Document revision date: 30 March 2001

## Availability Manager User's Guide

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### 6.4.4 OpenVMS I/O Filters

When you click I/O on the Filter page, the Availability Manager displays the OpenVMS I/O Filters page (Figure 6-8).

Figure 6-8 OpenVMS I/O Filters Page

The OpenVMS I/O Summary page (Figure 3-11) displays the values you set on this filters page.

This filters page allows you to change values for the following data:

Data | Description
--- | ---
Direct I/O Rate | The rate at which I/O transfers occur between the system devices and the pages or pagelets that contain the process buffer that the system locks in physical memory.
Buffered I/O Rate | The rate at which I/O transfers occur between the process buffer and an intermediate buffer from the system buffer pool.
Paging I/O Rate | The rate of read attempts necessary to satisfy page faults (also known as Page Read I/O or the Hard Fault Rate).
Open File Count | The number of open files.
BIO lim Remaining | The number of remaining buffered I/O operations available before the process reaches its quota. BIOLM quota is the maximum number of buffered I/O operations a process can have outstanding at one time.
DIO lim Remaining | The number of remaining direct I/O limit operations available before the process reaches its quota. DIOLM quota is the maximum number of direct I/O operations a process can have outstanding at one time.
BYTLM Remaining | The number of buffered I/O bytes available before the process reaches its quota. BYTLM is the maximum number of bytes of nonpaged system dynamic memory that a process can claim at one time.
Open File limit | The number of additional files the process can open before reaching its quota. FILLM quota is the maximum number of files that can be opened simultaneously by the process, including active network logical links.

### 6.4.5 OpenVMS Lock Contention Filters

The OpenVMS Lock Contention Filters page allows you to remove (filter out) resource names from the Lock Contention page (Figure 3-17).

When you click Lock Contention on the Filter page, the Availability Manager displays the OpenVMS Lock Contention Filters page (Figure 6-9).

Figure 6-9 OpenVMS Lock Contention Filters Page

Each entry on the Lock Contention Filters page is a resource name or part of a resource name that you want to filter out. For example, the STRIPE$ entry filters out any value that starts with the characters STRIPE$. To redisplay original entries, click Use default values.

### 6.4.6 OpenVMS Memory Filters

When you click Memory Filters on the Filter page, the Availability Manager displays the OpenVMS Memory Filters page (Figure 6-10).

Figure 6-10 OpenVMS Memory Filters Page

The OpenVMS Memory page (Figure 3-9) displays the values on this filters page.

The OpenVMS Memory Filters page allows you to change values for the following data:

Data | Description
--- | ---
Working Set Count | The number of physical pages or pagelets of memory that the process is using.
Working Set Size | The number of pages or pagelets of memory the process is allowed to use. The operating system periodically adjusts this value based on an analysis of page faults relative to CPU time used. An increase in this value in large units indicates a process is receiving a lot of page faults and its memory allocation is increasing.
Working Set Extent | The number of pages or pagelets of memory in the process's WSEXTENT quota as defined in the user authorization file (UAF). The number of pages or pagelets will not exceed the value of the system parameter WSMAX.
Page Fault Rate | The number of page faults per second for the process.
Page I/O Rate | The rate of read attempts necessary to satisfy page faults (also known as page read I/O or the hard fault rate).

### 6.4.7 OpenVMS Page/Swap File Filters

When you click Page/Swap File on the Filter page, the Availability Manager displays the OpenVMS Page/Swap File Filters page (Figure 6-11).

Figure 6-11 OpenVMS Page/Swap File Filters Page

The OpenVMS I/O Page Faults page (Figure 3-11) displays the values that you set on this filters page.

This filters page allows you to change values for the following data:

Data | Description
--- | ---
Used Blocks | The number of used blocks within the file.
Page File % Used | The percentage of the blocks from the page file that have been used.
Swap File % Used | The percentage of the blocks from the swap file that have been used.
Total Blocks | The total number of blocks in paging and swapping files.
Reservable Blocks | Number of reservable blocks in each paging and swapping file currently installed. Reservable blocks can be logically claimed by a process for a future physical allocation. A negative value indicates that the file might be overcommitted. Note that a negative value is not an immediate concern but indicates that the file might become overcommitted if physical memory becomes scarce.

You can also select (turn on) or clear (turn off) the following options:

- Show page files
- Show swap files

## 6.5 Customizing Events

You can customize a number of characteristics of the events that are displayed in the Events pane of the Application window (Figure 1-3).

When you select the Customize OpenVMS... or Customize Windows NT... option from the Application window's Customize menu, the Availability Manager displays a tabbed page similar to the one shown in Figure 6-12.

