HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Remedy Action Request System

for the Windows operating system

Release Notes

Software version: 03.10 / Monday, October 13, 2008

This document provides an overview of the changes made to the HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Remedy Action request System (REMSPI) for the 03.10 release. It contains important information not included in the manuals or in online help.

In This Version
Documentation Updates
Installation and Upgrade Notes
Enhancements and Fixes
Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds
Documentation Errata
Support
Legal Notices

In This Version

New in version 03.10

Documentation Updates

The first page of this release notes document contains the following identifying information:

To check for recent updates or to verify that you are using the most recent edition, visit the following URL:

http://ovweb.external.hp.com/lpe/doc_serv/

1.      In the Product list, click the product name.

2.      In the Version list, click the version number.

3.      In the OS list, click the OS type.

4.      In the document list, click the document title.

5.      To retrieve the document, click Open or Download.

NOTE: To view files in PDF format (*.pdf), Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your system. To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, go to the following URL:

http://www.adobe.com/

Installation and Upgrade Notes

Installation requirements, as well as instructions for installing the Remedy SPI, are documented in Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI provided in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. The document file is included on the product's CD media as: 

SPI-DVD for HPOM\Documentation\SPI Guides\Remedy_Config.pdf

Software and Hardware Requirements

The Software and Hardware Requirements are listed in Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI.

Installation Problems

The Remedy SPI server needs the dynamic link libraries (DLLs) from the Action Request System server to run. These have to be copied to the HPOM management server before the Remedy SPI server can be started.  After the Remedy SPI has been installed, the Remedy SPI service is not started automatically. This is because the SPI configuration files have to be created and propagated accordingly and the ARS libraries have to copied in place first.

If, after installing the SPI, the HPOM management server is rebooted before these steps have been completed, an error window is shown after the reboot, stating the inability of the service manager to locate the ARS libraries (because the Remedy SPI service is configured to start automatically on reboot). This error can be ignored until the SPI has been configured and the ARS libraries have been copied.

Installation and Configuration – Overview

The steps needed to install and configure the Remedy SPI are outlined in this section. For a complete and detailed discussion, please see the Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI.

1.      Install the SPI.

2.      Copy the following Action Request System server libraries into the directory %OvInstallDir%\bin\REMSPI. The ARS server libraries may be found on your original Action Request System Install CDs.

§         arapi63.dll

§         arrpc63.dll

§         arutl63.dll

3.      Create and update the Remedy SPI configuration file %OvShareDir%\conf\REMSPI\remspi.cfg according to the detailed description in the Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI. You may use the file remspi.cfg.new in this directory as a starting point.

4.      Create and update the Remedy SPI configuration file %OvShareDir%\conf\REMSPI\rules according to the detailed description in the Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI. You may use the file rules.PR in this directory as a starting point.

5.      Deploy the REMSPI and the SHS Data Collector instrumentation to the managed nodes which will be put in to the  SPI for Remedy ARS node groups in the HPOM console in the next step. For Windows nodes, add the Microsoft Windows instrumentation.

6.      Copy the ARS server and the HPOM management server icons into the appropriate node group in the HPOM console.

7.      Configure the ARS form and ARS filters on the ARS server according to the instructions in Administrator’s Reference Guide for the Remedy SPI to enable the communication from ARS to HPOM.

8.      Start the Remedy SPI service using the HPOM tool Remedy SPI Admin \ Start SPI Server or use the command net start “HP OV SPI for Remedy service” in a command window on the HPO management server.

Upgrade Instruction

If the Remedy SPI is to be upgraded from a prior version, then the following steps should be performed:

If, for any reason, the upgrade has not been performed in this sequence, but the new version was installed while the previous version was still in place, then the following should be noted:

There is no policy group called  “Auto-Deploy” located under these groups as with the previous version. Thus, the old policy groups called  “Auto-Deploy” should now be removed. This applies only if you upgrade from a version older than 02.90.

Enhancements and Fixes

The following items (identified by error tracking number) are fixed in the current software release. To display details about each software fix, click the error tracking number. To hide details, click again.

n/a: ITO_UPDATE actions on multiple messages fail if one message does not exist anymore

 

PROBLEM:

If multiple HPOM messages are attached to one AR ticket, and the ticket is modified. the ITO_UPDATE actions should be executed on all the HPOM messages. But if one (or more) of the attached HPOM message do not exist anymore, the remaining HPOM messages are skipped, too.

 

CAUSE:

Defect.

 

FIX:

This defect has now been fixed.

 

n/a: Need finer control to access annotations of HPOM messages

 

PROBLEM:

A finer access to the annotations of HPOM messages is requested. Up to now, only $MSG_ANNO$ is supported, which either provides all annotations of a message or the last one.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement.

 

FIX:

New action variables $MSG_ANNO_FIRST$, $MSG_ANNO_LAST$ and $MSG_ANNO_ALL$ were implemented.

