Watch4net APG: Collector Manager will not start; Service "start" command fails and log shows "org.xml.sax.SAXParseException...There is no ID/IDREF binding for IDREF 'PropertyTaggingFilter'" error

Products

• VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:




Watch4net APG Collector Manager service fails to start using the following command:

manage-modules.sh service start collector-manager <instance>

Cannot start Watch4net APG Collector Manager service
 

Error similar to the following seen in Watch4net APG Collector Manager log file (<APG_INSTALL>/Collecting/Collector-Manager/<instance>/logs/collecting-0-0.log) after trying to start the Collector Manager:

$XmlValidationEventHandler::handleEvent(): cvc-id.1: There is no ID/IDREF binding for IDREF 'PropertyTaggingFilter'. File: /opt/APG/Collecting/Collector-Manager/Default/conf/collecting.xml, Line: 38, Col: 10 org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: cvc-id.1: There is no ID/IDREF binding for IDREF 'PropertyTaggingFilter'.

Environment

VMware Smart Assurance - Watch4Net/M&R

Cause

The collecting-0-0.log error above references the collecting.xml file as well as the entry causing the Exception (in this case, the 'PropertyTaggingFilter'). This issue occurs because the PropertyTaggingFilter being called by the APG_HEALTH collector does not have an entry in the filters section of the collecting.xml file. The Collector entry for the  'PropertyTaggingFilter'  filter should be as follows:

<collector enabled="true" name="APG_HEALTH" next="PropertyTaggingFilter" config="APG-Self-Monitoring-Collector/Default/conf/apg-self-monitoring-collector.xml" />

A valid PropertyTaggingFilter filter entry must exist in the collecting.xml file if it is being called by an APG_HEALTH collector, or the Watch4net APG Collector Manager service will fail to start. 

Resolution

If you encouter this issue, you can do either of the following:

• Ensure that anvalid PropertyTaggingFilter filter entry exists in the collecting.xml file
• Send the APG_Health collector data directly to the Backend (the APG Health collector data does not need to go through any filters)

The following sections show how to do each of these options to address this issue.

Creating a valid PropertyTaggingFilter filter entry in the collecting.xml file
The steps to create a valid PropertyTaggingFilter entry in the collecting.xml file are as follows:

1. Open the collecting.xml file (/opt/APG/Collecting/Collector-Manager/Default/conf/collecting.xml) in an appropriate XML editor.
2. Find the <filters> section of the file. The following is a part of the "filters" section of the file that contains a valid PropertyTaggingFilter entry. Additional filters are shown for illustration purposes which may also be defined in the collecting.xml file:
   
   <filters>
                   <!--
                           The failover filter prevents any loss of data when the connection to the Backend is broken for any reason (Backend
                           shutdown, Network failure, etc...)
                   -->
                   <filter enabled="true" name="FailOver-Backend" next="Backend" config="FailOver-Filter/Default/conf/failover-backend.xml" />
                   <filter enabled="skip" name="FailOver-Alerting" next="Alerting" config="FailOver-Filter/Default/conf/failover-alerting.xml" />
   
   
                   <filter enabled="true" name="PropertyTaggingFilter" next="OutageDetector" config="Property-Tagging-Filter/Default/conf/property-tagging-filter.xml" />
   
                   <!-- These filters are required by the "ReportPack for VMWare" -->
                   <filter enabled="true" name="VMWARE-VHF" next="Backend" config="Variable-Handling-Filter/Default/conf/variable-handling-filter-vmware.xml"/>
   
   </filters>
   
    
3. After the PropertyTaggingFilter entry has been entered, save and close the collecting.xml file.
4. Start the collector-manager service using the following command:
   
   manage-modules.sh service start collector-manager <instance>

Sending the APG_Health collector data directly to the Backend
You can address this issue by having the APG_Health collector send data directly to the Backend, and also avoid the errors seen in the collecting logs. To do this, change the "next" value in "<collector enabled/>" parameter from "next=PropertyTaggingFilter" to "next=Backend" as in the following::

<collector enabled="true" name="APG_HEALTH" next="Backend" config="APG-Self-Monitoring-Collector/Default/conf/apg-self-monitoring-collector.xml" />