RTO PinPoint User/Administrator Guide

Introduction

The RTO PinPoint Console provides for those responsible for the monitoring of performance and operations of server based applications the ability to:

define applications and servers to monitor

set thresholds for performance, resource utilization, and other metrics

configure alert types and alert communication methods

monitor the application

drill down into an application to gather performance data and better understand the application status

determine root cause analysis and replay performance for historical analysis

You will begin by defining your applications and configuring RTO PinPoint. After these initial steps, you will use the console to monitor your applications. If, at any time after your initial definition, you wish to add applications to monitor, you can use the console to complete the new definitions. Each screen contains an icon on the top left which allows you to define a new application. Additional icon buttons on each screen allow you to: Navigate to the top tree node; Go Back; and Go Forward.

New in Version 2.0 – you will find the pause and replay buttons. To pause live display, select the pause icon. This will pause the console display at this point in time. You can now use the console to visually determine server performance and activity. With the replay icon, you can replay any historical event. Just pick the date and time and you will be ‘transported’ back to that moment. Use replay to determine the events occurring right before a performance problem.

Finally, all alerts and reports now include a ‘replay’ checkpoint. Just click on ‘replay’ and you will go back to the moment of the alert. This makes alerts very powerful tools for you.

All screens in the console contain at least two navigation areas: the application/server hierarchy in the left pane and specific metrics in the Information pane on the right.

Getting Started with the Console

When you first start the console, no applications have yet been defined. First you will define the type of application using the types: .NET, Web Page, ASP, File Server. Next you define the servers and infrastructure elements that comprise the application. The RTO PinPoint console is MMC based and can be included in other MMC-based monitoring solutions as an MMC Snap in.

Opening the Console

1	Go to the Start Menu on the server where RTO PinPoint is installed.
2	Select the RTO PinPoint folder from All Programs. Select the RTO PinPoint Console.

Adding an Application

Adding a New Application

After you select the All Applications option, the RTO PinPoint operations menu is available. Once you have created your first application, metrics and performance information for that application is also available.

RTO PinPoint All Applications Console

1	Right Click after selecting the “All Applications” item in the console tree. Or. Open the Tasks Bar.
2)	Select Add New Application to start the application definition process.

Naming Your Application

Application names must be unique and should easily represent either the application or the application infrastructure. Examples include ‘Fleet Tracking – Northeast’, ‘Asset Reporting’, or ‘Citrix Servers – Northwest’.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration Naming

1	Type in the application name.
2	Click Next or hit Enter to continue.

Identify the Application Type

This step is used to generally classify the application. Later you will define specific elements such as servers and server types. RTO PinPoint uses the application definition to begin configuring the profiles applied to the application.

If the application type does not exactly describe your application, select the closest match. You can adjust the metrics and thresholds used to monitor the application after you complete the application definition.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration App Type Selection

1	Select the application type and click Next or hit Enter. Note: only one application type can be selected.

Server Identification

You will now identify individual servers and infrastructure related to this application. The collection of server and infrastructure elements constitute the entire application. NOTE: You can repeat each step as necessary in order to complete the identification process for your application. Server types are: ASP.NET, IIS App, Page, File, SQL, and Citrix. The server type tells the console which profile to apply to the entire application and the metrics to apply to the server.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration Server Identification

1	Highlight the server type in the drop-down. A list of server options will correlate to the server selected.
2	Highlight a server on the list or type in the server to monitor (in the box provided).
3	Click Add to add the server. The pane on the right of the window should now include your server definition.
4	Repeat Steps 1-3 in order to continue adding servers related to this application. When all servers have been added, Go to Step 5. NOTE: You can Remove any servers added in error by highlighting the server in the Right pane and clicking Remove at any time.
5	Click Next or hit Enter to continue.

Finalizing the Application Configuration

Once you have added all configuration information for your application, you will finalize the process. This requires that RTO PinPoint install an agent on all servers related to the application in order to monitor the application. Note: RTO PinPoint will NOT monitor applications for which there are no agents installed.

If you wish to further define the application infrastructure, you can do so from this screen. This step is also available as a tab from the Properties page of the selected server within the console.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration Finalization

1	Click on Finish to install the agents and continue with immediate monitoring of this application. OR
2	Click on Advanced to further define the application infrastructure for each server. For instructions on advanced metric configurations click here.

