Configuring Application Response to Monitor Microsoft Outlook This document describes how to configure Application Response to monitor Outlook performance, and contains the procedures that you need to get started.

How Does Application Response Monitor the Performance of Outlook? Application Response uses AR agents to monitor Outlook activity on client systems. It sends configuration information to the agent, and collects and aggregates response data from the agents. Application Response then saves this data to the eHealth database through the AR Controller. To monitor and report on the performance of Outlook, you must create and install AR agents on the Windows client systems in your infrastructure. To learn about the benefits of using Application Response to monitor and manage Outlook performance based on actual end-user response times, refer to the Focus topic Using Application Response to Monitor Outlook.

The Deployment Process To monitor Microsoft Outlook, you need to do the following: 1.

Use the AR Agent Publisher to create an agent installation program.

2.

Deploy AR agents to a limited number of client systems.

3.

Run reports to ensure that your agents are working.

4.

Deploy AR agents across your infrastructure.

5.

Import rules for monitoring Outlook.

6.

Organize your clients based on geography or business function.

7.

Set up Live Health to notify you of Outlook problems.

Getting Started Initially, you should plan a limited deployment. Select two or three local client systems (systems that you know actually use Outlook) to which you can deploy the agent first. Once you confirm that the agents work, you can plan a deployment to a large number of client systems. If you have not already done so, you must install eHealth on a Windows or UNIX system, as described in the eHealth Installation Guide for your platform. eHealth automatically installs the executable for the AR Agent Publisher (ARAgentPublisher.exe). If you install eHealth on a UNIX machine, you must transfer the executable to a Windows NT or Windows 2000 machine to run it. It runs on Windows platforms only. You must have an eHealth — Response license, AR agent licenses for each client system that you plan to monitor, and a Live Health license. For complete instructions on entering licenses, refer to the online help for the eHealth console.

Planning Your Deployment If you have already installed eHealth and obtained the necessary licenses, plan to spend a few hours creating the agent installation program, deploying agents to a limited number of client systems, and running a few reports to ensure that your agents are working. After you complete those steps, you will need to spend another hour or so to deploy your agents widely, organize your clients, and set up Live Health. Step 1. Use the AR Agent Publisher to Create the Agent Installation Program. To install new AR agents,

you use the AR Agent Publisher to set up the parameters for your environment and create an agent installation program. You run the AR Agent installation program on target Windows client systems to install the agents. You

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can also use the AR Agent Publisher to create new agent installation programs with new rules. You can generate a single installation program and send it to one or more target systems.

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7.

Click Finish. The AR Agent Publisher creates a file called ARInstl.exe. This is the file that you will deploy to your client systems to install the AR agent on them.

8.

Before you deploy the file, enable eHealth to monitor Outlook by doing the following:

To use the AR Agent Publisher to create the agent installation program: 1.

a. Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

Start the AR Agent Publisher by doing one of the following:

b. Select the Administration tab.

• On a Windows eHealth system, change to the following directory and double-click the AR Agent Publisher executable (ARAgentPublisher.exe):

c. In the left pane of the Administration page, select AR Agent Management; then select List Applications. d. Scroll to the Outlook application and select the checkbox; then click the Enable Selected Application button above the list.

ehealth/agent/response

• On a UNIX eHealth system, copy this program to any Windows system in your network; then double-click the executable. NOTE NOTE

Do not use the ARAgentPublisher.561.exe file.

2.

In the Welcome dialog box, select Generate an AR Agent Installation Program; then click Next.

3.

In the Edit Controller Information dialog box, enter the name of the eHealth system in the Host Name field (that is, the host name of the system on which eHealth resides); then click Next.

4.

In the Options for Agent Installation dialog box, deselect Silent Agent Installation; then select Netscape Navigator. Click Next.

e. Click OK. The screen refreshes and redisplays the Application list. An icon should no longer appear in the Disabled column for Outlook. Step 2. Deploy AR Agents to a Limited Number of Client Systems. When you install an agent on a system,

it becomes an AR client. To deploy agents to a limited number of client systems in your organization, you can use e-mail. To deploy AR agents using e-mail: 1.

Create an e-mail message and attach the AR agent installation program (ARInstl.exe).

2.

In the e-mail, do the following: a. Instruct the recipients to double-click the executable and install the program on their systems.

NOTE NOTE

b. Remind them that the installation program may prompt them to reboot their systems after they have completed the installation.

If you plan to use AdvantEDGE View later to deploy agents widely across your infrastructure, do not deselect Silent Agent Installation. 5.

