Linux Base Pack PowerPack Release Notes, version 114

Version 114 of the "Linux Base Pack" PowerPack updates all Dynamic Applications to use the Snippet Framework, adds three new collection objects to the "Linux: Memory Performance" Dynamic Application, and resolves an issue that caused missed CPU performance polls.

With this version, two Dynamic Applications included in the PowerPack are no longer required and should remain disabled after you upgrade. For more information, see the Before You Install or Upgrade section.

• Minimum Required SL1 Version: 12.3.1

Before You Install or Upgrade

Ensure that you are running version 12.3.1 or later of Skylar One before installing the "Linux Base Pack" PowerPack.

For details on upgrading Skylar One, see the relevant Skylar One Platform Release Notes.

Before upgrading to version 114 of the "Linux Base Pack" PowerPack, ScienceLogic recommends that you disable (uncheck) the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting on the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to ensure that the Dynamic Application updates from this version are applied correctly. Be advised that, if you have certain customized fields relating to event policies and Dynamic Applications that are included in this PowerPack, disabling this setting will cause those customized fields to be overwritten when you upgrade the PowerPack.

Installing or Upgrading the PowerPack

To install this PowerPack:

1. Search for and download the PowerPack from the PowerPacks page at the ScienceLogic Support Center (Skylar One > PowerPacks).
2. In Skylar One (formerly SL1), go to the PowerPacks page (System > Manage > PowerPacks).
3. Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. The Import PowerPack modal appears.
4. Click Browse and navigate to the PowerPack file from step 1.
5. Select the PowerPack file and click Import. The PowerPack Installer modal displays a list of the PowerPack contents.
6. Click Install. The PowerPack is added to the PowerPack Manager page.

For more information about using the PowerPack, see the Monitoring Linux Systems with SSH manual.

Features

This release includes the following features:

• Dynamic Applications that discover and collect configuration and performance data for Linux systems
• Internal Collection Dynamic Applications that collect inventory and performance data for Linux systems
• Event policies and corresponding alerts that are triggered when Linux systems meet certain status criteria

Many of the event policies included in this PowerPack are disabled by default. You must manually enable the event policies that you want to use. To do so, go to the Basic tab of Event Policy Editor (Events > Event Policies > Actions icon > Edit > Basic) and change the Enable Event Policy field to Enabled.

• Device classes for each type of Linux system monitored
• A run book action and automation policy to assign the proper device classes to Linux systems

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included in this release:

• Updated all Dynamic Applications to use the Snippet Framework.

  Due to this change, the "Linux: Configuration Discovery" and "Linux: SSH Cache Worker" Dynamic Applications are no longer required and should remain disabled in version 114 of the "Linux Base Pack" PowerPack.

• Added three new collection objects to the "Linux: Memory Performance" Dynamic Application:

  • "Out of Memory Kill Count", which indicates the number of processes the kernel has terminated due to running out of memory since booting.

  • "Swap In", which shows how often data is moved from disk back into system memory, measured in pages per second.

  • "Swap Out", which shows how often data is moved from system memory to storage, measured in pages per second.

• Resolved an issue that caused missed CPU performance polls by disabling the "Linux: SSH Cache Worker" Dynamic Application, which is no longer required for using this PowerPack. (Case: 00521297) (Jira ID: SOL-31307)

Known Issues and Workarounds

The following known issues affect version 114 of the "Linux Base Pack" PowerPack:

• If you are on Skylar One (SL1) version 12.3.x and your Linux devices show the error "No authentication methods succeeded, password is empty" despite confirming that the credential is correct, verify if the Enterprise Key Management System (EKMS) is enabled on the Security page (System > Settings > Security > Enterprise Key Management System (EKMS)). If it is enabled, the issue might be related to EKMS rather than the PowerPack.
• If the Linux server monitored by the PowerPack reports "CLI-SSH with empty message", ScienceLogic recommends checking the device, as this is likely a timeout issue with the end device.
• Ubuntu versions 22.04 and earlier might have problems discovering devices with a PEM key. ScienceLogic recommends that you use a password in this situation.
• Parsing might fail with some commands if the device contains custom images.
• If you use the default timeout in the "Linux Example Credential" credential and continue to experience timeout and login errors on a limited number of servers, create a copy of the credential, edit the timeout value to 10 seconds in that new credential, then align the new credential to the servers that had login errors.

• Modifying any of the Internal Collection Dynamic Applications will change the value of the Collector Affinity setting from Assigned collector to Default. If you make any changes to the configuration of these Dynamic Applications, run the following query on the Database Tool (System > Tools > DB Tool):

SELECT ppguid FROM master.powerpack WHERE name = "Linux Base Pack"

Save the result of ppguid as <LBP PPguid>

UPDATE master.dynamic_app SET cu_affinity="2" WHERE ppguid = <LBP PPguid>