Advanced Application Configuration

To determine the impact of an application on shared resources, you can specify the server components and application elements via the Advanced Configuration. You will need to select the server component, on the left pane of the screen, then, after the application elements field is populated, select the application elements to monitor. The next two screens show the server components, and the populated application elements fields.

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Published Applications Instances

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – ASP.Net

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Process Instances

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Services

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Web Sites / Services

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – SQL Server Databases

Agent Installation Status

RTO PinPoint will now display the status of the agent installation on a final pop-up that you will close to complete the process. If the agent installation fails, you will receive an error message.

NOTE: If you select the Advanced option for any identified server, the console will install and start an agent on that server before continuing to the next screen if the server does not have a pre-installed agent. This will cause a brief delay.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration Agent Status

This completes the Server Definition for this application.

Manual Agent Installation (optional)

The console performs a remote MSI installation of the agent using WMI function calls. This requires that the RTO PinPoint service account has administrative rights on the selected server. However, if this is not the case, you can manually install the agent (required for monitoring). You can perform this installation at any time. NOTE: If the RTO PinPoint application Configuration Agent Status screen identifies an agent installation failure, then you must manually install the agent on the server. Additional information for this installation is in the installation guide.

Advanced Configuration Options

After you have defined the basic application server infrastructure, you can continue to configure the application by selecting various component elements on these servers as shown earlier. You also can configure the metrics shown for each server and the alerts generated. This section will show application advanced configurations, metric configuration, and alert configuration.

As described in the previous section, advance application configuration can occur during the initial application definition process, using the Advanced button. You can also manage the advanced application configuration through the properties page of the application or the server. NOTE: RTO PinPoint sends alerts using SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol). In order to send alerts, you MUST configure the RTO PinPoint System properties to point to the SMTP server.

By default, RTO PinPoint will generate an Application Performance Alert when your application Performance Score falls below a pre-defined level. However, if you require alerts to be generated based on metrics collected, you MUST configure these Metric Performance Alerts using the advanced configurations options and configuring the properties of the desired metric.

To set or modify properties (e.g. alert configurations, thresholds, and advanced components) at any time after the initial definition RIGHT click on All Applications in the left pane, any Application listed, any Server listed, or any Metric listed.

RTO PinPoint Advanced Configuration Access After Initial Application

Application Alert Settings

When configuring application properties after the initial application definition, you can configure alerts specifically for this application. This is an optional step as the system alerts may be first set and can control all alerts for the system. Often, however, you wish to alert different people for each application and this gives you the opportunity to configure this.

RTO PinPoint Application Configuration – Alert Configuration

Configuring System Properties

This is an important first step in order to use the RTO PinPoint console as an alerting system. The console can send alerts in a variety of ways: as an SMTP message to email, pager or other addressable device; by inserting an event into your server’s application or system log; and into other systems management products such as Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM).

When you right click the RTO PinPoint node in the console, you can view and change output settings including SMTP configuration, event logs, Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) settings, and Alert output settings.

Note: There are three navigation options on the following screens:

To go directly to a configuration element, click on the Tab Heading at the top of the folder

To save and move to another Tab click Apply (once changes are made), and the next Tab Heading

To save and finish click OK. You will return to the main console screen.

SMTP Configuration

Use this first dialog to configure the SMTP server to use for sending alerts. RTO PinPoint will connect to this server using the account provided, and send the alert using the defined port. NOTE: This is a required configuration option if you wish to send alerts to a mail address or pager.

RTO PinPoint SMTP Configuration

1	Type the Server name, ‘Reply to’ email address in the fields provided.
2	Select the SMTP Port in the field provided (this is a scrollable field).
3	Select the sender account to use for SMTP Authentication. NOTE: we recommend selecting the RTO Analysis Engine Service Account.
4	To specify an account, complete the name and password fields.
5	Click OK to save the settings.

Event Log Configuration

Next you can configure the event log used for alerts. The event log is optional and it enables RTO PinPoint to insert an alert into a log for use by other services. For example, if you are using other Systems Management vendors that monitor event or application logs for insight into systems, this configuration can inform the Systems Management servers that an application performance alert is generated.

RTO PinPoint Event Log Configuration

1	Select the target event log type: Application or System.
2	Click on OK or Apply to save.

Note: The ‘Test’ button will send a test alert to the Event log you have selected. Use this to determine the success of the configuration

Scripts Configuration

RTO Pinpoint can execute a script when an alert occurs. This page allows you to import any scripts that will execute on the alert. On the system or application alerts property page, you will find an alert option that you can designate any of these imported alerts to execute.

