Smarts: What is the difference between using "PersistenceManager::config" versus "TopologyManager::fakeAttr" in the topoUpdate parameter?

Products

• VMware Smart Assurance

Issue/Introduction

Explain the difference between "topoUpdate ICF_PersistenceManager::ICF-PersistenceManager::config" and "topoUpdate ICF_TopologyManager::ICF-TopologyManager::fakeAttr"

Explain the difference between using "PersistenceManager::config" versus TopologyManager::fakeAttr in the Smarts topoUpdate parameter

Environment

VMware Smart Assurance - SMARTS

Resolution

Smarts SAM uses the topoUpdate parameter to subscribe to property changes on underlying servers and trigger the automatic topology sync. The following describes the difference between specifying TopologyManager::fakeAttr versus PersistenceManager::config.

Using PersistenceManager::config
If you specify PersistenceManager::config (topoUpdate ICF_PersistenceManager::ICF-PersistenceManager::config) in the dxa-sam.conf configuration file, SAM will trigger an automatic topology sync once it connects to the underlying server. For example, whenever the SAM domain server restarts or an underlying server restarts.

Using TopologyManager::fakeAttr
If you specify TopologyManager::fakeAttr (topoUpdate ICF_TopologyManager::ICF-TopologyManager::fakeAttr) in the  dxa-sam.conf configuration file, SAM will not run a topology sync automatically. The fakeAttr argument is used to provide fake attributes, so the value would not change after the underlying server starts. If there is a notification processing delay because a topology sync is running at the same time the notification is received, or because the notification is received when the SAM domain server or one of the underlying servers is restarting, SAM would process all notifications from the underlying servers again. Because of this, using topoUpdate ICF_TopologyManager::ICF-TopologyManager::fakeAttr will let notification processing occur more quickly.