IBM Software Group IBM Support Assistant V 4

® IBM Software Group IBM Support Assistant V 4. 0 and the ITM 6. 2 Add. On Troubleshooting Tools Scott Wallace – Senior Support Engineer wallacsc@us. ibm. com © IBM Corporation

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Agenda : § Introduction to IBM Support Assistant (ISA) § Getting Started - some basics. § Activity based User Interface § Where do I find information? § Collecting and analyzing data § Managing cases and sharing data § Serviceability features in ITM 6. 2 FP 1 § More Information § Questions? § Demo § Backup Slides 2

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software What is IBM Support Assistant (ISA) ? An FREE application helping customers resolve questions and problems with IBM software products. § Value: meeting client’s need to simplify self assist. Q : Where can I find information I need from ibm. com? Q : How do I troubleshoot a product problem? Q : What logs and traces should I collect to investigate a product problem? Q : What tools can I use to look at my log and trace files? Q : How can I manage my service request with IBM? Q : How can IBM help my own support organization? Its FREE, and crosses ALL SWG Brands ! 3

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software ISA V 4 Basics Two parts to ISA core delivered: § http: //www. ibm. com/software/support/isa ISA Serviceability Workbench This is where the user does most of the interaction with ISA Focus of the presentation § ISA Agent/ Remote Agents. Code to be installed to enable remote data collection capabilities on target machine. Leverages Tivoli’s Common Agent Services (CAS) technology Optional 4

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Adding ITM and Tool Add-on’s for ISA V 4 Product specific contents: § Product add-on’s ITM has 2 Add-on’s – 6. 1 and 6. 2 Delivered by each SWG Brand Categorized by Brand, so you know where to look for the product. § Tool add-on’s Delivered by various IBM teams JVM and Configuration tools § Log Analyzer § Symptom Editor 5

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software “The new Face of ISA” - Activity based UI Find information & Analyze Problem: Basic activities when trouble-shooting a problem First Steps & Tutorials: Information to get you started. For you as a customer to get to service request… 6

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Finding information: Client facing docs… § What are the resources available for ITM? Select ITM from the dropdown menu to view information for ITM Basic product Information – including education, system requirements, forums and download sites NEW! Product RSS Feeds incorporated! Note direct link to Key product information 7

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Finding Information : Did it happen before ? § Do you know all the places where you can look for information ? The Basics: § IBM Support Docs (DCFs) § developer. Works § Newsgroups & Forums. § Google § Product Information Center Configure and save your common search settings under advanced search 8

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software What’s next ? Gathering information…. Data collectors enable consistent & automated way to gather information. There are three ways to leverage data collection Local data collection - on the same machine as ISA. § Useful if ISA is already installed NEW : Collect data remotely : leverage remote agent data collection. § Deploy collector code to remote machine § When collector finished, will automatically ftp the data back. § Useful if customer already installed ISA, and has agents configured. Easier! Collect data (local or remote) using a portable collector § Footprint : ~6 M. Can be distributed to client. § All you need is a JVM (1. 4 or higher). § Simple instructions generated with the collector 9

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Collecting trace data using ITM Did you know you can use ITM’s facilities to collect logs! § ITM 6. 2 provides a command line tool which collects logs, configuration files and other pertinent data for troubleshooting – pdcollect § The pdcollect tool runs on UNIX, Linux, z/OS and Windows § ITM 6. 2 ISA add-on utilizes the ITM tool pdcollect § You can also utilize tacmd to remotely collect data without having the ISA agents (tacmd pdcollect added in ITM 6. 2 FP 1) § Upload data to IBM using ISA 10

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software So I have the data. . ? Then ? There are some tools to help you analyze the data you’ve gathered. Tools now available for ITM: Log Analysis: § Log Analyzer. Interface to help browse and analyze log files. Allows easy correlation between logs produced by multiple ITM components. Symptom Catalogs: § Symptom Editor: Keeping track of symptoms and known issues has just gotten easier !! 11

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Tool : Log Analyzer § Diagnose cross-ITM problems Correlate logs from different components Build new log correlations Browse logs § Maps proprietary log formats into the Common Base Event format § Symptom Editor extends functionality 12

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Tool : Symptom Editor § Create symptoms Match log records to known resolution Utilize DCF tehcnotes § Maps log information to known solutions Can be downloaded from IBM Can create your own catalogs § Can be used locally or published to others 13

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Document, Manage your data and share …. Keep track & share of your work with Case Manager Cases are containers to store related troubleshooting artifacts Organize data with folders Add notes & description to a case. Export cases to share View what you may have sent to IBM Support ! 14

