Dynamic Application Settings

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Every Dynamic Application has a set of properties specific to that Dynamic Application. The following sections will describe how to view and edit the properties for a Dynamic Application.

There are also some global settings that affect the operation of Dynamic Applications; these global settings are described in Managing Dynamic Applications.

Use the following menu options to navigate the SL1 user interface:

  • To view a pop-out list of menu options, click the menu icon ().
  • To view a page containing all of the menu options, click the Advanced menu icon ().

Dynamic Application Properties

Every Dynamic Application has a set of properties that define the general settings for that Dynamic Application. To view and edit the settings for a Dynamic Application:

  1. Go to the Dynamic Applications Manager page (System > Manage > Dynamic Applications).

  1. Find the Dynamic Application you want to view or edit the properties for. Select its wrench icon (). The Dynamic Applications Properties Editor page is displayed.

  1. A Dynamic Application has the following properties:
  • Application Name. The name of the Dynamic Application.

  • Application Type. Specifies the Dynamic Application type, which comprises a protocol and an archetype. For a description of protocols and archetypes, see the Types of Dynamic Application section. The following options are available in the Application Type field:
  • Bulk Snippet Configuration
  • Bulk Snippet Performance
  • Database Configuration
  • Database Performance
  • IT Service
  • PowerShell Configuration
  • PowerShell Performance
  • SNMP Configuration
  • SNMP Performance
  • SOAP Configuration
  • SOAP Performance
  • Snippet Configuration
  • Snippet Journal
  • Snippet Performance
  • WMI Configuration
  • WMI Performance
  • XML Configuration
  • XML Performance
  • XSLT Configuration
  • XSLT Performance

The Application Type field cannot be changed after the Dynamic Application is created. When editing an existing Dynamic Application, the Application Type field is view-only.

  • Execution Environment. The execution environment to which the Dynamic Application is aligned. This field appears only for snippet and internal collection Dynamic Applications. An execution environment contains the supporting modules, code, scripts, directories, and files (packaged in ScienceLogic Libraries) for the snippet. An execution environment includes its own installation directories, doesn't share libraries with other environments, and allows granular control of dependencies and versions. The default execution environment is System. For more information, see the section on Execution Environments.
  • Caching. This field is disabled for Dynamic Applications that use Bulk Snippet, Database, or Internal Collection (ICDA) type. When SL1 requests information from a device during Dynamic Application collection, SL1 can optionally cache the response from the device. If a response is cached, other Dynamic Applications that use the same protocol can retrieve collection object values from the cached response. When you cache responses, you reduce the number of requests performed by SL1 and speed up collection. Typically, Dynamic Applications aligned to component devices retrieve values from a cached repository. The cached repository is created with a Dynamic Application aligned with the root device. Choices are:
  • No caching. Specifies that this Dynamic Application does not use the caching feature. The requests that are used to populate the collection objects in this Dynamic Application are defined within this application and the responses to those requests are not available to other Dynamic Applications.
  • Cache Results. Specifies that SL1 should cache the responses from the requests defined in this Dynamic Application. Other Dynamic Applications that use the same protocol or Snippet Dynamic Applications can retrieve data from the cached responses associated with this Dynamic Application. When this option is selected, the collection objects defined in this Dynamic Application are no longer collected at a regular frequency. If you select this option, you must not define collection objects that are used to generate configuration tables or performance graphs.
  • Consume Cached Results. Specifies that the collection objects defined in this Dynamic Application are populated with values from other Dynamic Applications that use the same protocol and have Cache Results enabled.
  • In a SOAP or WMI Dynamic Application that uses the Consume Cached Results option, you cannot define requests.
  • For XSLT Dynamic Applications that use the Consume Cached Results option, you must still define the XSLT Parser Code that will be used to transform the cached responses.
  • For Snippet Dynamic Applications that use the Consume Cached Results option, you must still define snippet code that processes the cached responses; however, Snippet Dynamic Applications that use the Consume Cached Results option can consume cached responses from any Dynamic Application type that can cache responses.
  • Dynamic Applications that use the Consume Cached Results option can use cached responses from multiple different Dynamic Applications.
  • If a cached response is unavailable when SL1 performs collection for a "Consume Cached Results" Dynamic Application, SL1 will automatically attempt to execute the appropriate request to re-populate the cache.