 

QXCR1000776137: Execute ITO_UPDATE conditions when an AR ticket is moved (DSO-TRANSFER)

 

PROBLEM:

If an AR ticket is moved between AR servers and/or forms, the ITO_UPDATE statements should be evaluated and possibly executed on the associated HPOM message.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

This request has now been implemented.

 

QXCR1000820858: Remove HPOM GUI integration on SPI removal

 

PROBLEM:

If the SPI is removed from the HPOM management server, the integrations into the HPOM GUI should be removed as well (node groups, policies, tools).

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

The SPI integrations into the HPOM GUI are now removed on SPI removal.

 

QXCR1000797694: Separate HPOM for Windows and HPOM for UNIX related information into two SPI guides

 

PROBLEM:

Information for both HPOM for Windows and HPOM for UNIX were integrated into one SPI User Guide. The request is to provide separate documents which information related to the specific platform only.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

The separation has been implemented.

 

n/a: Warn if rules file conditions descriptions are not unique

 

PROBLEM:

The rules file condition descriptions have to be unique throughout the complete configuration files. This is because the description is the primary identifier of a condition. If a condition description appears twice, the first definition is lost without mentioning it.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

A warning message is now generated if a condition description appear multiple times.

 

QXCR1000821503: Support ON_ATTACH statements similar to the ON_SUBMIT statements

 

PROBLEM:

It should be possible to modify HPOM messages in case they are attached to an existing ticket, similar to the ON_SUBMIT statements which are executed if a HPOM message is submitted as a new ticket.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

The keyword ON_ATTACH is now supported. The action statements are executed if a HPOM message is attached to an existing AR ticket.

 

QXCR1000823869: Need Remedy SPI UP event

 

PROBLEM:

In case the SPI server is available again, an UP message is needed in the message browser.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

A new policy was introduced to generate a UP message if the SPI server is up again.

 

QXCR1000826312: Specifying a new communication port or request queue via remspi.cfg does not work

 

PROBLEM:

If the AR server was bound to a specific TCP port or a specific request queue should be used by the SPI server, the new port and/or request queue needed to be configured in the remspi.cfg file (ARTCPPORT / ARRPC). This did not work for HPOM for Windows management server.

 

CAUSE:

Defect.

 

FIX:

The TARGET section in the rules file has been extended. The communication port and/or the request queue to be used are now configured using the keywords ARTCPPORT and ARRPC in the rules file. If the new keywords are not used, the portmapper is queried for the communication port and the fast server queue is used.

 

QXCR1000827143: WMI errors are observed in case the HPOM database contains a large number of messages

 

PROBLEM:

If the HPOM database contains a large number of messages (> 15.000), then errors from the WMI subsystem are observed on the HPOM management server (WBEM_E_QUOTA_VIOLATION).

 

CAUSE:

Configuration Issue.

 

FIX:

To solve this problem the memory quota parameters of WMI for polling queries must be changed.

To do this, perform the following steps:

1) Run the command "wbemtest" from the command line.

2) Connect to the namespace "root"

3) Click on "Open Class" and enter "__ArbitratorConfiguration" as class name. Click OK.

4) Click on instances. There must be only 1 instance. Double click on the instance.

5) In the "Properties" section select "PollingMemoryPerUser". Set the value to 66554432. Click "Save Property"

6) In the "Properties" section select "PollingMemoryTotal". Set the value to 99000000. Click "Save Property"

7) Click "Save Object", "Close", "Close", "Exit"

8) Reboot th HPOM management server.

 

QXCR1000854269: Need OBJECT IN file condition term

 

PROBLEM:

Request is to provide condition terms for checking more HPOM message attributes for existence in an external text file.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

The rules file syntax now allows to check whether the HPOM message attributes OBJECT, APPLICATION or CMA are contained in an external text file. Syntax is similar to NODE IN file.

 

QXCR1000855054: Referencing the real ticket ID

 

PROBLEM:

The SPI maintains the request ID as the ticket ID in its internal SPI database. This ID is referenced via the action variable $ARS_ID$.  The request is to allow to embed the contents of an arbitrary ticket field in the HPOM message which is submitted as a ticket.

 

CAUSE:

Enhancement request.

 

FIX:

All ON_xxx action statements now allow referencing any field in the created/attached to ticket. Thus, the texts specified in the ON_SUBMIT, ON_ATTACH, ON_MOVE_TO_ME and ON_MOVE_FROM_ME statements may contain a reference to any field of the current AR ticket. If this feature is used, an additional operation is necessary to fetch the field contents from the AR server after the ticket has been created/attached.

Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds

Tools

 

PROBLEM:

The tool remspi_qutil does not lock the SPI queues. If executed while the SPI server is running this may lead to inconsistencies in the queue files.

