developerWorks : Autonomic computing : Technical library

Extending the Simplified Policy Language with custom expressions

Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

SPL has a wide set of useful expressions designed to satisfy the need to express a wide variety of conditional statements as well as a macro feature that helps reduce the buildup of complex expressions. However, even this large collection of expressions may not be sufficient to address the end user's requirements. The end user can easily extend SPL by introducing custom expressions. In this article, learn how to extend SPL with custom expressions through a simple example.

Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD), Part 1: An emerging standard for deployment artifacts

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

The Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD) is an emerging standard for a set of XML documents that define deployment metadata about deployment artifacts and the aggregation of deployment artifacts. Externalizing deployment knowledge that has been more commonly buried in code or documentation provides multiple benefits. Consumers of SDDs, including humans and software, can use the knowledge provided about both the requirements for and results of successful deployment to better plan for and execute successful changes to their software environments. This article describes the SDD and provides a high-level overview of the support provided.

Autonomic computing in Canadian academia, Part 1

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

As IBM grows and develops autonomic technologies, the autonomic computing initiative relies heavily on research and development to present innovative ideas, improve existing technologies, and prototype in the most rapidly expanding development areas. In this article, take a look at two autonomic computing academic projects that are bringing new developments to IBM. The first project looks at converting legacy code to source code that is autonomic-ready, while the second project focuses on new methods for identifying problems in large-scale applications. For each project, you will understand the current research direction and then explore the project in detail. Finally, you will see how each project contributes to the Monitoring-Analysis-Planning-Execution (MAPE) loop design model and what future research directions are planned.

The autonomic computing edge: Can you CHOP up autonomic computing?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

The autonomic computing architecture provides a foundation on which self-managing information technology systems can be built. Self-managing autonomic systems exhibit the characteristics of self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing, and self-protecting; these characteristics are sometimes described with the acronym CHOP. This article discusses the self-CHOP attributes and, in particular, explains why they are not independent of each other and how self-managing autonomic systems can integrate the CHOP functions.

Getting started with Simplified Policy Language (SPL)

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Get an introduction and overview of policy systems. Using the Apache Imperius as an example, this article describes the SPL language and evaluation engine and shows you how to install the SPL environment, write an SPL policy, and execute that policy using the SPL engine. See how SPL can simplify mundane administrative tasks.

Managed Agent Explorer, Part 2: Advanced features

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

Explore how you can use the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) standard and the Managed Agent Explorer (MAX) together to create an endpoint and monitor a system in the network using the created endpoint. This article demonstrates how to use a set of WSDM endpoints that helps monitor a computer and its major components to show the various advanced features of the MAX.

Understanding the advantages of DB2 9 autonomic computing features

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EST

The self tuning memory manager (STMM) is a revolutionary memory tuning feature that was first introduced in IBM DB2 9. The STMM eases the task of memory configuration by automatically setting optimal values for most memory configuration parameters, including buffer pools, package cache, locking memory, sort heap, and total database shared memory. When STMM is enabled, the memory tuner dynamically distributes the available memory among the various memory consumers. This article explains the function of the STMM, teaches you to enable the feature, and also discusses how STMM can bring real benefits to your business environment.

Enable the WSDM Event Format using the Generic Log Adapter

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EST

Get the details of the mapping between Common Base Events and the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) Event Format (WEF). This mapping helps when you already have adopted the Common Base Event format, but want to transform native log events further into WEF events. Then, learn how to turn a Common Base Event adapter into a WEF adapter.

Automate data collection for problem determination, Part 6: The IBM Support Assistant Lite tool

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Discover a major extension to the IBM Support Assistant Lite tool: extended analysis. Explore how the extended analysis function works and work through a checklist on how to set up extended analysis for your collections.

Managed Agent Explorer, Part 1: Test and inspect your WSDM endpoints

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Get an introduction to the Managed Agent Explorer, a test tool to help with the development of your endpoint using the Eclipse TPTP tooling and a test and introspection tool for already deployed endpoints. This article explains how to automatically invoke the Managed Agent Explorer when building an endpoint in the tooling and also how to connect to a deployed endpoint. You learn how to use the various views in the Managed Agent Explorer and how to do basic operations such as setting properties and invoking operations.

