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Create Management Profiles

You can create a Management Profile to automate and configure how service and server discovery operations perform their search, and how they respond to the objects they locate.

To create a Management Profile

  1. Click the Management link, then either the Services or Servers tab.

    The Services or Servers tab page appears.

  2. Click the Management Profiles link (below the main tabs).

    The existing profiles appear in the Management Profiles table.

  3. Click Table Actions, then select Create Management Profiles.

    The Profile page of the Create Management Profile wizard appears.

  4. Enter the following information in the corresponding field:
    Name

    Specifies the name of the Management Profile.

    Description

    Describes the Management Profile.

    Default

    Specifies whether this Management Profile is assigned to newly discovered servers or services when they are placed in the managed mode. When the check box is empty, the profile is not designated as the default.

    Enabled

    Specifies whether this Management Profile is available to be assigned, assigned to a Network Profile. or set as the default profile. When the check box is empty, the profile is not enabled.

    Enable Catalyst Integration

    Specifies whether CA Configuration Automation exports configuration items (CIs) to Catalyst and other consuming products using the CCA connector.

    Attributes Profile

    Specifies the Catalyst Attributes Profile to use when the Catalyst Integration is enabled. The options are Use Default, All Catalyst Attributes, and the user-defined profiles stored in the Catalyst Attributes Profiles table.

  5. Click Next.

    The Blueprints page appears.

    Note: The top of the Blueprint page contains links to Blueprints Groups and Categories pages. You can specify any combination of Blueprints, Blueprint Groups, and Categories to use in the discovery operations managed by this profile.

  6. Do one of the following:

    As an alternative to double-clicking blueprints to move them, click a blueprint and then click the single left- or right-facing arrow button to move the blueprint to an adjacent column. Click the double left- or right-facing arrow button to move all blueprints to an adjacent column.

    The selected blueprints are moved into the Discovery or Manage columns, and used by the profile for discovery and management operations.

    Note:

  7. (Optional) Click the Blueprint Groups above the check boxes and repeat step 6, but this time specify the blueprint groups you want to include in discovery and management operations.

    The selected blueprint groups are moved into the Discovery or Manage columns, and used by the profile for discovery and management operations.

  8. (Optional) Click the Categories link above the check boxes and repeat step 6, but this time specify the categories you want to include in discovery and management operations.

    The selected categories are moved into the Discovery or Manage columns, and used by the profile for discovery and management operations.

  9. Click Next.

    The Discovery Options page appears.

  10. Select the following discovery options or enter the appropriate information in the corresponding field:
    Collect Hardware Information

    Specifies whether information about the physical host computer is discovered and managed in CA Configuration Automation.

    Collect Networking Information

    Specifies whether information about the network is discovered and managed in CA Configuration Automation.

    Collect Storage Information

    Specifies whether information about storage devices, storage managers, and their relationships are discovered and managed in CA Configuration Automation.

    Collect Server Information

    Specifies whether information about servers is discovered and managed in CA Configuration Automation. The Server Properties returned by NDG discovery operations are stored on the following pages linked from the Servers tab page:

    • Server Details
    • Virtualization
    • Network Adapters
    • Hardware
    • Applications
    • Services/Daemons
    • Open Ports
    • Relationships

    The Server Properties component is created and updated under the following scenarios for server's with a state of Managed:

    • Servers discovered or updated during network discovery (NDG)
    • Discovery or refresh initiated by a Management Profile (either scheduled, manual, or using the SDK)
    Search the Registry

    Specifies whether discovery operations associated with this profile search the Windows Registry.

    Follow Symbolic Links

    Specifies whether discovery operations associated with this profile search networks and file systems connected with a symbolic link.

