Configuration and Discovery

A Global Manager system is a standard All-In-One Appliance with additional configuration applied. This section describes how to configure a Global Manager system and discover its stacks.

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This section includes the following topics:

Global Manager Configuration and Discovery Process

When setting up a Global Manager system, you must complete the following steps to properly configure the system and discover its stacks:

1. Ensure that the Global Manager system and its stacks meet all of the necessary system and technical requirements.
2. Ensure that the user accounts for the Global Manager system and its stacks meet the necessary authentication and access requirements.
3. Optionally, if you want to create external tickets from or align external tickets to events that appear in the Global Manager system, you must configure the Global Manager system and its stacks to create and align event external tickets.
4. Install the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack on the Global Manager system.
5. On the Global Manager system, edit the NextUI configuration file to enable Global Manager. Optionally, you can also update some of the default Global Manager configuration settings in this file.
6. Use SNMP to discover an entry point for each stack that you want to monitor in your Global Manager system. You can then either use Run Book Actions or Dynamic Applications to add the stacks to the Global Manager system.
7. Verify that your Global Manager system is successfully configured.

Each of these steps is described in greater detail in the following sections.

Global Manager System and Technical Requirements

When using a Global Manager system, the Global Manager system and its stacks must meet the following system and technical requirements: 

• The Global Manager system must be installed on an All-In-One Appliance built using SL1 version 10.2 or later on a supported hardware or virtualization platform.
• Each stack from which data is aggregated must be running the same SL1 patch version as the Global Manager system, and must include one Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point discovered using SNMP.

To locate the version number, launch SL1, click your username in the top navigation bar, and select About; the SL1 version appears in the Platform section.

Only one entry point can be used per stack. Do not discover more than one entry point per stack.

When upgrading to a new version of SL1, ScienceLogic recommends upgrading all stacks before upgrading your Global Manager All-In-One Appliance.

During large-scale upgrades, you might experience minor version mismatches between the Global Manager system and its stacks, but you should work to match these versions as quickly as possible to ensure feature consistency.

• The Global Manager system must be able to communicate with each stack entry point over TCP port 443 (secure HTTP) and UDP port 161 (SNMP).
• The other system requirements for the Global Manager system and each stack are the same as non-Global Manager versions of the same appliances. For more information about system requirements, see the System Requirements page on the ScienceLogic Support site.

The following are the recommended entry points for each architecture type:

Architecture	Recommended Entry Point
Single All-In-One Appliance	All-In-One Appliance
All-In-One Appliances with Disaster Recovery	Primary All-In-One Appliance*
Two Database Servers configured for High Availability	Primary Database Server via the Virtual IP address
Two Database Servers configured for Disaster Recovery	Primary Database Server*
Three Database Servers configured for High Availability and Disaster Recovery	Primary Database Server via the Virtual IP address*

Global Manager User Authentication Requirements

On the Global Manager system and each stack entry point, you must configure appropriate user accounts and permissions for each Global Manager user.

The following authentication rules and access permissions apply:

• Each user of the Global Manager system must have a user account on the Global Manager system, as well as an identical account with the same username and password on each stack they want to monitor.

• If a user does not have the same credentials on a particular stack, the user will be unable to see that stack on the Global Manager system.
• To ensure that user accounts are consistent across all SL1 systems in your environment, ScienceLogic recommends using Active Directory or LDAP for user authentication.

• If you want to use a custom theme in the Global Manager system, all users must be assigned the same theme in all of the stacks being aggregated.
• The Global Manager system respects user account permissions on a given stack. If a user account for a given stack does not have permission to view events, for example, then that account will not be able to view events for that stack on the Global Manager system.
• In addition to the typical Access Hooks that are required for users to view and perform specific actions with Devices, Events, and Dashboards, there are several Access Hooks that Global Manager users must have included in an Access Key aligned to their user accounts to perform certain actions on the Global Manager system. The following table lists these Access Hooks and their corresponding actions:

Access Hook	Action
GM_STACK_VIEW	View Global Manager stacks on the Global Manager Stacks page. With this access hook, you can hide the Global View toggle due to user permission.
GM_STACK_ADD	Add Global Manager stacks
GM_STACK_EDIT	Edit Global Manager stacks
GM_STACK_REMOVE	Delete Global Manager stacks
TKT_CREATE	Create an event ticket. (Must have this Access Hook aligned on both the Global Manager system and the stack on which the event originated.)
TKT_ACCESS_EXTERNAL	Create/align event external tickets. (Must have this Access Hook aligned on both the Global Manager system and the stack on which the event originated.)

If a user with administrator or "Grant All" access is unable to perform the above actions, ScienceLogic recommends creating a new Access Key that includes the above Access Hooks and aligning that new Access Key to the user's account.

For more information about Access Hooks, see the section on Assigning Access Hooks.

Example: Global Manager User Account Permissions

As an example of how user account permissions work in a Global Manager system, consider the following scenario:

• A Global Manager system is configured to aggregate data from three stacks, each monitoring 10 devices.
• A user logs in to the Global Manager system using a user account and password that is valid on only two of the stacks.
• Based on the organization memberships of the user account, the user has permission to view only two devices on each of those two stacks.