1	Select the Import button to select the script to import..
2	Locate the VBS script to import.
3	Adjust the script name if required.

MOM Integration

RTO PinPoint is a Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) management pack; therefore, it can integrate directly with Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) alerts. RTO PinPoint will automatically synchronize the alert and its resolution state with MOM. Use this screen to enter MOM integration information for RTO PinPoint to insert alerts into the MOM console.

RTO PinPoint MOM Configuration

1	Select Enable MOM Integration.
2	Complete the URL and file/folder address fields provided.
3	Click OK or Apply to save.

Note: The ‘Test’ button will send a test alert to the MOM connector address you have entered. Use this to determine the success of the configuration

SNMP Alert Configuration

You can configure alerts to additionally be delivered to an SNMP server. Using this method of alerting is important where other System Monitoring applications are in use. An SNMP trap is sent to the server address and port as configured.

RTO PinPoint SNMP Alert Configuration

1	Select the Enable SNMP Alerting option to enable this alert type.
2	Enter the IP address and Port of the SNMP listener. This generally would be the monitoring server for the external Systems Manager application.
3	Click OK or Apply to save.

Note: The ‘Test’ button will send a test alert to the SNMP address you have entered. Use this to determine the success of the configuration

Alert Addressing

Finally, you can configure a systems-wide alert address. This is the ‘default address’ used for the system. NOTE: You can override this setting for any given application by configuring that application alert separately. You can also choose to forgo the systems-wide address, and configure every application differently.

For example, if you are monitoring three different applications, each with a different administrator, you can configure the alerts on a per-application basis. However, if you want to configure a default address, or if there is a single address that forwards, then use the System properties to configure that address for any, or all, applications.

RTO PinPoint Alert Response Configuration

1	Select the response type(s) for Critical Alerts: SMTP and/or Event Log. If you select SMTP, complete the address field.
2	Select the response type(s) for Serious Alerts: Same as Critical, SMTP and/or Event Log. If you select SMTP, complete the address field. If you select Same as, the SMTP address field will automatically be populated?
3	Click OK or Apply to save.

Note: The ‘Test’ button will send a test alert to the SMTP address you have entered, using the SMTP server configured in the first tab for System Properties. . Use this to determine the success of the configuration

Application Properties

Right clicking any application in the All Applications console tree, allows you to view and change application information, servers, alerts, and agents. Select the Properties menu option to view and edit the properties of the selected application.

Application Information

The first tab allows you to change the application name and/or the description.

RTO PinPoint Application Properties - Info

Server Adds/Changes

You can add or adjust servers or infrastructure elements that are part of the application. This is the same step as when you initially defined the application.

RTO PinPoint Application Properties - Servers

1	Select the server type from the drop-down.
2	Select the server from the list, or type in the server name or address.
3	To Remove a server: When the application infrastructure appears in the right pane, highlight the server and click Remove.
4	To Add a server: Highlight a server in the left pane and click Add. The server should appear in the right pane.
5	You can repeat these steps as often as needed. When you are finished, click OK.

Server Agent Monitoring

The agent tab displays the status of the agents on the various servers. You can monitor the installation status of agents on the selected servers and validate the version on the servers. This is used to quickly show that all agents are installed and operating correctly. And the version number can be used as reference for support or other purposes. If you want to upgrade any agents, use the Server Property screen.

RTO PinPoint Application Properties - Agents

Alerts Addressing (Optional)

You configure who is alerted when a critical or serious alert occurs if this application requires a different alert than the system alert settings. NOTE: This is NOT a required step if you have configured the alert response for the entire system and the address is appropriate for the application being monitored.

RTO PinPoint Application Properties - Alerts

1	Select the response type(s) for Critical Alerts: SMTP and/or Event Log. If you select SMTP, complete the address field with a fully qualified SMTP address.
2	Select the response type(s) for Serious Alerts: Same as Critical, SMTP and/or Event Log. If you select SMTP, complete the address field. If you select Same As Critical, the SMTP address field will automatically be populated.
3	Click OK or Apply to save.

Server Configuration

Configuring the server allows you to view and edit the server information, metrics and advanced application components. Right click the server to configure and select the ‘Properties’

Server Information

This tab allows you to define the server’s “Description” information. Other fields are shown for reference purposes only and cannot be changed using this tab.

