Windows, Unix, Linux and HP NonStop Monitoring, Managment and Reporting. IBM Websphere MQ Series, BASE24 EPS, FASTWIRE, LAPS, Payments, Transactions, TLF, PTLF, ATM, POS, XML, JMX, EMS, Tandem & Star

Sentra (Service ENgineering, TRacking and Accounting) is a client-server software application for centralised management of multi-vendor and multi-platform messaging systems. It provides extensive benefits that enable optimal availability, functionality and performance of messaging service provision.

Sentra achieves this by providing centralised alerting, escalation, intervention, tracking and reporting tools from a single console view. Furthermore, Sentra collects data from many sources (system components, application events, log files) and interprets them in terms of how they affect overall service provision. Real-time views mean that service levels can be proactively maintained. Historical data mining and reporting capability enables efficient resource allocation and capacity planning.

The precise nature of the deployment of Sentra is variable from one customer to another, but most will utilise a combination of the following features :

Choice of Win32 GUI and Web browser consoles.
Centralised, rules-based system, application and service level monitoring.
Automated alerting to service threats and SLA violations through e-mail, SMS, SNMP trap, script files, batch files.
Intelligent escalation of alerts to TIVOLI™, HP Operations Center™ (formerly OpenView™), HP ServiceDesk™, BMC Performance Manager™ (formerly Patrol™) and Reflex.
Automated problem resolution, e.g. restarting of failed applications.
Platform and application availability monitoring.
Monitoring of the availability and response of key internet services, such as HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP4.
XML monitoring including UNIFI payment formats - http://www.iso20022.org
HP NonStop monitoring of the Event Management Subsystem (EMS) with complete dynamic filtering of events from any configured collector(s).
BASE24 and BASE24-eps™ (using ACI's EE-SE415 product) and BASE24™ POS, ATM and Interchange monitoring of both TLF and PTLF transaction log files. See also RTLX Reactor for HP NonStop EMS, payment and transaction monitoring of ATM and POS (TLF and PTLF) transaction log files and RTLX FAQs in right-hand margin.
Simplified Service Level Agreement (SLA) management.
Graphical, End-to-End message tracking.
Monitoring of a wide variety of e-mail messaging systems and gateways such as MS Exchange 5.5/2000/2003, SendMail, Isode, Nexor, Critical Path, NetTel (Clearswift), Infonet, ISOCOR and OSI/MHS. Both X400 and SMTP e-mail protocols are supported.
Full auditing of mailbox activity - Indentify when mail is read, forwarded, deleted and moved. Monitor when delegate users and unauthorised users access a mailbox. Ideal for high security messaging environments.
Queue Monitoring, Management and Control - Monitor the size and activity of a queue, delete messages and force non-delivery reports.
Monitoring of middleware systems such as IBM WebSphere MQ (formerly known as MQ Series).
Mailbox auditing on Exchange 2003, including read/moved/deleted status of a message.
Mail traffic pattern assessment.
Capacity planning.
Reporting on messaging issues.
Billing or usage analysis.
Operator initiated tasks to perform manual problem resolution and to launch other diagnostic applications, all from a single, central console.
SNMP IN for monitoring of network components e.g. Routers.
Security and Intrusion Monitoring.

Increased depth of monitoring and intelligent data handling means that relevant data is readily available in either real-time or historical formats. More informed decision-making is therefore possible, improving the ability to respond to problems and to plan effectively for the future. A full implementation of Sentra means that previously labour-intensive tasks can be automated and centralised. This improves resource utilization and reduces total cost of ownership (TCO).

By using 'Sentra Agents' to capture information, Sentra has been designed to be feature rich and offers cross-platform solutions.

The features listed here are available as a single entity or as a package designed for your environment and requirements.

XML Data Collection Agent
A general purpose XML agent can be configured to parse any xml data into a hierarchical structure of SQL tables and fields. This makes the information much easier to process and report on, whilst maintaining the relationships between the XML elements. The agent can be configured by specifying an XSD schema or (where a schema is not available) by loading examples of the xml structure to be captured. The agent can collect XML data from files, MQ queues or from TCP/IP socket-based messages sent directly to it. XML agents can be configured to monitor any ISO20022-compatible payment or transaction.

Event Log Monitoring
Collects and manages data from Windows event logs and generates alerts relating to security issues or application faults.

Monitoring of key business applications
Business applications usually rely on one or more services or processes to be constantly running. Sentra monitors these services and processes and provides automatic recovery should they fail.

Server Availability
Monitors availability of individual ports on a TCP/IP stack. This agent is also capable of monitoring most of the popular Internet protocols – HTTP, FTP, POP3, SMTP..

Cross-platform Performance Counter Monitoring
Collects and manages performance counter data from Windows, Solaris and Linux performance counters

Cross-platform Generic Log Agent
The Generic Log Agent can be configured to extract application event details from any structured log files generated by Business applications. These details once extracted are presented within the centralised Windows and Web consoles. In addition, user defined Rules can be configured against these events.

Rules Library
An extensive library of rules are available to provide real-time alerting on data captured by these agents.

Management Reports
A library of pre-configured reports are available to provide real-time and historical reporting of all aspects of monitored system behaviour.

Automatic monitoring of SLA compliance
Service Level Agreements usually require a number of simultaneous conditions to break before a failure occurs. Alerts can be configured within Sentra that look for these specific situations. Should an SLA alert be broken then a number of automatic actions can be set to warn and correct these potentially damaging situations.

Directory Monitoring
Monitors file and folder metrics on Windows, Solaris and Linux systems.

Application Response
Monitors the response time of applications.

LDAP Monitoring
Monitors the authentication time and response time of any LDAP server.

Cross-Platform Command Server
This server agent allows commands to be run on a Windows, Solaris or Linux target machine, as a local user.