Symptomatic event visualizer, Part 4: The Events Tool view of LTA-JD

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Get the most out of the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop (LTA-JD) using this four-part series as an overview, installation, and configuration usage guide. This series explains how your data can be more consumable from start to finish, as well as how to reduce your problem determination and maintenance costs. The series includes an installation/configuration/customization/usage/troubleshooting guide, performance-enhancing tips, integration and hands-on scenarios, and data on the IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1 Events Tool. This article, the series finale, explains how to run the LTA-JD from the IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1.

Symptomatic event visualizer, Part 3: A visual tour of the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

This four-part series is a comprehensive usage guide that gives you an overview of the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop, instructs you in the installation process and teaches you to configure the tool correctly. The series includes performance-enhancing tips, integration and hands-on scenarios, as well as data on the IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1 Events Tool. Discover how your data can be more consumable from start to finish and learn how to reduce your problem determination and maintenance costs. In part three, go on a visual tour of the technology (a screenshot is worth a thousand words), gain troubleshooting tips, and learn how to get the best performance out of the LTA-JD.

Autonomic computing tip: So you want SSL security on ISC

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides encryption, certificate-based authentication, and security negotiations, allowing you to bring data security over open communications channels to your Integrated Solutions Console (ISC). This is a quick checklist of step-by-step instructions on enabling SSL certificates on your ISC versions 5.1 and 6.0.1.

Symptomatic event visualizer: Meet the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EDT

This four-part series is a comprehensive usage guide that gives you an overview of the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop, instructs you in the installation process and teaches you to configure the tool correctly. The series includes performance-enhancing tips, integration and hands-on scenarios, as well as data on the IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1 Events Tool. Discover how your data can be more consumable from start to finish and learn how to reduce your problem determination and maintenance costs. In part two, get an overview of the LTA-JD, discover an installation and configuration guide for the tool, and view a table of the main functions of the tool.

Automatic table maintenance in DB2, Part 2: Automatic table and index reorganization in DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EDT

This article demonstrates how to enable and configure automatic reorganization, monitor automatic reorganization progress, and detect errors. It provides an overview of the automatic reorganization processing to help you understand how and when this automatic feature determines that reorganization of a table or index is required, and what type of reorganization will be performed. Finally, a set of reorg best practices is presented.

Designing manageable resources with Apache Muse

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Do you want to evolve from creating WSDM-compliant projects with Apache Muse to creating WSDM-optimized projects? Any new user can use Apache Muse to design the Web services interface for a manageable resource, generate the necessary Java code, and build a deployable artifact with little thought towards the underpinnings of the Apache Muse runtime. But if you are creating Web services to expose a large number of manageable resources or even just a single resource that is fairly complex, it pays to understand the core concepts behind the Muse programming model. Read this article, and the following tutorial, to discover the core concepts that will take you from creating WSDM-compliant projects with Muse to creating WSDM-optimized projects with Muse.

Craft custom query dialects with Apache Muse

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EDT

The Apache Muse project provides an implementation of WS-ResourceProperties (WSRP) that includes support for QueryResourceProperties and XPath queries. The project also has an API that allows you to add support for your own query languages. Learn how to add this support using just a little Java code. In addition, review all of the different filtering options available with the project and see how you can leverage them in your Muse-based Web-service endpoints.

Symptomatic event visualizer, Part 1: Challenges in data collection

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EDT

This four-part series is a comprehensive usage guide that gives you an overview of the Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop, instructs you in the installation process and teaches you to configure the tool correctly. The series includes performance-enhancing tips, integration and hands-on scenarios, as well as data on the IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1 Events Tool. Discover how your data can be more consumable from start to finish and learn how to reduce your problem determination and maintenance costs. In part one, identify the challenges in data collection and see how a common event format and a symptom repository help address those challenges.

Enabling WSDM Advertisement with Apache Muse

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EDT

One of the most powerful features of the WS-DistributedManagement (WSDM) standard is the Advertisement capability -- it defines a standard for notifications describing the life cycle of a manageable resource. When combined with WS-Notification (WSN), WSDM Advertisement can help solve one of the trickiest problems in a self-managing IT system -- how to "bootstrap" the system by alerting management clients to the manageable resources they should be monitoring. Today this configuration can be done with manual intervention and the hardcoding of resource information, but this does not make for a very adaptable system. In this article, the author will show how manageable resources that are implemented with Apache Muse can take advantage of its WSDM Advertisement features to make startup and discovery a more dynamic and flexible process.