    Include Network Drives

    Specifies whether discovery operations associated with this profile search network drives on Windows computers. If you select this option, you must also complete the following steps:

    1. Log on to the CA Configuration Automation Agent host computer as a user with administrator privileges for the host.
    2. Stop the agent service if it is running.
    3. Edit the agent.conf file to disable the restart property as follows:
         #restart every # calls
         #restart=1000
      
    4. Open the command prompt and change to the CCA Agent installation directory.
    5. Run the agent using the following command:
         CCagent.exe -p agent.conf
      
    6. Run the Management Profile on the Agent host to discover components on the network drives.
    Agent Priority

    Specifies the priority given to the CA Configuration Automation Agent during discovery operations associated with this profile. As the CA Configuration Automation Agent searches the server file system for matches, it can impact the performance of other file system operations on the target server. To control the impact, you can set the priority to one of five following levels:

    • Highest (fastest)—The CA Configuration Automation Agent is unrestricted. Generally, this priority has a brief, but typically acceptable impact on the target server activity and can be used in most circumstances. This is the default setting.
    • High, Medium, Low—Each lower priority reduces the impact on file system activity by approximately 20%.
    • Lowest (slowest)—The search yields to other processes. This results in a discovery with almost no impact on existing file system activity, but discoveries take substantially longer to complete.
    Discovery Time Limit

    Specifies the amount of time before the discovery is terminated. Most discovery operations take only a few minutes, however when searching large file systems, the duration of the search can become long, particularly if the Agent Priority is set to its lowest value. If a search exceeds the limit, the discovery ends—there is no such thing as a partial discovery.

    Default Search Root

    Specifies the directory to begin the search for profiles that are used on a combination of Windows and UNIX or Linux computers (or if the profile is only used on Linux and UNIX computers).

    Windows Search Root

    Specifies the folder to begin the search for profiles that are used only on Windows computers.

    File Search Depth

    Specifies the number of directory levels below the search root that you want to search. If you leave this blank, all directories under the search root are searched.

    Enable Pruning

    Specifies whether the Server Software Inventory Pruning Mode is enabled. If the check box is marked, pruning is enabled, and missing software components are removed from the inventory. If you disable this feature, all discovered software remains in the inventory regardless of whether future discovery operations find it or not. Clearing the check box effectively turns the inventory into a history of software on the server.

    Pruning Mode

    Specifies which of the following modes is used to process missing software components:

    • Mark missing components, but keep in inventory—Discovery operations that fail to verify the existence of previously inventoried software components mark those components as missing, but retain them in the inventory.
    • Delete missing components from inventory—Components that are no longer verified by discovery are removed from the server’s inventory. Note that components that are part of a managed service are not removed even if this option is selected.
    Perform discovery on servers

    Specifies to run a discovery operation on the servers to which the profile is assigned.

    Use discovered components from CCA database

    Specifies to search for service components that have been previously discovered and are already stored in CA Configuration Automation.

  11. Click Next.

    The Management Options page appears and displays the Change Detection and Compare management options.

    Note: The top of the Management Options page also contains links to Rule Compliance, Snapshots, and Filters pages.

  12. Select the following Change Detection and Compare options:
    Component Inventory Differences Only

    Specifies whether change detection or compare operations only return results for components already being managed.

    No children comparison if a hierarchical object exists on source or target only

    Specifies whether the comparison operation is performed on the child components if the object only exists in one of the services or servers. When this option is selected, the operation ignores an object if it is not part of both services or servers.

    Current data with

    Specifies that the change detection operation searches for changes between the current data and one or more of the following snapshots:

    • Most Recent Snapshot
    • Baseline
    • Gold Standard
    • Silver Standard
    • Bronze Standard
    Compare to Another Server

    Specifies whether the comparison is made with another server. When checked, you must specify the server or snapshot with which to compare.

    Compare to Another Service

    Specifies whether the comparison is made with another service. When checked, you must specify the service or snapshot with which to compare.

    Change Detection Adhoc

    Specifies that when the management profile is run manually, an alert is sent over the CCA Catalyst Connector to a consuming CA product (for example, CA Spectrum Service Assurance).

    This field is hidden unless the sdk.events.enabled property is set to true as described in View and Edit CA Configuration Automation Properties.