Figure 6-12 Event Customization Page

You can change the values for any data that is available (does not appear dimmed) on this page. The following table describes the data you can change:

Data | Description
--- | ---
Severity | Controls the severity level at which events are displayed in the Event pane. By default, all events are displayed. Increasing this value reduces the number of event messages in the Event pane and can improve perceived response time.
Occurrence | Each Availability Manager event is assigned an occurrence value, that is, the number of consecutive data samples that must exceed the event threshold before the event is signaled. By default, events have low occurrence values. However, you might find that a certain event indicates a problem only when it occurs repeatedly for an extended period. You can change the occurrence value assigned to that event so that the Availability Manager signals it only when necessary. For example, suppose page fault spikes are common in your environment, and the Availability Manager frequently signals intermittent HITTLP, total page fault rate is high events. You could change the event's occurrence value to 3, so that the total page fault rate must exceed the threshold for three consecutive collection intervals before being signaled to the event log. To avoid displaying insignificant events, you can customize an event so that the Availability Manager signals it only when it occurs continuously.
Threshold | Most events are checked against only one threshold; however, some events have dual thresholds, where the event is triggered if either one is true. For example, for the LOVLSP, node disk volume free space is low event, the Availability Manager checks both of the following thresholds: Number of blocks remaining ( LowDiskFreeSpace.BlkRem) Percentage of total blocks remaining ( LowDiskFreeSpace.Percent)
Escalation | Not yet implemented.
User Action | Not yet implemented.

The section of the page called "Event explanation and investigation hints" includes a description of the event and a hint about how to correct any problems that the event signals.

## 6.6 Customizing Security Features

The following sections explain how to change these security features:

- Data Analyzer passwords for OpenVMS and Windows NT Data Collector nodes
- OpenVMS Data Collector security triplets
- A Windows NT Data Collector password

Note OpenVMS Data Collector nodes can have more than one password: each password is part of a security triplet. (Windows NT nodes allow you to have only one password per node.)

### 6.6.1 Changing Data Analyzer Passwords

You can change the passwords that the Windows NT Data Analyzer uses for OpenVMS Data Collector nodes and for Windows NT Data Collector nodes. The following sections explain how to perform both actions.

#### 6.6.1.1 Changing a Data Analyzer Password for an OpenVMS Data Collector Node

When you click Customize OpenVMS... on the Customize menu of the Application window, the Availability Manager displays a Security page (Figure 6-13).

Figure 6-13 OpenVMS Security Customization Page

To change the default password for the Data Analyzer to use to access OpenVMS Data Collector nodes, enter a password of exactly 8 uppercase alphanumeric characters. The Availability Manager will use this password to access OpenVMS Data Collector nodes. This password must match the password that is part of the OpenVMS Data Collector security triplet (see Section 1.4).

When you are satisfied with your password, click OK. Exit the Availability Manager, and restart the application for the password to take effect.

#### 6.6.1.2 Changing a Data Analyzer Password for a Windows NT Data Collector Node

When you click Customize Windows NT... on the Customize menu of the Application window, the Availability Manager displays a Security page (Figure 6-14).

Figure 6-14 Windows NT Security Customization Page

To change the default password for the Data Analyzer to use to access Windows NT Data Collector nodes, enter a password of exactly 8 alphanumeric characters. Note that this password is case sensitive; any time you type it, you must use the original capitalization.

This password must also match the password for the Windows NT Data Collector node that you want to access. (See Section 6.6.3 for instructions for changing that password.)

When you are satisfied with your password, click OK. Exit and restart the Availability Manager for the password to take effect.

### 6.6.2 Changing Security Triplets on OpenVMS Data Collector Nodes

To change security triplets on an OpenVMS Data Collector node, you must edit the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file, which is installed on all Data Collector nodes. The following sections explain what a security triplet is, how the Availability Manager uses it, and how to change it.

#### 6.6.2.1 Understanding OpenVMS Security Triplets

A security triplet determines which nodes can access system data from an OpenVMS Data Collector node. The AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file on OpenVMS Data Collector nodes lists security triplets.

On OpenVMS Data Collector nodes, the AMDS$AM_CONFIG logical translates to the location of the default security file, AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT. This file is installed on all OpenVMS Data Collector nodes.

A security triplet is a three-part record whose fields are separated by backslashes (\). A triplet consists of the following fields:

- A network address (hardware address or wildcard character)
- An 8-character alphanumeric password
  The password is not case sensitive (so the passwords "testtest" and "TESTTEST" are considered to be the same).
- A read or write (R or W) access verification code

The exclamation point (!) is a comment delimiter; any characters to the right of the comment delimiter are ignored.

Example

All Data Collector nodes in group FINANCE have the following AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file:

    *\FINGROUP\R   ! Let anyone with FINGROUP password read
                   !
    2.1\DEVGROUP\W ! Let only DECnet node 2.1 with
                   ! DEVGROUP password perform fixes (writes)

#### 6.6.2.2 How to Change a Security Triplet

Note The configuration files for DECamds and the Availability Manager are separate; only one set is used, depending on which startup command procedure you use to start the driver. See Installing the Availability Manager Version 1.4 on OpenVMS Alpha Systems and Running DECamds and the Availability Manager Concurrently for a further explanation of the configuration file setup for both DECamds and the Availability Manager.

