The base package includes the functionality that is necessary to configure Embedded Support Partner; monitor a single system for system and performance events, configuration changes, and availability; notify support personnel when specific events occur; and generate basic reports.
The base package includes the following components:
Core software
System Support Database (SSDB): espdbd
System Event Manager (SEM): eventmond
Monitoring software
configmon
eventmond
availmon
Notifying software
espnotify
Console software
Configurable Web server: esphttpd
Web-based interface
Report generator core
Report generator plugins
The core software includes the functionality that is necessary to process events, to determine the action to perform, and to store data about the system that Embedded Support Partner is monitoring.
The core software includes the following components:
System Support Database (SSDB)
System Event Manager (SEM)
The SSDB is the central repository for all system support data. It contains the following data types:
System configuration data
System event data
System actions for system events
System availability data
Diagnostic test data
Task configuration data
The SSDB includes a server that runs as a daemon, espdbd, which starts at boot time.
 | Note: Embedded Support Partner includes a utility (esparchive) that you can use to archive the current SSDB data, which reduces the amount of disk space that is used. Refer to the Embedded Support Partner User Guide, publication number 007-4065-002, for more information about using the esparchive utility to archive SSDB data. |
The System Event Manager (SEM) is the control center of Embedded Support Partner. It includes the following components:
A system event handler (SEH)
A decision support module (DSM)
The SEM runs as the eventmond daemon.
The SEH logs events into the SSDB (after validating and throttling/filtering) and passes the events to the Decision Support Module (DSM) for processing.
The DSM is a rules-based event management subsystem. The main tasks of the DSM are:
Parsing rule(s) for an event
Initiating any necessary action(s) for an event
Logging the actions that were performed in the SSDB
The DSM receives events from the SEH and then applies user-configurable rules to each event. If necessary, the DSM executes any actions that are assigned to the events.
A key function of Embedded Support Partner is monitoring the system. The Embedded Support Partner base package includes software that enables the following types of monitoring on a system:
Configuration monitoring (with the configmon tool)
Event monitoring (with the eventmond daemon)
Availability monitoring (with the availmon tool)
Monitoring is performed by tools that run as standalone programs and communicate with the Embedded Support Partner control software.
| Note: Performance monitoring is available through the pmie application, which is included in the Performance Co-Pilot Execution Only Environment (pcp_eoe subsystem). Refer to “Performance Monitoring Tools,” for more information. |
The base package includes a configuration monitoring application, configmon. The configmon application monitors the system configuration by performing the following functions when configuration events occur:
It determines the current software and hardware configuration of a system, gathering as much detail as possible (for example, serial numbers, board revision levels, installed software products, installed patches, installation dates, etc.).
It verifies that the configuration data in the SSDB is up-to-date by comparing the current system configuration data with the configuration data in the SSDB.
It updates the SSDB so that it is current (with information about the hardware or software that has changed).
It provides data for various system configuration reports that the system administrator or field support personnel can use.
The configmon application runs at system start-up time to gather updated configuration information.
Embedded Support Partner is an event-driven system. Events can come from various sources. Examples of events are:
Configuration events
Inferred performance events
Availability events
System critical events (from the kernel and various device drivers)
Diagnostic events
The Embedded Support Partner base package includes an event monitoring subsystem to monitor important system events that are logged into syslogd by the kernel, drivers, and other system components. This subsystem is part of the eventmond daemon, which starts at boot time immediately after the syslogd daemon starts.
All events pass to the event monitoring subsystem by using one of the following methods:
They use the eventmon API.
They pass through esplogger.
They come directly from syslogd.
The eventmond daemon monitors events from syslogd, and the eventmon API and uses the SEM to log the events in the SSDB. syslogd performs some event throttling/filtering. You can configure Embedded Support Partner to do more extensive event throttling/filtering, which reduces system resource overhead when syslogd logs a large number of duplicate events because of an error condition.
If the SSDB server is not running when eventmond attempts to log events, eventmond buffers the events until it can successfully log the events.
The eventmon API provides the mechanism that enables tasks to communicate with eventmond. The eventmond daemon receives information from external monitoring tasks through API function calls that the tasks send or that esplogger sends to eventmond. Each command that is sent to eventmond returns a status code that indicates successful completion or the reason that a failure occurred.
The base package also includes an availability monitoring application, availmon. The availmon application monitors machine uptime and differentiates between controlled shutdowns, system panics, power cycles, and power failures.
Availability monitoring is useful for high-availability systems, production systems, or other customer sites where monitoring availability information is important.
The availmon application runs at startup time to gather the availability data.
Notification is one of the actions that can be programmed to take place when a particular system event occurs. The notification software provides several types of notifiers, including dialog boxes on the local system, e-mail, paging, and diagnostic reports and other types of reports.
The espnotify tool provides the following notification capabilities for Embedded Support Partner:
E-mail notifications
GUI-based or console text notifications (with audio if the notification is on the local host)
Program execution for notification
Alphanumeric and chatty paging through the Qpage application
Typically, the Decision Support Module (DSM) invokes the espnotify tool in response to some event. However, you can run the espnotify tool as a standalone application, if necessary.
The Embedded Support Partner base package includes console software that enables you to interact with it from a Web browser. The console software uses the Configurable Web Server (esphttpd) to receive input from the user, send it to the Embedded Support Partner software running on the system, and return the results to the user. (inetd invokes esphttpd whenever a Web server connection is needed.)
The console software also includes a report generator core and a set of plugins to create various types of reports. These reports are based on the data that the Embedded Support Partner tasks provide, such as configmon, availmon, etc.
In the base package, you can access the following types of reports:
System configuration reports (current and historical):
Hardware
Software
System event reports:
Based on event CLASS
Based on event TYPE
Event action reports
Local system metrics (MTBI, availability, etc.)
Embedded Support Partner configuration
You can use a Web browser to request these reports and view them.
If you use an ASCII-based browser (for example, Lynx) to access the Web Server, the console software provides an ASCII Web-based interface that supports the following functionality:
Configuring the behavior of the Embedded Support Partner
Configuring the Web server
Generating basic reports
If you use a graphical browser (for example, Netscape Communicator) to access the Web server, the console software provides a graphical Web-based interface that supports the following functionality:
Configuring the behavior of the Embedded Support Partner
Configuring the Web server
Configuring system groups
Configuring the behavior of tasks
Setting up monitors and associated thresholds
Setting up notifiers
Generating reports for a single system or group of systems
Accessing system consoles and system controllers
Remotely controlling a system with the IRISconsole multiserver management system
To access the console software, enter the launchESPpartner command or double-click on the Embedded_Support_Partner icon (which is located on the SupportTools page of the icon catalog). Refer to the Embedded Support Partner User Guide, publication number 007-4065-002, for more information about using Embedded Support Partner.