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Overview of the IBM Support Assistant Agent
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| | | Abstract | | IBM Support Assistant makes problem determination on remote machines much easier by providing remote capabilities. In addition to the Workbench, IBM Support Assistant provides two remote components: Agent and Agent Manager. | | | | | | | | Content |
The IBM Support Assistant Agent is a software component running on a remote system for the purpose of providing problem determination services to the IBM Support Assistant Workbench. The Agent is an optional, separately installable software component that enables you to perform problem-solving activities on remote systems without leaving the Workbench. For example, you might wish to retrieve a log file from a remote server and analyze it in the Workbench. The Agent also enables you to perform data collection. From the IBM Support Assistant Workbench, you can specify a remote system where an Agent is running and initiate an automated collection of log files, configuration files and other problem determination artifacts. Software inventory (operating system, software versions, fix levels, etc.) can be collected remotely for all targeted machines and accessed from the Workbench on a local machine.
The Agent installs onto a system to be managed by one or more Workbench applications and must be registered with the Agent Manager in order for the Workbench to communicate with it. Once you've installed an Agent Manager for your environment (see the Agent Manager section below), two registration tasks are required to activate your IBM Support Assistant Agent:
- An Agent must be registered with the Agent Manager. This registration takes place as part of Agent installation, and takes place every time you install an Agent.
- The Workbench must be registered with the Agent Manager. This registration takes place only once, when you enable remote agent access in the Workbench preferences. You can set Workbench preferences from the File menu.
An example scenario is shown below:
The IBM Support Assistant Agent is optional component -- it is only required if you would like to enable serviceability functions on remote systems.
The Agent Manager is responsible for keeping track of your Agents. The Agent Manager is an optional, separately installable software component that enables you to use Agents. You must install the Agent Manager if you intend to install Agents and it must be installed before installing any Agents. It is recommended that an Agent Manager is installed on a system separate from any Agents. You will only need to install the Agent Manager once regardless of how many Agents you decide to install.
The Agent Manager provides a basic security infrastructure in addition to maintaining a runtime registry of the installed remote IBM Support Assistant Agents.
Each IBM Support Assistant Agent registers with the Agent Manager when the Agent is installed. A Workbench can then register with the Agent Manager and "discover" all of the Agents that the Agent Manager monitors. Once the Workbench is aware of an Agent in the environment, it can communicate with the Agents on the remote systems to perform actions to assist you in problem determination such as automating the gathering of problem determination files and bringing them back to the Workbench for analysis with integrated tools.
The Agent Manager is typically installed on a server machine which has connectivity to other servers and can be accessed by the Workbench. The Agent Manager is optional -- it is only required if you would like to enable serviceability functions on remote systems where you intend to install IBM Support Assistant Agents.
Return to the IBM Support Assistant Home Page. | | | | | | | |
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| Product categories: |
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| | Software | |
| | Software Development | |
| | Other Software Development | |
| | IBM Support Assistant | |
| | Agents | |
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| Operating system(s): |
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AIX, Linux, Solaris, Windows
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| Software version: |
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4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.1
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| Reference #: |
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7015870
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| IBM Group: |
| | Software Group |
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| Modified date: |
| | 2009-05-28 |
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