Some minor Tivoli issues I’ve dealt with lately

As part of getting back on the saddle with my blog, I’m going to list a few of the problems I’ve encountered lately and, more importantly, how I solved them.

ITM 6.2.1 on Windows

I had a case where a universal agent simply would not start. Looking at the logs showed nothing wrong, it was just not registering with the TEMS. The Perl script was unchanged, the owner of the script had not touched it.

I googled “script Universal Agent restart” and one of the first hits I got was for an APAR (patch) called IY86181: UA RESTART MAY FAIL IF A SCRIPT LAUNCHED WITHIN UA IS RUNNING. Interesting.
Unfortunately, this patch is for Unix servers and came out back in 2006! It did get me thinking and I checked the Task Manager for running processes. There were lots and lots and lots of Perl.exe…. hmm. I killed all the Perl.exes and lo and behold – the UA connected to the TEMS!

Pity it still didn’t show any data :(

I then opened up a command window and ran the script. Wouldn’t you know? The script hung because it asked me to press ‘y’ or ‘n’ for some security setup.

Pressing ‘y’ a few times solved the problem and the Universal Agent ran properly from then on. Oh, and the script owner remembered that he had added a few more servers to the config file.

Lessons learned?

1. NEVER believe whatever the client tells you. ESPECIALLY if they say “nothing changed, but now it doesn’t work”.
2. If something external to the application stops working, first test it by itself.
3. When researching a problem, look at similar-but-not-identical-problems and see if their solution can be fitted to suit you too.
4. Not every problem will show up as an error in the log. In this case, the UA was functioning properly, it was simply waiting forever for someone to press ‘y’!
5. Practice your skills. I haven’t been working on bugs in production environments lately, I’ve been busier installing new systems.
   This list of suggestions is written in the fastest way to solve the problem, but the exact opposite of the order I did them in!

6.2.2 on Redhat Linux

I was trying to configure the Warehouse Proxy on a new installation, but when I right-clicked configure then the Messages window shows 'Starting configuration ...' but the configuration screen never displayed.

I found a PMR which had my exact case and it even had the solution!
Removing the file $CANDLEHOME/<arch>/bin/ksz.jar and restarting the management console enabled me to configure the Proxy agent.

Lessons learned?

1. One of the advantages of working for IBM (or having IBM support) is, of course, the common databank of lots and lots of people working on the same systems.
   It would have taken me ages to solved the problem on my own, or a week or so if I’d opened a PMR. Having had someone else, on the other side of the world perhaps, do that once – enabled me to solve my problem in about an hour and a half  (one hour to play around with the system, half an hour to search the PMR databank, find the solution and implement it)

-- Edit 01-Feb-2010
Of course, NOW I find a technote which presents the solution: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21409333. In my defense, I encountered the problem prior to the technote being published. I’ve been told that this bug will be fixed in an upcoming fix pack.

Astronomy Picture of the Day : Update

After ignoring my blog for a few/many months, I’ve started updating it again.

I’ll continue where I stopped, with an update to Astronomy Picture of the Day with classical content.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100118.html - Eclipse over the Temple of Poseidon

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091223.html - December Sunrise, Cape Sounion

I don’t think there’s been anything I’ve missed – but if I have, please let me know!

Astronomy Picture of the Day with Classical Content

Astronomy Picture of the Day is one of the most popular astronomical web sites on the 'net. Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer

Today's picture is that of the Parthenon, with a dramatic background of the rising Sun.

 
(picture created and copyrighted by Anthony Ayiomamitis)

I've put together a list of all the Classically themed pictures which I've found. Of course, many more of the pictures have some classical connection because so many of the night sky is named after Greek and Roman gods, heroes and miscellanies...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090621.html - Sunrise over the Parthenon
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090320.html - Sunset at the Portara
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081221.html - Analemma Over the Porch of Maidens
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081216.html - Orion over  Nemrut Dagh
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080718.html - Jupiter over Ephesus
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070420.html - Pantheon Earth and Moon
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061223.html - The Analemma and the Temple of Olympian Zeus
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061205.html - The Antikythera Mechanism
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040621.html - Analemma over Ancient Nemea
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040229.html - Julius Caesar and Leap Days
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030320.html - Sunrise Analemma
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020113.html - Hypatia of Alexandria
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000229.html - Julius Caesar and Leap Days
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960229.html - Julius Caesar and Leap Days

I'll update this list whenever I think a new picture is classically themed. If you know of one I've missed, them please drop me a note.

