Agents Administration - Tests
 

Configuration of HCPBBUTest

This test monitors the health status of the battery back up units of each node in the Hitachi Content Platform. This test proactively alerts administrators whether/not the battery back up unit is degraded.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the HCPBBUTest.

  • The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

  • In the HOST text box, specify the IP address of the target switch that is being monitored.

  • The SNMP PORT is a port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default is 161.

  • By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection Configurable parameters for the test in the SNMPVERSION list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

  • The SNMP COMMUNITY name that the test uses to communicate with the switch. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

  • The USERNAME parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges - in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.

  • In the AUTHPASS text box, specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3 and CONFIRM PASSWORD by retyping it here.

  • The AUTHTYPE parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified Username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

    • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm

    • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm

  • The ENCRYPTFLAG appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.

  • If this EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the ENCRYPTTYPE list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

    • DES - Data Encryption Standard

    • SHA - AES

  • In the ENCRYPTPASSWORD text box, specify the encryption password here and confirm the encryption password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  • In the TIMEOUT text box, specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

  • By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic - for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components - to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, the DATA OVER TCP flag is set to No.

  • This parameter ENGINE ID appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

  • Once the above values are provided, click on the UPDATE button to register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.