Database Monitoring
Allows scheduled queries to be run against any database server that supports the ODBC standard.

SNMP Device Monitoring
This agent monitors SNMP traps generated from SNMP-capable devices such as network switches, routers, and printers, and periodically polls equipped devices for status information.

Agent Overview

Sentra uses data collection agents which can be remotely installed on computers in the network in order to gather data from a variety of different sources. This section provides a brief overview of the various Sentra data collection agents that are available.

The data collected by the agents can be forwarded to a central Sentra database for reporting and analysis purposes. Captured data can also be evaluated against multiple rules. If the captured data meets the rules criteria, alerts are generated. A library of pre-configured rules is shipped with the Sentra product and additional rules can be configured by users.

A separate agent is deployed for each type of data collection required from a computer. This approach is much more efficient than deploying a single monolithic collection agent. The extensive list of data types that can be collected by the agents is described below.

Server and Internet Service Monitoring Agent
The server monitoring agent uses standard Internet protocols to check the availability of computers and services. The agent can check whether a computer is available on the network. Alternatively, a more specific check of the availability and response time of a service that uses an Internet protocol can be performed. The agent can monitor using FTP, HTTP, IMAP4, POP3 and SMTP protocols. Daily percentage availability and transfer rate statistics (e.g. for FTP and HTTP) are recorded for inclusion in reports. Several agents can be deployed to different geographical locations in a corporate network to gain a full picture of service performance and availability across an entire organisation. This can help in pinpointing infrastructure bottlenecks and weaknesses.

Service and Process Monitoring
In order to manage the data collection agents, Sentra provides a service manager process that allows agents to be installed, un-installed, started and stopped from a single console. Sentra agents can easily be deployed and configured to many machines simultaneously, from a single point. Once deployed, the service manager monitors the agents and can automatically restart or even re-install them should a problem occur. The service manager can also monitor third party processes or services and generate alerts if they fail or even attempt to re-start them. Reports can be produced to show historical outages of service or programs.

Directory Monitoring Agent
The directory monitoring agent monitors files and directories on multiple computers. The agent monitors directories for changes in the number of files, the largest file size and the overall directory size. The agent also monitors the size, age and attributes of files, as well as the changes in the overall status of a file (i.e. if it is a newly created file or if a file is deleted).

Windows Event Log Agent
This agent monitors the Windows event log on 32 bit and 64 bit Windows computers. The standard mode of operation is to evaluate captured data against pre-configured rules and forward those events that meet the rules criteria to the Sentra database. The agents can also be configured to forward specific event log entries to the Sentra database even if rules criteria is not met, e.g. application events that confirm the start and end of a daily backup. Events such as these are usually stored in the database for further report analysis.

Unix/Linux System Log Agent
This agent monitors the system log (commonly known as the syslog) on Unix or Linux (32 bit and 64 bit) computers. The standard mode of operation is to evaluate captured data against pre-configured rules and forward those events that meet the rules criteria to the Sentra database. The agents can also be configured to forward specific syslog entries to the Sentra database even if rules criteria is not met, e.g. application events that confirm the start and end of a daily backup. Events such as these are usually stored in the database for further report analysis.

HP NonStop EMS Event Message Agent
The HP NSK operating system and its applications are richly instrumented through EMS events. This agent monitors EMS event logs. The standard mode of operation is to evaluate captured data against pre-configured rules and forward those events that meet the rules criteria to the Sentra database. The agents can also be configured to forward specific EMS event entries to the Sentra database even if rules criteria is not met, e.g. EMS events that confirm the start and end of a daily backup. Events such as these are usually stored in the database for further report analysis.

Windows Performance Counter Agent
This agent can capture data from any Windows performance counter. An extensive library of pre-configured rules is shipped with Sentra, e.g. to monitor issues such as high CPU usage and low virtual memory availability. ‘Data-thinning’ techniques are used to average the performance counter data in the database into summaries as the data becomes older. This allows recent data to retain its detail whilst long term trends can be still be seen without filling the database.

Non-Windows Performance Counter Agent
On non-Windows platforms key performance indicators such as CPU usage and disk space can be collected into performance counter format. Sentra is therefore able to monitor performance metrics across multiple platforms and operating system types.

JMX MBean Monitoring Agent
Many Java-based programs instrument their performance metrics using JMX. Java-based applications such as BEA WebLogic and IBM Websphere provide a whole series of performance monitoring metrics via JMX. The Sentra JMX agent can monitor JMX counters and treat the captured data in the same way as Windows performance counters. Rules can be configured to evaluate captured JMX data and generate alerts if the rules criteria are met.

Generic Log File Agent
Sentra uses a general purposes ‘Generic’ log file agent that can collect data from any structured text log files. The Sentra Windows console enables a user to configure a new agent and specify the format of the data that the agent is required to capture. For example, a new agent can rapidly be configured to capture the contents of any CSV file. Sentra ships with some pre-configured setups for some common structured log files, e.g. the Microsoft ISA Firewall log file, the Microsoft ISA Packet Filter log file, the BEA Weblogic log file and Tuxedo log file.

As with all Sentra agents, rules can be configured to evaluate captured data. Alerts will be generated if the rules criteria are met.

SQL Query Monitoring
The Sentra SQL agent can be configured to schedule execution of queries of the Sentra database or any other ODBC-compliant database, including SQL Server, ORACLE, DB2 and MySQL. This agent is typically used to store summary information from a number of database sources so that long term trends can be summarised and alerts generated if any rules are broken. For example this could be used to produce an escalation of a problem if the number of alerts for a server broke a nominated limit. This agent has been used to monitor a high-performance payment system that used an ORACLE database. The agent issued scheduled queries to monitor payment volumes; if the payment volume fell below a preset threshold, an alert was generated.

