Enterprise SME Tools


We consider two classifications of tools in this discussion: system management tools and framework tools. Framework tools are designed to manage virtually all components in the enterprise, including servers, routers, backplanes, and anything with a local management agent. Framework tools can integrate with other tools such as those for help desk call tracking. They are designed to be extensible and often come with a built-in scripting capability to allow them to manage equipment that otherwise wouldn't be. Examples of such tools include HP OpenView, Tivoli Netview, and CA UniCenter TNG. Framework tools can include targeted component programs for doing specific functions, and they often overlap with system management tools. However, they are really intended for large enterprise networks.

Note

The Citrix MetaFrame Network Manager integrates into enterprise framework tools. Currently, Network Manager requires Citrix MetaFrame XPe (not XPa or XPs) with Feature Release 3 (recommended), Microsoft base SNMP service, and compilation of the Citrix MIBs into the framework manager's MIB database. Network Manager support is limited to Windows-based versions of the framework management platforms.

System management tools are far more targeted in scope and typically focus on only part of the infrastructure. Examples of such tools are MetaFrame Resource Management (RM), CiscoWorks 2000, Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), and Microsoft System Management Server (SMS). System management tools fit well within a large management framework. Since framework tools often sacrifice deep functionality for broad coverage, the combination of the two is often required. This paradigm of cooperative management tools is covered in depth in the white paper entitled "Complementing Enterprise Management Platforms with Microsoft SMS," available from D. H. Brown Associates (www.dhbrown.com). Since this book's focus is on MetaFrame and Terminal Services, we will provide a detailed look at RM, MOM, and SMS and leave the evaluation of framework tools to the reader.

MetaFrame Resource Management

RM is the only management product specifically designed for MetaFrame and Terminal Services. It is an invaluable tool for collecting information in a session-based format on applications in use and system resources consumed. Its key features include audit trail capability, system monitoring, and billing reports.

RM can be used with most ODBC-compliant databases such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. A wide range of data is captured, including applications used and the time they are in use, as well as logs of connections, disconnections, and duration.

Tip

We recommend creating a file Data Source Name (DSN) (as opposed to a system DSN) because it saves time when setting up multiple servers. The DSN definition file can be placed on a file server and loaded on each MetaFrame server as needed. We also recommend setting the database to purge data automatically every few weeks or so if billing is not being used. If billing is being used, it will purge the data as part of its process.

Many graphs can be created from various system metrics, such as application ranking and system utilization over time. The following shows some of the report types that are available:

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RM tracks over 30 real-time performance metrics and displays them with green, yellow, or red status indicators. One or multiple servers can be monitored from the same screen. Event thresholds can be defined, and when reached, RM can send out an SNMP message, page, or e-mail.

Caution

The default alarm profile was designed for a small server with a light load. A new profile needs to be created after collecting a baseline of information for a few days or weeks. The period should be long enough to get a representative sample of usage. The problem is that certain counters fluctuate wildly, and unless the alarm profile thresholds are set high enough, RM will generate alarms too frequently.

If your organization wishes to use a charge-back model, the RM billing services can be used. Fees can be tracked for connection time and various types of system utilization. Users can be grouped into cost centers for reporting.

When RM is used in a server farm, the data collection service runs in the background of each MetaFrame server, as shown in Figure 9-11.

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Figure 9-11: RM architecture

Microsoft System Management Server

SMS 2.0, the current version of System Management Server, provides its services through interaction with the underlying Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), though it does have limited ability to receive and read SNMP and CMIP messages. SMS 2.0 adds significant features for Enterprise users, to include Active Directory integration and services optimization for low-bandwidth remote users.

Windows Management Instrumentation

WMI is an implementation of the Desktop Management Task Force's (DMTF) Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative. It utilizes the Common Information model (CIM), also defined by the DMTF, to represent network nodes in an object-oriented fashion. SMS creates a global view of information resources using information gleaned from the network. It works very well for status reporting and does provide some downstream management in the form of remote control and diagnostics, software inventory, distribution and metering, and hardware inventory.

SMS is part of the Microsoft BackOffice suite of products. It can provide detailed monitoring functions for other members of the BackOffice family and store its accumulated information in a SQL Server database. A small client program acts as the SMS agent and provides the server with relevant statistical and error information.