6.

In the Enter Target Directory for Agent Installation dialog box, leave the field blank and click Next. By default, the program installs the agent for the client machine on the boot drive and creates an ehealth/agent/response directory. The Edit Agent Host Names dialog box appears. Click Next. The Start Generating Program dialog box appears.

c. Explain that the process may take 15 to 20 minutes, and they will need to reboot their workstations after wards. Once they deploy the agent on their systems, the systems become AR clients. 3.

Send the e-mail. After the users have installed their agents, do the following: a. Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

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b. Select the Administration tab.

c. Select an agent name from the Agent list; then click the Get Transaction Data from Agent button at the top of the screen. The screen refreshes and displays the list of Outlook transactions that have been performed by the client.

c. In the left pane of the Administration page, select AR Agent Management; then select List Agents. The Agent List page appears. d. Review the list of agents. Make sure that your test systems appear in the list. If they do not appear, the users have not yet installed the agents on their systems. e. Ensure that your browser is set to update with every visit to a page. Select Tools → Internet Options. In the Internet Options dialog box, select the General tab; then click Settings under Temporary Internet Files. In the Settings dialog box, select Every visit to the page; then click OK. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box. f. If ON does not appear in the State column for an agent, select the checkbox next to the name in the list; then click the Start Selected Agents button above the list. After the screen refreshes, the Status column should display a green icon. 4.

Verify that the agents are working by enabling them to perform transaction logging. Click the checkbox to the left of the agent names in the agent list; then click the Start Transaction Logging for Selected Agents button above the list. The screen refreshes and displays a checkmark for each agent in the Transaction Logging column. NOTE NOTE

An agent cannot log transactions if it is not licensed. If the Licensed column does not display a checkmark for an agent, the AR agent is not licensed, which means that eHealth cannot collect data for it. You must use the eHealth console to enter an AR Agent license for it. 5.

View the agent transaction log: a. Click the checkbox to the left of each agent name in the agent list; then click the View Transaction Logs of Selected Agents button above the list. b. Click OK to launch the ATV. The Agent Transaction Viewer window appears.

d. Repeat Step c to view the agent transaction log of each of the other agents. NOTE NOTE

If the user is not currently using Outlook, transactions will not appear. Step 3. Run eHealth Reports to Ensure That Your Agents Are Working. After you deploy agents to a

limited number of client systems and enable eHealth to monitor Outlook, run some eHealth reports to ensure that your agents are working and that their data is being saved to the database. Trend reports can help you to determine reasonable thresholds for response performance. Later, based on the Trend report data, you can define acceptable service levels for Outlook in your report service profile and then run a CIO Summary Health report to see an historical analysis. This report presents a high-level view of how your Outlook application is performing based on the thresholds that you have specified. They also help you to create meaningful rules for monitoring Outlook using Live Health. To run a Trend report for Outlook: 1.

After installing the agents, wait 15 to 20 minutes to ensure that the agent has had sufficient time to go through its normal five-minute heartbeat cycle and send its data to the eHealth system.

2.

Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

3.

Select the Run Reports tab. The Run Reports page appears.

4.

Select Standard under Trend in the Available Reports column. The Run a Trend Report page appears.

5.

Under Subject Type, select Element.

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From the Element Type list, select Response Path. eHealth refreshes the screen and presents a list of response paths.

3.

7.

Select an Outlook response path from the Available Elements list for your report (such as OutlookReply); then click the down arrow.

4.

8.

From the Variables list, select Avg. Client Response, Avg. Network Response, and Avg. Server Response Time.

Under Group Filter, specify a string to reduce the number of groups shown in the Groups list. The default value (*) lists all groups of the technology type that you specify.

5.

From the Technology list, select Response Client Set. The screen refreshes and displays an Applications list with the application hierarchy for

6.

9.

Report page appears.

Under Chart type, select the stacked bar.

10.

Under Report Time, select Today.

11.

Click Generate Report. eHealth generates a report, similar to the following example, that shows the average client response time, average network response time, and average response time for Outlook for the client system for today.

Select CIOSummary under Health in the Available Reports column. The Run a CIOSummary Health

your infrastructure in a three-tier format: applications, followed by module sets that comprise the applications, and the modules that comprise each module set. For example: Outlook-App (the application), Outlook-ReplySet (the module set), Outlook-Reply and Outlook-Read (the modules). 6.

