How does agentless monitoring connect to resources?

Products

• Monitor Solution
• Monitor Pack for Servers

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
When the Remote Monitoring Server (RMS) polls for agentless metric data for a resource, how does it connect to that resource?

Answer
The RMS leverages the Pluggable Protocols Agent (PPA Agent) which queries the Notification Server for the resource's Device Support Mask (DSM) and Connection Profile. The DSM is a list of protocols the resource supports and is obtained during Network Discovery. If the agentless metric uses a protocol the resource didn't support during Network Discovery, the metric will fail. When running Network Discovery for resources, the Connection Profile specified in the Discovery Task is then associated with those resources. If there is no associated Connection Profile for a resource, the Default connection profile is then used. The Connection Profile specifies settings and credentials to be used for each protocol.

Another query is made for the IP address which will be used to connect to the resource. The dbo.Inv_Device_Identification table is first queried which is populated during Network Discovery. This table contains the primary IP address, or [Base IP Address], for the resource in which to connect to. If this table does not contain information about the resource, the dbo.Inv_AeX_AC_TCPIP is then queried which is populated via the Symantec Management Agent's Basic Inventory, WINS Import, or Network Discovery. If multiple entries exist per-resource (multiple network adapters), and one or more of the IP addresses are invalid / unavailable, it is possible the metric will fail. To avoid the chance of false data, it is recommended to properly configure the Connection Profile and run Network Discovery against all resources to be monitored by the RMS.