On each Data Collector node on which you want to change security, you must edit the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file. The data in the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file is set up as follows:

          Network address\password\access

Use a backslash character (\) to separate the three fields.

To edit the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file, follow these steps:

1. Edit the network address.
   The network address can be either of the following:
   - Hardware address
     The hardware address field is the physical hardware address in the LAN adapter chip. It is used if you have multiple LAN adapters or are running the Compaq DECnet-Plus for OpenVMS networking software on the system (not the Compaq DECnet Phase IV for OpenVMS networking software).
     For adapters provided by Compaq, the hardware address is in the form 08-00-2B-xx-xx-xx, where the 08-00-2B portion is Compaq's valid range of LAN addresses as defined by the IEEE 802 standards, and the xx-xx-xx portion is chip specific.
     To determine the value of the hardware address on a node, use the OpenVMS System Dump Analyzer (SDA) as follows:

         $ ANALYZE/SYSTEM
         SDA> SHOW LAN

     These commands display a list of available devices. Choose the template device of the LAN adapter you will be using, and then enter the following command:

         SDA> SHOW LAN/DEVICE=xxA0

   - Wildcard address
     The wildcard character (*) allows any incoming triplet with a matching password field to access the Data Collector node. Use the wildcard character to allow read access and to run the console application from any node in your network.
     Because the Data Analyzer does not use this field, you should use the wildcard character in this field in the AMDS$CONSOLE_ACCESS.DAT file.
     Caution: Use of the wildcard character for write-access security triplets enables any person using that node to perform system-altering fixes.
2. Edit the password field.
   The password field must be an 8-byte alphanumeric field.
   The password field gives you a second level of protection when you want to use the wildcard address denotation to allow multiple modes of access to your monitored system.
3. Enter either R or W as an access code.
   R means READONLY allowance for the Data Analyzer. W means READ/WRITE allowance for the Data Analyzer. (WRITE implies READ.)

OpenVMS Data Collector nodes accept more than one password. Therefore, you might have several security triplets in an AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file for one Data Collector node. For example:

    *\1DECAMDS\R
    *\KOINECLS\R
    *\KOINEFIX\W

In this example, Data Analyzer nodes with the passwords 1DECAMDS and KOINECLS would be able to see the Data Collector data, but only the Data Analyzer node with the KOINEFIX password would be able to write or change information, including performing fixes, on the Data Collector node.

If you want, you can set up your AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file to allow anyone in the world to read from your system but allow only a certain node or nodes to write or change information on your system.

Note After editing the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file, you must stop and then restart the Data Collector. This action loads the new data into the driver.

#### 6.6.2.3 How the Availability Manager Ensures Security

The Availability Manager performs these steps when using security triplets to ensure security among Data Analyzer and Data Collector nodes:

1. A message is broadcast at regular intervals to all nodes within the LAN indicating the availability of a Data Collector node to communicate with a Data Analyzer node.
2. The node running the Data Analyzer receives the availability message and returns a security triplet that identifies it to the Data Collector, and requests system data from the Data Collector.
3. The Data Collector examines the security triplet to determine whether the Data Analyzer is listed in the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file to permit access to the system.
   - If the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file lists Data Analyzer access information, then the Data Provider and the Data Analyzer can exchange information.
   - If the Data Analyzer is not listed in the AMDS$DRIVER_ACCESS.DAT file or does not have appropriate access information, then access is denied and a message is logged to OPCOM. The Data Analyzer receives a message stating that access to that node is not permitted.

Table 6-3 describes how the Data Collector node interprets a security triplet match.

Table 6-3 Security Triplet Verification
Security Triplet | Interpretation
--- | ---
08-00-2B-12-34-56\HOMETOWN\W | The Data Analyzer has write access to the node only when the Data Analyzer is run from a node with this hardware address (multiadapter or DECnet-Plus system) and with the password HOMETOWN.
2.1\HOMETOWN\R | The Data Analyzer has read access to the node when run from a node with DECnet for OpenVMS Phase IV address 2.1 and the password HOMETOWN.
*\HOMETOWN\R | Any Data Analyzer with the password HOMETOWN has read access to the node.

### 6.6.3 Changing a Password on a Windows NT Data Collector

To change the Data Collector password in the Registry, follow these steps:

1. Click the Windows NT Start button. First click Programs and then Command Prompt.
2. Type `regedit` after the angle prompt (>).
   The system displays a screen for the Registry Editor, with a list of entries under My Computer.
3. On the list displayed, click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE .
4. Click SYSTEM.
5. Click CurrentControlSet.
6. Click Services.
7. Click damdrvr.
8. Click Parameters.
9. Double-click Read Password. Then type a new 8-character alphanumeric password, and click OK to make the change.
10. To store the new password, click Exit under File on the main menu bar.
11. On the Control Panel, click Services and then Stop for "PerfServ."
12. Again on the Control Panel, click Devices and then Stop for "damdrvr."
13. First restart damdrvr under "Devices" and then restart PerfServ under "Services."
    This step completes the change of your Data Collector password.

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