Connector Integrations › Connector Integration Example Scenarios › Generic Connector Integration

Generic Connector Integration

Generic data collection connectors can dynamically collect data from various generic sources. They process and convert the data to the USM format using a connector policy and dispatch it to the consuming product. However, unlike product-specific connectors, generic connectors do not include any product-specific policy. One fixed default policy for the generic connector is not possible, because the type and format of the received information varies from one domain manager to another. Therefore, for Level 2 integrations using a generic connector, you must customize a template policy file so that the policy appropriately processes data from the data source and displays meaningful information in CA SOI.

The CA Catalyst connector for SNMP is a good example of Level 2 integration. This SNMP connector acts as an SNMP trap destination for any product that supports SNMP, which helps ensure that you get access to the SNMP trap data from a wide range of products. The ability to collect, transform, analyze, and manage SNMP trap data in CA SOI lets you determine trends and take appropriate measures for SNMP-capable devices in your enterprise. For example, you can analyze an SNMP trap in CA SOI to identify the root cause of the trap. You can determine whether the trap is because of an extraordinary event (indicating an issue or an error has occurred) or a confirmed event providing status information, such as a process ending normally or a printer coming online. Based on your analysis, you can take corrective actions to fine-tune or rectify the situation.

While developing a generic connector (Level 2) integration, consider the following:

• You can monitor additions and modifications to events (such as SNMP traps) coming from a domain manager by using a generic connector.
• For each new entity that generates an event, the first event is considered as a CI and an alert, and any subsequent event from the same source is considered only as an alert.
• You cannot subscribe for changes to collected domain manager data using a generic connector.
• You cannot support importing of service representations, advanced features (such as metrics and custom operations), and inbound-to-connector operations using a generic connector.
• You can map object types of the integrating domain manager as appropriate. For example, in case of the SNMP connector, any CA Workload Automation job scheduled on the specific agent host is a CI and is mapped to the USM type ITActivity.
• You must write a policy specific to the integrating domain manager.
• You must formulate, understand, and follow the event mapping guidelines for writing the policy. For example, in case of the SNMP connector, all system-level traps from an SNMP product are mapped to the ComputerSystem USM type; similarly, all CPU-related traps are mapped to the Processor USM type, and so on.

  Note: For more information about how to download the connector and accompanying documentation, see the Download Connectors and Prepare for Installation section.

Note: In those scenarios where both the connectors—generic connector and the Event connector—are applicable, we recommend that you use the generic connector.