XML Data Collection Agent
A general purpose XML agent can be configured to parse any xml data into a hierarchical structure of SQL tables and fields. This makes the information much easier to process and report on, whilst maintaining the relationships between the XML elements. The agent can be configured by specifying an XSD schema or (where a schema is not available) by loading examples of the xml structure to be captured. The agent can collect XML data from files, MQ queues or from TCP/IP socket-based messages sent directly to it. XML agents can be configured to monitor any ISO20022-compatible payment or transaction.

A series of these XML agents can be deployed to key monitoring points (waypoints) within a payment processing infrastructure to monitor transaction volumes and trends, payment volumes and trends and end-to-end processing times. Rules can be configured to monitor service level compliance and abnormal processing volumes.

X500 Enterprise Directory and /Active Directory Monitoring Agent
The enterprise directory monitoring agent monitors the availability and performance of X500 or Windows Active Directory based enterprise directories. Statistics such as percentage availability and directory query response time can be recorded. Agents can be deployed to multiple locations around a network to determine the availability and responsiveness of the enterprise directory from across the whole organisation.

Application Response Monitoring Agent
This agent can be configured to invoke a program or script file and measure the time taken for execution to complete. Statistics for the average response time and last response time are collected. For example, the agent could be configured to perform an SQL query to monitor a trend of long-term degradation of database performance. The agent has in the past been used to monitor the performance of SAP transactions in a corporate environment, by launching a program that issues a SAP transaction and waits for a confirmation reply.

WebSphere MQ Agent (formerly MQ Series)
This agent collects information on the state of MQ managers, queues and channels. The MQ message header is also captured. Rules can be configured e.g. to monitor the change in run status of queues and channels or to monitor the size or number of entries on a particular queue. Sentra also provides management of MQ queues such as starting and stopping queue managers, queues and channels.

SNMP Monitoring Agent
The Sentra SNMP agent can listen for and report the occurrence of SNMP traps. The agent can also be configured to perform periodic SNMP read requests to query particular values on remote SNMP-enabled devices such as routers or switches.

SysLog Protocol Monitoring
Sentra can be configured to monitor devices that support the SysLog protocol. A syslogd service can be configured to forward SysLog protocol events to the Windows event log, which is monitored by another Sentra agent, as discussed earlier in this document. This technique enables the status of devices such as printers to be monitored.

Email Agents
Sentra collects email message events from a wide range of e-mail system vendors and transforms them into a unified format in the Sentra database. Agents are provided for capture of both SMTP and X400 mail system tracking log files. This allows messages to be tracked across multiple vendors and between X400 and SMTP environments and through mail gateways.

Typical mail systems supported on a variety of different operating systems include :

• Microsoft Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003, 2007
• Boldon James X400 Bridgehead Connector for Microsoft Exchange 2007
• Lotus Notes / Domino
• Sendmail
• Clearswift
• Nexor
• Isode MSwitch
• InfoNet

In many cases mail queues can also be monitored for messages that have been stuck for a specified period of time, providing an early warning of potential performance issues or connectivity problems.

For Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, mailboxes activity can be monitored for events such as messages being deleted before they are read, copying of messages to another folder, and delegate user logins.

BASE24 Monitoring
Capture of BASE24 ATM and POS (TLF and PTLF) transactions is available. This agent is able to capture the complete contents of the TLF and PTLF logs from the HP NonStop platform to a SQL Server database. This provides real time alerting capabilities as well as the ability to do ad-hoc queries across the entire record content, which are otherwise not possible. Even with high data processing volumes ~1200+ transactions/sec the impact on the host HP NonStop platform is minimal as all rules processing is carried out off-line.

To capture BASE24-eps transactions, use the Sentra XML monitoring module together with ACI's Online Extract Interface (EE-SE415) which generates near real-time XML feeds of customized or TLFX / PTLFX extract formatted messages.

Product Installation, Training and Customisation

Our Windows / Unix / Linux Management specialists can provide advice and training on :

Planning a deployment of Sentra (our Windows / Unix / Linux Management Console)

Hardware Configuration

Designing Hypervisor diagrams that represent your network

Configuration of dashboards for performance monitoring

Customisation of alerting methods

Training can be delivered at our Salford offices or at your site

All training material is prepared and delivered by Sentra Consultants who have at least ten years of IT industry experience

Hands on labs are included in all our training courses

All courses offered can be tailored for your specific requirements

Operations Automation

All of our Sentra specialists have expertise in automating operational tasks :

Automated log archiving to local and centralised storage areas

Automated scripting to fix problems when specific alert criteria are met

Customised operator initiated tasks to speed up common administration jobs

Scheduled reports can be published via your intranet, sent by mail in PDF format, and many other formats

MCSE / MCP / MCSA accredited consultants

All of our consultants hold industry recognised certification and have over ten years of IT experience.

Reporting :

Sentra allows the production of reports and management information in two ways. Message traffic analysis can be performed as an extension of the built-in general query tool. Substantially increased reporting flexibility is also provided by the capability to launch Microsoft Reporting Services within Sentra.

Message Traffic Analysis

Message traffic reports can be generated using the graphical and textual reporting facilities of the general query tool. This can be used for monitoring and analysing message traffic and trends. An example could be analysing messages routed across different mail servers within a specified period of time. The (General) Sentra Query function provides graphical and textual reporting facilities, which can be used to generate reports based upon data contained in the database. The following are general features applicable to all queries :

Queries can be generated between a start and end time.
Trend queries possible, e.g. totals displayed hourly, daily, weekly, to be specified via a time window.
Results displayed in numerous 2D and 3D graph formats.
Reports can be saved as csv (comma separated field) files and can be easily exported to an Excel (or similar) spreadsheet.
Sentra allows you to E-mail the results of a query, both textual and graphical, to one or more recipients.

