuration Interface Installation for nsdgtw (see page 17) Probe Configuration (see page 18)

Probe Configuration Interface Installation for nsdgtw

The probe configuration interface is automatically downloaded and installed by the Infrastructure Manager when the probe is deployed on a robot.

Probe Configuration

18 nsdgtw Guide

Probe Configuration

This section describes the configuration concepts and procedures for setting up the nsdgtw probe.

The nsdgtw probe is configured by double-clicking the line representing the gateway in Infrastructure Manager.

Note: You must click the Apply button to activate any changes made in the probe configuration.

Probe Configuration


The fields in the above dialog are explained below:

Log-level

Sets the level of details written to the log-file. Log as little as possible during normal operation to minimize disk consumption, and increase the amount of detail when debugging.

nas address

Defines the address of the Nimsoft Alarm Server in the format ////nas

Note: You must specify the local Nimsoft Alarm Server. In addition, the address is case sensitive.

Server URL

Defines the URL of the web service for Nimsoft Service Desk server.

Username

User defined in the Nimsoft Service Desk.This user must be a web service user of the Service Desk application. The username is case sensitive.

Password

Enter the password for the Nimsoft Service Desk user.

Test (button)

Allows the gateway to attempt to log in on the Nimsoft Service Desk server, using the specified login credentials. If attempt is successful the icon turns green; otherwise, the icon is red. A black icon indicates that the connection has not been tested.

Assigned User

Defines the assigned user. This is the Nimsoft user created within Infrastructure Manager.

Requester Name

The value for this key will be the name of the requester which was created in the Nimsoft Service Desk Server > Application Setup > Manage Contacts. Typically this is displayed in lastname, firstname format.

Requester Organization

The value for this key will be the name of the requester organization which was created in the Nimsoft Service Desk Server > Application Setup > Manage Organization.This field is used for multi-tenancy support.

Note: By using the variable $alarm.origin in this field, the origin of the alarm will map to the corresponding organization in Nimsoft Service Desk. The origin(s) configured in Nimsoft Monitor must be identical to the organizations in Nimsoft Service Desk for this to work properly.

Probe Configuration

20 nsdgtw Guide

Timezone

Specifies the timezone code (such as GMT, IST, PST, etc.) to be used to store the time value. The probe must be configured to match the timezone to the user organization's timezone, not the server timezone.

Note: By default, the timezone will be GMT.

Acknowledge on Following Ticket Status

Selects the status for clearing an alarm in NMS when the corresponding ticket in NSD is set to one of the following: Closed, Resolved, or Either (Closed and Resolved).

Closed Incidents Check Interval

Specifies the time interval, in minutes, between probe checks for closed incidents in the Nimsoft Service Desk. When the operator in the Nimsoft Service Desk has managed the incident and changed the status to closed, the nsdgtw will (based on the nimid) clear the alarm.

Note: "MM /dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss a" is the default date format. However, you can change the date format using the option provided in Raw Configure.

In Raw configure, you can set Key as date_format and Value as the desired format.

Check Now (button)

Checks immediately for closed incidents in Nimsoft Service Desk.

Incident ID Custom Field

Selects the custom field (custom1custom5) you want the Incident ID generated on the server to be displayed.

On Cleared Alarm

Selects the status value for the NSD ticket when an alarm is cleared in NMS. Valid options are: Closed, Resolved, or None.

Auto Assign Alarms

Enables the Alarm Filters option. Refer the Alarm Filters section for more information.

Alarm Severity and SLA (button)

Opens the dialog to select the desired severity level or priority value for the respective alarms from the drop down list.

The ticket severity level or priority value will be mapped to the alarm severity. Refer the Alarm Severity and SLA (see page 24) section for more details.

Field Mapping (button)

Opens the dialog that is used to map the Nimsoft service desk fields with the Nimsoft alarm fields or default values. Refer the Field Mapping (see page 21) section for more details.

Probe Configuration


Worklog Entry (button)

Opens the dialog that is used to select the alarm field updates that will add a worklog to a ticket in Nimsoft Service Desk. The worklog will contain the alarm field updated and its new value.

Field Mapping

Click the Field Mapping button in the probe GUI to open the following dialog.

For editing the existing mapping, double-click the existing record, select the new Service Desk Fields for mapping, and click the Update button. Your changes will be saved. The Alarm Fields is disabled while editing.

The Service Desk Fields are displayed in following format:

Field name[field type][field data type]

Probe Configuration

22 nsdgtw Guide

Following are the different field data types:

String: No default values will be pre-populated

Date Time: No default values will be pre-populated

Number: No default values will be pre-populated

List: If multiple values for defined Service desk field is available then the list is pre-populated in Default Values field.

Important: Alarm ID field in Service Desk will always be mapped with ID field of Alarm Fields.

Note: If the user wishes to change the date format for Custom Fields, you can set Key as custom_field_date_format and Value as the desired format.

Add

Click to store the selected service desk field and corresponding alarm fields into the cfg file.

The mapping type of service desk field with alarm fields are listed below:

Service Desk Field Alarm Fields

String String

Date Time Date Time

Number Number

List -

Remove button

Select the mapping type field and remove from the cfg.

Probe Configuration


Alarm Filters

In the probe GUI, when you select the Auto Assign Alarms check box, the Alarm Filters option is enabled. Click the Alarm Filters button to open the Alarm Filters dialog.

Select the Alarm filter criteria based on which alarms incident will be created automatically in Nimsoft Service Desk.