RTO PinPoint Server Properties – Description Information

Server Metrics

Use the metrics tab to fine tune the metrics displayed for the application in order to monitor exactly what you require. If a metric does not provide information for your application, deselect it.

NOTE: Individual metric properties are adjustable via a metric property page which is discussed later in this section.

RTO PinPoint Server Properties - Metrics

Select the server components in the expandable list in the left pane.

The right pane will be populated with the possible metrics. The default is ALL (will appear as selected). Click on a metric to enable or disable it.

Click OK or Apply.

Advanced Properties

The ‘Advanced’ tab is very important as this enables you to configure your application definition for this server. In the example that follows, the server is an ASP.NET server for which you can configure processes, COM+ transaction systems, and web pages/services to monitor. This method fine tunes the application definition.

RTO PinPoint uses this application definition tuning to determine the difference between the application and the infrastructure when determining resource utilization, root cause analysis reports, and throughput.

The application-specific details that improve application monitoring are collected from the information supplied on this screen. RTO PinPoint can identify when the application is generating errors only when you define the application correctly.

The server components shown are applicable to the server type. For example, if the server is an SQL database server, RTO PinPoint will request the specific database used for the application.

The agent on the server provides this server-specific information by querying the server on demand. There may be a delay in populating the application elements field. This latency is due to the agent querying the server.

RTO PinPoint Server Properties - Advanced

Highlight the server component on the left. The pane on the right will then reflect the application elements related to that server component. NOTE: A bold server component indicates that one or more application elements have already been selected for that component.

Select the application element(s) on the right.

Click OK or Apply to save.

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Citrix Published Applications

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Processes

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Process Instances

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Services

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – Web Services

RTO PinPoint Advanced Application Configuration: Application Elements – SQL Server Databases

Metric Configuration

Each metric shown on any screen is configurable. You are able to configure the metric text, the alert conditions for the metric, and thresholds.

Metric Information

The first tab shows you the information about the metric and allows you to adjust the metric name used in the console display and reports. We do not recommend that you change the metric name, but it can be used to clarify presentation.

The application and server fields are derived from earlier configuration. If these are not correct, go to the Application or Server Properties to adjust.

You can fine tune any information available to the application administrator in the Description field. RTO PinPoint displays the description when you are viewing any individual metric, as well as using the description in reports.

NOTE: Any changes to metrics apply only to this server. If you want to apply these changes to another server, you must repeat the process for that server.

RTO PinPoint Metric Properties – Information

Metric Configuration

The configuration tab is a very powerful tab where you can adjust thresholds used by RTO PinPoint to display metric levels shown in the monitor console. For example, a threshold close to maximum will show as red. This is controlled by the threshold configuration you set on this configuration screen.

The thresholds can be adjusted so your console will show the severity of the metric measurement appropriately for the application. Our profiles establish the default metric thresholds and the maximum. Your application or server may have a different threshold or maximum than our defaults and if so, you can override using the simple slider bars.

The profile also establishes if the metric is displayed as a resource or throughput metric. You also configure the metric maximum, the metric category, and any related metric.

The related metrics are available to you to give you a broader information set for your own analysis. In the RTO Console, you can drill down to a selected metric to view its history, status, and description. The console also displays related metrics. For example, when viewing the IP Datagrams / Sec metric, the UDP Datagrams / Sec metric will also appear.

Profiles determine the related metrics for any metric, but you can override this for your own purposes.

RTO PinPoint Metric Properties – Configuration

1	Select Critical and/or Serious Threshold to set these levels.
2	Click and drag the slider to the desired threshold level.
3	Use the scroll bar to set the maximum level.
4	Select the metric category.
5	Select ADD to select a related metric from the list. Or select a metric in the Related Metric list and click Remove.
6	Click OK or Apply to save.

Metric Alert Configuration

A Metric Performance Alert is generated when any metric crosses the alert threshold. This is an optional feature of RTO PinPoint; if you wish to be alerted when this metric crosses pre-defined thresholds, adjust the alerts tab items. Alerts can also be used as a PinPoint Replay bookmark. As you may have already seen, the PinPoint Replay function is a powerful way for you to investigate historical events. All alerts provide you with a Replay link. So, a recommendation is to set a number of ‘Serious’ alert levels and use this as a Replay.