Reporting Capability

Sentra comes with a number of predefined management reports based on both the industry-standard Microsoft Reporting Services package. These reports allow the Sentra data to be displayed as meaningful management information. SLA analysis, capacity planning chargeback and billing are just some of the many uses that can be made of this.

User-defined reports can be written and then launched from the Sentra GUI. This enables users to write reports based on virtually any data captured by the Sentra server. Furthermore, automatic scheduling along with publishing capabilities allow the reporting process to be automated, e.g. monthly SLA reports can be published on an intranet web site or e-mailed to a business manager without any need for user intervention. Example reports include :

Messaging Service Availability
Mail Server Availability
Mail Server Traffic Analysis
Mail Server Queue Analysis
Non-Delivery Reports
System Availability
Web Availability
Alert Detail Per Server
Alerts Per Subsytem
Directory Replication
Disk Space Per Server

Self-Refreshing Charts

These are graphs which are automatically updated periodically, to provide near real-time information in the form of bar graphs and/or trends of any data captured by Sentra, e.g. CPU usage, daily messaging system throughput, transaction approval/denial rates and volumes. The graphs can be configured to support drilldown, e.g. so that a user can highlight a bar in a bar graph and zoom into a more detailed breakdown message system traffic or CPU usage by process.

Summary of Reporting Component

Provides single point of data and reporting capability across entire messaging system.
SLA measurement, messaging statistics, capacity planning data reporting.
Automatic scheduling of reports.
Web publishing.
Configurable Real-time dashboard displays, available from a web console.

Timely and accurate report production facilitates appropriate use of resources along with effective capacity planning. This leads to significant efficiency savings as system resource can be more efficiently employed.

Sentra Business Activity Monitor (BAM)

Capturing and consolidating the essence of business processes is crucial, especially when these may be distributed across a range of applications as is typical of SOA-based solutions.

The Sentra BAM allows users to condense complex processes into a single comprehensive operational dashboard.

The BAM allows business users to define and extract crucial data which is then used to visualise the end-to-end payment process and alert users of exception conditions such as processing bottlenecks and problem payments.

Key features include :

Monitoring facilities from both the business and technical viewpoint
Early detection and resolution of processing bottlenecks
Configuration and generation of alerts for user-defined exception conditions
Automated alert escalation and delivery via multiple channels (e.g. SMS, SNMP, e-mail)
Ability to monitor multiple data sources (e.g. IBM WebSphere MQ Series queues, Oracle views, JMX queues) via dedicated agents
Support for drill down to specific problem area to support resolution
Easy extension to provide enterprise-wide monitoring
Integration with other system management packages such as Tivoli™ and HP Operations Center™

"Insider Technologies have partnered with Logica to provide a fully integrated business activity monitoring (BAM) solution for the Logica All Payments Solution (LAPS) product. This was developed by tailoring the Sentra product to provide seamless integration with LAPS."

The figure below shows an example monitor screen covering a Logica LAPS enterprise deployment.

Logica All Payments Solution (LAPS) Business Activity Monitor (BAM)

Sentra for Message Tracking

The Sentra Message Tracking application can track individual and multiple messages across multiple messaging domains using the same console, subject to the appropriate data fields being made available. Sentra can track e-mail messages which use the X.400 and SMTP (Internet) protocols. Middleware messaging systems such as WebSphere MQ are also supported. Message Tracking user queries are performed against the central data store using a graphical query builder.

Queries can be as detailed or simple as a user requires. For an e-mail message, typical search details might be Sending Time, Message Identifier, Originator or Recipient address. As searches are performed against a single database, results from many Message Transfer Agents (MTAs) can be displayed in a single view. Furthermore, this is a much quicker process than manually examining message logs, which may be the only viable alternative.

The message results view provides details of all originated messages that meet the search criteria. Drill-down facilities provide recipient and diagnostic information, including all events generated to facilitate delivery of message.

The history pane displays the full life-cycle of a message, including information pertaining to the MTAs through which the message has passed, the reports that it has generated, (i.e. Non Deliveries, Deliveries etc.), and the message IDs that it has had as it has passed through any e-mail gateways, such as an X400, SMTP gateway.

Summary of Message Tracking Component :

Enables significantly faster message tracking than provided by alternative methods.
Messages can be tracked across multiple messaging systems on multiple platforms from a single console.

For more information about Sentra for Message Tracking, click here.

BASE24 Transaction Monitoring

ITL have created a Sentra module, RTLX Reactor, to provide real-time monitoring of the transaction flow information created by the ACI BASE24™ and BASE24-eps™ (including Faster Payments) ATM/POS application and the NonStop EMS subsystem.

RTLX Reactor does not inflict a fixed look-and-feel for monitoring live applications. RTLX provides a completely secure, tailorable graphical canvas to enable you to view your transaction processing real-estate at a system level, e.g. PATHWAYs, XPNET and Logical Networks, or at a business level, e.g. top 20 retailers with drill-down to card type broken down by transaction volumes, approvals, denials etc. There is no programmed limit to the number of views that can be constructed and so each department can have their own customised monitoring screen(s) and management reports.

With RTLX, it's easy to plug-in another file, transaction or message feed by deploying a new lean, optimised extraction client. The result is a standard approach to monitoring and querying live payment environments. Data can be masked or omitted for PCI DSS directives and the live application and platform is secure as all transaction queries and rules analysis takes place on Windows Server technology against a local MS SQL database.

This Sentra module will maintain a centralised database of transaction data from one or more BASE24™ nodes and analyse the information in real-time. The outcome of the analysis will be service level alerts, charts depicting the behaviour of nominated metrics and management reports to help set and achieve business objectives for the BASE24™ world.

