Argent Architecture Guide

39 Pages·2013·1.42 MB·English

Argent Architecture Guide
ENCYCLOPEDIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Argent
Architecture
Guide
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© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013
© ArgSoft Intellectual Property Holdings, Limited. 1991 - 2010
Contents

Argent Architecture Decision Tree 2
Centralized Monitoring 3
Agent Types 4
Agent-Based Monitoring 5
Argent AT Trusted Agents 6
Mother-Daughter Architecture 10
Non-Stop Motors 23
Mixed Architecture 36
UNIX Monitoring 37
UNIX Secure Agent (LINUX Example) 38

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 1
Argent Architecture Decision Tree

Argent offers several options with regard to Architecture. The one thing that sets Argent apart from other vendors is our
ability to scale so easily. Argent has an architecture option for ANY situation, for example…

Looking at the decision tree below, there is an option for every enterprise.

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 2
Centralized Monitoring

Centralized monitoring is the most commonly used approach for smaller customers with most of their monitored devices in a
single geographic location or subnet.

This approach utilizes a single Argent Main Engine with a back-end SQL Server database, either installed locally or on
another server in the same location / subnet.

Note: Additional Argent Main Engines can be deployed for load balancing and redundancy if desired. This architecture
option is described under the Non-Stop Motor section later in this document..

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 3
Agent Types

A Daughter Scheduling Engine installation on a server contains the functionality of both a regional Scheduling Engine as well
as a Trusted Agent.

In contrast, a Trusted Agent installation needs to be driven by the Scheduling Engine (either Mother or Daughter) on another
machine.

If the connection from the Main Engine to the Daughter Scheduling Engine is lost, the Daughter Scheduling Engine will still
be able to continue scheduling the tasks previously requested from the Main Engine.

In addition, Daughter Scheduling Engines, just like Mother Engines, store Argent Predictor data locally until the connection is
restored to the Main Engine.

Daughter Scheduling Engines can cache Alerts if the Argent Console Main Engine server is offline or the network segment is
down. When the Argent Console Main Engine server returns online, the Alerts cached on the Daughter Scheduling Engine
are sent to the main Argent Console.

If an Alert Executor or an Argent Console Backup Engine is installed on the Daughter Scheduling Engine, Alerts can be sent
directly from the Daughter Scheduling Engine. This avoids possible delays in notification or corrective action.

The Argent Console Backup Engine records Events and fires Alerts if the main Argent Console server is unreachable.

In contrast, if the connection from the Main Engine to the Trusted Agent is lost, the Monitoring Engine will stop monitoring as
it cannot receive instructions from the Main Engine.

Clearly the Mother/Daughter option is more powerful, but does require more planning and takes longer to implement.

A Trusted Agent is quick and easy to install and is a good choice if the network connection between the Main Engine and the
Trusted Agent is stable.

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 4
Agent-Based Monitoring

Agent-based monitoring is very useful for customers with remote locations connected by DEPENDABLE, high bandwidth
links.

This approach is also useful for situations where firewalls are involved OR there are multiple domains resulting in a situation
where the Main Engine Argent Service Account does not have administrative connectivity to all machines involved.

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 5
Argent AT Trusted Agents

Trusted Agents are the same as remote engines in Argent XT products. Trusted Agents are the workhorses who do the
heavy lifting and monitoring work on a remote machine.

Trusted Agents can be "pushed" out to a particular server from the Main engine or can be installed using the installation
package.

To install a Trusted Agent on any server, go to the Control Information tab and open the "Administration" -> "Trusted Agents"
leaf in the folder structure.

Right click and select "New Trusted Agent"

The next dialog box will prompt for all relevant information needed to push put the agent.

NOTE: Full administrative and remote access privileges to the remote server are required to complete this.

Remote Installation

Please see the following article for a list of TCP Ports that the Argent Trusted Agents to communicate to the Main server:
http://help.argent.com/#Q023
© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 6
The entire install package is required to carry out a remote installation. The Argent AT installation package can be
downloaded from help.argent.com.

Extract the ZIP file to a local folder location. Then locate and run SETUP.exe

Click "Next" on the following screen and the EULA will be presented.

Setup will continue once you select "I Accept The Agreement" and click "Next"

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 7
The next screen will allow you to select the products and components you want to install. Select the "Trusted Agent" option
in the drop down list:

The next screen will prompt for the Service information. This is also where the Main Engine hostname is required.

An option to use Only TCP/IP is also present. This is recommended, as Named Pipes will be used otherwise.

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 8
The Trusted Agent will automatically establish a connection with the Main Engine, and will appear within the Trusted Agent
folder on the Main Engine GUI.

© ArgSoft Pacific Intellectual Property Holdings (HK), Limited. 1991 - 2013 Page 9