 

SOLUTION:

Use this tool only if the SPI server is not running. If you experience problems due to inconsistencies in the queues, stop the server, delete all files in the queue directories (%OvDataDir%\tmp\remspi\queue.*)and restart the server.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

The tool remspifilter is not able to modify the filter definitions on the AR server if the SPI server is running.

 

SOLUTION:

Use this tool to modify AR filter definitions only if the SPI server is not running.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

The tool remspifilter does not use the correct path to the itoupdate.exe command for a Windows HTTPS agent deployed from a HPOM for Windows 8.1 management server.

 

SOLUTION:

Don't accept the default path proposed by the tool, but instead specify the correct path manually.

 

 

 

Operation

 

PROBLEM:

Message change events will not be queued if the target Remedy ARS server is not available, even if queuing has been enabled..

 

SOLUTION:

This feature will be supported with the next SPI version.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

Internal SPI messages (i.e. Application = "Remedy SPI") are not submitted either automatically or manually nor is the SPI server informed about their update.

 

SOLUTION:

This is not an error of the SPI, but intended behavior to prevent loops.

 

 

 

Installation / Activation

 

PROBLEM:

If the managed nodes (HPOM server, AR server) are assigned to the Remedy SPI node groups before the instrumentation is deployed, error messages regarding scripts and executables which are not found may appear.

 

SOLUTION:

Deploy the instrumentation for Microsoft Windows and REMSPI before you assign the managed nodes to the Remedy SPI node groups.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

If the AR server does not run or if the SPI configurations file rules contains errors or is not updated at all, the Remedy SPI service “HP OV SPI for Remedy service” will not start.

 

SOLUTION:

Make sure the SPI configurations file rules is properly edited and the AR servers specified in this file are up and running when you start the Remedy SPI service.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

If the Remedy SPI server does not start and aborts with the error message “arapi63.dll not found”, then the AR API libraries need to be copied to a directory in the %PATH% of the SPI server on the HPO management server.

 

SOLUTION:

Copy the AR API libraries to the directory %OvInstallDir%\bin\remspi on the HPO management server.

The files which need to be copied are:

  • arapi63.dll
  • arrpc63.dll
  • arutl63.dll

 

 

Note that the version numbers in the file names do not indicate that the Remedy SPI is able to connect only to AR 6.3.

 

 

PROBLEM:

If the Remedy SPI service “HP OV SPI for Remedy service” does not start, look at the error log file which is written for each start and stop of the Remedy SPI service. In addition, look at the log file of the Remedy SPI server.

 

SOLUTION:

The Remedy SPI service creates its own log directory. This directory is %OvDataDir%\log\remspi. The log file is then remspi_service.log

The log file file for the Remedy SPI server is %OvDataDir%\log\remspi\remspi.log.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

If the Remedy SPI service “HP OV SPI for Remedy service” is not created during installation of the SPI; or is not deleted during removal of the SPI, look at the error log file which is written for each of these actions.

 

SOLUTION:

The Remedy SPI service installation tool creates an its log directory. This directory is %OvDataDir%\log\remspi. The log file is then remspi_sc.log.

If there should be any need to install or remove the Remedy SPI manually, the Remedy SPI service installation tool has to be called with a full pathname.

To install the Remedy SPI service, use
%OvInstallDir%\bin\remspi\remspi_sc –i %OvDataDir%\log\remspi.

To remove the Remedy SPI service, use
%OvInstallDir%\bin\remspi\remspi_sc –d %OvDataDir%\log\remspi.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

If it’s not possible to modify an HPOM message as a result of a modified AR ticket or in an ON_xxx statement, it may be that the user account with which the Remedy SPI service is started does not have sufficient rights or there is no password configured for the admin user in remspi.cfg.

 

SOLUTION:

The user account with which the Remedy SPI service is started (look at the Windows service control panel) should then be changed to a user account with sufficient rights to access the HPOM messages.

In addition, make sure that a password is configured for the admin user in file remspi.cfg (keyword is REMSPI_ITO_ADMIN_PASSWD). The value of the password is meaningless, it just needs to be specified. Use the tool remspipasswd to encrypt an arbitrary value and use it in remspi.cfg.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

Before upgrading the SPI, i.e. installing the new version without removing the old version first, the Remedy SPI service has to be removed manually or else the upgrade process will fail.

 

SOLUTION:

Before upgrading, remove the Remedy SPI service via %OvInstallDir%\bin\remspi\remspi_sc –d. Note that the removal tool has to be called with a full pathname.

 

 

 

 

PROBLEM:

If the SPI is removed from the HPOM management server, the configuration direcory %OvShareDir%\conf\remspi is completely removed, too.

 

SOLUTION:

The configuration files rules and remspi.cfg should be copied to a safe place when they are needed at a later time prior to removal of the SPI.

Documentation Errata

n/a

Support

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Legal Notices

©Copyright 2007  Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.