RTLX Reactor - ATM and POS Transaction Reactor is a Windows based solution for ATM / POS and EMS alert monitoring providing you with the visual tools you need to help ;

Optimize your transaction SLAs
Reduce ATM / POS / Switch network downtime
Maximize your resource utilization
Track all transactions and associated data values
Record all activity for auditing and reputation

After automatically deploying lean extraction clients for specified EMS, ATM and POS transaction sources, RTLX then provides four primary browser views and a number of sub-views for monitoring that financial data and reporting on it in real-time.

RTLX delivers a single, integrated graphical Hypervisor view (accessible via a Windows Browser) into your ACI BASE24™ (and EPS) environments as well as Real-Time Dashboards, Complete Transaction Query Screens and Management Information Reporting (forget ENFORMs and green screens).

By giving you real-time visibility of your entire network, RTLX provides the ability to identify and respond to customer and system level issues before they become widespread. This way, performance and outage problems are not experienced by your retailers (merchants) and domestic customers minimizing complaint calls and also calls from attached financial bodies relating to your live service availability.

The tailorable hypervisors, dashboards / charts delivered in RTLX Reactor for ATM and POS transaction tracking offer an immediate (and time comparative) analysis of transactions at the lowest granular level, allowing you to drill-down to uncover the root cause of issues. All TLF and PTLF data can be analysed in a way not previously available.

Historical reporting on metrics including transactions per second, approval / denial rates, timeouts and response times gives you deep insight into device usage trends. Not only that but you can compare a current Bank Holiday to a past Bank Holiday or even the same Bank Holiday last year.

You can view your current transactions broken down by retailer (merchant) and card type as well as give your key retailers their own secured customised view of their current transaction flow broken down in a way they choose.

The RTLX transaction analyzer product also helps to ensure reliability and reduce the costs of ATM downtime. RTLX simplifies problem / incident management and resolution and allows you to ensure your service level agreements are being met (and what's more documented for auditing) which could save you money and also help to ensure your reputation in the market is maintained.

Suspicious transactions and transaction patterns can be identified, with real-time graphical exception alerts generated when problem transactions occur and pre-defined 'rules' are triggered. All alerts can be relayed to Enterprise Managers using certified code libraries, Mobile SMS and E-mail.

RTLX Reactor is based on the proven and successful Sentra architecture which also includes XML monitoring for the ACI Real-Time Feed Interface (Online Extract Interface - EE-SE415) for monitoring EPS environments.

For more information about the Sentra RTLX Reactor product, click here.

Sentra for HP NonStop EMS Event Monitoring

The Sentra product can deploy a comprehensive EMS lean extraction client to the HP NonStop platform(s) for the relay of dynamically filtered event messages to a nominated Windows server.

This relay of events can be used to monitor HP NonStop Guardian, Open System Services (OSS) and application EMS events, e.g. Pathway, WebSphere MQ, Aleri Atlas, COPE and STAR, XPNET and BASE24™.

Relayed EMS events are stored in a Microsoft SQL database and can be used to drive graphical, web-based hypervisors and near real-time dashboard charts, e.g. failed event totals received for XPNET stations, processes, lines, links.

Simple or compound rules can be constructed to spot vulnerable or failing subsystems on the HP NonStop platform or compromised areas of a live application, e.g. VISA interchange process down.

The software allows for 2 levels of event filtering. Two EMS collectors can be attached and a single event filter object (a second filter table also exists for tighter control of incoming events). A timestamp can be configured for re-start purposes in the event of failure. This can also be used to go back in time.

A comprehensive EMS event query screen exists in the Sentra Web client. This can be used to query on all mandatory EMS event tokens (wildcards are also allowed) currently held in the Sentra database. Commonly used queries can be saved for later access and results can be output to a CSV file for importing into a spreadsheet.

Microsoft SQL Reporting Services are securely integrated into the Sentra Web client to enable timely management reports to be constructed for EMS event ranges whether by event number, SSID or any other mandatory token. These EMS reports can be manually or automatically relayed to configured email addresses.

Customer specific tailored EMS tokens can be integrated following a short software development.

For more information about Sentra for HP NonStop EMS monitoring, click here.

Sentra for SI's SWIFT and TELEX Automated Routing product - STAR

Based on the proven and successful Sentra architecture, this module lets you probe and analyse the real-time flow of business and performance data generated by the Software Integrator's STAR application.

The demonstration (see Demo tab) shows STAR service diagrams, charts, management reports and alerts executing against four separate SI data feeds.

XML format data generated by the STAR Text Checker module. This file contains information about queues and their depths and is organised by country and Message Type (MT).
HP NonStop EMS event log file data generated by the STAR application.
Payment flow information.
Sanctions filtering data.

Software Integrators designs and develops integrated message and payment solutions for banks and other financial institutions, with major clients in Europe, the USA and South Africa.

Software Integrators primary platform is the HP NonStop server and two of their key products are COPE (Complete On-line Payments Environment) and STAR (SWIFT and TELEX Automated Routing).

www.software-integrators.co.uk

For more information about Sentra for STAR monitoring, click here.

Sentra MQ provides a collaborative, team-based approach to infrastructure management: middleware specialists, database administrators and applications developers can each be provided with tailored views of their respective areas of interest, and can work together to resolve issues and maximize business process performance. Complete life-cycle management that speeds up development and deployment of your integration and implementation.