Automatic table maintenance in DB2, Part 1: Automatic statistics collection in DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EDT

DB2's autonomic capabilities lighten the load of the DBA and enable you to maximize performance. This article demonstrates how to enable and configure automatic statistics collection, monitor automatic statistics collection progress, and detect errors. It also provides an overview of automatic statistics collection processing to help you understand how and when automatic statistics collection determines when to collect statistics on a table. This article is the first of a two-part series on autonomic table maintenance in DB2.

Three keys to enable a WSDM/Apache Muse metrics reporting system

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EDT

WS-DistributedManagement (WSDM) is an OASIS standard that defines Web service interfaces for the most fundamental parts of a manageable resource. Part of the WSDM specification is about metrics, or resource properties whose values are collected over a period of time; examples of Web service metrics might be the number of requests handled per minute, the amount of disk space consumed per day, or the percentage of transactions that failed due to server timeouts. This article explains three important tasks associated with using WSDM metrics -- deciding which of your resource properties should be metrics, leveraging Apache Muse to create metrics, and evaluating metric values from a Web service client.

Define, configure, and process topics for notification producers

Tue, 29 May 2007 12:00:00 EDT

WS-Notification (WSN) is an OASIS standard that describes, among other things, a system for categorizing the types of notifications that are emitted from a manageable resource. By grouping notifications into categories, the designer of a resource's Web service interface makes it much easier for clients to find the data they need while ignoring data that is irrelevant. The Apache Muse project contains an implementation of WS-Notification, including all of the topic data structures and processing logic described in the specification. This article reviews how to define and configure topics for your notification producers, as well as how to process topic-based notifications in your notification consumers.

Report Data Analyzer: Interpret EWLM performance data

Tue, 15 May 2007 12:00:00 EDT

As a workload manager (and not a capacity planning tool), the IBM Enterprise Workload Manager focuses on real-time data and, thus, only retains performance data covering the past 24 hours. There was a customer requirement, however, to have this data available for later analysis. And so, the Data Hardening plug-in was added. This plug-in allows on-the-fly dumping of performance data onto the file system. But, the dumped data can't be directly exploited: Enter EWLM Report Data Analyzer.

Optimal message processing with WS-Notification filters

Tue, 08 May 2007 12:00:00 EDT

WS-Notification (WSN) is an OASIS standard that describes a system for subscribing to and receiving notifications from a manageable resource; these notifications may reference changes in state, fatal errors, status updates, and more. The standard also describes a way of filtering notifications so that clients can specify a subset of a resource's notifications that they are truly interested in. The Apache Muse project contains an implementation of WS-Notification that includes all of the filtering options. This article reviews all of the different filtering options, the positives and negatives of each, and shows you how you can leverage them in your Muse-based Web service endpoints.

Core partners, Part 1: Build high-performance apps for multicore processors

Tue, 01 May 2007 12:00:00 EDT

The RapidMind Development Platform provides a simple single-source mechanism to develop portable high-performance applications for multicore processors. In particular, you can use it to develop applications that fully exploit the power of the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) processor's unique architecture by writing only one, single-threaded C++ program using an existing C++ compiler. In this article, author Michael McCool takes you on a guided tour of the RapidMind Development Platform.

SSL on ISC, Part 2: Configuring and enabling SSL on the Integrated Solutions Console 5.1/6.0.1

Tue, 01 May 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Achieve data security over open communications channels with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which provides encryption, certificate-based authentication, and security negotiations. In part one of this three-part series, you learned what SSL is and why you should implement it on your Integrated Solutions Console. In this article, learn step-by-step how to implement SSL on version 5.1 and 6.0.1 of the Integrated Solutions Console.

Autonomic computing tip: So you're building a WSDM interface

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:00:00 EDT

When you've built your Web Services Description Language (WSDL), this quick tip will remind you to how to map your interface to httpd-specific commands and settings using the Muse code-generation tool, WSDL2Java.