    Change Detection Scheduled

    Specifies that when the management profile is run as a scheduled job, an alert is sent over the CCA Catalyst Connector to a consuming CA product (for example, CA Spectrum Service Assurance).

    This field is hidden unless the sdk.events.enabled property is set to true as described in View and Edit CA Configuration Automation Properties.

    The selected options are included in the profile.

  13. Click the Rule Compliance link above the check boxes.

    The Rule Compliance page appears.

  14. Select the following rule compliance options:
    Run Rule Compliance

    Specifies whether the rule compliance operation is performed when this profile is run.

    Rule Severity

    Specifies the severity level of messages you want rule compliance to report. Rule compliance returns all messages for the level you specify and above (for example, if you want to see Error and Critical messages, select Error; if you want to see all messages, select Information).

    Remediation

    Specifies whether violations located by the rule compliance operation are reset on the target service or server. The Remediation options are as follows:

    • None—Specifies that no remediation action is performed after the rule compliance operation.
    • Rule Value—Specifies that the value that violated the rule is reset to the value defined in the rule.
    • Default Value From Blueprint—Specifies that the value that violated the rule is reset to the default values from the software component's Blueprint.
    Default Value Rules

    Verifies current service or snapshot values against specified default values.

    When default values are specified in a Blueprint, CA Configuration Automation automatically creates rules that check to see if the actual value deviates from the default value. Default rule deviations show as Information messages in the results.

    Data Type Rules

    Verifies current service or snapshot values against specified values for the corresponding data type.

    Rule Category

    Specifies that explicit rules from one or both of the following categories are used for the rule compliance operation:

    Blueprint Rules

    Verifies current service or snapshot values against constraint rules defined in Blueprints.

    Includes both user-defined rules and built-in rules, such as data type checking.

    Instance Rules

    Verifies current service or snapshot values against constraint rules defined in the service and Blueprints.

    Rule Groups

    Specifies the rules defined in rule groups are used for the rule compliance operation. Click the Select Rule Groups option and double click the rule group you want to use in the Available Rule Groups column to move it to the Selected Rule Groups column.

    Rule Compliance Adhoc

    Specifies that when the management profile is run manually, an alert is sent over the CCA Catalyst Connector to a consuming CA product (for example, CA Spectrum Service Assurance).

    This field is hidden unless the sdk.events.enabled property is set to true as described in View and Edit CA Configuration Automation Properties.

    Rule Compliance Scheduled

    Specifies that when the management profile is run as a scheduled job, an alert is sent over the CCA Catalyst Connector to a consuming CA product (for example, CA Spectrum Service Assurance).

    This field is hidden unless the sdk.events.enabled property is set to true as described in View and Edit CA Configuration Automation Properties.

    The selected options are included in the profile.

  15. Click the Snapshots link above the check box.

    The Snapshots page appears.

  16. Click the Create Snapshot check box if you want this profile to create a service or server snapshot when run.

    If you select this option, the following fields are activated:

    Maximum Count

    Specifies a limit to the number of snapshots that are stored in CA Configuration Automation. When selected, the counter can be set to the desired number.

    Maximum Age

    Specifies a limit to the age of snapshots that are stored in CA Configuration Automation. When selected, the counters can be set to the desired number of days, weeks, or months.

    Note: If you select the Create Snapshot option, and do not select either the Maximum Count or Maximum Age options, an unlimited number of snapshots are stored in CA Configuration Automation until they are manually deleted.

    The selected options are included in the profile.

  17. Click the Filters link above the check box.

    The Filters page appears.

  18. Accept the default setting (All) in the Folders, Categories, and Weights areas, or click Select in one or more area, and select the options you want included in the profile (use Ctrl+click or Shift+click to select multiple options).

    The selected options are included in the profile.

  19. Click Next.

    The Scheduling page appears and displays the Discovery tab by default.

  20. Click the Run Management After Discovery check box if you want the management operation associated with this profile to run on the same schedule as the discovery operation, when the discovery operation completes.