IBM MQ WebSphere (MQ Series) monitoring and management for version 6 and version 7 and also HP NonStop WebSphere MQ version 5 and 5.3 (5.3.1.4).
View real-time information on your WebSphere MQ Workflow processes with Sentra Hypervisor.
Granular control - Provides the ability to drill down into the application and messaging layers to determine cause and problem resolution issues.
Gives you the information you need to optimize process performance. Evaluate productivity of key business processes trends against your benchmarks.
Sentra Dashboard enables you to see real-time performance and availability information from your desired vantage points - from the top level to the underlying causes.
The highly configurable nature of Sentra enables you to respond rapidly to changing business requirements and market conditions. A management and monitoring strategy for new business services can be developed rapidly.
Create custom views and dashboards based on user roles, such as Line-of-Business Managers, Integration Specialists and Technology Administrators, to deliver the information they require.
Certified integration with enterprise management tools such as Tivoli and HP OpenView; easily integrate into other systems management frameworks.
Historical reporting and analysis tools help you identify short-term trends to avoid problems and also perform long-term capacity planning.
Set customized alerts based on business conditions; real-time notification via dashboard, email, pager or mobile phone.
Easy to install and deploy for both development and production environments.
Gives the most extensive support for transaction-centric applications by monitoring transactions that are both message-based and non-message based.

For more information about Sentra for WebSphere MQ monitoring, click here.

Sentra for XML message monitoring

An optimised and comprehensive Sentra XML agent can be configured to parse any XML data feed into a hierarchical structure of SQL tables and fields. This makes the information much easier to process and report on, whilst maintaining the relationships between the XML elements.

SQL tables are automatically created based on the XSD data structure and the required field elements for monitoring. This approach enables more efficient, rationalised data storage.

The Sentra XML agent can be configured by specifying an XSD schema for import or (where a schema is not available) by loading examples of the XML structure to be captured. Once loaded, an XML topology structure view is displayed where individual field elements can be configured for near real-time charts and/or used as input to the Sentra rules engine.

The agent can collect XML data from files, WebSphere MQ queues or from TCP/IP socket-based messages sent directly to it.

XML agents can be configured to monitor any ISO20022-compatible payment or transaction.

A series of these XML agents can be deployed to key monitoring points (waypoints) within a payment processing infrastructure to monitor transaction volumes and trends, payment volumes and trends and end-to-end processing times.

Rules can be configured to monitor service level compliance and abnormal processing volumes.

To monitor BASE24-eps transaction metrics, configure an XML feed using the ACI Real-Time Feed Interface (more specifically the Online Extract Interface - product code EE-SE415) that enables XML feeds against the EPS Journal Log files.

For more information about Sentra for XML monitoring, click here.

Sentra for SafeSign (SSAS)

The Sentra for SafeSign module will allow users to create a centralised database of performance data from one or more e-Security SafeSign Authentication Server or cryptographic environments and analyse the information in real time.

Using standard SQL reporting tools, such as Microsoft SQL Reporting Services™, an analysis of the performance data will provide a set of Service Management facilities and Management Information views. These will be displayed as a collection of web views that represent the environments being monitored and show real-time performance information, service level alerts with graphs representing the behaviour of nominated metrics, and management reports to monitor the Business objectives of the SafeSign Authentication Server service.

The Sentra for SafeSign module can :

Read the contents of any e-Security SSAS log
Read log file and table information directly from the SSAS SQL Database
Read JMX performance counters and attributes from the Daemon process
Read hardware performance data, subsystem performance data such as SQL performance metrics, and event log information
Poll the cryptographic, HSM devices at a user defined interval and retrieve performance data relating to device memory status and certificate storage
Display web view analysis of the environments being monitored and show real-time performance information.

The Benefits of Implementing the Sentra for SafeSign module :

Single Point of Contact for Monitoring & Alerting
Restricted Access to Sentra Functions
Simple Access to Disparate Data
Real Time Alerting to Potential Issues
Automated Issue Resolution
No Access to Sensitive Information
Minimal processing overhead on the SafeSign Authentication Server e-security environment

For more information about Sentra for Cryptographic Environment monitoring, click here.

For Sentra and RTLX / TIVOLI integration, 2 solutions exist currently :

Windows log file approach:

With this, TIVOLI can be configured to monitor a Windows log file. This log file is set-up and written to by Sentra in a defined record format anytime a configured Sentra rule is broken.

The log file resides on a Windows platform (typically the same Windows server as Sentra). The defined format for each record written to the log file has already been imported into Tivoli (by Tivoli administrators using Tivoli BAROC files) prior to start-up. This is done so that Tivoli is aware of the Sentra log file message/record format before it starts to monitor the log file.

Sentra can be configured to monitor either the Unix syslog or Windows event log for all events. Any event can then be used to invoke a Sentra rule which will alert to Tivoli in this manner.

Command line tool (HP Service Desk):

If a command line tool exists on-site for writing events to TIVOLI, Sentra can make use of this command line executable or Macro to escalate events by stringing the appropriate parameters to it and then executing it. ITL used this approach to alert to HP Service Desk currently. This approach is also used by ITL’s Reflex product to alert to BMC Performance Manager.

In both cases above, Sentra sits on a Windows server and deploys agents to monitored platforms (Unix, Linux, HP NonStop, Windows) to monitor the Syslog or event log. All escalation is then carried out by Sentra on the Windows server.

A complete list of monitoring agents provided by Sentra can be found at this link.

Click here for Sentra sample screenshots.

Minimum Windows Hardware Requirements

For optimum performance, it is recommended that the minimum specification of your hardware and software is as follows :

Windows Server 2000 / 2003 / 2008 with the latest service packs
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 / 2008 with the latest service packs
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) for the Sentra Web client interface
Internet Explorer version 6 or 7 for the Sentra Web client interface
Pentium 2 GHz Processor
4 Gb RAM recommended
SCSI interface (SCSI2 Ultra-Wide recommended)
10 GB Single Drive for operating system and SQL Server software
*40 GB Single Drive for the SQL server database (RAID 0+1 recommended)
20 GB Single Drive for the SQL server log file (RAID 0+1 recommended)
Graphics resolution 1024 x 768 recommended
17" or larger colour monitor is also recommended

The above specification is for guidance only. The specification of your Windows server will be dependent on your individual needs. Please contact the Insider Technologies Helpdesk for assistance in establishing the specification of your server.

