Best Practices for cloning systems with Nimsoft (UIM) Robot already installed

Products

DX Unified Infrastructure Management (Nimsoft / UIM) CA Unified Infrastructure Management On-Premise (Nimsoft / UIM) CA Unified Infrastructure Management SaaS (Nimsoft / UIM)

Issue/Introduction

Some users may desire to create a "master image" for new servers or workstations with the Nimsoft Robot already installed prior to deployment.
There are several steps which need to be followed on the "master" system prior to creating a cloned image in order to ensure that there is no duplication of robot device ID information across the system.
Robot device ID duplication can cause unexpected results, such as missing metrics or systems in the Operator Console.
To avoid this, follow these steps on the "master" system prior to imaging/cloning.

Environment

Release: UIM 20.x, 23.4 or higher
Unified Infrastructure Management

Cause

Guidance for cloning robots
Robot cloning process

Resolution

Windows

1. Stop the Nimsoft Robot Watcher Service

2. Locate the folder <Nimsoft Install>\Nimsoft\niscache\ (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Nimsoft\niscache)

3. Delete ALL the files found in this folder, leaving the empty "niscache" folder behind.

This is to avoid problems with duplicate robots for discovery.

The niscache files contain device registration info unique to that pre-cloned robot which is why the cache files and robot device id must be deleted.

4. Edit the file <Nimsoft Install>\robot\robot.cfg using a text editor.

5. Ensure that "robotip" and "robotname" are set to a blank value.

Linux

1. Stop the nimbus service by executing: <Nimsoft Install>nimsoft/bin/niminit/stop. (usually /opt/nimsoft/bin/)

2. Locate the folder <Nimsoft Install>\Nimsoft\niscache\ (e.g. /opt/nimsoft/niscache)

3. Delete ALLthe files found in this folder, leaving the empty "niscache" folder behind.

This is to avoid problems with duplicate robots for discovery.

The niscache files contain device registration info unique to that pre-cloned robot which is why the cache files and robot device id must be deleted.

4. Edit the file <Nimsoft Install>\robot\robot.cfg using a text editor.

5. Ensure that "robotip" and "robotname" are set to a blank value.

IMPORTANT!!!

Examine the niscache files in this case and you will see that the niscache files and .robot_device_id have an old/outdated timestamp.
Therefore, cleaning the niscache is absolutely critical when cloning robots of old data and moreover, the OLD .robot_device_id must be removed/cleaned. Then you may create the image/clones and deploy as needed.
Please note that on both OS environments, the services are not started back up prior to creating the image as they will recreate the cache files that were just deleted.
Once the robot service is restarted on the target system, it will automatically generate a new device ID for itself and repopulate the niscache folder with metric files appropriate for that system.

Additional Information

If after the new vm is created a system change is made, e.g., to the IP address or hostname that would invalidate the magic_key which requires clicking Security -> Validate All, then in addition to the above the Nimsoft Robot Watcher service can be set for a Startup Type of manual.
Then after the system change is made, the service can be started and Startup Type can be set to Automatic.