Install Tivoli with RedHat or CentOS

The BigPanda agent is a low-footprint utility installed on the master host of your monitoring tool. It consumes alerts from the tool in real-time and then transmits them to BigPanda via TLS-encrypted HTTP calls.

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Python Compatibility

To use the Open Integration Manager for Agent-based integrations, Python version>= 3.8.0 and an Agent version >= 10.2 are required.

Prerequisites

python >= 3.8.0 is required for the latest version of the BigPanda Agent, and will be installed by the BigPanda Agent installer if it does not exist.

1. Ensure python3 is installed with the following command:

   $ sudo yum install -y python3
   

2. Verify the install with the following commands:

   $ python3 --version
   $ pip3 --version
   

Note: If pip3 was not installed as a dependency, it can be installed with sudo yum install -y python3-pip.

Note: Access to JFrog, pypi, and yum repositories are required to install all dependencies.

Install the BigPanda Agent on RedHat or CentOS

Connect to the host where your Tivoli server is installed, and install the BigPanda agent package.

1. Add a new yum repository to download the BigPanda agent package.

    $ sudo vim /etc/yum.repos.d/bigpanda.repo
   
    ...
   
    [BigPanda]
    name=BigPanda
    baseurl=https://bigpandaio.jfrog.io/artifactory/int-rpm/bigpanda/agents/
    enabled=1
    gpgcheck=0
    gpgkey=https://bigpandaio.jfrog.io/artifactory/int-rpm/bigpanda/agents/repodata/repomd.xml.key
    repo_gpgcheck=1 
   

2. Update the yum repos list to add the BigPanda repo.

    $ sudo yum update 
   

3. List all available packages with duplicates in the BigPanda repo.

    $ sudo yum list --showduplicates bigpanda-agent | expand
   
    Available Packages
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.2.0-1.el7           BigPanda
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.2.0-1.el8           BigPanda
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.2.0-1.el9           BigPanda
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.3.0-1.el7           BigPanda
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.3.0-1.el8           BigPanda
    bigpanda-agent.x86_64         10.3.0-1.el9           BigPanda 
   

   Note: RHEL or Centos does not send the OS version to JFrog, so we need to cherry-pick the correct version for the OS.

4. Install the BigPanda agent package.

    $ sudo yum install bigpanda-agent-<version-number> 
   

   Note: Append the version number to the package name, (i.e. bigpanda-agent-10.3.0-1.el7).

   Note: For the OIM, bigpanda-agent v10.0.0+ is required.

   Note: To configure the BigPanda Listener service, BigPanad Agent v10.3.0+ is required.

Install the bp_listener package

The bp_listener package is hosted in JFrog and can be installed via pip.

1. Install the bp_listener package as a global python3 package:

   $ sudo pip3 install --extra-index-url https://bigpandaio.jfrog.io/artifactory/api/pypi/int-pypi/simple bp_listener
   
   

   Note: Global installation is required to work correctly with the BigPanda Agent Configurator.

2. You can verify the bp_listener package has been installed into the global site-packages:

   $ sudo pip3 show bp_listener
   

Configure the BigPanda Agent

1. Generate the agent's configuration file:

   $ sudo bigpanda-config --init --token <Your Org Bearer Token>
   $ sudo bigpanda-config --add listener --app-key <Your App Key>
   

Configuration

1. Update the configuration file as needed before starting the bigpanda-listener service:

   $ sudo vim /etc/bigpanda/listener/bp_listener.json
   
   

2. You have the following configuration options:

   • bp.queue: The BigPanda queue the agent is configured to use.
   • bp.logfile: The log file path for bp_listener.
   • listener.port: The port the listener will listen on.
   • listener.host: The host ip the listener will bind to.
   • listener.timeout: The timeout in seconds for the socket to stay open.
   • listener.source_timezone: The IANA compliant timezone identifier.
   • listener.timestamp_key: The key in the payload that contains the timestamp.
   • listener.timestamp_format: The format of the timestamp in the payload.
   • listener.inbound_queue_size: The socket queue for inbound connections, uses up server resources.
   • listener.max_threads: The maximum number of threads to use for processing events.
   • log.level: The log level for bp_listener.
   • log.verbose: Boolean switch to log verbose output.
   • log.log_count: The number of log files to keep.

Start the BigPanda Listener service

1. Start the Bigpanda Listener service by running the following command:

   $ sudo systemctl start bigpanda-listener
   
   

2. Verify the service is running with the following command:

   $ systemctl status bigpanda-listener
   

Testing the BigPanda Listener Service

The client.py script is used to test the functionality of the server, and is located within the bp_listener python package in the installed python3 site-packages/ directory.

The following command will list the location of the bp_listener package:

$ sudo pip3 show bp_listener

The client.py script contains a default payload that is sent to the bigpanda-listener service. A json file can be used to submit a custom payload in place of the default.

To run the client.py script, use the following command:

$ python3 /path/to/bp_listener/test_client/client.py

Example Use:

usage: client.py [-h] [-s SERVER] [-p PORT] [-f FILE]

Client to send test payloads to BP Listener.

options:
  -h, --help                    show this help message and exit
  -s SERVER, --server SERVER    Server address the listener is configured to listen on (default: 127.0.0.1)
  -p PORT, --port PORT          Port the listener is configured to listen on (default: 4011)
  -f FILE, --file FILE          Optional JSON file to send as payload (default: None)
  -r RAW, --raw RAW             Optional TXT file containing a raw EIF type message (default: None)

Start the BigPanda Agent

Start the BigPanda agent service by running the following command:

• For RHEL 7 and RHEL 8:

   $ sudo service bigpanda start
  

• Verify the agents have started:

  $ systemctl status bigpanda
  

Troubleshooting

You should have the bigpanda directory with the bigpanda.conf config file located at /etc/bigpanda/bigpanda.conf.

If the configs are missing or the package did not set up correctly, stop the service the and reinstall the package.

  $ sudo service bigpanda stop
  $ sudo yum reinstall -y bigpanda

Success

You should be able to see all your active Tivoli alerts in the Incidents tab.