Probe Configuration

24 nsdgtw Guide

Alarm Severity and SLA

Click the Alarm Severity and SLA button in the probe GUI to open the following dialog.

This dialog sets the severity level or priority value that will be mapped to the Severity field of Nimsoft Service Desk Ticket.

Select one of the following:

Ticket Severity

Ticket Priority (used for SLA)

None

You can map the values for the alarm severities with the ticket severity or ticket priority (depending on the option selected).

The Clear option allows you to specify a value to be inserted into the ticket field (severity or priority) when an alarm in NMS is cleared.

Note: If None is selected, the severity and priority options become read only and cannot be changed.

Probe Configuration


Worklog Configuration

This dialog allows you to select the alarm field updates that will add a worklog to a ticket in Nimsoft Service Desk.

The worklog type options are based on options from Nimsoft Service Desk.

You can make the worklog "client viewable" if needed. Worklogs are viewable from the Activity tab of the ticket in Nimsoft Service Desk.

Probe Configuration

26 nsdgtw Guide

Advanced Configuration Settings

The Offline Management mode allows user to take care of the alarms assigned by nsdgtw while the Nimsoft Service Desk server is down.

The nsdgtw probe pings the Nimsoft Service Desk server at regular interval. When the Nimsoft Service Desk server is down, nsdgtw is alerted. Once the server is up, nsdgtw is notified and the probe restarts. On probe restart, the Offline Management mode checks for the alarms assigned to Nimsoft user in nas when the Nimsoft Service Desk server was down. The probe fetches the list of alarms assigned to the Nimsoft user from nas and compares it with the list in the Configuration file. The probe creates incidents for those alarm IDs that are found in the nas list but not in the configuration file list. The incidents are in Service Desk, as assigned from nsdgtw probe.

You can disable or enable the Offline Management mode by using the Raw Configure method:

1. Hold the Shift key down and right-click the nsdgtw probe in the Infrastructure Manager.

2. Select the Raw Configure option.

The Raw Configure window appears.

3. From the left panel, select the setup node.

Probe Configuration


4. Select the disable_offline_managment key and click the Edit Key button.

The Edit Key dialog appears.

5. To turn offline management off, set the key as 1. To turn the offline management on, set the key as 0.

Note: By default, the key is set to 1.

6. Modify the key value as required and click OK.

After configuring the settings, restart the nsdgtw probe to implement the changes.

Assign Values to Custom Fields

You can assign values to custom fields in the Infrastructure Manager.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the selected alarm and select the Select Custom Field option.

2. After hovering on Select Custom Field, five custom fields appear.

3. Select the value to be assigned.

The Set Custom Field Value dialog appears.

4. Enter the value and click OK.

Probe Configuration

28 nsdgtw Guide

View Incidents in Nimsoft Service Desk

In the Nimsoft Service Desk, all the alarm attributes will be shown in the incidents Symptom description and Symptom details fields.

Double-click the incident to view its details.

When the operator in the Nimsoft Service Desk has managed the incident and changed the status to closed, the nsdgtw will (based on the nimid) acknowledge the alarm.

The gateway supports functionality for testing the network access to the Nimsoft Service Desk, and for testing the login session on the Nimsoft Service Desk with verification of the user name and password.

Probe Configuration


Notes of Caution:

If you assign an alarm to Service Desk user, then un-assign and assign it back, a duplicate incident will be created.

If you have Auto Alarm Assignment turned on in nsdgtw with some filter, no alarms will be assigned in NMS. However, an incident will be created in the Service Desk. Now, if you try to assign the same auto alarm in NMS, a duplicate incident will be created in Service Desk.

If you already have NAS auto-operator set for certain conditions, it is recommended not to use Auto Alarm Assignment. In case both (NAS auto-operator and auto-alarm assignment) catch similar filter criteria for an alarm, it will result in duplication of incidents.

If Offline Management is turned off and user performs alarm assignment to Service Desk user while probe is turned off, no incident will be created in Service Desk.

Chapter 4: nsdgtw QoS Metrics 31

Chapter 4: nsdgtw QoS Metrics

The nsdgtw probe does not generate any QoS. Therefore, there are no probe checkpoint metrics to be configured for this probe.

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting and FAQs 33

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting and FAQs

Error Code 301: An unexpected error occurred during data-validation of the request parameters passed during invocation of the web service: {0}.{1}.

This message indicates following possibilities:

Requester Name or Requester Organization is incorrect

Alarm Field and Service Desk field mapping is incorrect

To resolve the error make sure that following information is correctly provided

Ensure that correct Requester Name is provided.

Ensure that the value for variable $alarm.origin of Requester Organization is correctly provided.

Ensure that the Alarm fields provide the value expected in Service Desk fields.

Copyright NoticeContact CAContentsChapter 1: nsdgtw 1.2nsdgtw Overview

Documentation ChangesChapter 2: nsdgtw Probe DeploymentPrerequisitesSupported PlatformsSystem RequirementsSoftware RequirementsProbe Deployment InformationNimsoft Service Desk IntegrationCreate a Nimsoft User AccountCreate a Web Services AccountCreate Requester Organization

Chapter 3: nsdgtw ConfigurationProbe Configuration Interface Installation for nsdgtwProbe ConfigurationField MappingAlarm FiltersAlarm Severity and SLAWorklog ConfigurationAdvanced Configuration SettingsAssign Values to Custom Fields

View Incidents in Nimsoft Service Desk

Chapter 4: nsdgtw QoS MetricsChapter 5: Troubleshooting and FAQs

Documents

nsdgtw-1.2