SQL Server Versions Supported by Sentra (also install Microsoft SQL Reporting Services)

The Sentra database is compatible with the following variants of SQL Server :

2005 / 2008 Standard Edition
2005 / 2008 Enterprise Edition
2005 / 2008 Developer Edition*
2005 / 2008 Express – the default installation on the CD uses SQL Express with Advanced services, so that SQL Reporting Services is available

* Some SQL editions include a concurrent workload governor. Performance degrades when more than five queries are executed concurrently. Sentra will work with these versions of SQL Server but performance may be unacceptably slow and its installation is not recommended for high volume usage.

SQL Express editions support databases with a limited maximum size (4Gb for SQL Express 2005). Users who anticipate large database storage requirements should consider installing the Enterprise edition of Microsoft SQL Server, or contact Insider Technologies for advice.

Sentra Demonstrations :

Name Demonstration View

Sentra Overview
(Flash File - 2.9Mb)

This demonstration provides an outline of some of the features Sentra has to offer.

Sentra Managing Windows
(Flash File - 2.1Mb)

This demonstration shows how Sentra can automatically monitor and control your critical Windows services and applications.

Sentra Unix/Linux
(Flash File - 666Kb)

This demonstration shows how Sentra can automatically monitor and control your critical Unix/Linux systems and processes.

Sentra Web Console
(Flash File - 2.5Mb)

A demonstration on the features of the Sentra Web Console.

Sentra Hypervisor
(Flash File - 1.1Mb)

A demonstration on the features of the Sentra Hypervisor interface.

Sentra Dashboard
(Flash File - 1Mb)

A demonstration on the features of the Sentra Dashboard interface.

Sentra Reporting
(Flash File - 839Kb)

Sentra has extensive reporting capabilities that can be used to produce Management Information. The following demonstration gives an outline of Sentra’s Reporting capabilities.

Sentra Rules and Alerts
(Flash File - 1.1Mb)

Sentra’s powerful rules engine enables a wide range of monitoring tasks to be automated. This demonstration gives an outline of Sentra’s Rules and Alerts facilities.

Sentra SQL Reporting Services
(Flash File - 839Kb)

This demonstration represents a sample of the various Microsoft SQL Reporting Services reports available within Sentra.

Sentra Tasks
(Flash File - 1.7Mb)

Sentra has the ability to execute a Task on any remote platform. The following demonstration gives an outline of Sentra’s Tasks capabilities.

Sentra SNMP Monitoring
(Flash File - 802Kb)

ITL’s SNMP extensions for Sentra allow all the SNMP enabled devices in your enterprise to be monitored and managed. This demonstration gives an outline of Sentra’s SNMP Monitoring facilities.

Sentra MQ
(Flash File - 1.2Mb)

ITL’s WebSphere MQ extensions for Sentra to allow a WebSphere MQ network to be monitored and managed from a single console, regardless of the platforms in use. This demonstration gives an outline of the features of Sentra MQ.

Sentra Server Availability Monitoring
(Flash File - 776Kb)

Sentra has extensive Server Availability Monitoring capabilities. This demonstration gives an outline of Sentra’s Server Availability Monitoring capabilities.

Sentra for
Software Integrator's
STAR application
(Flash File - 8Mb)

Based on the proven and successful Sentra architecture, this module lets you probe and analyse the real-time flow of business and performance data generated by the Software Integrator's STAR application..

Sentra for FASTWIRE
Open by Logica
(Flash File - 15Mb)

Sentra for monitoring the Logica FASTWIRE Open application including MQ Gateway, SOAP Gateway, API Gateway, File Gateway, Real-Time Watch List Filter (HotScan), Message Translation (MT / MX) and SWIFT FIN Gateway process.

Sentra and HP OpenView
(Flash File - 838Kb)

A demonstration of Sentra's Enterprise Management rule / event escalation module, in this case shown for HP OpenView Operations.

The Sentra product is now "Works With Windows 2008" accredited.

The "Works With Windows Server 2008 R2" MS program is intended to help developers and customers ensure that applications meet the baseline technical bar for compatibility with Windows Server 2008.

The application was tested on Windows 2008 R2 and found to function correctly after extensive testing.

Conduct tests on both x64 Windows Server 2008 and x64 Vista Ultimate or Enterprise edition operating systems

To ensure compatibility, a server application as well as all its client components must meet Works with Windows Server 2008 requirements.

To maintain consistency in testing and validation, all Works with Windows Server 2008 testing is conducted on:

- x64 Windows Server 2008

- x64 Windows Vista Ultimate or Enterprise edition

Support 64-Bit version of Windows running on multiple processors

Applications must support x64 versions of Windows Server 2008 and all testing must be conducted on a 64bit version of Windows Server 2008.

To maintain compatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows, it is necessary that:

Applications install and run properly on at least a dual-core system.
Applications and their installers must not contain any 16-bit code or rely on any 16-bit component, since 16-bit code will not run on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
All drivers and executables must be signed to install on a 64-bit Windows OS.
If an application is dependent on kernel-mode drivers for operation, 64-bit versions of these drivers must be available. The application setup must detect and install the proper drivers and components for the 64-bit Windows OS.
If an application is natively 32-bit, it may rely on WOW64 instead of running natively on 64-bit. 32-bit applications must also provide 64-bit versions of kernel mode drivers.

Follow best practices in Security and Reliability

The application must not disable Windows Error Reporting service at any time.
IPv6 network layer IP protocol must not be disabled by the application.

Firewall

The application cannot disable the Microsoft Firewall and must work properly with Microsoft’s or any third party certified firewall.

User Account Control

The application must work properly with User Account Control (UAC) enabled. The application must not disable UAC or require UAC to be disabled.

