Supported Action Plugins

B.1 Remedy ARS Plugin

Remedy ARS is a commercially available trouble ticketing and CRM system. The Remedy plugin for NetVigil allows opening a new trouble ticket in Remedy ARS automatically as an `action' when a test goes into any desired state. To avoid opening spurious tickets, you can delay the opening of a ticket until the test has failed several times using the flexible Action framework in NetVigil.

This integration package adds a new custom action to the drop-down list of actions available to a user of the NetVigil web application. The action can be configued to trigger after certain number of test cycles, repeat after several test cycles, and trigger durng certain hours of the day, like any NetVigil action. Once triggered, the script connects to an existing Remedy (version 4 or 5) system and searches for a ticket in the specified queue matching certain subject (created using device and test name). If found, the ticket is updated with new information. Otherwise a new ticket is created and the URL to the ticket is added to the device comment.

B.1.1 Pre-requisites

Before installing this package, the following tasks need to be completed:

If you have multiple locations defined in your NetVigil environment, decide which locations should have the ability to open tickets in Remedy. As each location may have multiple DGE, this will assist you in compiling a list of DGE where the package will need to be installed.

This package uses the ARS Perl API and requires the ARS Perl modules to be functional. In order for this tool to function properly, ARS Perl must be installed and configured properly on each DGE (if the web application is running on a separate host, there is no need to install ARS Perl on that host).

Create a new login for NetVigil in Remedy. Set and appropriate username (eg netvigil) with a password. The password may not be blank.

Make sure the newly created user has permissions to create new ticket and add comments to existing tickets

Make sure the ARS Perl modules are working properly. The test-remedy.pl test script should be able to search and display all new/open tickets in your Remedy system (replace $opt_xxxx parameters in the script with valid values). Create and run the script from each DGE to verify proper installation and communication to Remedy.

B.1.2 Installation

Copy the integration package to each DGE (that should have the custom action, and also to the host running the web application. Store it in a temporary location (eg. /tmp)

Extract the files and start installation:

cd /tmp gunzip -c integ-remedy-n.n.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd integ-remedy-n.n perl ./install.pl

Provide answers to the requested questions. The installation process will copy the integration package into appropriate location under NetVigil installation directory

You will need to restart the DGE process and web application at a convenient time before the action will be visible in the drop down list (in web application), or can be executed by a DGE

B.1.3 Configuration

To use the newly added plugin action, you first need to create an action profile that uses this script. Create an action profile via Admin -> Actions -> Create New Action (or update an existing profile). From the Notify Using drop-down list, you should be able to select the script. The name displayed on the list will correspond to the <name>...</name> parameter in $NETVIGIL_HOME/plugin/actions/createTicketInRemedy.xml file. The Message Receipient field can be left empty and rest of the parameters set as you see fit. Now apply this action profile to various tests as required.

By default, a new ticket will be created on a per-test basis. If device A has two tests X and Y, and both tests fail, one ticket for X and one ticket for Y will be created. If you prefer to restrict new tickets to a per-device basis, where information for X and Y will be entered into same ticket (second test information will be added as additional comment), then edit the XML configuration file for the script and add --perdevice option to the <parameters>..</parameters> section

B.1.4 Troubleshooting

Look in netvigil/logs/netvigil.error for any error messages logged by the DGE process

Check to make sure addon/actions/createTicketInRemedy.pl is executable (mode 0555)

Try running the script manually to ensure you can create a new ticket:

cd /usr/local/netvigil/addon/actions ./createTicketInRemedy.pl --arsserver YOUR_REMEDY_SERVER \ --arsuser netvigil --arspasswd YOUR_PASSWORD \ --form HPD:Helpdesk --device "Sample Device" --test "Sample Test" \ --severity warning --result 100 --unit ms \ --location "Data Center" --type ping/rtt \ --threshold "75/200" --search

B.2 RT Trouble Ticketing Plugin

This integration package adds a new custom action to the drop-down list of actions available to a user of the NetVigil web application. The action can be configued to trigger after certain number of test cycles, repeat after several test cycles, and trigger durng certain hours of the day, like any NetVigil action. Once triggered, the script connects to an existing RT (version 2.x) system and searches for a ticket in the specified queue matching certain subject (created using device and test name). If found, the ticket is updated with new information. Otherwise a new ticket is created and the URL to the ticket is added to the device comment.

