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Self-Announcing Netprobe

Overview Copied

This topics walks you through the configuration and basic features of Self-Announcing Netprobes (SANs).

Features Copied

Disable listening Copied

There are two ways to configure Self-Announcing Netprobes to not listen for incoming connections on their configured port:

Either method does not remove the configured port from the Netprobe, and the port is still used by Gatewayto identify its connection with the Netprobe.

Load balancing Copied

In self-announcing mode, the Netprobe setup file must specify one or more Gateways to announce to.

When more than one Gatewayis specified, the following occurs:

  1. The Netprobe attempts to contact each Gateway.
  2. The Gateways respond, indicating if these are willing to accept the Netprobe. Each Gateway provides a metric indicating how highly loaded it is.
  3. The Netprobepicks the least loaded Gatewayto announce to, and listens for a connection in the normal way.
  4. If there is a tie, the Netprobepicks the first of the least loaded Gateways, in the order specified in the Netprobe setup file.

Score Copied

Self-Announcing Netprobes use the Gateway score to determine what Gateway to connect to.

Each Netprobe gives an individual score which represents the load it puts on a Gateway. The Gateway score is the total of the scores from every Netprobe on a Gateway. The score is a measure of how loaded a Gateway is. Currently, the score is the number of samplers configured on a Netprobe.

You can use the Probe Data plug-in to see the score from each Netprobe. For more information, see Probe data in Gateway Plug-Ins.

Rebalance Self-Announcing Netprobes Copied

You can redistribute SANs across your Gateways using the Gateway command for rebalancing Self-Announcing Netprobes. This command removes SANs from a Gateway to either reach a target number of SANs or reach a target Gateway score.

You may want to use this command to redistribute SANs to a recently restored Gateway from other Gateways across your cluster.

For more information, see Rebalance Self-Announcing Netprobes command in Gateway Commands.

Snooze and user assignment information on self-announcing probes Copied

Self-Announcing Netprobes store snooze and user assignment information in files in the Netprobedirectory. The files have the following filenames, where <probename> is the name of the SAN configured in the Netprobesetup file:

Configuration settings Copied

In addition, the Netprobe setup file can specify zero or more Managed Entity Attribute name-value pairs. These can be used by Active Console for searching and sorting purposes. Attributes are typically used with the logical mode of the Active Console State Tree.

Netprobe Setup File can also set user-defined variables on the created Managed Entity. The variables section is not parsed by the probe; it is passed to the Gateway to be checked. All variable types that can be entered on in the Gateway setup are accepted, except for any types of passwords.

Consider the following setup file for a Self-Announcing Netprobe:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
 <netprobe>
  <selfAnnounce>
   <enabled>true</enabled>
   <retryInterval>60</retryInterval>
   <requireReverseConnection>false</requireReverseConnection>
   <probeName>myProbe</probeName>
   <managedEntities>
    <managedEntity>
     <name>myEntity</name>
     <attributes>
      <attribute name="COUNTRY">USA</attribute>
      <attribute name="CITY">CHICAGO</attribute>
      <attribute name="ENVIRONMENT">PROD</attribute>
     </attributes>
     <variables>
      <var name="var_string">
       <string>selfProbe</string>
      </var>
      <var name="var_double">
       <double>10.1</double>
      </var>
      <var name="var_ActiveTime">
       <activeTime>
        <activeTime ref="SomeActiveTime"/>
       </activeTime>
      </var>
     </variables>
     <types>
      <type>Linux</type>
      <type>Fidessa</type>
      <type>ProdShare</type>
     </types>
    </managedEntity>
   </managedEntities>
   <gateways>
    <gateway>
     <hostname>gateway1</hostname>
     <port>17101</port>
     <secure>true</secure>
    </gateway>
    <gateway>
     <hostname>gateway2</hostname>
     <port>17102</port>
    </gateway>
    <gateway>
     <hostname>gateway3</hostname>
     <port>17103</port>
     <secure>false</secure>
    </gateway>
   </gateways>
  </selfAnnounce>
 </netprobe>

OS environment variables Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.3.x, the Netprobe setup file supports using macros to access environment variables available to the host platform.

The syntax for the new macro is [[$env:VARIABLE_NAME]].

The Netprobe evaluates environment variables only once during its lifecycle. That is, during a Netprobe process startup and restart.

If an environment variable cannot be determined, then the macro remains unresolved.

Environment variables abide by OS-specific rules, precedence, and profiles.

Linux environment variables Copied

On Linux, you can use any available environment variables. For example, if the value of $SHELL in the Linux environment is /bin/bash, then [[$env:SHELL]] resolves to /bin/bash in the Netprobe setup file.

Linux variables are case-sensitive.

Windows environment variables Copied

On Windows, you can use any user environment variable defined under Environment Variables in System Properties.

Windows environment variables are case-insensitive.

If the Netprobe is run as a Windows service, then it evaluates the environment variable macros using the environment values defined at startup.

Connection rules Copied

Reasons for rejection Copied

Gateways may refuse to accept a Self-Announcing Netprobe for a few reasons. For more information, see Rejection reasons.

Configuration conflicts Copied

The Self-Announcing Netprobe may encounter conflicts between its setup file and the Gateway setup file. For more information, see Configuration conflicts.

Disconnection behaviour Copied

The Netprobe follows a set of rules when connecting to the Gateway. For more information, see Disconnect behaviours.

Hot standby Gateways Copied

Where hot standby Gateway pairs are used, both should be specified in the Netprobe setup file. A non-active Gateway will refuse to accept the Netprobe, so there is no risk of the Netprobe choosing a secondary Gateway while the primary is still up.

For more information on Gateway hot standby behaviour, see Hot Standby.

["Geneos"] ["Geneos > Netprobe"] ["User Guide"]

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