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Serviceability features in ITM 6. 2 FP 1 § Versioning from single command line – provides more information about the installation including – install Date, Build Level, and clarification of the Version string to make the Fixpack and Ifix levels clear (cinfo/kincinfo –t) § Ops. Log – customer consumable message logs § Self monitoring for Warehouse Proxy Agent – visualization of WPA operation § Self monitoring of Summarization and Pruning Agent – visualization of SPA operation § Remotely invoke pdcollect – command for remote problem determination data collection (tacmd pdcollect) § Command line for maintenance mode – stops/starts all situations on an agent for maintenance (tacmd maintagent ) 15

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Two things to walk away with. . § ISA - can help you with problem resolution! § ITM – is providing features to help service itself! 16

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software More Information… § ISA Home http: //www. ibm. com/software/support/isa/ § ISA IEA modules http: //publib. boulder. ibm. com/infocenter/ieduasst/v 1 r 1 m 0/topic/com. i bm. iea. isa/plugin_coverpage. html § IBM Support Assistant Demo sessions http: //www. ibm. com/software/support/isa/demo. html § ITMSUPER Tool http: //www 01. ibm. com/software/brandcatalog/portal/opal/details? catalog. label= 1 TW 10 TM 6 L 17

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Questions ? 18

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software § DEMO 19

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Backup Slides § System Requirements & Supported Platforms § First Steps: Tutorial & Migration § IGAA integration § Manage Service Request § ISA Remote Agents System Explorer & Remote system inventory 20

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Supported platforms and versions § ISA V 4. 0 Workbench supported platforms: § Windows: Win XP Pro SP 1 / SP 2 , Vista Business & Enterprise § Linux: RHEL 4. 0 WS with GIMP GTK – update 5, RHEL 5. 0 w/ GTK update 1, Su. SE 10. 0 FP 1 (w/ XGL) § ISA V 4. 0 Agent/ Agent Manager platforms. § Windows (Agent only): Win XP Pro SP 1, § Windows: Win Server 2003 Std, Ent, or Datacenter § Linux: RHEL AS V 4. 0 or V 5. 0 , SUSE Linux Enterprise V 9. 0 or V 10. 0 § Solaris V 10. 0 (lacks support for inventory reporting) § AIX 5 L V 5. 3 (requires APAR IY 91085) , V 6. 1. § Portable Collector (console version of auto. PD within ISA) § All above platforms. Required JDK 1. 4 or higher. § Limited i 5/OS , z/OS support. 21

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Improved First steps… § The first time you launch the workbench after installation, the customization wizard will run Can also be launched later from the First Steps page § Configure network connections Set up a proxy server to access the internet § Configure update notifications When and where to check for updates § Search for product and tool add-ons 22

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Tutorials § Tutorials on five common user activities on ISA. § Access the tutorials from the Home page of your V 4 workbench, under Tutorial Five common activities are listed. Select on the tutorial that you want to learn about. This will launch a browser with a flash viewlet displayed. 23

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Analyze Problem activity : IGAA Integration & Tools Start the Analyze Problem activity from the Home page or the Launch Activity dropdown menu Use Collectors (system or product collectors) to gather diagnostic data locally, or create a portable Collector Use the Guided Troubleshooter to walk through the problem troubleshooting process Launch tools from add-ons that you have installed from the Tools tab 24

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Manage Service Request activity Start the Manage Service Request activity from the Home page or the Launch Activity dropdown menu Use the Guided Activity Assistant to walk through the steps you should perform before engaging IBM support Use Collectors to gather diagnostic data In the Service Requests tab, open and work with service requests for IBM software and hardware Click the bar to collapse the Guided Activity Assistant 25

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software ISA & Remote Systems (via agents) § ISA leverages the Agent Manager/Agents for: Remote Data collection. Exploring remote systems. § Agent manager is a lightweight server component Needs to be installed on a system that is visible to remote machines, workbenches There should be one agent manager in your environment Provides authentication and authorization services for communication from workbench to service agents Maintains a registry of configuration information about the managed systems in your environment § Agents are based on the Tivoli Common Agent runtime Provide services such as data collection, software inventory, file transfer, and log filtering Install the agent on any system you want to manage Agents can be customized with product-specific content 26

IBM Software Group | Tivoli software Systems explorer & Software inventory § You can access the systems explorer after the workbench has registered with an agent manager § The systems explorer allows you to: Create a software inventory of products installed on a remote system Browse the remote file system, after authenticating with the remote operating system Collect files from the remote system and add them to cases in your workbench § Open the explorer under Administration > Explore Systems 27