Test 921: IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.2 Administration

Section 1. Concepts (12%)

1. Given documentation and experience with ITM V6.2, describe each component that makes up ITM V6.2 so that a detailed understanding of the architecture and implementation of the solution can be demonstrated

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Describe each component that makes up the ITM V6.2 infrastructure
2. Explain the relationships between the different ITM V6.2 components
3. Explain the use and implementation of various ITM V6.2 components


2. Given the business requirements and product documentation, identify solutions so that problems can be addressed with ITM V6.2

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Describe the capability and limitations of the ITM V6.2 solution
2. Gather business needs and provide the best solution for resolving them using ITM V6.2


3. Given product documentation and customer requirements for TEPS and TDW 2.x, identify the various database characteristics that are associated with the ITM V6.2 components so that database requirements can be determined

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Explain the database requirements for TEPS and TDW 2.x
2. Identify what is stored in the TEPS database (e.g. user data)
3. Identify what is stored in the TEMS database
4. Identify what is stored in the historical database
5. Demonstrate the use of querying the database
6. Explain how the TDW 2.x is populated and its sizing

Section 2: Daily Operations (48%)

1. Given the product documentation, access to the log files, and an appropriate viewer, identify key components within log files so that the administrator can maintain a stable environment

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Identify the location of the log files and their naming convention
2. Identify the key words to look for in a log file for a given ITM V6.2 component
3. Determine appropriate action to take based on the analysis of the relevant log file contents
4. Determine the appropriate viewing tool to be used to parse through the log files


2. Given the product and installation documentation, access to the agents and administrative authority, stop and start agents and infrastructure components so that the environment can be maintained

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Identify the necessary administrative authority required for each distributed platform
2. Demonstrate how to stop and start agents and infrastructure components on each of the distributed platforms


3. Given the installation and product documentation, business requirements for user access and authorization to data and tasks, perform user and group administration so that a secure ITM V6.2 environment can be maintained

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Demonstrate the different authorities or tasks that can be granted or denied to users and groups
2. Describe the relationships between users and groups
3. Demonstrate the user authentication methods used by ITM V6.2
4. Create and remove users and groups as per customer requirements


4. Given the product and installation documentation, access to the ITM V6.2 environment through TEP or CLI, create and maintain workspaces so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Gather customer requirements for reporting needs
2. Demonstrate the ability to navigate through the TEP workspaces
3. Demonstrate the ability to create, modify, customize, and publish workspaces as per customer requirements


5. Given the product documentation, access to the ITM V6.2 environment through TEP or CLI and appropriate authority, create and deploy effective situations so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Gather customer requirements for monitoring and alerting
2. Demonstrate the ability to create, modify, control, and customize situations using features and functions provided to display alerts and events as thresholds are met


6. Given the product documentation, access to the ITM V6.2 environment through TEP or CLI and appropriate authority, create and deploy effective policies so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Gather customer requirements for workflow automation
2. Demonstrate the ability to create, modify, control, and customize policies using the features and functions available in the workflow editor


7. Given the product documentation, access to the ITM V6.2 environment through TEP or CLI and appropriate authority, create and maintain Managed System List so that monitoring efficiency can be increased

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine the proper usage for managed system list (MSL) to increase monitoring efficiency
2. Demonstrate the ability to create, modify, or delete servers within MSL


8. Given product documentation, events actively being generated and the appropriate access and authority, effectively manage events across the enterprise so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Demonstrate the ability to identify generated events
2. Describe when administrator action is required for a given event
3. Describe the different types of events
4. Demonstrate the ability to take action or acknowledge and close an event
5. Manage events that are passed between ITM V6.2 and TEC or Netcool/OMNIbus


9. Given product documentation, a properly configured and running warehouse proxy and summarization & pruning agent, access and appropriate authority in the ITM V6.2 environment, effectively collect and manage historical data so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Gather requirements for what type of historical data to collect
2. Determine which attribute groups to collect and frequency to meet customer requirements
3. Enable historical data collection per customer requirements
4. Verify that data is being collected, summarized, and pruned as per customer requirements


