Geneos

Gateways Dockable

Overview

The Gateways dockable displays a list of the Gateways that are currently configured for, and connected to, Active Console.

These Gateways can be displayed in a number of different modes. The modes can be toggled by the right-click menu in the view. The view modes are:

Mode Description
Thumbnails Displayed in a grid format, with large icons and the name of the component.
Tile Displayed in a grid format with additional information.
Details

A table format where the left hand column contains the item and its icon. This setting can be rearranged.

The remainder of the columns display additional attributes of the items. The tables can be sorted on any of the columns.
List A simple list displaying the items, with a small icon and their name, from top to bottom.
Icons A compressed thumbnail view where each item is allocated less space, so that more of them can be displayed in the same space.
   

The Gateways can also be:

  • Sorted into logical groups, where each item in the group shares a common attribute with the other items.
  • Grouped or ungrouped. The attribute that is used to group the items together is the same as the column by which the detailed view is sorted. In all cases, the groups themselves are sorted into alphabetical order.
  • Exported its content as a report to disk in the CSV format.

To export the contents of Gateways view:

  1. Go to the Gateways dockable.
  2. Right-click the dockable window and click Export.
  3. Type the file name of your file.
  4. Click Save.

Gateway connections

The core of a workspace configuration is the Gateway that it tries to connect to. The Active Console can connect to up to 1024 Gateways.

These can be defined either explicitly (by defining their host and port) or through remote files that contains lists of Gateways (also defined by their host and port). The end result is a set of Gateways (host and ports) to connect to on start up.

Note: Duplicates are allowed in the list of connections. However, these are ignored when connecting to the Gateways, so that each Gateway is connected only once.

Connections are defined through the workspace configuration and their properties. For reference, see Connections settings in Workspace Settings.

Field Description
Hostname

Primary hostname or IP address.

Mandatory: Yes
Port

Primary port number.

Mandatory: Yes
Enabled

Identifies whether the connection must connect or not connect on start up.

Note: You can always change this property during runtime. This is just how it comes up on first starting the Active Console.

Mandatory: No
Secure Connection

Type of connection that the Active Console must establish with the Gateway.

If this is set, then the Active Console uses a secure connection to communicate with the Gateway. Otherwise, it uses an insecure connection.

Mandatory: No
Logon Method

Type of method that the Active Console attempts to log on to Gateway with.

Tthis overrides the workspace logon type.

Mandatory: No
Description

A natural language description that you want to display if the Gateway is not connected.

Once connected, it uses the name passed to it from Gateway.

Mandatory: No
Secondary Host

Name or IP address to be used if the Active Console fails to connect to the primary Gateway.

This functionality is also referred to as Hot standby.

Mandatory: No
Secondary Port

Port number of the secondary Gateway.

This functionality is also referred to as Hot standby.

Mandatory: No
   

Enable and disable Gateway connections

Within the workspace, a Gateway connection can be defined as Enabled or Disabled.

If a Gateway connection is disabled, then Active Console does not connect to the Gateway (if it is already connected, it breaks the connection).

Note: This does not disable the actual Gateway, only the Active Console from connecting to it. Access to the enable or disable functionality is through the Gateway menu.

There are several options to connect to, and disconnect from Gateways:

  • On the File menu, click either Connect to all Gateways or Disconnect from all Gateways.
  • In the Gateways dockable, right-click a Gateway and click either Connect to Gateway(s) or Disconnect from Gateway(s).

There is also a Reset connection(s) function that disables, and then enable the Gatewayconnection. In this example, the first two Gateways in the list are actively connected, and the other one is disconnected:

You can decide whether new connections are enabled or disabled when these are imported using the Enable new remote connections in the Active Console Settings > Connections setting. If this is selected, newly added Gateways comes in as enabled. Otherwise, these are added as disabled.

Log on to Gateway

Every workspace is configured with a default gateway logon method. You can modify this setting upon setting up the Gateway connection in the Active Console Settings > Connections > Logon method.

This can be either:

Field Description
Always ask When Active Console connects to the Gateway, you will be prompted to choose a connection type and to give a username and password.
Ask once You will be asked for a username and password the first time you connect to the gateway in the Active Console session.
Use system Uses the OS system logon credentials and send them to the connected Gateways when connecting.
Workspace  
SSO Uses the SSO when it connects to the Gateway.
   

You can define different logins for each of the Gateways that are configured for your workspace using these settings.

Note: The settings in locally defined connections always override those defined in remote files. If there are duplicates, the local connection settings is always use first.