Do the following: a. Select an application, module set, or module from the Applications list to include in the report. Select multiple applications by pressing the Ctrl key while using your mouse to select them; or select All Applications. b. Specify the mode of access by selecting Both, Locally Connected, or Remotely Connected from the Client Access list.

7.

Under Groups, select the group of elements for which you want to run the Health report.

8.

Under Report Time, select a time period.

9.

Click Generate Report. eHealth generates a report similar to the following. • The Service Level Distribution Observed chart shows Outlook’s performance level by task, and how often response time exceeds the threshold.

To run a CIO Health report to obtain a high-level view of Outlook performance: 1.

Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

2.

Select the Run Reports tab. The Run Reports page appears.

• The Response Observed chart shows the average response time for each task based on time spent at the server, on the client system, and in the network. This can clearly identify bottlenecks.

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To deploy AR agents using AdvantEDGE View: 1.

eHealth CIO Report CIO Report Application Outlook-Forward, Outlook-ReplyAll, Outlook-Mail, Outlook-New, Outlook-Read, Outlook-Reply

% of Transactions

Service Level Distribution Observed 100

> 100 % 75 - 100 % 50 - 75 % 25 - 50 % < 25 %

80 60 40 20 0

NOTE NOTE

Response Observed 80K

Milliseconds

Copy the AR agent installation program to the ehealth/web/aview/deploy/ntx86/ar directory. For instructions on creating the AR agent installation program, refer to “Step 1. Use the AR Agent Publisher to Create the Agent Installation Program.” on page 1.

SLA Threshold Client Network Server

60K 40K

If you are using the standalone version of AdvantEDGE View, copy the AR agent installation program to the directory on the AdvantEDGE View server system, log in to the AdvantEDGE View server, and go to Step 4.

20K 0

Transactions Observed by Application 30K

Transactions

Count

25K 20K 15K 10K 5K 0

Network Volume Observed by Application 200M

Bytes

Bytes

150M 100M

2.

Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

3.

Select the AView tab.

4.

Select the Administration icon in the left pane.

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SLA Violations by Response Client Sets

Threshold

Total

Client

Network

Server

Count

5.

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 97.6

385.7 K 224.6 K 189.0 K 79.6 K 58.4 K 34.6 K 6.4 K 4.1 K 4.1 K 84.6 K

147.3 K 44.7 K 175.9 K 74.1 K 29.4 K 31.2 K 6.1 K 3.7 K 3.7 K 7.5 K

41.3 K 5.5 K 2.1 K 1.0 K 9.6 K 2.0 K 30.0 355.0 54.7 479.7

197.1 K 174.3 K 11.0 K 4.5 K 19.4 K 1.4 K 198.0 119.5 337.0 76.6 K

11 56 7 5 13 1 1 2 3 41

If you have not already set your AdvantEDGE View preferences, select AdvantEDGE View Preferences to set up your licensing account information and specify a deployment drive.

6.

Click Modify to apply the changes; then click the Administration icon again.

7.

Select Agent Deployment. AdvantEDGE View displays the AdvantEDGE View: Agent Deployment form.

8.

Complete the form as follows:

SLA % over Rank Application

Client Set

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

australia-CS techserv-CS atlanta-CS execs-CS australia-CS atlanta-CS execs-CS atlanta-CS execs-CS techserv-CS

Outlook-New - Local Outlook-Forward - Local Outlook-New - Local Outlook-New - Local Outlook-Forward - Local Outlook-ReplyAll - Local Outlook-ReplyAll - Local Outlook-Forward - Local Outlook-Forward - Local Outlook-Reply - Local

Average Response (milliseconds)

Transaction

Step 4. Deploy AR Agents Widely across Your Infrastructure. When you are satisfied that the limited

deployment has succeeded, you can use AdvantEDGE View to deploy Application Response widely on client systems across your infrastructure. NOTE

If you are using eHealth on a Windows system, you can do this from the eHealth system. However, if you are using eHealth on a UNIX system, you must install a standalone version of AdvantEDGE View on any Windows system.

a. Specify an administrator name and password. b. Optionally, specify the domain for the administrator user account in the Domain field. NOTE NOTE

You must specify a domain if the administrator account is not local to the target system. c. Optionally, select Stop on Error to stop the deployment process when AdvantEDGE View encounters any error with the deployment or the licensing.

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d. Optionally, select Verbose Logging to record a detailed log of the search for systems.

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To import new rules into Application Response: 1.

Access the rules file through the Concord KnowledgeBase on the Concord Web site at concord.com. Select Support → Knowledgebase. Search for the Outlook rules file.

