Configuring TIBCO ActiveMatrix, Version 5.2

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Last updated: Dec 11, 2019
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This section describes how to configure TIBCO ActiveMatrix so that you can collect the desired metrics, how to configure TIBCO Hawk so that you can collect TIBCO Hawk metrics, how to verify that TIBCO BusinessWorks (Version 5) Processes metrics are being collected, and how to modify default settings for the collection of TIBCO ActiveMatrix historical data.

Configuring Hawk for TIBCO ActiveMatrix

Some TIBCO ActiveMatrix metrics are derived from TIBCO Hawk Microagents installed by the TIBCO ActiveMatrix plugin. To collect these metrics, you must configure TIBCO Hawk.

Note: See Creating Secure Connections for additional information on creating secure connections to TIBCO ActiveMatrix.

Perform the following steps to configure Hawk:

Note: Only the Classpath and Connections regions on the CONNECTIONS tab need to be set up for TIBCO ActiveMatrix. The default settings on the DATA COLLECTION and DATA STORAGE tabs do not need to be modified.

  • Navigate to the RTView Configuration Application > RTView DataServer for TIBCO > Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO Hawk > CONNECTIONS tab.

  • In the CONNECTIONS tab, specify the classpaths for the TIBCO Hawk jar files, the TIBCO Rendezvous jar files, and the TIBCO EMS jar files.
  • Click the  icon.

The Add Connection dialog displays.

  • For TIBCO Hawk domains running on EMS transports, specify the connection information and click SAVE where:

Domain: Enter the name of the domain.

Transport Type: Select EMS from this drop down list.

URL: Enter the complete URL for the EMS connection.

Username: The username is used when creating the EMS connection. This field is optional.

Password: This password is used when creating the EMS connection. This field is optional. By default, the password entered is hidden. Click the  icon to view the password text.

Agents: Enter the associated Unix/Windows agents. The agent name displays in the field after entering the name and typing a comma or by clicking the Tab or Enter key. You can enter more than one agent in the fields. Once the agent is specified, you can delete the agent by clicking the X next to their name.

  • For TIBCO Hawk domains running on Rendezvous transports, specify the connection information and click SAVE where:

Domain: Enter the name of the domain.

Transport Type: Select Rendezvous from this drop down list.

Service: Enter the Service for the Rendezvous connection.

Network: Enter the Network for the Rendezvous connection.

Daemon: Enter the Daemon for the Rendezvous connection.

Agents: Enter the associated Unix/Windows agents. The agent name displays in the field after entering the name and typing a comma or by clicking the Tab or Enter key. You can enter more than one agent in the fields. Once the agent is specified, you can delete the agent by clicking the X next to their name.

Note: After you complete these configuration steps and start the RTView Data Server, you can verify your Hawk configuration by viewing the dataserver.log file, located in the logs directory. 

  • Click the SAVE button to save your changes in the RTView Configuration Application (upper left-hand corner).

The  displays in the upper right-hand corner.

  • Stop and restart your project by clicking the  button.


Verifying BW5 Processes Metrics are Collected

If your TIBCO ActiveMatrix configuration includes TIBCO BusinessWorks 5 engines, you need to verify that TIBCO BusinessWorks 5 processes are enabled so that you can collect metrics for the BW5 engines. To verify TIBCO BusinessWorks 5 processes are enabled:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO BusinessWorks 5 > DATA COLLECTION tab.

  • Verify that the Processes toggle is enabled (blue for enabled, gray for disabled).
  • SAVE your changes and restart the data server to enable your changes.

Configuring Data Collection for TIBCO ActiveMatrix

This section describes the steps required to create a connection to a TIBCO ActiveMatrix host.

Note: Some TIBCO ActiveMatrix metrics are derived from EMS messages queued on the TIBCO ActiveMatrix Admin server and, in order to access those messages, you must create a topic and a bridge to the queue in TIBCO ActiveMatrix and then create a connection (as described in the steps below) for each TIBCO ActiveMatrix host.

Queue: amx.governance.stats

Topic: rtv.amx.governance.stats

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > CONNECTIONS tab.

  • Click the  icon.

The Add Connection dialog displays.

  • Specify the connection information and click SAVE where:

Connection Name: Enter the name of the connection.

URL: Enter the complete URL for the connection.

Username: The username is used when creating the connection. This field is optional.

Password: This password is used when creating the connection. This field is optional. By default, the password entered is hidden. Click the icon to view the password text.

