In the current releases of Monitor Solution for Servers, one of the key features is multiple Remote Monitoring Server (RMS) support. Along with this feature comes the following items which are to be considered during implementation:
- RMS is managed as a Site Server service. This Site Server component is referred to as the Monitor Service
- The deployment of each RMS is managed via the Site Server Settings management page
- Each RMS is responsible for monitoring only those resources which reside in the associated site(s) and subnet(s) as defined for that Site Server
By default, the Monitor Service is installed on the Symantec Management Platform (SMP) server. In a simple environment where there is a single subnet and physical / virtual site (or no sites have been defined), having a single RMS installed on the SMP server may be suitable and will function properly out of the box. However, if the environment has multiple subnets and sites and / or multiple RMS's are desired, the following steps should be followed:
First, determine what type of remote monitoring topology is desired:
- Centralized
A single RMS is responsible for all agentless monitoring
- Site-based
A RMS is deployed to each site and is responsible for monitoring the resources which reside in that site
- Site-based with redundancy
A RMS is deployed to each site and is capable of monitoring all resources
Centralized
By default, both the Task and Monitor services are installed on the SMP server. This poses as an issue for centralized monitoring: You must apply all sites and subnets to the Site Server where the Monitor Service resides (this is required as the RMS will only monitor those resources within the sites that are applied to the Site Server). However, you may not want all sites and subnets applied to the Task Service (e.g. any resource could potentially try to get its tasks from the SMP server). This being the case, you'll likely wish to relocate either the Monitor Service or the Task Service from the SMP server to another Site Server. The following steps apply to relocating the RMS to its own Site Server:
- Uninstall the RMS from the SMP server and install the Monitor Service to an alternate server (it is assumed the Symantec Management Agent is already installed on the alternate server). In the Symantec Management Console (SMC, Console), access: Settings > Notification Server > Site Server Settings
- Expand Site Management > Site Servers > [SMP server name], select Monitor Service and choose Del
- Choose New > Site Server, add the new desired server for the Monitor Service in the Select Computers window, then OK
- In the Add/Remove Services window, enable the Monitor Service checkbox, then Next, then OK
- To force the changes to take place immediately, access: Settings > Notification Server > Resource Membership Update, choose Run for the Delta update schedule
- Update the configuration for the Symantec Management Agent (SMA) on the SMP server and the new server chosen to host the Monitor Service
- Allow for the RMS installation to complete on the new server. To validate completion, right-click the SMA icon, choose Symantec Management Agent Settings, and both Altiris Monitor Agent RMS and Altiris Pluggable Protocols Architecture Agent should be listed under Agents/Plug-ins
- Update the status on the SMP by running another Delta Resource Membership Update
- Add all existing sites to the new RMS Site Server (Note: It is assumed that all appropriate subnets have been defined and associated with sites under Site Management). Access: Site Server Settings > Site Servers > [RMS name] > Sites, choose New, select all sites, then OK
- Configure the desired agentless Monitor Policies including specifying the desired target and ensuring the policies are enabled. With a single RMS, no additional consideration is necessary regarding the target definitions
- Run another Delta Resource Membership Update
- Update the SMA configuration on the RMS to activate the agentless Monitor Policies
Site-based
In most environments where there are multiple sites and subnets, it will be preferred to have a Site Server hosting both the Task and Package services designated to each site. With this type of distributed setup, the RMS can be conveniently added to each Site Server to ensure all resources are monitored as well as to load balance the agentless monitoring. The key detail to note about this type of configuration, is that each RMS will only monitor those resources which reside within the site which is associated with its Site Server. The following diagram illustrates the distribution of resources amongst multiple RMS's if an agentless policy is applied to "All Computers":
The following steps apply to deploying the Monitor Service across multiple Site Servers (it is assumed that all subnets have already been associated with their appropriate site):
- Identify a server class Windows machine which exists in each site that will assume the role of a RMS. Each machine should have the SMA already installed and may or may not also have a role of a Task Server and / or Package Server. The SMP server, itself, may also be responsible for one of the sites, which will be the case in this example as the RMS is installed on the SMP server by default
- In the Console, access: Settings > Notification Server > Site Server Settings
- Choose New > Site Server; for one of the sites, add the new desired server which physically (or virtually) resides in that site, in the Select Computers window; then OK
- In the Add/Remove Services window, enable the Monitor Service checkbox, then Next, then OK
- Repeat the previous 2 steps for each site
- To force the changes to take place immediately, access: Settings > Notification Server > Resource Membership Update, choose Run for the Delta update schedule
- Update the configuration for the Symantec Management Agent (SMA) on each of the new servers chosen to host the Monitor Service
- Allow for the RMS installation to complete on each server. To validate completion, right-click the SMA icon, choose Symantec Management Agent Settings, and both Altiris Monitor Agent RMS and Altiris Pluggable Protocols Architecture Agent should be listed under Agents/Plug-ins
- Update the status on the SMP by running another Delta Resource Membership Update
- Configure the desired agentless Monitor Policies including specifying the desired target and ensuring the policies are enabled. Each RMS will then be responsible for monitoring resources which overlap between the configured target and those which reside within the site which is associated with its Site Server
- Run another Delta Resource Membership Update
- Update the SMA configuration on each RMS to activate the agentless Monitor Policies
Site-based with redundancy
This configuration is more complicated and involved, however it is not without its advantages. This setup is beneficial for 2 primary reasons: a) Multiple vantage points for critical resource monitoring, and b) Agentless monitoring of RMS health and status. Discretion must be used during implementation of this design as communication over the network as well as data storage will both be increased. Additionally, duplicate alerts will occur since rules will be triggering from multiple RMS sources. The concept of this approach is that each RMS will monitor the resources in its local site and / or a different site where it does not reside. The following diagram illustrates this:
Note that such a topology is not suitable for Task Service and Package Service implementations. This being the case, each RMS must be installed on its own independant Site Server. Also note that most networks were not designed for such concepts. Implementation is very similar to the steps outlined for the Site-based configuration with the following adjustments (it is assumed the steps from the Site-based instructions have already been followed):
- Identify whether or not each RMS will monitor itself in addition to another site (redundancy plus agentless RMS monitoring), or each RMS will only monitor a site other than its own (agentless RMS monitoring without redundancy)
- In the Console, access: Settings > Notification Server > Site Server Settings
- Expand Site Servers > [RMS name] > Sites
- If redundancy is chosen, keep the existing site which is assigned by default and choose New to add at least 1 additional site to be monitored by that RMS, then OK. For agentless RMS health and status monitoring without redundancy, remove the site which is assigned by default and add 1 other site to be monitored by that RMS
- Repeat the previous 2 steps for each RMS so that each server is monitoring "the next" in a cyclical fashion
- Run a Delta Resource Membership Update and update the SMA configuration on each RMS