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Managing Agents in Groups

You can create a group that contains two or more agents.

You can then apply configuration changes at the group level, instead of making the same changes to each agent individually.

Note: An agent cannot belong to more than one group.

An agent that does not belong to a group is referred to as a stand-alone agent.

The following XML shows the general format of a rules.xml file that has a group. The group element contains the properties for the group. The agent element contains the properties for an agent. If the agent is part of a group, then the agent element appears within the group element. The broker element contains the properties for the broker. The console element contains the properties for the consoles.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rules>
   <group name="G1">
      ...
      <agent name="G1A1">
         ...
      </agent>
   </group>
   <agent guid="0" name="A1"> 
      ...
   </agent>
   <broker>
      ...
   </broker>
   <console>
      ...
   </console>
</rules>

If an agent element within a group element has one or more properties, the properties override the group settings.

Do not place the broker element or the console element inside the group element.

When you update an agent property from the DevTest Portal, the setting is saved to the stand-alone agent section of the rules.xml file.

Note: For detailed information about the DevTest Portal, see Using CA Continuous Application Insight.

Example: Configure One Group in rules.xml File

The following XML shows a rules.xml file that has one group. The group has three agents. This file also has a stand-alone agent.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rules>
   <group name="group1">
      <property key="lisa.agent.jms.poll.int" value="5000"/>
      <property key="lisa.agent.transaction.auto.start.max.delay" value="60000"/>
      <property key="lisa.agent.virtualize.jit.enabled" value="false"/>
      <intercept class="com.itko.examples.entity.Account" method="setName" signature="(Ljava/lang/String;)V"/>
      <agent name="agent1" guid="1234567">
         <property key="lisa.agent.stats.alarm.threshold.permgen" value="90"/>
         <property key="lisa.agent.stats.sampling.interval" value="1000"/>
      </agent>
      <agent name="agent2" guid="2345678" />
      <agent name="agent3" guid="3456789" />
   </group>
   <agent guid="-2032180703" name="DEFAULT">
      ...
   </agent>
   <broker>
      ...
   </broker>
   <console>
      ...
   </console>
</rules>