In this example, the aggregated data provided to the user by the Global Manager system will include only four devices: The two devices on each of the two stacks.

Configuring Global Manager for External Event Ticketing

You can optionally configure your Global Manager system so that users can create new external tickets from the aggregated events that appear in the Global Manager system or align existing external tickets to those events. When you do so, the ticket is aligned to the corresponding event on its native stack.

The default ticket setting in SL1 is to create internal SL1 tickets. In your Global Manager system, you can create internal SL1 event tickets on the event's native stack when in non-Global View mode. However, for Global View mode, you should use only external event ticketing.

To create and align event external tickets, the following configuration settings are required on both the Global Manager system and the event's native stack:

• Users must have the TKT_ACCESS_EXTERNAL Access Hook included in an Access Key that is aligned with their accounts.
• On the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior), you must set the Event Console Ticket Life Ring Button Behavior field to Create/View External Ticket.
• You must create run book automation actions that perform requests to the external ticketing system.

Using Run Book Automation to Populate the SL1 with Values from External Tickets

The following two fields in the master_events.events_active SL1 database table populate the values for external tickets on the Events page:

• force_ticket_uri. This field contains the URI that leads to the external ticket. Selecting the Create Ticket option on the Events page opens a new window with this URI loaded.
• ext_ticket_ref. This field contains the name or ID number associated with the external ticket. This value is displayed in the Ticket External Reference column on the Events page.

To integrate events with an external ticketing system, you must create run book automation actions that perform requests to the external ticketing system and populate the force_ticket_uri and ext_ticket_ref fields in the master_events.events_active table.

The following run book automation policies and actions could be used to integrate events with an external ticketing system:

• An automation policy that runs when events are created. Depending on your business needs, this automation policy might run when an event is acknowledged or when a user selects the Create Ticket option on the Events page. This automation policy would execute the following actions:
• One or more snippet actions that create a ticket in the external ticketing system. The ticket can be created using one or more of the available variables; for example, %M contains the message text for the event that triggered the automation policy. One of the snippet actions could pass the ticket ID for the ticket to SL1.
• An SQL query action that updates the ext_ticket_ref and force_ticket_uri fields for the event. The value of ext_ticket_ref should be set to the value passed by the previous snippet action (accessed using the %_EM7_RESULT_% variable). The SQL query should use the %e variable (the event ID for the event that triggered the automation policy) to ensure that the query updates the correct event.
• An automation policy that runs when events are cleared. This automation policy would execute a snippet action that:
• Performs an SQL query to retrieve the ext_ticket_ref value for the event that triggered the automation policy.
• Resolves the appropriate ticket in the external ticketing system.

For more information about creating run book automation policies, see the section on Automation Policies.

Installing the ScienceLogic: Global Manager PowerPack

After ensuring that the All-In-One Appliance that you are going to use as your Global Manager system meets the appropriate system requirements, you must download and install the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack on that All-In-One Appliance.

This PowerPack includes the run book actions and Dynamic Applications that the Global Manager system uses to identify stacks and add them to your Global Manager system.

To use run book actions that automatically add newly discovered stacks to your Global Manager system, you must install version 3.0.1 or later of the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack.

The ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack is not included in the standard release and is provided separately by ScienceLogic. Contact ScienceLogic Customer Care to obtain the PowerPack.

For more information about installing a PowerPack, see the section on Installing a PowerPack.

Enabling and Configuring Global Manager on an All-in-One Appliance

To configure an All-In-One Appliance as a Global Manager system, you must first edit the NextUI configuration file to enable Global Manager on that appliance.

Optionally, you can also configure the following settings:

• Stack Timeout. When the Global Manager system makes a request to a stack, it times out after 4 seconds by default. If the stack does not respond within that time frame, it will issue a "stack timeout" message and will be cached as unavailable, if cache is enabled. This will prevent the Global Manager system from attempting to contact the stack until the cache has expired. You can update this setting to provide the Global Manager system more or less time before stack requests time out.
• Stack State Cache. When the Global Manager system makes a request to a stack, it saves the stack's state in cache. The next time the Global Manager system makes a request, it will check the cache and send a request only to stacks that are responsive. This prevents the Global Manager system from having to wait the full stack timeout on stacks that are known to time out. By default, the Global Manager system waits 10 minutes before clearing stale stack cache. You can disable this setting or update the wait time before stale stack cache is cleared.

To enable and configure Global Manager on an All-In-One Appliance:

1. Start an SSH session into the All-In-One Appliance.

2. Using vi or another text editor, edit the /opt/em7/nextui/nextui.conf file. To do so, enter the following at the shell prompt: 

sudo vi /opt/em7/nextui/nextui.conf

 

3. In the NextUI configuration file, add the following line at the bottom to enable Global Manager on the All-In-One Appliance:

GLOBAL_MANAGER=enabled

 

4. Optionally, to update the stack timeout setting, add the following line to the NextUI configuration file, replacing "[value]" with the desired timeout setting, in milliseconds: 

GM_STACK_TIMEOUT_MS=[value]

 

5. Optionally, to update the stack state cache setting, add the following line to the NextUI configuration file, replacing "[value]" with "0" (zero) to disable the feature or with the desired timeout setting, in milliseconds:

GM_STACKS_CACHE_TTL_MS=[value]

 

6. Restart the NextUI service by running the following command:

sudo systemctl restart nextui

Discovering Global Manager Stacks

After installing the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack on an All-In-One Appliance and then enabling Global Manager on that appliance, you must use SNMP to discover a Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point for each stack that you want to manage globally.

The ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack then enables you to add the stacks to your Global Manager system using one of two methods:

• Add newly discovered stacks automatically using Run Book Actions, or
• Add existing stacks by manually aligning a Dynamic Application and performing some additional configuration to the Global Manager system

Both methods are described in the sections below.

Discovery Option 1: Adding Stacks Automatically Using Run Book Actions

The ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack includes Run Book Actions that automatically detect any newly discovered SL1 Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry points and then adds the appliances as stacks in your Global Manager system.

NOTE: This method applies only to newly discovered stacks. To add existing stacks to your Global Manager system, see Adding Stacks Using Dynamic Applications.

Only one entry point can be used per stack. Do not use SNMP-based discovery to discover more than one entry point per stack.

To use run book actions that automatically add newly discovered stacks to your GM system, you must install version 3.0.1 or later of the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack.

To add stacks to the Global Manager system using Run Book Actions:

1. Create an SNMP credential for each Database Server or All-In-One Appliance stack entry point that you want to monitor in your Global Manager system.
2. Use the unguided discovery process to discover one Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point for each stack that you want to add to your Global Manager system. When doing so, select the SNMP credential that you created in the previous step.
3. Optionally, you can repeat steps 1 and 2 to discover the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system, but this is not required.
4. When you discover a new stack entry point, the Run Book Actions that are included in the ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack detect the newly discovered Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point and then adds the stack to the Global Manager Stacks page () in the Global Manager system.

Discovery Option 2: Adding Stacks Using Dynamic Applications

The ScienceLogic Global Manager PowerPack includes a Dynamic Application that you can manually align to the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system.

This Dynamic Application creates a component device for each Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point that you have discovered using SNMP. You can then merge the component device records with the corresponding devices' SNMP records.

Only one entry point can be used per stack. Do not use SNMP-based discovery to discover more than one entry point per stack.

To add stacks to the Global Manager system using Dynamic Applications:

1. Create an SNMP credential for each Database Server or All-In-One Appliance stack entry point that you want to monitor in your Global Manager system.
2. Create an SNMP credential for the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system.
3. Use the unguided discovery process or a classic discovery session to discover one Database Server or All-In-One Appliance entry point for each stack that you want to add to your Global Manager system, as well as the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system. When doing so, select the SNMP credentials that you created in steps 1 and 2.
4. Assign the ScienceLogic Global Manager device class to the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system.
5. Disable Auto-Update for the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system.
6. Create a SOAP/XML credential for the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system. Use the default settings for all fields except for the following settings:

• Profile Name. Type a name for the credential.
• URL. Type "https://%D".
• Username. Type the username of an account that has access to all API functions on the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system.
• Password. Type the password for the user you entered in the Username field

7. Align the ScienceLogic: GM Root Stack Inventory Dynamic Application to the device record for the All-In-One Appliance that you are configuring as a Global Manager system. Use the credential you created in step 6 with this Dynamic Application.

If you are using a self-signed certificate, you must edit the snippet in the ScienceLogic: GM Root Stack Inventory Dynamic Application to set USING_TRUSTED_CERT to False.

8. When collection is performed for the ScienceLogic: GM Root Stack Inventory Dynamic Application, SL1 creates a component device for each entry point.
9. In the Device Manager page (Registry > Devices > Device Manager), click the Actions button and then select Merge Devices. The Device Bulk Merge page displays. Merge the SNMP-based device records for each entry point with the equivalent component device records. To do this:

• Select the Names Match checkbox in the Device Bulk Merge page.
• The page displays a row for each entry point for which the name of the SNMP-based device record matches the name of the component device record. Select the radio button for each pair of entry points.
• Click the Merge button.

The component devices for each entry point are automatically subscribed to the ScienceLogic: GM Distributed Appliance Discovery Dynamic Application. The ScienceLogic: GM Distributed Appliance Discovery Dynamic Application will examine each entry point; if the entry point is part of a distributed system, the Dynamic Application will create a component device record for each additional appliance in the distributed SL1 system.

Verifying Successful Global Manager Configuration

After you have discovered your stacks and added them to your Global Manager system using either of the two possible methods, you can verify that your Global Manager system is configured successfully on the following pages:

• On the Global Manager Stacks page (), verify the following:

• All of the stacks you discovered using SNMP display on the page.
• All stacks indicate the expected SL1 version in the Version column.
• All stacks indicate the same SL1 version in the Version column as the version that appears in the Platform section when you click your username in the top navigation bar and select About.

• On the Events page (), toggle on the Global View button and verify that events from all operational stacks display on the page and that there are no indications of unresponsive stacks.
• On the Devices page (), toggle on the Global View button and verify that devices from all operational stacks display on the page