  • If you want to modify the default values for the update rates for the TIBCO ActiveMatrix caches, you can update the default polling rates in Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA COLLECTION > Poll Rates.

  • Modify the value for the Poll Rate field to modify the default polling rate for the _AmxNodeInfo, _AmxNodeComponentstats, _AmxNodeBindingstats, _AmxNodeComponents, _AmxServiceNodes caches.

Configuring Historical Data Collection for TIBCO ActiveMatrix (Optional)

You can specify the number of history rows to store in memory, the compaction rules, the duration before metrics are expired and deleted, and the different types of metrics that you want the Historian to store in the DATA STORAGE tab in the RTView Configuration Application. These configurations already contain default values and modifications to these configurations are optional..

Defining the Storage of In Memory AMXMON History

You can modify the maximum number of history rows to store in memory in the DATA STORAGE tab. The History Rows property defines the maximum number of rows to store for the AmxNodes, AmxBwProcessTotalsByService, AmxServices, and AmxServiceTotals caches. To update the default settings:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Size region, click the History Rows field and specify the desired number of rows.

Defining Compaction Rules for AMXMON

Data compaction, essentially, is taking large quantities of data and condensing it using a defined rule so that you store a reasonably sized sample of data instead of all of your data, thus preventing you from potentially overloading your database. The available fields are:

Condense Interval -- The time interval at which the cache history is condensed. The default is 60 seconds. The following caches are impacted by this setting: AmxNodes, AmxBwProcessTotalsByService, AmxServices, and AmxServiceTotals.

Condense Raw Time -- The time span of raw data kept in the cache history table. The default is 1200 seconds. The following caches are impacted by this setting: AmxNodes, AmxBwProcessTotalsByService, AmxServices, and AmxServiceTotals.

Compaction Rules -- This field defines the rules used to condense your historical data in the database. By default, the columns kept in history will be aggregated by averaging rows with the following rule 1h -;1d 5m;2w 15m, which means the data from 1 hour will not be aggregated (1h - rule), the data over a period of 1 day will be aggregated every 5 minutes (1d 5m rule), and the data over a period of 2 weeks old will be aggregated every 15 minutes (2w 15m rule). The following caches are impacted by this setting: AmxNodes, AmxBwProcessTotalsByService, AmxServices, and AmxServiceTotals.

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Compaction region, click the Condense Interval, Condense Raw Time, and Compaction Rules fields and specify the desired settings.

Defining Expiration and Deletion Duration for AMXMON Metrics

The data for each metric is stored in a specific cache and, when the data is not updated in a certain period of time, that data will either be marked as expired or, if it has been an extended period of time, it will be deleted from the cache altogether. The Expire Time field, which sets the expire time for the AmxNodes, _AmxServiceNodes, and _AmxServices caches, defaults to 75 seconds. The Delete Time field, which sets the delete time for the _AmxServiceNodes and _AmxServices caches, defaults to 3600 seconds. To modify these defaults:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Duration region, click the Expire Time and Delete Time fields and specify the desired settings.

Enabling/Disabling Storage of AMXMON Historical Data

The History Storage region allows you to select which metrics you want the Historian to store in the history database. By default, all TIBCO ActiveMatrix historical data is saved to the database. To enable/disable the collection of historical data, perform the following steps:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the History Storage region, select the toggles for the various metrics that you want to collect/deselect for the metrics that you do not want to collect. Blue is enabled, gray is disabled.

Defining a Prefix for All History Table Names for AMXMON Metrics

The History Table Name Prefix field allows you to define a prefix that will be added to the database table names so that the Monitor can differentiate history data between data servers when you have multiple data servers with corresponding Historians using the same solution package(s) and database. In this case, each Historian needs to save to a different table, otherwise the corresponding data server will load metrics from both Historians on startup. Once you have defined the History Table Name Prefix, you will need to create the corresponding tables in your database as follows:

  • Locate the .sql template for your database under RTVAPM_HOME/amxmon/dbconfig and make a copy of it
  • Add the value you entered for the History Table Name Prefix to the beginning of all table names in the copied .sql template
  • Use the copied .sql template to create the tables in your database

Note: If you are using Oracle for your Historian Database, you must limit the History Table Name Prefix to 2 characters because Oracle does not allow table names greater than 30 characters (and the longest table name for the solution package is 28 characters).

To add the prefix:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > TIBCO ActiveMatrix > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • Click on the History Table Name Prefix field and enter the desired prefix name.