10. Given the product documentation, appropriate authority to create and execute, automate daily administrative tasks so that ITM V6.2 can be made more efficient

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Describe the difference between the take action and launch functions
2. Demonstrate how to create and use the take action and launch functions within ITM V6.2

Section 3. Infrastructure and TEMA Management (12%)

1. Given product documentation, product software and appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems, install and upgrade the ITM V6.2 environment so that it meets the needs of the business

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Demonstrate how to install and configure the infrastructure components
2. Demonstrate the different ways to install and configure agents
3. Demonstrate how to update and maintain infrastructure components based on new or upgraded agents


2. Given product documentation, product software and appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and event management systems, synchronize where appropriate, integrate and maintain event management systems so that enterprise events can be effectively managed

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Demonstrate the ability to install and configure event management integration and synchronization components
2. Describe how ITM V6.2 Universal Agent could be used to integrate with third party event management solutions


3. Given product documentation, product software and appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems, develop a custom monitoring solution so that customer requirements can be met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Describe the different uses and data providers for Universal Agents and the usage and application of the Agent Builder
2. Identify custom monitoring requirements and determine proper agent (Universal Agent or Agent Builder)
3. Install or configure the appropriate agent
4. Develop an appropriate agent to provide a custom monitoring solution

Section 4. Performance Tuning and Problem Determination (28%)

1. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems and an understanding of the ITM V6.2 architecture, effectively manage the ITM V6.2 implementation so that customer performance objectives can be met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Establish the baseline of a properly functioning ITM V6.2 environment
2. Gather business requirements for performance targets
3. Identify the different configuration parameters that can be used to change performance characteristics of the ITM V6.2 components
4. Describe the configuration parameters, their relationship to the ITM V6.2 components, and the expected results
5. Determine reasonable modifications to the user configurable parameters to meet performance objectives
6. Demonstrate the ability to use and customize the topology view to identify potential issues in the ITM V6.2 infrastructure


2. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems and an understanding of the ITM V6.2 architecture, identify, troubleshoot, and resolve communication issues so that ITM V6.2 infrastructure is properly maintained to meet business objectives

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Identify communication related issues
2. Describe where various log and configuration files reside for each of the ITM V6.2 components
3. Determine which messages in the log file may be related to the communication issue
4. Demonstrate the ability to use OS network diagnostic tools or other network troubleshooting tools
5. Take the appropriate steps to resolve the issues based on the findings from the log files, diagnostic tools or additional support from IBM


3. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems and an understanding of the ITM V6.2 architecture, identify and use the appropriate tools to collect log and configuration files so that the ITM V6.2 environment can be maintained

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Identify the different diagnostic and collection tools available in the ITM V6.2 solution
2. Demonstrate under what circumstance each tool should be used and how to use it


4. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems, identify and troubleshoot issues using appropriate trace levels and log analysis so that issues can be resolved

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Identify the component having the issue in the ITM V6.2 environment
2. Identify the location of appropriate log and configuration files
3. Modify configuration files to appropriately set trace levels and restart component
4. Review log files for additional troubleshooting information gathered by log files
5. Resolve issues if possible based on log file analysis or contact IBM support for further assistance
6. Reset trace level back to default value


5. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure, target systems and database, ensure proper historical data collection is occurring so that customer requirements are met

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Verify that historical data collection has been enabled and properly configured
2. Check database connectivity
3. Verify that the proxy and summarization and pruning agents are configured correctly and running
4. Verify that the recommended database tuning parameters have been set
5. Demonstrate the ability to locate and view the log files associated with historical data collection, summarization and pruning agent, and TDW 2.x
6. Demonstrate the ability to query and navigate through the TDW 2.x database


6. Given product documentation, appropriate access and authority to infrastructure and target systems, maintain the ITM V6.2 environment using the service console so that changes in the environment can be efficiently made

With emphasis on performing the following:
1. Determine if the task can be completed by using the service console
2. Demonstrate the ability to utilize the service console to perform ITM V6.2 maintenance tasks