SMS version 2.0 has been enhanced to support thousands of client nodes on a single server instance, though for purposes of practical deployment you will at least want to run a cluster of two servers.

SMS version 2.0 has been enhanced to include a wide range of support features, including

  • The Software Update Services Feature Pack. This is specifically designed to quickly and effectively apply critical security updates for Windows and Office. This Feature Pack provides the following tools:

    • Security Update Inventory Tool

    • Microsoft Office Inventory Tool for Updates

    • Distribute Software Updates Wizard

    • SMS Web Reporting Tool with Web Reports Add-in for Software Updates

  • Management of most Microsoft OS platforms. The native Microsoft SUS cannot manage patch deployment for Win9x of WinNT systems; SMS can.

Microsoft Windows 2000, together with the Active Directory service, makes it possible to use Group Policy to manage desktops. Group Policy is designed primarily to give organizations better control over user and computer settings, and thus make it easier to standardize desktop operating environments. Group Policy can also be used to install software on certain machines. Although Group Policy can scale to meet the needs of organizations of any size, its software distribution features are very limited in their functionality, and are intended primarily for smaller organizations. Medium-sized and large organizations will find the advanced software distribution features of SMS meet their needs far better than Group Policy, providing benefits such as

  • Complete hardware and software inventory for effective planning of software rollouts

  • Rich targeting based upon this inventory to ensure the right software pieces get to the right users and machines

  • A complete status system for tracking success and failure of distributions

  • A full scheduling system for determining when and how the software should be installed

  • A simple, web-based reporting tool for extracting all of this information

  • Automated, WAN-aware distribution components for ensuring that software can flow easily throughout your enterprise without adversely affecting your network

The functionality provided by these tools is completely integrated with Systems Management Server inventory and software distribution to offer a simplified, largely automated solution for the deployment of security and Microsoft Office software updates.

Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 Management

With Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003, the WMI programs are built into the operating system. Active Directory provides a global view of resources and abstracts the resources available from one server to be equally available to all users in a domain, or across domains.

Microsoft Operations Manager

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) is Microsoft's latest effort to migrate Windows platforms to Enterprise management platform status. It provides the first true Microsoft "Enterprise" event management and reporting capabilities by integrating event management and alerting from multiple servers into a single entity. MOM works as a snap-in to the Microsoft Management Console for a consistent look and feel and supports virtually every Microsoft server environment, from multiple SMS servers to Exchange 2000, to Terminal Services. To extend the functionality of MOM, Citrix has released the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack for the Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2000 and Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider for Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). These products integrate monitoring of MetaFrame XP servers and server farms into Microsoft Operations Manager and give Citrix customers greater flexibility in managing MetaFrame XP server farms. MOM provides an extensible management interface for interoperability with UNIX systems. Most importantly for the IT staffer: MOM is essentially ready to run (and generate reports and manage events) out of the box. Specific key features include

  • Distributed event management MOM 2000 captures a wide variety of system and applications events from Windows systems distributed across an Enterprise environment and aggregates them into a central event repository. These events can be consolidated to provide administrators with a high-level view of server and service availability, while also allowing an operator to drill down easily into the detailed event stream, all from a single console view at their desk.

  • Rules Administrator-created rules in Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 allow the system to react automatically to incoming message streams, either to respond to a specific fault scenario with a predefined action, or to consolidate the messages into a more meaningful or significant event. Such rules allow MOM 2000 to react intelligently to anticipated event patterns, triggering actions or administrative alerts. Rules can also link an event sequence to Citrix KnowledgeBase articles, instantly providing operators with guidance on probable causes, the approved response to a specific problem scenario and links to additional information.

  • Alerts Any MOM 2000 rule can be configured to generate specific alerts with associated severity levels. An alert can represent a single event or multiple events from many sources. At any time, an administrator can drill down on an alert to trace its history, the events associated with it and any related Citrix KnowledgeBase articles. In addition, alerts can optionally trigger e-mails, pages, SNMP traps, and scripts to notify specific system operators and other management systems of emerging issues.

  • Reporting MOM 2000 provides access to a broad range of pre-configured reports and charts. The reports generated allow administrators to review, at a glance, the status of systems and services on the network and to plan changes to the infrastructure based on performance and availability data. MOM 2000 can generate HTML snapshots of all generated reports. These can then be exported to a web server for access from web browsers, meeting the requirement to make performance data visible to the user and management communities.