Near and far... Here and there...

Sometimes the funniest things are the simplest...
My two favorite skits from Sesame Street are when you're being taught the difference between Near/Far and Here/There .

So, for your enjoyment:

Near and Far:

Here and There (in Hebrew).
I apologize to those of you who don't understand Hebrew. Trust me - It's hilarious.

 

Inspiration for this post came from here and here.

-- Robert

Case-sensitive background images

Not every problem is a nail-biting, headache-inducing, going-to-loose-sleep-over-it mammoth. Some problem are just minor head scratchers...

Within ITM, you can create Graphical Views which will display the information in a visual fashion. I.e, you could have a floor map or draw a line of business or whatever, and add icons representing the various monitored objects. You could consider it BSM-lite or TBSM on the cheap.

One problem I just encountered was adding a background image. I did the various right-clicking necessary to bring up the list of images, but for some reason the one I wanted simply didn't show up!

Eventually, a bit of trial and error showed that the files was not showing up because it was called background.JPG instead of background.jpg. Can you see the difference?

Oh, Why can't computers overcome the minor errors and just do what we want?

-- Robert

A problem with the DBVER table in the TEPS database in ITM

I've encountered a few cases in which the TEPS service would not start. The error I found in the log was something like this:

KFW1005E The version of the product 'v620_kcj7310a.tms620' does not match the data in the KFWDBVER table.

Opening up the TEPS database and looking at the KFWDBVER table shows that it's just a list of upgrades from version to version of ITM.

Part of the TEPS startup routine is evidently checking that the latest version marked in the database matches the current version. 
I have no idea why or how an miss-match might creep in, but each time I've encountered an error like this was after a newbie was let loose on a test server and told to "play with it & try out upgrading"...

So, how do we solve this problem? I've solved it in three different ways, but take into account that these were all test servers, so I had nothing to loose.

1. Editing the DBVER table with my DB tool of choice so that the latest version written matches what the log says ITM is looking for - This should return everything to normal.



2. Opening the ITM manager, right click TEPS, right click Utilities, click Build TEPS database - This will reset the TEPS database and start you off will a fresh environment.
   
   
   Since the TEPS will immediately synchronize with the TEMS, all you'll loose are your personal configurations.



3. Reinstalling TEPS - As I said, this is a bug I've only seen in test environments, so no harm in just reinstalling.

In short, this is an annoying problem with a short(though surgical) solution which brings you back to normal or a "hammer" solution. You've just got to choose which you prefer.

-- Robert

Why Study the Greeks : A Video

My latest Internet find is Academic Earth; an aggregation of video courses and lectures from various top universities and scholars.

Let's look at this lecture for example...

Donald Kagan, Introduction to Ancient Greek History (Yale University: Open Yale Courses), http://oyc.yale.edu (Accessed April 2, 2009). License: Open Yale Courses Terms of Use

Professor Donald Kagan explains why people should study the ancient Greeks. He argues that the Greeks are worthy of our study not only because of their vast achievements and contributions to Western civilization (such as in the fields of science, law, and politics) but also because they offer a unique perspective on humanity. To the Greeks, man was both simultaneously capable of the greatest achievements and the worst crimes; he was both great and important, but also mortal and fallible. He was a tragic figure, powerful but limited. Therefore, by studying the Greeks, one gains insight into a tension that has gripped and shaped the West and the rest of the world through its influence. In short, to study the Greeks is to study the nature of human experience.

But not only does this site have the video - let's face it, anyone can just video a lecture and pop it onto the net these days - it also has some very nice options, which tell me that some thought was put into this:

1. You can watch the streaming video OR download the full movie.
2. You can download just the audio - so you can listen while you jog, ride or drive.
3. You also get whatever handouts were available for the lecture.
4. You can get (this is what impressed me most) the transcript of the lecture.
5. There are links to networks (facebook, del.icio.us, etc)
6. For the academics among us - there's even an official way to cite the lecture!

I read much faster than I can listen or watch and I'd love to have transcripts of much of what I watch.

The various lectures are on a wide variety of topics, covering what any thinking person could want and more is being added all the time, of course.

In short, this site is very well done and a lot of thought has been put into how people can extract information from it. This is what the "Internet" is all about - easy access to high quality information.

Enjoy!

-- Robert