Process Scheduler Test

How often should the test be executed

The host for which the test is to be configured.

The port number at which the specified host listens to.

Defining a schedule for a process enables administrators to track whether the process is running/not running on the target host at specified time duration. For this purpose, administrators can click on the icon against the Define Process/Schedule parameter. This will invoke the PROCESS/SCHEDULE CONFIGURATION window using which administrators can configure up and/or down hours for the chosen process. To know how to schedule up and down hours, refer to Scheduling Up/Down Hours for the Processes .

This parameter is valid on Solaris, Windows, and Linux systems only.

On Solaris systems (before v11), if the value of the Wide parameter is Yes, the eG agent will use usr/ucb/ps instead of /usr/bin/ps to search for processes executing on the host. In Solaris 11, the eG agent uses the /usr/bin/ps auxwww command to perform the process search. The /usr/ucb/ps and the /usr/bin/ps auxwww commands provide a long output (> 80 characters), whereas /usr/bin/ps only outputs the first 80 characters of the process path and its arguments. However, some Solaris systems are configured with tightened security, which prevents the usr/ucb/ps and/or the /usr/bin/ps auxwwwcommand to be executed by any and every user to the system - in other words, only pre-designated users will be allowed to execute this command. The sudo (superuser do) utility (see http://www.gratisoft.us/sudo/) can be used to allow designated users to execute this command. If your system uses sudo to restrict access to the commands that return a long output, then set wide to Yes and then specify the value sudo for the keonizedservercmd parameter. This will ensure that not only does the agent use the /usr/ucb/ps and/or the /usr/bin/ps auxwww command (as the case may be) to monitor processes (like it would do if the wide parameter were set to be Yes), but it would also use sudo to execute this command.

Note:

If this test on Solaris 11 fails, then do the following:

• Check whether the Wide parameter is set to Yes.

• If so, then make sure that the keonizedservercmd parameter is set to sudo.

• If the test still fails, then look for the following error in the error_log file (that resides in the /opt/egurkha/agent/logs directory) on the eG agent host:

  ERROR ProcessTest: ProcessTest failed to execute [sudo: pam_authenticate: Conversation failure]

• The aforesaid error occurs if the sudo command prompts for a password at runtime. If you find such an error in the error_log file, then, open the sudoers file on the target host and append an entry of the following format to it:

  Defaults:<eG_Install_Username> !authenticate

  For instance, if eguser is the eG install user, then your entry will be: Defaults:eguser !authenticate

  This entry will make sure that you are no longer prompted for a password.

• Save the file and restart the eG agent.

On Windows environments, by default, the eG agent uses perfmon to search for the processes that match the configured patterns. Accordingly, the Wide parameter is set to No by default. Typically, a process definition in Windows includes the full path to the process, the process name, and process arguments (if any). Perfmon however scans the system only for process names that match the configured patterns – in other words, the process path and arguments are ignored by perfmon. This implies that if multiple processes on a Windows host have the same name as specified against processpattern, then perfmon will only be able to report the overall resource usage across all these processes; it will not provide any pointers to the exact process that is eroding the host’s resources. To understand this better, consider the following example. Typically, Windows represents any Java application executing on it as java.exe. Say, two Java applications are executing on a Windows host, but from different locations.

If java.exe has been configured for monitoring, then by default, perfmon will report the availability and average resource usage of both the Java applications executing on the host. If say, one Java application goes down, then perfmon will not be able to indicate accurately which of the two Java applications is currently inaccessible. Therefore, to enable administrators to easily differentiate between processes with the same name, and to accurately determine which process is unavailable or resource-hungry, the eG agent should be configured to perform its process searches based on the process path and/or process arguments, and not just on the process name – in other words, the eG agent should be configured not to use perfmon.