When the metric crosses the alert thresholds, and maintains this threshold for at least 3 measurements, RTO PinPoint generates an alert when the check-box for Critical Alerts is selected. This may be used for a warning or other information purposes.

NOTE: The system or application configurations determine how RTO PinPoint generates a Serious or Critical alert. For example, you may want to send an email on Critical alerts, but only update the application log on a Serious alert.

RTO PinPoint Metric Configuration – Alerts

1	Select Critical and/or Serious Alerts in the Metric Properties tab.
2	Click on an drag the slider to the desired threshold.
3	Click OK or Apply to save all metric configurations.

Monitoring the Application

Once the application is created, the console configures the Analysis Engine with the profile and metrics for your application. The Application Performance Summary View is displayed upon the opening of the RTO PinPoint console and shows each defined application and the various metrics and alerts related to them.

Application Performance Summary View

You’ll note on the following screen shot, that the left navigation bar contains the hierarchical tree of applications and related servers. All components of the tree are expandable, and are points of navigation. The right-hand pane displays information and alerts for all of your applications.

The application deemed by RTO PinPoint to have the most critical information (per your defined thresholds) will be expanded to show information at a glance: Application Scores (performance, resource utilization, throughput), Server Scores (performance and resource utilization per server), and Alerts.

All other applications can be expanded by clicking on the application name. So, too, can you drill down to each performance measurement and/or see more alert information by clicking on the specific hyperlink.

All of the information is produced in graphical format via either bar graphs or through the use of icons. Alerts icons display the alert severity (determined by user-defined metrics), and a brief summary of the alert type, threshold type (e.g. Serious), and the date and time the alert was generated.

RTO PinPoint Application Performance Summary View

The Application Performance Score is a composite of measurements indicating the applications’ performance. The Resource Utilization Score is a composite of measurements indicating the resource load of the application. You use these two scores to know how your application is performing.

Clicking on any application brings you to the Application Performance Score view. Clicking on any server brings you to the Server View page.

Application Details - Performance Score View

By clicking on a specific application in the left Navigation pane, you can see the Application Performance Score view. This view shows you the different server types organized by the role the server is performing and can help you to better understand resources used according to the server type. The central pane consists of two expandable navigation areas: Real Time analysis and Related Tools. These selections will appear as a thumbnail on successive screens.

As with the Application Performance Summary View, a great deal of information is displayed in graphic format. The graph displayed on the top of the right pane is a real-time view of the activity of various metrics captured over the past hour.

The middle section shows the four main monitored components of the application: Network Use, Disk Space, Processor, and Memory. The bottom section displays all current alerts and their open status. More in-depth information on these sections appears after the screen shot example.

RTO PinPoint Application Details - Performance Score View

The Line Graph:

The Line Graph displays the performance Score, Resource utilization, and throughput for the application. The information derives from user defined metrics (or intelligent defaults) and queries. The graph relates to a start time to present query time, shown from left to right. This graph is generated by real-time data, and will change as the data is updated.

The Bar Graph:

The bar graph is a more static graph that uses color-coded and numeric displays of application metrics: performance score, resource utilization, and throughput. The colors red, yellow, and green reflect a status of critical, serious, and good respectively. If you have defined thresholds, the colors will reflect your definitions; if not, the colors will reflect intelligent defaults used by RTO PinPoint.

Application Component Bar Graphs and Numeric Indicators:

The middle section is a series of bar graphs based on the thresholds and metric settings you defined for the application. Each component is labeled, has a color-coded numeric indicator, and displays a line graph. The color-coded numeric display reflects data from the server having either the best (green) or worst score for the application. The line graph uses your metric settings (based on 0-100) on the Y-axis, and time on the X-axis. Because your metrics affect the threshold levels, the bars shaded yellow and red may appear in different relationships to one another per each server component measured. The server to which the line graph relates is listed under the graph, and is a hyperlink to more information about that server.

Alert Information and Status:

The section, located at the bottom of the right pane, includes information regarding alerts, along with the current status of each alert. This section is scrollable, allowing you to see all of the alerts related to that application. To see more information regarding an alert, click on the alert. NOTE: Open alerts will not be repeated, unless the alert was resolved and occurs again.

Resource Utilization View

This important view shows you a graphic depiction of the resources used by the application. Select the ‘Application Information’ link from the Application Details – Performance Score view as shown above to see this view of your infrastructure.