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Re: MLM experiences

To: nv-l@lists.tivoli.com
Subject: Re: MLM experiences
From: "Joel A. Gerber" <joel.gerber@USAA.COM>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 09:44:52 -0600
Unfortunately, I cannot offer any help, except to confirm the same problems
that you have experienced.  We had attempted to distribute SNMP data
collection and thresholding to MLM servers for the same reason -
scalability.  It failed miserably, so we upgraded our NetView server from an
RS/6000-590 to a 4-processor SP Silver Node.  We have not completely given
up on MLM and plan to attempt it again this year.

I agree with you that we need to keep pressure on IBM/Tivoli to make the MLM
product useful for this function.

Joel Gerber - I/T Networking Professional - USAA Information Technology Co.
- San Antonio, TX
* (210)456-4231         * mailto:Joel.Gerber@USAA.com   "
http://www.usaa.com

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Jane Curry [SMTP:jane.curry@SKILLS-1ST.CO.UK]
        Sent:   Friday, January 07, 2000 05:01
        To:     NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
        Subject:        MLM experiences

        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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