To achieve this, first, set the Wide parameter to Yes. This will instruct the eG agent to not use perfmon to search for the configured process patterns. Once this is done, then, you can proceed to configure a processpattern that includes the process arguments and/or the process path, in addition to the process name. For instance, if both the Remote Access Connection Manager service and the Terminal Services service on a Windows host, which share the same name – svchost - are to be monitored as two different processes, then your processpattern specification should be as follows:

Terminal:C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost -k DcomLaunch,Remote:C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

You can also use wildcard characters, wherever required. For instance, in the above case, your processpattern can also be: Terminal:*svchost -k DcomLaunch,Remote:*svchost.exe -k netsvcs

Similarly, to distinctly monitor two processes having the same name, but operating from different locations, your specification can be: JavaC:c:\javaapp\java.exe,JavaD:d:\app\java.exe

Note:

• Before including process paths and/or arguments in your processpattern configuration, make sure that the Wide parameter is set to Yes. If not, the test will not work.

• If your processpattern configuration includes a process path that refers to the Program Files directory, then make sure that you do not a include a ~ (tilde) while specifying this directory name. For instance, your processpattern specification should not be say, Adobe:C:\Progra~1\Adobe\AcroRd32.exe.

By default, this parameter has a value "none"; this means that the test monitors all processes that match the configured patterns, regardless of the user executing them. If you want the test to monitor the processes for specific users alone, then, on Unix platforms, specify a comma-separated list of users to be monitored in the User text box. For instance: john,elvis,sydney.

While monitoring Windows hosts on the other hand, your user configuration should be a comma-separated list of "domain name-user name" pairs, where every pair is expressed in the following format: Domainname\Username. For example, to monitor the processes of user john and elviswho belong to domain mas, your user specification should be: mas\john,mas\elvis. Also, on a Windows host, you will find system processes running on the following user accounts: SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, and NETWORK SERVICE. While configuring these user accounts, make sure the Domainame is always NT AUTHORITY. In this case therefore, your user specification will be: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM,NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE,NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE.

If multiple processes are configured for monitoring and multiple users are also configured, then the test will check whether the first process is run by the first user, the second process by the second user, and so on. For instance, if the processes configured are java:java.exe,apache:*httpd* and the users configured are john,elvis, then the test will check whether user john is running the process java, and user elvis is running the process apache. Similarly, if multiple processes are configured, but a single user alone is configured, then the test will check whether the specified user runs each of the configured processes. However, if you want to check whether a single process, say java.exe, is run by multiple users - say, james and jane - then, you have to do the following:

• Your user specification should be: james,jane (if the target host is a Unix host), or <Domainname>\james,<Domainname>\jane (if the target host is a Windows host)

• Your process configuration should be: Process1:java.exe,Process2:java.exe. The number of processes in this case should match the number of users.

• Such a configuration will ensure that the test checks for the java.exe process for both the users, james and jane.

This parameter is applicable to Unix environments alone. By default, this parameter is set to Yes, indicating that the test will monitor the process names/patterns configured against the process parameter in a case-insensitive manner. In other words, the test will report the count and resource usage of all processes that match the configured process name/pattern, even if their cases do not match. For instance, if the process parameter is configured with Apache:*apache*, then the test will monitor the process named apache and the one named APACHE by default. If you, on the other hand, want process monitoring to be performed in a case-sensitive manner, then set this flag to No.

Increased uptime and lower mean time to repair are critical to ensuring that IT infrastructures deliver a high quality of service to users. Towards this end, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional auto-correction capability that enables eG agents to automatically correct problems in the environment, as soon as they occur. With this capability, as and when an abnormal situation is detected, an eG agent can initiate corrective actions automatically to resolve the problem. Automatic correction without the need for manual intervention by IT operations staff reduces service downtime and improves operational efficiency. By default, the auto-correction capability is available in the eG Enterprise for the Processes running measure. The eG Enterprise includes a default auto-correction script.

When a process that has been configured for monitoring stops, this script automatically executes and starts the process. To enable the auto-correction capability for the Processes test, first, select the TRUE option against the CORRECT parameter in this page (by default, FALSE will be selected here).

If the value chosen is Yes, then the server under consideration is a passive server in a cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the server is not up.