B.2.1 Pre-requisites

Before installing this package, the following tasks need to be completed:

If you have multiple locations defined in your NetVigil environment, decide which locations should have the ability to open tickets in RT. As each location may have multiple DGE, this will assist you in compiling a list of DGE where the package will need to be installed.

This package uses RT Perl API and requires the RT Perl modules to be functional. In order for this tool to function properly, effectively RT must be installed and configured properly on each DGE (if the web application is running on a separate host, there is no need to install RT on that host). Install RT under it's default location /opt/rt2, or install it at a location of your choice, and create a symbolic link from /opt/rt2 to that directory. Instructions for installing RT are available from http://fsck.com/rtfm/article.html?id=2

Copy etc/config.pm from your RT host to /opt/rt2/etc/config.pm on all the DGE. Edit /opt/rt2/etc/config.pm and update $DatabaseHost to point to your RT host. You also may want to update $LogDir, or create the directory specified and make sure that the directory permissions are setup properly

Create a new login for NetVigil into RT database (via WebRT). Set an appropriate username (eg. netvigil@your.domain) but make sure to leave the email field blank. This will make sure that when a new ticket is created, no auto-replies will be sent (if there is such a script configured for the queue you will be using)

Make sure the newly created user has permissions to create new ticket and add comments to existing tickets

You may have to configure your RT database for remote access. By default, when using MySQL for RT database, the database user (specified in /opt/rt2/etc/config.pm, variable $DatabaseUser is only allowed access from localhost. Before this custom action can create/update tickets, it will need to be allowed access. For MySQL, this involves connecting to the rt2 database (or the database name specified in /opt/rt2/etc/config.pm) locally on the RT host as root, and using:

GRANT SELECT,INSERT,CREATE,INDEX,UPDATE,DELETE ON rt2.* TO 
rt_user@n.n.n.n;

where n.n.n.n is the IP address of each DGE. When using PostgreSQL database, you will have to make necessary additions to data/pg_hba.conf file. Please refer to configuration documents for the respective database vendors (MySQL or PostgreSQL) for additional details.

Make sure the RT Perl modules are working properly. The test-rt.pl test script should be able to search and display all new/open tickets in your RT queue (replace YOUR_QUEUE_NAME in the script with a valid queue name). Create and run the script from each DGE to verify local RT installation and database connectivity.

B.2.2 Installation

Copy the integration package to each DGE (that should have the custom action, and also to the host running the web application. Store it in a temporary location (eg. /tmp)

Extract the files and start installation:

cd /tmp gunzip -c integ-rt2-n.n.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd integ-rt2-n.n perl ./install.pl

Provide answers to the requested questions. The installation process will copy the integration package into appropriate location under NetVigil installation directory

You will need to restart the DGE process and web application at a convenient time before the action will be visible in the drop down list (in web application), or can be executed by a DGE

B.2.3 Configuration

To use the newly added plugin action, you first need to create an action profile that uses this script. Create an action profile via Admin -> Actions -> Create New Action (or update an existing profile). From the Notify Using drop-down list, you should be able to select the script. The name displayed on the list will correspond to the <name>...</name> parameter in $NETVIGIL_HOME/plugin/actions/createTicketInRT.xml file. The Message Receipient field can be left empty and rest of the parameters set as you see fit. Now apply this action profile to various tests as required.

If you wish to create tickets in different queues, you will need to create two different plugin actions. one each for the two RT queue:

su cd /path/to/netvigil etc/netvigil.init stop cd plugin/actions mv createTicketInRT.xml RT-queue1.xml cp RT-queue1.xml RT-queue2.xml

Now edit RT-queue1.xml and change the "<name>.. </name>" option to something descriptive, like

<name>Create/Update RT-queue1</name>

Also update the --queue option to queue1. Save the file and make similar changes for RT-queue2.xml. Make sure to use different "<name>..</name>" options

B.2.4 Troubleshooting

Look in netvigil/logs/netvigil.error for any error messages logged by the DGE process

Check to make sure plugin/actions/createTicketInRT.pl is executable (mode 0555)

Try running the script manually to ensure you can create a new ticket:

cd /usr/local/netvigil/plugin/actions ./createTicketInRT.pl --queue YOUR_QUEUE_NAME \ --rtuser netvigil@your.domain \ --device "Sample Device" --test "Sample Test" \ --severity warning --result 100 --unit ms \ --location "Data Center" --type ping/rtt \ --threshold "75/200" --search