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Re: MLM experiences

To: nv-l@lists.tivoli.com
Subject: Re: MLM experiences
From: Leslie Clark <lclark@US.IBM.COM>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 08:53:13 -0500
Jane, I just forwarded this summary to netview@tivoli.com, in case you did
not.

Cordially,

Leslie A. Clark
IBM Global Services - Systems Mgmt & Networking
====================================================

Is anyone REALLY using MLM to offload the collection of MIB data?  I
would dearly like to do this but, in practise, it seems contorted at
best......  Any examples that would help me get around the following
problems, would be most appreciated.

1) MLM collects simple variables fine.  If you set thresholds, I believe
the MLM manual is wrong on Page 9-69 when it says that the threshold
calculates the rate-per-second - I think it compares straight delta
values (for counter variables) so you have to set your threshold such
that it is multiplied by the time interval in seconds.  This is a
workaround but is not likely to endear MLM to anyone...
2) You can have MLM collect variable expressions (which DON'T have to be
in reverse Polish notation - good point).  The result always seems to be
an integer so for thresholds, I have to apply the kludge above AND use
the @delta function.
3) To integrate MLM-collected data with NetView snmpCollect'ed data, I
have 2 functions, mlmRemoteCollect and smconvert.  mlmRemoteCollect is
documented as needing root authority.  By changing permissions on files
(adding group permissions for  "system" and "bin") I can get around
needing to be root but I still seem to need a .netrc file with the root
password of my MLM system.  This dependency on needing access to root is
a complete no-no for some of my clients.
4) smconvert works fine (provided you ensure that your data collection
files don't also have trap data in them - thanks Leslie!), but if MLM
has been collecting EXPRESSIONS then the data files you end up with in
the snmpCollect directory, have horrendous names, including the
decimal-ASCII representation of the expression mib
5) There is no capability for performing any data reduction at the MLM
6) I setup my MLM MIB variables using APM which is absolutely great when
it works but it does seem very quirky, particularly when you unassign
collections from an APM.  I often seem to end up with the wrong nodes in
the list when I do a Distribute - a workaround seems to be to go into
Node  Status and then I can do distributes to specific nodes, but I
shouldn't need to do this.....

I would love to hear counter-arguments / workarounds to my criticisms as
MLM is the only standard tool I have for making my network management
data collection sensibly scaleable.  If others have similar
reservations, perhaps we should be submitting a change request to make
this really usable.

Many thanks for any contributions to the debate,
Jane
--
Tivoli Certified Enterprise Consultant & Instructor
Skills 1st Limited, 2 Cedar Chase, Taplow, Bucks, SL6 0EU, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1628 782565
Copyright (c) 1999 Jane Curry <jane.curry@skills-1st.co.uk>.  All rights
reserved.


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