APM 10.5.2 WebSphere agent - PowerPacks

[Billy Cole]

Currently we are installing 10.5.2.24 (sp1) and within the Websphere agent directory there is an examples directory with the following:

   Cross-Enterprise_APM

   legacy

   PowerPackForIBMCTG

   PowerPackForWebSphereMQ

 

I did a document search for "PowerPack" and "Cross-Enterprise" and found nothing that might help describe what these power packs do, or how to install and configure them.

 

Does anyone have any insight or documentation on these elements?

[Haruhiko Davis]

Hi Billie,

In the old agent setup, the examples directory held actual example files on how to configure things, like LDAP/MSAD authentication & authorization, JavaScript calculators, and Extensions (aka PowerPacks). These are the actual binaries and PBDs used by the extensions that need to be move or copied to the appropriate location in the agent root folder.

[Sergio Morales Correa]

Hello Billy,

Here are the references:

 

CEAPM:
https://docops.ca.com/ca-cross-enterprise-application-performance-management/10-5/en/integrating/integrate-ca-sysview-and-ca-sysview-for-db2-with-ca-apm

 

CTG extension:
https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-5/en/extending/ibm-cics-transaction-gateway/install-extension-for-ctg#InstallExtensionforCTG-InstallIntroscopeAgentFilestoMonitortheCTGServer

 

MQ Java Connector agent:
https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-5/en/extending/ibm-websphere-mq/installation#Installation-InstallMQJavaConnectoragentonanexistingagent

 

Regards,

Sergio

[Billy Cole]

Thank you Sergio,

 

The docs for the CA SysView and CA Sysview for DB2 with CA APM needs to be updated and somewhere in the section, the "Cross-Enterprise" or even "PowerPack" should appear.

 

We do have the Cross-Enterprise APM Process in our v10.0, very similar to the image in the "Verify the Installation".

 

So in context of what I am trying to do, what benefits or additional performance metrics would integrating CA APM with the cross-Enterprise agent through the WebSphere Java agent provide? 

 

Much like the CTG Extension, which the first section is "About Extension for CTG" which provides just enough for me to go talk to the WebSphere admins to see if we are using the CTG Server.

 

For the MQ java Connector Agent, a bit confusing.  We currently run the MQAgent as separate agents on a dedicated host.  Does the WebSphere Java agent extension replace the stand alone MQAgent or does the extension capture more metrics?

 

Might need to convert this question into a discussion....

 

Thank you,

Billy

[Haruhiko Davis]

The MQ Connectors for Java agents are the JMS connectors showing you the path through the connector classes from the app tier.

[Hallett German]

Dear Billy:

Made this into a discussion. Passed your comments to the doc team,

 

Thanks for sharing this invaluable feedback. Very helpful.

Thanks

Hal German. 

[Billy Cole]

Again Thank you Sergio,

 

For the "Integrate CA SYSVIEW and CA SYSVIEW for DB2 with CA APM", on the page, it has a mix of the CTG and the CA Sysview integration.  We currently do not use the CICS Transaction Gateway but we do have the CA Sysview/Cross-Enterprise agent.

 

Are the CTG and the CA Sysview two separate extensions or are they tied together where you have to implement both the CTG and the CA Sysview integration together?

 

I commented within the documentation on the confusion on the CA Sysview page versus the CTG page.

 

https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-5/en/extending/ibm-cics-transaction-gateway/install-extension-for-ctg#InstallExtensionforCTG-InstallIntroscopeAgentFilestoMonitortheCTGServer

"This page has a mix of the CTG and CA Sysview information and it is very difficult to determine if CTG and the Cross-Enterprise_APM are the same thing, parts of each other or separate components.

CTG has a page: https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-5/en/extending/ibm-cics-transaction-gateway/install-extension-for-ctg#InstallExtensionforCTG-InstallIntroscopeAgentFilestoMonitortheCTGServer

The CTG page does not mention CA Sysview. but this page has CTG mentioned throughout.

The "Verify the Installation" section is useless for the agent part, might be helpful with the Enterprise Manager, but if that is the case, should show one of the typevalue views. The image is the metrics that the Cross-Enterprise APM agent produces but does not details which elements that the Integration with the JARs and such within the WebSphere agent actually does."

[Sergio Morales Correa]

Hi Billy,

I understand. Thank you for submitting your feedback by adding the comment into docops.

 

1) They are 2 separate components, you don't need to install/copy the CTG extension, from

Integrate CA SYSVIEW and CA SYSVIEW for DB2 with CA APM - CA Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management - 10.5 … 

"If the CTG, web services, and HTTP tracers are not selected at installation time, copy the jar files from <Agent_Home>\wily\examples\Cross-Enterprise_APM\ext to <Agent_Home>\wily\core\ext."

 

2) There are 2 options to monitor MQ

 

a) MQ Java connector Agent:  it instruments various Connectors, JMS classes and methods that communicate with WebSphere MQ, it includes a webspheremq.pbl, webspheremq_errors.pbd, etc

 

b) MQ Monitor available from the Powerpack installer: it is an agent that remotely accesses the MQ Manager and provides information that is related to WebSphere MQ resources such as Queue Managers, Queues, and Channels, and WebSphere MB resources such as Brokers and Message Flows. This PP/agent allows you to obtain deep information about MQ or MB.
NOTE: If you are using IIB10, you can use support IIB10 Fieldpack that is availalble from marketplace: http://marketplace.ca.com/shop/ca/iib10-extension.html

 

In addition to the above you can integration the above 2 MQ components for Cross Process Transaction Tracing, see
https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-5/en/extending/ibm-websphere-mq/configure-mq-agent#ConfigureMQAgent-ConfigurehandshakeforCrossProcessTransactionTracing

I hope this answer your question,

Regards,

Sergio

[Billy Cole]

1) The section in the documentation about the CTG, Cross-Enterprise and the HTTP Tracers really needs to be separated if they are separate elements.  This is so the end user knows what elements, jars, configuration are for which extension.

 

2)  I downloaded the IIB10 extension from the market place and found that it was a 9.7 agent base and I have a support case opened where engineering is building the version 10.5.2.  Hopefully that won't take much longer since I am installing 10.5.2 sp1 and rebuilding all of our agents.

 

Thanks for the pointer to the cross process transaction tracing through the MQ agent and the MQ Java Connector.  I will check with the WebSphere/MQ admins to see if this is something that might be useful to them.

 

Thank you,

 

Billy