NOTE: If a Dynamic Application includes Consume Cached Results and is aligned with a device that is not a component device, the Dynamic Application that provides the results to be consumed (includes Cache Results) must be aligned with the same device. If a Dynamic Application includes Consume Cached Results and is aligned with device that is a component device, the related Dynamic Application that provides the results to be consumed (includes Cache Results) must be aligned with the root device for that component.

  • Device Dashboard. Select a device dashboard from a list of all device dashboards in SL1. The selected device dashboard will be associated with all devices that subscribe to this Dynamic Application and will appear as an option in the Device Summary page. For more information about device dashboards, see the section on Dashboards.
  • Version Number. Specifies the current revision level of the Dynamic Application as specified by the developer of the Dynamic Application.

  • Operational State. Specifies whether SL1 will collect data from devices using the Dynamic Application. The Operational State also specifies whether SL1 will automatically align the Dynamic Application to devices during discovery, re-discovery, and nightly auto-discovery. The following options are available:
  • Enabled. SL1 will collect data from devices using the Dynamic Application and will automatically align this application to devices during discovery, re-discovery, and nightly auto-discovery.

  • Disabled. SL1 will not collect data from devices using the Dynamic Application and will not align this application to devices during discovery, re-discovery, and nightly auto-discovery. Selecting Disabled does not remove existing device alignments for the Dynamic Application and does not prevent a user from manually aligning the Dynamic Application with a device.
  • Collector Affinity. Specifies which Data Collectors are allowed to run collection jobs for this Dynamic Application. Choices are:
  • Default. If the Dynamic Application is auto-aligned to a component device during discovery, then the Data Collector assigned to the root device will collect data for this Dynamic Application as well. For devices that are not component devices, the Data Collector assigned to the device running the Dynamic Application will collect data for the Dynamic Application.
  • Root Device Collector. The Data Collector assigned to the root device will collect data for the Dynamic Application. This guarantees that Dynamic Applications for an entire Device Component Map (DCM) tree will be collected by a single Data Collector. You might select this option if:
  • The Dynamic Application has a cache dependency with one or more other Dynamic Applications.
  • You are unable to collect data for devices and Dynamic Applications within the same Device Component Map on multiple Data Collectors in a collector group.
  • If the Dynamic Application will consume cache produced by a Dynamic Application aligned to a non-root device (for instance, a cluster device).
  • Assigned Collector. The Dynamic Application will use the Data Collector assigned to the device running the Dynamic Application. This allows Dynamic Applications that are auto-aligned to component devices during discovery to run on multiple Data Collectors. You might select this option if:
  • The Dynamic Application has no cache dependencies with any other Dynamic Applications.
  • You want the Dynamic Application to be able to make parallel data requests across multiple Data Collectors in a collector group.
  • The Dynamic Application can be aligned using mechanisms other than auto-alignment during discovery (for instance, manual alignment or alignment via Device Class Templates or Run Book Actions).
  • Poll Frequency. Specifies how often SL1 will use this Dynamic Application to collect data from the device(s) the Dynamic Application is aligned with. Choices range from Every 1 Minute to Every 24 Hours.

NOTE: You can define a custom poll frequency for a Dynamic Application aligned with one or more devices in a device template. The poll frequency defined in the device template overrides the poll frequency defined for the Dynamic Application. Devices to which the device template has been applied will use the poll frequency defined in the device template. You can override both the Poll Frequency field and on a per-device basis from the Dynamic Application Collections page.

  • Maximum Devices. Appears only for Dynamic Applications of type Bulk Snippet Configuration and Bulk Snippet Performance. Specifies the maximum number of devices that a single instance of the Dynamic Application can collect data from. If the number of discovered devices exceeds the value in this field, SL1 runs additional instances of the Dynamic Application. Enter a number between 1 and 500.
  • Abandon Collection. Specifies how many collection objects must timeout in one poll period before SL1 stops trying to collect data for the Dynamic Application from a specific device. For more information about how this field works, see the Abandon Collection Property section.
  • Context. Optional field that is used for Dynamic Applications that use the SNMP protocol. For SNMPv3, specifies the snmp ID of the device from which you want to retrieve data. This helps differentiate between multiple instances of MIBs and OIDs.
  • Disable Rollup of Data. If you select this checkbox, SL1 does not roll up the collected data from this Dynamic Application. Selecting this checkbox decreases the workload on the SL1 System. SL1 displays rolled-up data from Dynamic Applications in multiple pages throughout the user interface, including, but not limited to, dashboard widgets, reports, and device summary/performance pages. If you select this checkbox, those pages that depend on rolled-up data will no longer display data for this Dynamic Application.
  • Description. Optional field that describes the purpose and function of the Dynamic Application.
  • Release Notes & Change Log. Optional field that specifies any additional information the developer wants to provide with the Dynamic Application.