MOM and Citrix MetaFrame

The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack is a plug-in to Microsoft Operations Manager that enables system administrators to monitor the health and availability of MetaFrame XPe servers and server farms, and anticipate and react quickly to many problems that may occur. The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack interprets and reports on information supplied by the Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider software that runs on MetaFrame XPe servers, and also on system events generated on XPe servers. The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack provides system administrators with real-time event and performance monitoring of MetaFrame XPe servers and server farms, from the MOM Administrator console. The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack also includes an extensive knowledge base, with links to Citrix KnowledgeBase articles and other sources of information, which administrators can use to interpret events and troubleshoot problems.

Figure 9-12 shows a typical MOM Administrator Console display of open alerts from Citrix MetaFrame servers.

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Figure 9-12: The MOM Administrator Console

The following key features are provided when MOM and the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack are integrated into an SBC environment:

  • Event management The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack captures a variety of events from MetaFrame servers and server farms. These events are collated and then presented to the administrator via the MOM Administrator Console, allowing an overall view of MetaFrame server operation.

  • Performance monitoring You can use the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack to monitor MetaFrame server performance. Rules can be customized and new rules created to set thresholds for key performance attributes in the server farm.

  • Extensive knowledge base The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack includes an extensive product support knowledge base, including links to relevant Citrix KnowledgeBase articles. Centralized access to information about managing MetaFrame servers enables administrators to quickly interpret events and troubleshoot problems.

  • Customizable rules and alerts You can configure the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack to alter how it responds to an event. You do this by modifying and extending the rules to best suit your environment. For example, you can configure the rule for the ICA session disconnection rate so that the alert that is triggered is meaningful and appropriate to your site. Citrix KnowledgeBase documentation is available to help you with this customization.

  • Citrix MetaFrame views Citrix MetaFrame views are available in the Public Views folder. These views allow you to monitor events and alerts raised for MetaFrame XPe servers and server farms, and to identify trends and performance issues occurring on MetaFrame servers and published applications.

  • The Citrix notification group The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack includes a notification group, called the Citrix MetaFrame Administrators group. You can configure this group to ensure that the appropriate people are notified about problems with MetaFrame servers and server farms.

  • Easy installation The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack consists of a single file that is available from the Citrix web site. To install the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack, simply import this file into MOM using the MOM Administrator Console.

Citrix MetaFrame Views in MOM The Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack includes a number of Citrix MetaFrame views that are available in the Public Views folder in the MOM Administrator Console. These views allow an administrator to monitor events and alerts raised for MetaFrame XPe servers and server farms, and to identify trends and performance issues occurring on MetaFrame servers and published applications.

Note

In the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack, a managed MetaFrame server is a MetaFrame XPe server that is running both Feature Release 2 or later, and the Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider (discussed later), and that has a Feature Release 2 or later license installed and activated. Note that after installing and activating a Feature Release 2 or 3 license, it may take until the next computer scan before MetaFrame servers are recognized as managed. An unmanaged MetaFrame server is a server running MetaFrame 1.8, XPa, XPs, or XPe without the Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider or a Feature Release 2 license.

There are two main types of Citrix MetaFrame views: Health Monitoring views and Discovery views. Health Monitoring views provide system administrators with real-time event and alert information, together with performance monitoring details about MetaFrame XPe servers and server farms. Discovery views provide an overview of the structure of your MetaFrame installation, together with information about individual MetaFrame servers. Table 9-2 provides a summary of the views.

Table 9-2: Citrix MetaFrame Views

View Type

View Name

View Description

Health

MetaFrame Events

Displays all the events raised by MetaFrame components on managed MetaFrame servers.

Health

Open Alerts From Citrix MetaFrame Servers

Displays all unresolved alerts raised against managed MetaFrame servers by all management packs (not only the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack).

Health

Open Citrix Alerts

Displays all unresolved alerts raised by the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack.

Health

Active Sessions

Displays the number of active sessions on each managed MetaFrame server.

Health

Published Application Load From Load Balancing

Displays the published application load from the MetaFrame Load Manager component. Note that this information is available only if you are using Citrix Load Manager in your server farm and you have configured the application load level in the Citrix Management Console.

