SevOne NMS 5.4 Quick Start Guide - WMI

Introduction

This document describes the best practices for SevOne NMS users to implement and manage the polling of Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data from your network.

WMI is the infrastructure for management data and operations on Windows operating systems. WMI supplies management data to other parts of the operating system and products. SevOne NMS monitors the Windows desktop units, Windows servers, SQL Server databases, and other WMI enabled systems in your implementation.

There are several steps to enable SevOne NMS to monitor WMI data.

A) Set up the WMI proxy server to communicate with SevOne NMS.

B) Set up your network's Windows devices to communicate with the WMI proxy server.

C) Set up the WMI plugin for each WMI device.

D) Enable WMI Object Types.

SevOne NMS – WMI Proxy – Windows Devices

In SevOne NMS, plugins are mechanisms that poll (collect, ask for, etc.) data from technologies. Plugins define a way to get data, usually via some protocol such as SNMP, ICMP, WMI, etc. Many plugins are automatically enabled when you add a device to SevOne NMS so you can poll applicable objects with minimal configuration. WMI requires device specific input.

Objects are discrete components of a device or a software component that have one or more performance indicators on which SevOne NMS can monitor, trend, and alert. SevOne NMS considers an element to be any performance object. Indicators are grouped by indicator types which in turn are grouped by object types.

• Object Types - Define logical things to ask for information about.

• Indicator Types - Define kinds of metrics that object types can have.

The WMI plugin detects and monitors the WMI indicators for the object types that you enable to be polled. When you enable the WMI plugin, SevOne NMS discovers the device and any objects for the WMI object types and indicator types you enable from the Object Types page.

Set Up WMI Proxy Servers

SevOne provides a Windows service for installation on the Windows device you designate to act as the proxy to perform WMI queries.

This chapter describes workflows outside of the SevOne NMS application and may not present all of the steps your network requires to enable devices to send WMI data. If the following instructions are not applicable for your network please reference the device manufacturer's documentation.

1. In SevOne NMS, click the Administration menu and select Cluster Manager to display the Cluster Manager. The default display is the cluster level.

2. At the cluster level select the Cluster Settings tab.

3. Select the WMI Proxies subtab.

4. Click the WMI Proxy – Download Installation Package link and save the file to the proxy device.

5. If the proxy device is not running the Microsoft .NET 3.5 framework, click the .NET 3.5 Framework – Download Installation Package link and save the file to the proxy device.

6. On the proxy device run the .NET 3.5 Framework setup.exe, if needed, and then run the WMI Proxy.msi to install the SevOne WMI Server service.

7. Click Start and select Control Panel.

8. Double-click Administrative Tools.

9. Double-click Component Services.

10. Double-click Services (Local).

11. Right-click on WMI Server and select Start.

12. On the WMI proxy device, ensure that the user account that SevOne NMS uses to access the proxy server is the local administrator.

13. In SevOne NMS, return to the WMI Proxies subtab on the Cluster Manager (Administration > Cluster Manager >Cluster Settings > WMI Proxies). You can also access the Cluster Manager from the WMI plugin on the Edit Device page.

14. Click Add WMI Proxy or click to display the Add/Edit WMI Proxy pop-up.

    

15. In the Name field, enter the name of the WMI proxy device.

16. In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of the WMI proxy device.

17. In the Port field, enter the port on the WMI proxy device for SevOne NMS to use to communicate with the WMI proxy (typically 3000).

18. Click Save to save the WMI proxy information in SevOne NMS.

19. Repeat these steps to create multiple WMI proxy servers.

20. Click Save on the Cluster Manager WMI Proxies subtab.

Enable Devices to Send WMI Data to WMI Proxy Device

This section describes how to enable WMI, allow remote administration, and enable the Windows device to communicate back to the WMI proxy on each Windows device from which you want to poll WMI data. WMI must establish a DCOM connection from Computer A (the SevOne NMS WMI proxy server) to Computer B (the remote computer). The following diagram shows this as Connection 1. To establish this connection, configure both the Windows Firewall and DCOM on Computer B. The configuration must be done locally on Computer B because Windows Firewall does not support remote configuration. Either execute NETSH commands to change the Group Policy settings or execute a script locally.

Computer A is the WMI Proxy Device for SevOne NMS to Poll
Computer B Represents Each of Your Network's Windows Devices

Enable WMI Plugin

The WMI plugin requires device specific configuration and is therefore disabled on new devices by default. The Device Manager provides access to the Edit Device page where you enable and configure the WMI plugin for each device.

Perform the following steps to enable the WMI plugin for each device from which to discover WMI objects and to poll WMI metrics.

1. From the navigation bar, click Devices and select Device Manager to display the Device Manager.

2. Click next to a device to display the Edit Device page.

3. In the plugin section (displays SNMP by default), click the drop-down and select WMI.

4. Select the WMI Capable check box to enable discovery of the WMI object types you enable and to poll WMI data on the device.

5. Click the Proxy drop-down and select the WMI proxy server from which to poll WMI data for the device. Click the WMI Proxies can be managed... link to display the Cluster Manager.

6. In the Username field, enter the user name the proxy needs to authenticate onto the device.

7. In the Password field, enter the password the proxy needs to authenticate onto the device.

8. In the Workgroup/Domain field, enter the workgroup or domain for the device.

9. Click the Authentication drop-down and select the authentication level to use to access the device. This is typically set to Default. You may need to experiment here and you may need to select an Advanced authentication method. (Settings that work in most environments are Default and Packet.)

10. Click the Impersonation drop-down and select the impersonation level to use to access the device. This is typically set to either Default or Impersonate.

11. Select the Use NTLM check box if your network uses the NT LAN Manager suite of Microsoft security protocols. Kerberos has replaced NTLM as the default authentication protocol in an Active Directory based single sign-on scheme. Leave clear if your network uses Kerberos.

12. Click Save.

Manage WMI Object Types and Indicator Types

The WMI plugin discovers the WMI object types on the devices you enable to send WMI data to SevOne NMS. WMI object types are disabled by default. The Object Rules page enables you to define rules to disable polling of objects and the Object Manager enables you to manage the objects on each device. The Object Types page enables you to manage WMI object types and indicator types.

To access the Object Types page from the navigation bar, click the Administration menu, select Monitoring Configuration, and then select Object Types.

Click the Filter drop-down and select WMI Poller to display the object types the WMI plugin can poll in the Object Types hierarchy on the left.