Creating and editing processes

You can set up a process and configure it to run as part of a service.

1. Perform any of the following actions from Netcool/OMNIbus Administrator:
   • If you are connected to the process agent and the Service/Process Details pane is open, go to the next step.
   • If not already connected, connect to the process agent. On successful connection, the Service/Process Details pane opens.
   • If you are connected to the process agent, but the Service/Process Details pane is not currently on display, click the Status icon in the Configuration window for the process agent, to view this pane.
2. To add a process, click New Process in the toolbar. To edit a process, select the process to edit and then click Edit in the toolbar.

   The Process Details window opens.

3. Define a new process as follows:

   Name

   Type the process name. This name must be unique per process agent. When editing a process, you cannot change the name.

   Command

   Type the command string that starts the process, as it would be entered on the command line. Use the full path for the command. For example, to configure an ObjectServer named NCOMS, with process agent SFOSYS1_PA, type:

   $NCHOME/omnibus/bin/nco_objserv -name NCOMS -pa SFOSYS1_PA

   Host

   Type the name of the host on which the process is run. Process control automatically resolves the name of the process agent, when required.

   Service

   Select the service under which this process will run. When editing a process, you cannot change the service.

4. From the Process tab, specify additional details about the process. Complete the tab as follows:

   Managed

   Select this check box if you want to the process to restart automatically if it fails.

   Run As ID

   Type the user ID under which the process is run. This value is typically 0, which corresponds to the root user name.

   Note: If the process agent is not running as root, this option is ignored, and the process is run as the user who is running the process agent.

   Retry Count

   Specify the number of restart attempts to be made if the process exits within the time specified by the process agent -retrytime command-line option. If set to 0, there is no limit to the number of restart attempts. The default is 0.

   Process Type

   From this drop-down list, select PA Aware to make the process aware of process control and enable the use of all process control features, such as dependencies. Select Not PA Aware if the process can be managed by process control, but cannot use all process control features.

   Dependency

   Use this drop-down list to indicate whether the process has any dependencies. The option that you select here determines the remaining fields that are displayed:

   • Select None to specify that the process has no dependency on any other process. No more fields are displayed.
   • Select Delay to indicate a time dependency for starting the process. An additional field titled Start delay is displayed for you to define the time dependency.
   • Select Process to indicate a dependency on another process. An additional field titled Select Delay from or Dependent Name is displayed for you to specify a process.

   Start delay

   Specify a time (in seconds) for starting the process. This time is measured from the start of the service.

   Select Delay from/Dependent Name

   Use this drop-down list to select another PA aware process on which the process being created or edited depends. The process being created or edited will not start until the process on which it depends is already running.

5. From the Messages tab, specify message details that should be sent to the UNIX syslog or the Windows Event Viewer when the process is restarted or exits. Complete the tab as follows:

   Restart

   Type the message to be sent to the UNIX syslog or the Windows Event Viewer if the process is restarted. For example: The ObjectServer has been restarted.

   Alert

   Type the message to be sent to the UNIX syslog or the Windows Event Viewer if the process exits. For example: The ObjectServer has gone down.

   When the process agent generates an alert or restart message, this message is passed to the syslog or Event Viewer. Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus has a Syslog probe that can monitor these messages and convert them into ObjectServer alerts.

   The alert and restore messages are sent to the UNIX syslog or the Windows Event Viewer as warnings. The message is formatted as:

   HOSTNAME : ALERT_OR_RESTART_MSG : MSG

   The HOSTNAME is the name of the host that has reported the problem. ALERT_OR_RESTORE_MSG describes the type of message. MSG is the text defined in the configuration file for that process.

   You can use the expansion keywords described in the following table in the restart and alert entries that you specify in the Messages tab. Expansion keywords act as variables and contain information about the process that has exited or restarted.

   Table 1. Expansion keywords

   Expansion keyword	Description
   ${NAME}	The name of the process.
   ${HOST}	The name of the host running the process.
   ${EUID}	The effective user ID under which the process is running.
   ${COMMAND}	The command that defines the process.

6. Save or cancel your changes as follows:

   OK

   Click this button to save the process details and close the window. New processes are added to the Service/Process Details pane.

   Tip: Your configuration changes are not automatically saved to the process control configuration file. To update the file, click Write Process Agent Config File in the toolbar.

   Cancel

   Click this button to close the window without saving your changes.