MOM Agents: An Overview

The architecture of MOM consists of a variety of components. Configuration data and operations data for MOM are stored in SQL Server. MOM provides a data access service (DAS) that controls access to the MOM database through a COM+ service implementing a set of DCOM objects. One of the most important components of the MOM architecture is the MOM agents, consisting of remote and local agents to collect data and send it to the MOM Management Server computer.

A remote MOM agent runs on every computer that is monitored by an agent. Agents are either installed automatically by the MOM server, which uses push installation, or manually on the agent-managed computer. When monitoring is enabled, the MOM agent collects event data, performance data, and other possible indicators of problems on a managed computer. If a problem is detected, the MOM agent generates an alert. The MOM agent also discovers properties about the managed computer. When it finishes collecting information, the MOM agent sends the operations data for the managed computer to the MOM Management Server.

In addition to collecting data, the MOM agent continuously sends heartbeat messages to the MOM server to indicate that the MOM agent is functioning on the managed computer. The communication between the MOM agent and MOM server is always initiated by the agent. The agent-server communication channel uses the TCP/IP protocol and communications are secure, authenticated, and encrypted. In a trusted Active Directory environment, communications are also signed.

A local MOM agent is used to self-monitor the Management Server computer. The differences in functionality between the local agent and a remote agent are:

• The local agent does not provide a heartbeat.

• The local agent monitors agentless managed computers.

In this architecture, the MOM server functions as a proxy between the DAS and all the MOM agents. The MOM server is responsible for initiating computer discovery, push-installing the MOM agents, sending and receiving configuration data from agents, consolidating agent data, and writing data to the MOM database by using the DAS. The MOM Management Server itself is a collection of components that are installed on the same computer. The key components are the DAS, MOM server, and MOM agent.

The MOM Management Server provides the following services:

• Provides data access services for the user interface and the MOM runtime service

• Installs, uninstalls, and manages the lifetime of the MOM agent

• Distributes configurations to remote agents

• Monitors the availability of managed computers

• Receives operations data submitted by the agents

• Processes operations data and inserts this data in the MOM database

• Monitors agentless managed computers

• Self-monitors the MOM Management Server

Essentially, the agent acts as a service that runs on every computer you want to monitor. The agent captures information from the computer on which it is running, applies predefined rules to the captured data, and performs actions as defined by the rules. The agent deployment process involves the following stages:

• Identifying and creating a record of the computers that you want to manage by using MOM agents

• Preparing the event logs on these computers for running MOM agents

• Configuring MOM Management Server settings for agent deployment

• Creating Computer Discovery rules

• Installing agents

• Confirming that the agents are installed and being managed

Now that we've reviewed the basics of the MOM architecture and the role of MOM agents, let's take a look at how MOM agents are configured and deployed.