2.

Copy the rules file to a temporary directory on the eHealth system.

3.

Log in to the eHealth Web interface using the admin user account.

e. Select eHealth Application Response in the Application Response section under Deployment type. f. Specify the criteria for deployment in the Search Criteria area by doing one of the following: • Select By List or Range of IP Addresses; then specify a list or range of IP addresses in the field. • Select By Windows NT Domain; then specify the domain name in the field. AdvantEDGE View will query the domain controller to obtain a list of systems in that domain. • Select By System Group; then select a group. 9.

Click Begin Search. AdvantEDGE View displays the NT Systems Eligible for Agent Deployment form, which shows a list of systems that are eligible for deployment.

10.

Click Search Log to view a log file that describes each system in detail.

11.

Deselect the check boxes in the Deploy? column for any systems to which you do not want to deploy the AR agent.

12.

4.

On the Administration page, click AR Agent Management.

5.

Click List Applications.

6.

Click Import Application Rulesets from BT Studio. The Import Application Rulesets dialog box appears.

7.

In the Import File field, specify the directory in which the new version of the rules file resides and click OK. Application Response displays a list of applications whose rule sets are defined in the new version of the rules file.

8.

If the rule set to import is not yet defined in Application Response (indicated by New in the Import column), add it as follows: a. Click New next to the new application name. b. Specify a name and application type for the application and click Next.

Click Deploy to Selected Hosts.

c. Click OK at the message to proceed. Step 5. Import Rule Sets. The default eHealth rules

d. In the Application Properties window, select the desired server and click OK. The Import Application Rulesets window reappears, with an Import checkbox next to the new application’s name.

files (such as eHealth.Rules.ard) contain rule sets for all applications, including Outlook. However, you can attain better visibility into the application’s performance by importing a rule set that Concord has created specifically for the Outlook application. This rule set groups transactions more effectively, providing you with realistic data.

e. Select one or more applications to import into Application Response. 9.

NOTE

As a precaution, back up AR configuration data before updating Application Response with new rules or other configuration information. For more information, refer to the eHealth BT Studio User Guide.

Click OK. Application Response overwrites existing rule sets for the chosen applications with new rule sets, or adds rule sets for new applications. AR agents begin to monitor transactions for the newly defined applications almost immediately.

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Step 6. Organize Your Clients Based on Geography or Function. After you deploy Application Response

across your infrastructure, you need to create agent sets, also referred to as client sets, to organize your clients based on their location or business function. By associating your agents with agent sets, you can manage them more easily.

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9.

Select List Agents under AR Agent Management in the left pane. The Agent List page appears.

10.

Click the checkbox to the left of the agent names in the agent list that you want to add to the new agent set.

11.

Click the Change Primary Agent Set of Selected Agents button at the top of the page. The Select

NOTE

Agent Set window appears.

Each agent can belong to only one client set. Each client set is an element. For example, you might create a client set composed of agents that reside on client systems in your Chicago office and another client set composed of agents that reside on client systems in your Boston office. If you want to stop all agents in the Chicago office, you use the Agent Set List page to select the agent set and click Stop. You can also organize client sets based on the departments in which the clients reside. For example, you could create a separate agent set for your Finance department, another one for IT, and a third for your Human Resources team. After you organize your agents into client sets, you can use the eHealth console to create groups of Outlook client sets, also referred to as “response elements,” that you want Live Exceptions to monitor. You can then associate the related groups into a group list.

12.

Select the name of the agent set from the list under Existing; then click OK.

13.

A message box appears, prompting you to confirm the change. Click OK. The screen refreshes and displays the agent set name in the Agent Set column next to each agent that you included.

To create a group of client sets: 1.

In the eHealth console, select Reports → Edit Groups → Response Groups. The Response Group dialog box appears.

2.

Click Add in the Groups dialog box. The Add Groups dialog box appears.

3.

Specify a name in the Group Name field. Use a name that corresponds to the application that you are managing, such as Outlook. For example, Grp1-Outlook.

4.

Under Available Elements, select Response Client Set. The list refreshes and now shows all response client sets in your infrastructure.

5.

Select all of the client sets that you created previously. Select the first set, hold down the Shift key, and select all other sets; then click the top arrow to move them to the Group Members list.

To create a client set: 1.

Open a Web browser and log in to the eHealth Web interface.

2.

Select the Administration tab.

3.

In the left pane of the Administration page, select AR Agent Management; then select List Agent Sets. The Agent Set List page appears.

4.