For Dynamic Applications that use the Snippet, SOAP, WMI, XML, or XSLT protocols, the following additional fields appear:

  • Caching. For information about this field, see Caching. If you do not want to use the caching feature, select No Caching in this field.

NOTE: The Caching field does not appear for Bulk Snippet Dynamic Applications.

  • Component Mapping. If you select this checkbox, SL1 will use data collected by the Dynamic Application to create Component Devices. For more information about this checkbox, see Dynamic Component Mapping section.

For Dynamic Applications of type "configuration, the following additional fields appear:

  • Null Row Option. This field is active only for Dynamic Applications of type "configuration". If this Dynamic Application does not collect any values for a row in a table of configuration data that previously returned data, you can specify how SL1 will display the row in the Configuration Report page. Choices are:
  • --values. SL1 will display the "--" (dash dash) characters to signify that no data was collected for the current snapshot.

  • Last collected. SL1 will display the last successfully collected values for the row. SL1 will not indicate that it has collected no values for the row.
  • Last collected with indicator.
  • Hide Row. SL1 will not display the row that contains no values.

  • Null Column Option. This field is active only for Dynamic Applications of type "configuration". If this Dynamic Application does not collect a value for a table cell for which data was previously collected, you can specify what SL1 will display in the table cell in the Configuration Report page. Choices are:
  • --values. SL1 will display the "--" (dash dash) characters to signify that no data was collected for the current snapshot.

  • Last collected. SL1 will display the last successfully collected value for the table cell. SL1 will not indicate that it has collected no value for the table cell.
  • Last collected with indicator. SL1 will display the last successfully collected value for the table cell. The value in the table cell is highlighted, to indicate that this is not the latest value, but only the latest successfully collected value.
  1. To edit one or more of the properties for a Dynamic Application, change the value for that property, and then select the Save button.

If you modify a Dynamic Application that is included in an imported PowerPack, for example, Dynamic Applications provided by ScienceLogic, your changes will be overwritten if the PowerPack is reimported and reinstalled.

The Abandon Collection Property

The Abandon Collection field in the Dynamic Applications Properties Editor specifies how many collection objects must timeout before SL1 stops trying to collect data for the Dynamic Application from a specific device. At the next scheduled collection interval, SL1 will try again to collect data for this Dynamic Application from the device.

The following options are available in the Abandon Collection field:

  • Default. Specifies a threshold of two collection objects.

  • After 1 Timed-Out Objects to After X Timed-Out Objects. Specifies how many collection objects must time out before this collection session is abandoned on the device. Options will be displayed for each number between 1 and the number of collection objects defined in the Dynamic Application. For example, if three collection objects are defined in a Dynamic Application, the following options are available:
  1. Default

  1. After 1 Timed-Out Objects
  2. After 2 Timed-Out Objects
  3. After 3 Timed-Out Objects

During a polling session on a device, the frequency of which is controlled by the Poll Frequency field, the Dynamic Application collection process connects to the aligned device using the aligned credential and then requests each collection object. If SL1 cannot retrieve a value for a collection object before the timeout limit (defined in the credential), the collection object is considered timed-out. In a single polling session on a single device, when the number of collection objects that are timed-out reaches the number specified in the Abandon Collection field, SL1 abandons collection of the Dynamic Application on the device for the current polling session. When collection is abandoned:

  • SL1 will not attempt to collect any of the other collection objects in the Dynamic Application from that device in this polling session.

  • SL1 can generate an event with the message "Dynamic Application stopped collection - abandon threshold crossed". The event will include the Dynamic Application ID, device ID, and the collection object IDs that timed out.

NOTE: The event "Dynamic Application Stopped collection - abandon threshold crossed" is disabled by default. To enable this event, go to the Event Category Manager page and edit the definition for this event.

  • Subsequent polling sessions are not affected. During the next polling session, the collection process for the Dynamic Application will attempt to collect all the collection objects
  • If a device is unavailable or consistently abandons collection for more than two days, SL1 will set the Collect status of all objects for all the Dynamic Applications aligned with the device to No.

NOTE: For all objects except those retrieved from a database, the timeout limit is specified in the credential. For database objects, the timeout limit is specified internally by SL1.