Health

Server Load From Load Balancing

Displays the server load from the MetaFrame Load Manager component. Note that this information is available only if you are using Citrix Load Manager in your server farm.

Health

Pooled Licenses In Use

Displays the number of pooled licenses in use in each server farm, as a percentage of the total number of pooled licenses in the farm. After you install the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack, this view is empty until 3:55 A.M. the next day.

Discovery

Managed MetaFrame Servers

Displays all managed Citrix MetaFrame XPe servers in the Citrix MetaFrame Managed Servers computer group.

Discovery

Unmanaged MetaFrame Servers

Displays all unmanaged Citrix MetaFrame servers in the Citrix MetaFrame Unmanaged Servers computer group.

Discovery

MetaFrame Product Version

Displays information about the MetaFrame software versions on each managed MetaFrame server. After you install the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack, this view is empty until 3:55 A.M. the next day.

Discovery

MetaFrame Hotfixes

Displays information about the MetaFrame hotfixes installed on each managed MetaFrame server. After you install the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack, this view is empty until 3:55 A.M. the next day.

Discovery

MetaFrame Computer Groups

Displays all MetaFrame server farm and zone computer groups configured by the administrator.

With MOM, the Citrix MetaFrame XP Management Pack can collect and analyze data from multiple farms, zones, and servers, and distill critical management information for the Administrator. Additionally, the Management Pack includes a number of predefined Citrix rules and scripts for generating alerts.

The Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider As mentioned in the preceding Note, MOM requires access to the Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider for WMI to function. The Citrix WMI provider integrates with the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), a standard management infrastructure included as part of Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP. WMI is designed to help system administrators manage large, complex enterprise systems, applications, and networks. WMI is a standard for accessing and sharing management information from a variety of underlying technologies in an enterprise environment. It provides system administrators with a single, consistent object-oriented interface to monitor and control system components locally or remotely.

The Citrix MetaFrame XP WMI Provider acts as an intermediary between the CIM (Common Information Model) Object Manager and the system being managed. The purpose of a WMI provider is to extract management information from the underlying system and present this to a WMI consumer (MOM). The Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider supplies information that includes

  • Farm data A Citrix server farm is a group of Citrix servers managed as a single entity. Details about servers in the farm, zones in the farm, published applications, and pooled licenses are provided.

  • Zone data A zone is a grouping of Citrix servers that share a common data collector, which is a MetaFrame XP server that receives information from all the servers in the zone. The name of the zone in which the MetaFrame server operates is provided, together with details about the master and the other servers in the zone

  • Server data Information about the MetaFrame server on which the Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider is installed is supplied—for example, details about the licenses assigned and in use, sessions, and applications running.

  • Session data Information about the ICA sessions running on the server is provided, such as session ID and name, together with information about the processes running within a session.

  • Citrix license data Citrix license details, such as the status of licenses and the grace period, are provided, together with information about license groups. For example, details about the licenses in the group and the number of pooled connection licenses available and in use.

  • Load balancing data If you are using MetaFrame Load Manager, information is provided about the server load level and the application load level on the local MetaFrame server. Note that you must configure the application load level in the Citrix Management Console.

  • Management Console The server load level is configured by default. For more information about Citrix Load Manager, see the Load Manager Getting Started guide and the online help.

  • Application data Published application details, such as the name, type, and version number of applications are provided. Information about applications published on a particular MetaFrame server is also supplied.

  • User data User details, such as username and account information are provided, together with information about user groups and membership.

  • Static instances The date and time of static instances such as zone elections and disconnected sessions is recorded. This data is useful in monitoring whether or not these events are occurring too frequently.

  • Events Information about events that occur, such as when an application is published, deleted, moved, or updated is provided. Also included are details about the creation, maintenance, and deletion of published application folders, servers, server folders, and sessions, together with many more events.

The Citrix MetaFrame XP Provider allows you to

  • Log off a session Logging off a session terminates the connection and all running programs. The user cannot reconnect to the session.

  • Disconnect a session Disconnecting a session terminates the connection between the server and the client. However, the user is not logged off and all running programs remain active. The user can later reconnect to the disconnected session.

  • Send messages to users You can send messages to particular sessions.




Citrix Metaframe Access Suite for Windows Server 2003(c) The Official Guide
Citrix Access Suite 4 for Windows Server 2003: The Official Guide, Third Edition
ISBN: 0072262893
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 158

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