Gateway name or ID clashes

Gateways must have unique names and IDs in Active Console

Note: If you connect to more than one Gateway, their names and IDs must be different. Otherwise, this causes an error. It is recommended that you resolve clashes, by changing the Gateway setup.

Legacy Gateway IDs are generated in the Active Console based on the hostname and port, so it is not possible for them to clash. However, the name can clash with another connection. If this is the case, this sample error message is prompted:

Error: The legacy connection 'hostname:port' conflicts with another connection.

The connection is still valid, but the name of the Gateway in the Active Console has changed to ensure uniqueness. Any paths that rely on the name is not going to work.

If a Gateway name or ID clashes in Active Console, this sample error message is prompted:

Error: the connection'hostname:port' was rejected.

At this point, the connection is rejected and contains no data. It is necessary to change the setup so the name and ID do not clash. This can be set in the Gateway Setup Editor > Operating Environment of the Gateway setup file.

When you save a file using the Gateway Setup Editor, it checks if the name or ID clashes with any existing connections. If it does, this warning message is prompted:

The name or ID of the setup clashes with an existing connection.
The Gateway "Name of the Gateway" has the same Name.
If you continue it is likely the connection will be rejected.

Secondary Gateway indicators (Hot standby)

When Gateways are configured with secondary connections (hot standbys), here are the icons that you might see in the Gateway view.

ac2-user-guide57

The primary Gateway icon displays in front of the secondary gateway.

  • If a Gateway (primary or secondary) is up, it appears solid, and gets coloured for its severity.
  • If it is down, then it appears partially transparent and greyed out.

View the Gateway licence expiry

License information for Gateways is available if you switch the Gateway view to Details view.

To view the Gateway licence expiry, go to Gateways dockable.

  1. Right-click the window and click Details.
  2. Scroll to the right to view the last column in the Details view.
  3. Expand the Licence Expiry column to view the complete date and time period.

If Gateways are coming to the end of their licence period, then a warning displays in the Output dockable.

Licensing-xxxx has expired. Licence details:<username-os>

Subscription mode for Gateway connections

This version of Active Console contains an optimisation that reduces the amount of network traffic between the Gateway and Active Console.

In subscription mode, the Active Console only subscribes to the minimum required set of dataview cell updates. This reduces the network traffic and the processing load on the Active Console that allows you to concurrently connect to more Gateways whilst using less resource on the client machine.

This feature maintains the majority of Active Console functionality subject to one limitation (see 'searching by cell value' below).

When the Active Console first connects to a Gateway, or when new dataviews are created on a Gateway, the full and current state of all dataview cells are sent to the Active Console (these are known as IMAGES). Subsequent changes to dataview cells are transmitted as UPDATES to be applied on the Active Console.

Updates only contain the minimal set of changes to maintain data synchronisation, similar to a market data tick.

Enable subscription mode

Gateway sends all dataview IMAGES to Active Console.

Gateway sends the selected dataview cell value UPDATES to Active Consoleonly if one or more of the following conditions are met:

  • Cells with red/amber severity.
  • Cells that are being used in an Active Dashboard or Active Chart.
  • Cells currently being observed by the user in a list view or metrics view.

Gateway sends all state and severity UPDATES to Active Console.

Disable subscription mode

Gateway sends all dataview IMAGES to Active Console.

Gateway sends all dataview UPDATES to Active Console.

Version requirements

  • Gateway versions 2011.2.1 or later
  • Active Console versions 2011.2.1 or later

Active Console versions from GA3.0.0 onwards will have this feature enabled by default.

Configure subscription mode

This setting enables subscription mode when placed in the ActiveConsole.gci file:

-bdosync

DataView,BDOSyncType_Level,DV1_SyncLevel_RedAmberCells

The setting is recommended and is enabled by default from version 3.0.0 Active Console onwards. To disable subscription mode, remove or comment out the setting from ActiveConsole.gci. Then, restart Active Console.

To check if subscription mode is enabled, look for following text in the Help > About dialog.

-------------------------------------------
BDO Sync levels
-------------------------------------------
DataView,BDOSyncType_Level,DV1_SyncLevel_RedAmberCells

Note: Paths that reference the value of a cell may return incorrect results when subscription mode is enabled.

It is recommended to avoid using such paths when configuring Search, Reporting, Notification, and ListView. If this type of search is a requirement, then disable the subscription mode in Active Console.

This allows you to change the listerning port of the Active Console by configuring the EMF2 port through the ActiveConsole.gci file:

-EMF2ListenPort ****