Network Monitoring

Monitor can also be configured to monitor hardware and process information. These functions are enabled by launching a monitoring agent on each of the hosts to be monitored.

The agent connects to the Monitor server and periodically sends the following data:
  • Machine load (UNIX only)
  • CPU utilization
  • Filesystem utilization
  • Process listing
  • Network traffic levels (Linux only)

Agents can be configured and controlled remotely from the Monitor server if certain conditions are met (see the Remotely Controlled Monitoring Agent Configuration section below). Otherwise, agents can also be configured locally on each machine to be monitored (see the Stand-alone Monitoring Agent Configuration section below).

Remotely Controlled Monitoring Agent Configuration

For remote control of agents, the following must be true:
  • An Altair Accelerator installation must be available to the machine to be monitored (either network-based or local).
  • An RSH, SSH, or vovtsd connection must be allowed between the Monitor server and the host to be monitored without a password prompt appearing. The vovtsd daemon is provided by Altair Accelerator and provides secure connection capabilities on any configurable port for the purpose of starting and stopping agents remotely. This daemon is especially useful for Windows, which does not provide built-in remote connectivity capabilities. See the Setting Up SSH Keys section below for help with setting up SSH to not require a password, or the Setting Up vovtsd section below for help setting up the vovtsd daemon.

If the Altair Accelerator installation is not available on the remote machine, or none of the remote connection methods can be used, a stand-alone version of the agent must be launched directly on the remote machine. This type of agent cannot be controlled by the web interface. This is described in the Stand-Alone Monitor Agent Configuration section below.

Web-based Configuration

Visit the Agents administration page. This page can be used to add or delete agents on machines that possess remote connectivity capabilities (rsh/ssh/vovtsd):



Figure 1. Agents Options

Add agents using the web form on this page. Specify the host, the type of agent ("lm" for monitoring agents, "licmgr" for license management agents, which are described later in this administrator guide), and adjust the agent name to be unique, if needed. This will be the case if more than one agent will be running on the same remote machine. This is normally only true for license management agents. Finally, specify the access method (rsh/ssh/vovtsd) and click Add Monitoring Agent to register the agent with the system. The agent can now be started by clicking start all agents.

Note that for agents started via rsh or ssh, the value of the Altair Accelerator installation directory ($VOVDIR) for the agent defaults to the value of $VOVDIR for the Monitor instance. For vovtsd agents, the value defaults to the value of $VOVDIR for the vovtsd instance. If a different value of $VOVDIR is desired, an override can be specified by using the file-based configuration method below.

File-based Configuration

To configure monitoring agents, edit the licmon.swd/tasker.table.tcl file and add the hosts that are to be monitored. For example: 
DefineTaskerWithArgs HOSTNAME TYPE -rshcmd REMOTECMD -name AGENTNAME
  • The value of HOSTNAME should be the DNS name or IP address of the host to be monitored.
  • For monitoring agents, the TYPE should be "lm". For license management agents, the TYPE should be "licmgr".
  • The REMOTECMD value should be one of rsh, ssh, or vovtsd, depending on the connection method desired. If using vovtsd, the argument "-vovtsdport PORT" arguments must be passed as well, where PORT is the port number on which vovtsd is running on the remote machine. For example: 
    DefineWithArgs dragon lm -rshcmd vovtsd -name lmdragon -vovtsdport 16666
If the Altair Accelerator installation directory location ($VOVDIR) needs to be overridden use the -vovdir option to specify the desired location: 
DefineWithArgs dragon lm -rshcmd vovtsd -name lmdragon -vovtsdport 16666 \
    -vovdir /opt/rtda/2023.1.0/linux
Once the agent has been properly configured, it can now be started by using the start all agents button on the page mentioned above, or by issuing the following commands at the CLI: 
% vovproject enable licmon
%  start

By default, this will start all agents that are not already started. To start an individual agent, pass the agent's name into the vovtaskermgr start command.

Setting Up SSH Keys (UNIX only)

For networks where home directories are stored remotely and available to all machines via NFS, Monitor provides a utility called vovsshsetup to setup SSH keys, which allow SSH to connect to a remote machine without prompting for a password. After running the utility, one manual connection will need to be performed to each of the hosts so that its host key is added to the known_hosts file. Each host also must be able to mount the filesystem containing the Monitor software installation.

Setting Up vovtsd

UNIX
To manually start vovtsd, execute the daemon in a shell:
% source /<install_path>/<version>/common/etc/vovrc.csh (or vovrc.sh for bash)
% vovtsd -port 16666
The complete usage syntax of vovtsd is:

vovtsd: Usage Message
  
  VOVTSD: Vov Tasker Service Daemon
      This utility listens for requests to launch taskers for
      various projects, but always for the same user.
      The requests typically come from vovtaskermgr.
  
  USAGE:
      % vovtsd [OPTIONS]
  
  OPTIONS:
      -v                     -- Increase verbosity.
      -h                     -- Print this help.
      -debug                 -- Generate verbose output.
      -help                  -- This message.
      -normal                -- Start a normal daemon (for current user)
      -expire <TIMESPEC>     -- Exit from vovtsd after specified time.
      -user  <user>          -- Specify the user that should be impersonated.
                                vovtsd computes the port number by
                                hashing the user name.
      -port  <n>             -- Specify port to listen to.
  
  EXAMPLES:
      % vovtsd -normal
      % vovtsd -port 16666
      % vovtsd -user john -port 16000
To enable automatically starting vovtsd upon UNIX system startup, use the available example .bat files as a guide to create your own script, and place it in the appropriate directory. Example startup files are provided in $VOVDIR/etc/boot. Choose the one that best fits your scenario.
Windows
First, download the vovtsd-win32.exe or vovtsd-win64.exe program from the release distribution area of the Altair website. To run vovtsd manually, simply double click the program and fill out the form:


Figure 2.
To have vovtsd run automatically via a Windows service, launch the program with administrator privileges by right-clicking and selecting the Run as administrator option and use the Windows Services area to configure the vovtsd service.
Note: If upgrading from a version less than 2015.03, first stop and uninstall the old service before installing the new service.

Stand-alone Monitoring Agent Configuration

If network security measures prevent any of the above methods, a stand-alone version of the agent can be installed and configured locally on each of the remote machines to be monitored. This agent is designed to reconnect to the Monitor server in the event the connection is interrupted.

UNIX
First, download the vovtsd-VOVARCH program from the release distribution area of the Altair website, where VOVARCH matches the desired architecture (eg linux64). To run the agent manually, simply double click the program and fill out the form for the "Monitor" agent type ("Manager" agents are covered in a later chapter):


Figure 3.
The agent can be executed with the -h option to get usage syntax help, which can be used to develop a boot script for starting the agent automatically.
Windows
First, download the lmagent-win64.exe program from the release distribution area of the Altair website. To run the agent manually, simply double click the program and fill out the form for the "Monitor" agent type ("Manager" agents are covered in a later chapter):


Figure 4.
If not using an legacy license key file, make sure to specify the location of the ALM license server or file.
To have lmagent run automatically via a Windows service, launch the program with administrator privileges by right-clicking and selecting the Run as administrator option and use the Windows Services area to configure the vovtsd service.