Click the Add Agent Set button at the top of the screen. The Agent Set Properties window appears.

6.

When you have completed the group, click OK. The new group appears in the Groups dialog box.

5.

In the Name field, enter a name for the agent set.

7.

6.

Optionally, in the Description field, specify a description for the new agent set.

Optionally, repeat Steps 2 through 6 to create an identical group of client sets for each additional application that you are going to monitor.

7.

Click Apply to save the new information.

8.

When you finish adding groups, click Close in the Groups dialog box.

8.

Click OK. The Agent Set Properties window closes and the new agent set appears on the Agent Set List page. (If the set does not appear, click the Refresh Data button to update the page.) eHealth Release 5.6.5

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To create a group list of your client set groups: 1.

In the eHealth console, select Reports → Edit Group Lists → Response Group Lists. The Response Group List dialog box appears.

2.

Click Add in the Group List dialog box. The Add Group List dialog box appears.

3.

Specify a name in the Group List Name field. The Available Groups list displays all groups that are currently available.

4.

Select all Outlook groups that you want to add. Select the first one, hold down the Shift key, and select all other groups; then click the top arrow to move them to the Group List Members list.

5.

Click OK. The new group list appears in the Group List dialog box.

6.

Click Close to save your group list and close the dialog box.

Step 7. Use Live Health to Notify You of Problems.

You can set up Live Health to notify you of potential delays, failures, and other problems that occur with your Outlook application and clients. Initially, you can use the Live Exceptions default profiles for the response technology. Later, you can use the data that you accumulate through Trend reports to create new profiles and notification rules based on the response time thresholds for your organization’s Outlook transactions. The following is an example of a Live Exceptions browser that is configured to monitor numerous response elements. The alarms with a critical severity are listed at the top, followed by minor alarms, and then warnings.

To associate the default Live Exceptions profiles to your Outlook groups: 1.

Open a Live Exceptions browser.

2.

Select Setup → Subjects to Monitor. The Setup Subjects dialog box appears.

3.

Click New. The Setup Subjects Editor dialog box appears.

4.

Under Subject Type, select Groups.

5.

From the Technology Type list, select Response.

6.

From the Subjects list, select the group list that you created.

7.

From the Profiles list, select Response Delay; then press Ctrl and select Response - SLA.

8.

Click OK.

eHealth begins to monitor your response elements using the default profiles. However, the profiles may not be well-suited to your environment. To ensure that Live Health is working, you should create a custom profile with one rule to test.

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To create a new (custom) Live Health profile and associate it to your Outlook groups: 1.

Open a Live Exceptions browser.

2.

Select Setup → Profiles. The Profiles Manager dialog box appears.

3.

Create a new profile as follows:

h. Click OK in the Setup Subjects Editor dialog box; then click OK in the message box that indicates Live Health has send your message to the server. 5.

Click OK in the Setup Subjects dialog box.

To create a Live Status application view of your clients sets:

a. Click New Profile.

1.

b. In the Create Profile dialog box, specify a name such as MY_AR_TEST_PROFILE; then click OK.

Run Live Status. Select Start → Programs → eHealth → Live Status.

2.

In the Live Status window, select File → New Diagram.

d. Under Element Type, select Generic Response Path Set.

3.

In the New Diagram dialog box, specify a title for the application view in the Title field.

e. Under Severity, select Major.

4.

f. Specify a rule message such as Test rule for transactions.

Under Technology, select Response. The screen refreshes and displays all of your response group lists.

5.

Under Group Lists, select your Outlook group list.

g. Next to Time, specify 1 in each field.

6.

Click OK. The Live Status window refreshes and then displays a diagram similar to the following. You can right-click on any group member to generate a report on it.

c. Click New Rule.

h. Under Variable, select Transactions. i. Under Condition Type, select Time Over Threshold. j. Select Above and specify 1 in the Percent field. k. Click OK; then click OK in the Profiles Manager dialog box. l. When the Information dialog box appears, click OK to confirm that Live Health should send the data to the server. 4.

Associate the new profile to Outlook groups as follows: a. Select Setup → Subjects to Monitor. The Setup Subjects dialog box appears. b. Click New. The Setup Subjects Editor dialog box appears. c. Under Subject Type, select Group Lists. d. From the Technology list, select Response. e. From the Subjects list, select All to associate the profile to all groups of Outlook transactions that you created using eHealth. f. From the Profiles list, select Response Delay. g. Select a time range that Live Health should apply to the profile and subject pair. Under Calendars, select a calendar.

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