    If you select this option you do not need to define a schedule for the management operation.

  21. Define the schedule for automatically running discovery operations using this profile by selecting one of the following from the Frequency drop-down list:
    Not Scheduled

    Specifies that the profile does not run automatically. It can be run manually or scheduled in the future.

    Once

    Specifies that the profile is run automatically one time. If you select this option, you also need to specify when it is run in the Time field.

    Minutes

    Specifies that the profile is run on a recurring basis using at an interval defined in minutes. If you select this option, you also need to specify the following:

    • Start Time—Specify the time the profile starts to run. Start time is always on the hour (for example, 10:00:00PM, 8:00:00AM, and so on).
    • Begin Date—Specify the date the profile is first run.
    • End Date—Specify the date the profile is run for the last time.
    • Recur every # minutes—Specify the interval at which the profile runs.

    For example, if you want the profile to run every 10 minutes starting at 11:00 p.m., you would specify a Start Time of 11:00:00PM, and specify Recur every 10 minutes. The profile would run at 11:00 p.m., 11:10 p.m., 11:20 p.m., 11:30 p.m., and so on until the end of the hour (midnight in this example). If the current profile has not finished running by the time the next interval occurs, the next run waits until the previous one completes, and then starts.

    Hourly

    Specifies that the profile is run on a recurring basis using at an interval defined in hours. If you select this option, you also need to specify the following:

    • Start Time—Specify the time the profile starts to run. Start time is always on the hour (for example, 10:00:00PM, 8:00:00AM, and so on).
    • Begin Date—Specify the date the profile is first run.
    • End Date—Specify the date the profile is run for the last time.
    • Recur every # hours—Specify the interval at which the profile runs.

    For example, if you want the profile to run every four hours throughout the day starting at 11:00 p.m., you would specify a Start Time of 11:00:00PM, and specify Recur every 4 hours. The profile would run at 11:00 p.m., 3:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.. If the current profile has not finished running by the time the next interval occurs, the next run will wait until the previous one completes, and then start. Also note that if the Start Time has already passed in the current day, the profile runs immediately, then resumes the recurring schedule you specify.

    Daily

    Specifies that the profile is run on a recurring basis using at an interval defined in days. If you select this option, you also need to specify the following:

    • Start Time—Specify the time the profile starts to run. Start time is always on the hour (for example, 10:00:00PM, 8:00:00AM, and so on).
    • Begin Date—Specify the date the profile is first run.
    • End Date—Specify the date the profile is run for the last time.
    • Recur every # days—Specify the interval at which the profile runs.
    Weekly

    Specifies that the profile is run on a recurring basis using at an interval defined in weeks. If you select this option, you also need to specify the following:

    • Start Time—Specify the time the profile starts to run. Start time is always on the hour (for example, 10:00:00PM, 8:00:00AM, and so on).
    • Begin Date—Specify the date the profile is first run.
    • End Date—Specify the date the profile is run for the last time.
    • Recur every # weeks—Specify the interval at which the profile runs.
    Monthly

    Specifies that the profile is run on a recurring basis using at an interval defined in months. If you select this option, you also need to specify the following:

    • Start Time—Specify the time the profile starts to run.
    • Begin Date—Specify the date the profile is first run.
    • End Date—Specify the date the profile is run for the last time.
    • Recur every # months—Specify the interval at which the profile runs.
  22. Define the notification that is sent when the profile is run in the following fields:
    Notification Profile

    Specifies the notification profile to use when discovery operations using this profile are run as scheduled. For information about creating notification profiles, see Create Notification Profiles.

    Subject

    Specifies the subject line of the email message that is sent by the selected notification profile.

    The schedule for discovery operations associated with this profile is defined.

  23. Click the Management tab.

    The Management page appears.

  24. Repeat step 21, but this time define the schedule for the management operations associated with this profile.
  25. Click Finish.

    The management profile is created and appears in the Management Profiles table.