IBM TBSM 6.1 Schema Installer will not launch from Launchpad

In some environments, due to separation of duties or access issues, someone else might be doing to downloading. Such was the case for us recently. The TBSM 6.1 install for Windows comes in two files. Not having access to the download site or the download documentation, we did not know this. The person downloading the software only provided us the first part of the installation files. I began noticing that certain directory structures that were referred to in the documentation were missing. I searched all over IBM’s site, all over Google and found nothing.

Send SNMP Traps from Solarwinds

Send SNMP Traps from Solarwinds Orion
This project started to integrate Solarwinds and Netcool. I will be writing this as a two-part piece one for sending the traps from Solarwinds and one to receive in Netcool. This should work for other aggregators as well though. Anything that accepts SNMP Traps should be able to work with Solarwinds when the following actions are taken.

Netcool ODBC Connector

While setting up the ODBC Probe, we ran into a few snags. The goal of this project is to integrate Solarwinds Orion and Netcool. We ran into issues with data extraction from the DB and field compatibility. Hopefully these lessons learned with help someone out there.

Splunk Rules for Netcool

This is the second part of the Splunk integration piece. Information on configuring Splunk to send SNMP can be found here Sending SNMP Traps from Splunk.

To receive traps from Netcool we need to set the rules. The following code can be put into the mttrapd rules file, or better practice says put it in a separate file named something like splunk.rules and then include it in the mttrapd.rules.

# Splunk OID that we set in the Splunk SNMP Alerts.
case ".1.3.6.1.4.1.27389.1":

Sending SNMP Traps from Splunk

We started with the idea to generate alerts from Splunk that would forward to IBM Tivoli Netcool. This can be used with any SNMP aggregator, and can be customized to send any data that is needed. This article can be used in conjunction with Splunk Rules for Netcool to integrate Splunk with Netcool. This assumes you are running Splunk on *nix.

Clickable map links to open Active Event List filters in another portlet.

I needed a dashboard that would display a stop light view of the enterprise. Designed the map, but then how do I make the map elements clickable to change the Active Event List (AEL) filter in the next portlet? Wires? Maps do not have wires. This is how I did it.

1. Create a file called aelpage.html in

<TIP_Home>/systemApps/isclite.ear/Webtop.war/

2. Paste the following into the file:

Creating large maps in Netcool WebGUI the fast way...

I wanted to create a map that had at least 200 conditional icons, and then another 50 labels and such. This was taking forever using the map builder, and I thought back to my filter creation experience. If I could create the filters by editing a file, why couldn’t I edit the map the same way?

I created the map, started the grid of icons, and created at least two of every type of object in the map to create a template. I then went back to my install folder on the WebGUI server and searched for the map by name. In this case, I named the map “testing”.

Bulk Filter Creation on Netcool WebGUI

I wanted to add\edit a filter collection in Netcool that was going to be at least 200 filters. Obviously, this would take forever to do through the WebGUI. There has to be a faster\easier way. I searched the database, nothing there. Pressing on to find the config file that contains the information, I added a filter and then searched for that string in the configs.

I found ..\IBM\Tivoli\tip\TIPProfile\etc\webtop\data\global\filter.xml

Excerpt from filter.xml:

Random Invalid Session Errors in Netcool WebGUI

I am trying to work in Netcool WebGUI and it randomly logs me out with a session invalid error.

Error message: "Your session has become invalid. This is due to a session timeout or an administrator has logged you out"

I then log back in and get the same error twice before it finally lets me back in.

This was found to be while doing anything java related. This included TBSM, Filter Builder, Maps, Active Event List (AEL) and other java related pages.

Block SSLv2 in SPLUNK

By default, SPLUNK allows SSL v2 for backwards compatibility. For security purposes, it is good practice to disable SSLv2. Other security requirements or standards may also require it be disabled. Among these are PCI and DISA STIG Compliance.

Assuming you have already enabled SSL on SPLUNK, you would edit the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/web.conf and add the following line in the SSL settings portion.

supportSSLV3Only = True

This may cause problems with older browsers, but if they are that old they shouldn’t be allowed to connect anyway.

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