Enforce resource property semantics with metadata

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:00:00 EDT

The WS-ResourceProperties specification defines a standard for declaring strongly-typed properties as part of a Web service interface, but it does not say anything about permissions, validation, and other important topics. Fortunately, the WS-ResourceFramework authors have provided a new specification, WS-ResourceMetadata, that can help you deal with these issues in a standard way. The Apache Muse project provides implementations of both of these specs and lets you associate metadata with your resource properties with just a small XML file. This article describes how to use metadata to secure and validate your properties and how to test different metadata settings.

Log files in action: Convert z/OS logs in a snap

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Discover how to find z/OS log files and how to convert them to a format useful for autonomic computing components. Before log files can be used for such autonomic computing purposes as problem determination, they must be in a common language (such as the Common Base Event format). Not only can binary-format z/OS logs not be used by autonomic computing systems in their native state, they are often difficult to locate. This article explains how to find and convert z/OS logs to a text format, rendering them useful for autonomic computing components.

Muse and WEF eases event reporting

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:00:00 EDT

The Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) Event Format (WEF) is an OASIS standard that describes how to serialize events related to systems management in XML. The standard goes into detail about required values, optional values, and the semantics of both, but it offers no instruction for actually implementing the system. Fortunately, the Apache Muse project has an implementation of WEF that lets you create, send, and receive WEF events using a simple Java API. This article shows you how to handle these tasks from within an Apache Muse application.

Build a framework for problem determination triage

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EDT

So how do you set up "triage" problem determination? This article describes aspects of event visualization for triage problem determination that use concepts of autonomic computing -- such as Log and Trace Analyzer for Java Desktop (LTA-JD) -- and symptoms to represent, detect, evaluate, and resolve incidents and problems related to business mission-critical infrastructure management and operations. This two-part article also covers event and symptom visualization and processing methods of LTA-JD to enable efficient proactive avoidance of these incidents and problems. In this first part, you'll take a tour of the underlying concepts.

Autonomic computing tip: So you are building a WSDM interface

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EDT

When you're building a Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM)-compliant interface for a manageable resource with Apache Muse, these four simple steps will guide you in designing the necessary Web Services Description Language (WSDL).

SSL on ISC, Part 1: What is SSL and why should I care?

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Achieve data security over open communications channels with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which provides encryption, certificate-based authentication, and security negotiations. This article, part one of a three-part series, describes SSL and explains why you should implement it on your Integrated Solutions Console. In parts two and three, follow a step-by-step guide to learn how to implement SSL on the Integrated Solutions Console versions 5.1 and 6.0.1, respectively.

Meet the specs: WS-RT 1.0 operations, Part 3

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EST

Meet the WS-ResourceTransfer 1.0 initial draft specification, a proposed open standard that extends certain operations by allowing fragments of XML code in a single resource to be addressed instead of having to affect the entire resource. This article provides a closer look at how the WS-ResourceTransfer 1.0 specification handles faults.

Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway and ASP.NET authentication

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST

In this article we show you how to enable your ASP.NET applications for federated single sign-on utilizing the Tivoli Federated Identity Manager Business Gateway (FIM-BG) and the plug-in it provides for Microsoft Internet Information Server Version 6 (IIS). Your existing forms-based authentication mechanism can be expanded to include support for participating in a federated single sign-on using the SAML 1.0 or 1.1 protocols. Here, we take a sample ASP.NET application through the process of federated single sign-on enablement using FIM-BG and the plug-in for IIS.

LTA for multievent software problem analysis

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST

Explore a sample symptom catalog and related events that illustrate how the IBM Log and Trace Analyzer (LTA) can help you diagnose software problems when they span multiple systems. This article introduces the LTA and illuminates its problem determination features; discusses symptoms, symptom definitions, events, and the event-symptom relationship; and explains the complexities of multievent symptom management.

Meet the specs: WS-RT 1.0 operations, Part 2

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST

Solutions in action: The installation blues

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Get concise tips for solving challenges to using autonomic computing technologies. This installment focuses on installation challenges, including installation problems with the Generic Log Adapter and the Tivoli Change and Configuration Database on Windows servers and a problem getting the remote agent controller to run on z/OS.