Maintain compatibility with Antivirus software

Applications must install and operate correctly when a certified antivirus application is running.
The antivirus engine must not be disrupted by the application.

Do not cause services to unexpectedly become unavailable

The issue of services remaining available is critical. The goal of this requirement is to ensure that applications do not cause failures in other applications by making services unavailable.
Applications must maintain stability in general, and violating that is a failure of this requirement and primary functionality
To pass this requirement, applications must notify the administrator at any time any service needs to be shut down.
Services shutting down unexpectedly or shutting down without allowing the administrator to control the timing of the shutdown is a failure.

All drivers must be WHQL signed

Poorly written kernel-mode drivers can crash a system.
Applications that include kernel-mode drivers, such as backup, copy protection, and antivirus products, must be thoroughly tested to minimize this risk.
All application drivers must have a Microsoft signature.
All application drivers must pass Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) testing.
Driver signing is a pivotal to receiving the Works with Windows Server 2008 designation. No application will pass if drivers are unsigned or if WHQL Submission ID is missing from the submission package.

Sentra for Windows, Unix and Linux Monitoring

Event Log Monitoring Collects and manages data from Windows event logs and generates alerts relating to security issues or application faults.

Monitoring of key business applications Business applications usually rely on one or more services or processes to be constantly running. Sentra monitors these services and processes and provides automatic recovery should they fail.

Server Availability Monitors availability of individual ports on a TCP/IP stack. This agent is also capable of monitoring most of the popular Internet protocols – HTTP, FTP, POP3, SMTP..

Cross-platform Performance Counter Monitoring Collects and manages performance counter data from Windows, Solaris and Linux performance counters

Rules Library An extensive library of rules are available to provide real-time alerting on data captured by these agents.

Management Reports A library of pre-configured reports are available to provide real-time and historical reporting of all aspects of monitored system behaviour.

Directory Monitoring Monitors file and folder metrics on Windows, Solaris and Linux systems.

Application Response Monitors the response time of applications.

LDAP Monitoring Monitors the authentication time and response time of any LDAP server.

Cross-Platform Command Server This server agent allows commands to be run on a Windows, Solaris or Linux target machine, as a local user.

Database Monitoring Allows scheduled queries to be run against any database server that supports the ODBC standard.

SNMP Device Monitoring This agent monitors SNMP traps generated from SNMP-capable devices such as network switches, routers, and printers, and periodically polls equipped devices for status information.

Agent Overview Sentra uses data collection agents which can be remotely installed on computers in the network in order to gather data from a variety of different sources. This section provides a brief overview of the various Sentra data collection agents that are available.

Product Installation, Training and Customisation

Operations Automation

MCSE / MCP / MCSA accredited consultants

Message Traffic Analysis

Reporting Capability

Self-Refreshing Charts

Summary of Reporting Component

Sentra Business Activity Monitor (BAM)

Key features include :

Sentra for SafeSign (SSAS)

The Sentra for SafeSign module can :

The Benefits of Implementing the Sentra for SafeSign module :

Click here for Sentra sample screenshots.

Minimum Windows Hardware Requirements

SQL Server Versions Supported by Sentra (also install Microsoft SQL Reporting Services)

Sentra Demonstrations :

Sentra for Management - Windows Event Logs Screenshot

Sentra for Management - Tasks Screenshot

Sentra for Management - Web Dashboard Screenshot

Sentra WEB - Monitor your entire IT infrastructure from a single secured windows browser view

Sentra - Multiple Vendor Support

Sentra WEB - Dashboard Chart Visuals

Sentra Business Activity Monitor (BAM)

Sentra for IBM WebSphere MQ Series Monitoring

Sentra - Cryptographic Top Level Environment View Screenshot with real-time mini-chart

Sentra WEB - Full HP NonStop (Tandem) EMS event message querying

Sentra WEB - Enables specific parts of your BASE24 and XPNET application to be viewed

Sentra - Message Tracking

Sentra WEB - The Hypervisor offers a complete drawing tool to provide comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring

Sentra - Example Graphical Hypervisor monitoring multiple vendor email message throughput using a browser

Sentra - Graphical Hypervisor for monitoring Bonds and Securities between local and remote systems - FSA, AMF and Subscriber Gateways

Sentra - XML file configuration

Sentra for Management - Alerts Screenshot

Event Log Monitoring
Collects and manages data from Windows event logs and generates alerts relating to security issues or application faults.

Monitoring of key business applications
Business applications usually rely on one or more services or processes to be constantly running. Sentra monitors these services and processes and provides automatic recovery should they fail.

Server Availability
Monitors availability of individual ports on a TCP/IP stack. This agent is also capable of monitoring most of the popular Internet protocols – HTTP, FTP, POP3, SMTP..

Cross-platform Performance Counter Monitoring
Collects and manages performance counter data from Windows, Solaris and Linux performance counters

Rules Library
An extensive library of rules are available to provide real-time alerting on data captured by these agents.

Management Reports
A library of pre-configured reports are available to provide real-time and historical reporting of all aspects of monitored system behaviour.

Directory Monitoring
Monitors file and folder metrics on Windows, Solaris and Linux systems.

Application Response
Monitors the response time of applications.

LDAP Monitoring
Monitors the authentication time and response time of any LDAP server.

Cross-Platform Command Server
This server agent allows commands to be run on a Windows, Solaris or Linux target machine, as a local user.

Database Monitoring
Allows scheduled queries to be run against any database server that supports the ODBC standard.

SNMP Device Monitoring
This agent monitors SNMP traps generated from SNMP-capable devices such as network switches, routers, and printers, and periodically polls equipped devices for status information.

Agent Overview

Sentra uses data collection agents which can be remotely installed on computers in the network in order to gather data from a variety of different sources. This section provides a brief overview of the various Sentra data collection agents that are available.