High-availability configurations for local SASP-oriented load balancing

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Learn how to enable the Server/Application State Protocol (SASP) protocol to be used in local high-availability load-balancing environments that contain multiple load balancers and a single workload manager. This article explains local high-availability load-balancing environments and describes how existing SASP implementations can be applied. The article also provides an example of this environment using the IBM Enterprise Workload Manager (EWLM) and two Cisco Content Switching Modules (CSM).

Series title: You'll like this article

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Your article abstract goes here. Put the main points and key phrases at the beginning of the abstract, because it may be truncated in search results. Make your abstract enticing yet succinct. Aim for three to five sentences that express why the reader would care about the content (motive) and what he or she can gain from reading the content (benefits).

Solutions in action: Answers to four Integrated Solutions Console problems

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Get concise tips for solving challenges to using autonomic computing technologies. This installment focuses on the Integrated Solutions Console, including installation and implementation problems on Windows servers, when you experience difficulty setting up the Integrated Solutions Console to manage different machines (with a workaround), and if you have trouble achieving a clean uninstall of the console.

Configure automatic maintenance in DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows with SQL interface

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Configure DB2 automatic maintenance operations from either the command line or programmatically, using new stored procedures introduced in IBM DB2 9.5 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows. This article discusses different configuration options and provides examples.

Meet the experts: Cecilia Ekelin on developing an autonomic automotive architecture

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:00:00 EST

Volvo's Dr. Cecilia Ekelin discusses the DySCAS consortium project and its quest to construct an architecture dedicated to enabling automotive electronics to form autonomous, ad hoc networks.

Keep your WSDM endpoints trim with Apache Muse

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST

Learn how to use Apache Muse 2.0 to create WS-DistributedManagement (WSDM) interfaces for resource types that have hundreds or thousands of instances. First, this article shows how to create a WSDM interface to represent Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application resources (which can be quite numerous in any given application server). Second, it shows how to create a "factory" resource that in turn creates the Web application resources as they are installed on the server. Finally, you'll see how to minimize the footprint needed to support a large number of resources so the WSDM endpoint doesn't burden its host.

Solutions in action: Problems installing ISC 6.0

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST

Get concise tips for solving challenges to using autonomic computing technologies. See how version control can cause problems with installing the Integrated Solutions Console and how error log files can be your best friend.

Setting up Tivoli Directory Server replication using the command line

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:00:00 EST

The Web Administration tool that ships with the directory server is the easiest way to setup and manage your replication topology. In some situations administrators might need to set up replication using the command line Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) tools. This article is intended to help administrators to understand the basics of setting up Tivoli Directory Server (TDS) replication using the command line.

Meet the specs: WS-RT 1.0 operations, Part One

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:00:00 EST

Solutions in action: To slash or double backslash

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:00:00 EST

Get concise tips for solving challenges to using autonomic computing technologies. In this article, take a look at how the direction of a simple slash can slow down your work.

Automate data collection for problem determination, Part 5: Incremental analysis in the AutoPD Tool

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:00:00 EST

In this article, Part 5 of this series on using the Automated Problem Determination (AutoPD) tool, discover a new Incremental Analysis function that replaces the tool's original task. With this new function, the results of several independently specified analysis activities can be combined into a single analysis report, creating an additional flexibility that makes it possible for a script writer to reuse previous analysis targets as is, even if those targets were developed in isolation from each other.

Build a HAL 9000 with IBM autonomic computing technology

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:00:00 EST

In this article (which could have been titled "2006: An Autonomic Odyssey"), see how HAL 9000, the computer in the "2001: A Space Odyssey" movie, the smartest believable artificial intelligence so far in fiction, could predict equipment failure, answer personal questions, learn to sing "Bicycle built for Two," and go insane, based on IBM Build to Manage Toolkit components. By the end of this article, you'll see how autonomic computing can be implemented today; determine if there is such a thing as a Hofstadter-Moebius loop in programming; and discover if HAL stands for Heuristic ALgorithmic computer, Heuristic Autonomic Learner, or is simply the first three letters of a prankster holiday that occurs about this time of the year.