Category Archives: Tibco Hawk interview

questions
TIBCO HAWK REO!ITOR"
09May
###############$Tibco hawk-
Other thing that should be considered in business process integration are slowdowns and sudden
outages in the system. Businesses cannot afford to have any delays in their operations that may
cause financial losses. Constant system monitoring is needed to prevent and predict any possible
failures and downtimes. his is why !BCO developed a software that has the capability to
monitor and manage not only the systems and applications but the networ" statistics as well.
What is TIBCO HAWK%
!BCO #aw" is networ" monitoring and management software for distributed systems and
applications in the enterprise. !t is designed using the concept of an independent smart agent that
runs on each node in the networ" to monitor local conditions$ so there is no need for a
centrali%ed monitoring console or fre&uent pooling across the networ" that can consume more
bandwidth or cause networ" traffic.
One of the advantages of using !BCO #aw" is that it uses less bandwidth while monitoring
every machine in the networ". !t is because !BCO #aw" distributes the monitoring load to each
machine that has locally installed #aw" agents in order to conserve system resources and
networ" bandwidth. he system administrator has now the capability to monitor the operating
system$ the application parameters and behaviors of each machine in the networ" using only less
bandwidth. 'nother great advantage of !BCO #aw" is that$ in case of networ" failure$ the
#aw" agents will continue to perform local tas"s because each agent operates independently
from the other.
One of the benefits of using !BCO #aw" is that it reduces sudden or une(pected system
outages and slowdowns. !BCO #aw" has this capability to automatically repair failures and
slowdowns within seconds of detection and it also allows problems to be found and fi(ed before
any slowdowns and failures can occur.
TIBCO Hawk syste& architecture'
here are two ma)or components that ma"e up the !BCO #aw" *ystem+ the 'gents and the
Console 'pplications. 'gents reside on each computer in the networ" and perform monitoring
and managing duties. !t uses rulebases as a monitoring policy and microagents to e(tract
monitoring information and to carry-out specified tas"s.
he Console 'pplications$ on the other hand$ can be further divided into three subcomponents+
the !BCO #aw" ,isplay that provides the interface to monitor and manage agent behavior in
your networ"$ the -vent *ervice that records and logs all the activities of the agent$ and the
bridges to other management systems.
(eatures o) TIBCO Hawk *is+,ay
he !BCO #aw" ,isplay is a local window for all the activities in the networ"$ which provides
a graphical user interface used for viewing active agents in the networ". !t displays container
icons that are created for each agent and arranged in clusters. hese agent icons are$ by default$
clustered according to subnets. !t also allows you to customi%e container icons and to convey
added information that can be useful for your monitoring. Menus and dialogs are provided for
you to create$ modify and distribute rulebases to any agent present in the networ". .ou can also
invo"e a microagent method that allows you to view the results immediately.
(eatures o) TIBCO Hawk Event !ervice
he !BCO #aw" -vent *ervice does not only record the activity of !BCO #aw" agents but it
also logs and subscribes to all !BCO #aw" system events such as agent activation and
e(piration$ microagent and rulebase changes$ alerts and clears. he e(ternal applications must be
saved on a data file in order for them to access the logs. !f ever there is an e(pired or non-
communicating agent in the networ"$ the -vent *ervice provides the use of a user-supplied script
to notify the system administrator.
How -oes TIBCO Hawk agent o+erates%
he #aw" agent uses microagents as an ob)ect to represent and interact with the managed ob)ect
in your local machine. hen$ the agent loads the rulebases as monitoring policies to monitor your
system or your applications. !t uses /0 Messaging to communicate with the microagents$ and
uses -M* or /0 messaging to communicate with other agents$ -vent *ervice and #aw" ,isplay.
!t also communicates using instances of !BCO #aw" ,isplay but it wor"s independently with
the ,isplay and other agents.
What is the -i))erence between the Hawk .icroagent/H.A0 an- A++,ication .icroagents%
#M' or #aw" Microagents are default microagents residing on your local machine to monitor
system1s health and statistics. #M' can be a platform-specific or platform-independent
microagent. !t means that every platform has its own specific microagent or it has microagents
that are default to any platform.
he 'pplication Microagents$ on the other hand$ are microagents that are specifically created or
coded to monitor the application statistics. Only those applications that use 'M! are dynamically
discovered by the #aw" *ystem and represented by microagents that enables those applications
to be managed and monitored.
What is A.I or A++,ication .anage&ent Inter)ace%
'pplication Management !nterface 2'M!3 is a gateway between the e(ternal applications and
#aw" *ystem that uses /0 Messaging to communicate. !t is used as a protocol in instrumenting
an application with a management interface that allows the application to be monitored and
controlled by e(posing internal application methods to the !BCO #aw" system.
TIBCO Hawk Agents o+erate by ,oa-ing ru,ebases' !o1 what are ru,ebases%
/ulebase refers to a collection of rules that controls the monitoring conducted by the agents$
which can be created or modified using the rulebase editor in the !BCO #'45 ,isplay. !t uses
a microagent method as a data source to create one or more tests. hese tests use !f6else construct
to chec" the conditions and includes action if the condition evaluates to true. 'n action$ can be
sending an alert or notification messages$ e(ecute an O* command$ creating post condition$ or
invo"ing another microgent method.
What are A,ert .essages%
'lert messages originate from a rulebase that implements the monitoring policy or logic. 4hen a
specified condition occurs$ the agent publishes an alert message to the !BCO #aw" ,isplay and
presents it by colors to show the severity of the alert. !t uses colors such as red for high alert$
orange for medium alert$ yellow for low alert$ cyan if it1s recovering$ green if it1s o" and purple
for no heartbeat. hese colors are default to the #aw" ,isplay but it also allows you to change
them based on your own preference. .ou can also suspend an alert message that will be
temporarily neutrali%ed to prevent it from interfering with other monitoring tas"s. !f ever a
condition ceases$ these alerts will be cleared or removed in the ,isplay.
What is a ru,ebase sche-u,ing%
/ulebase scheduling allows you to create a schedule that defines when a rulebase$ rule$ test or
action is active or not. hese schedules can be imposed on the rulebase to control the monitoring
activity and performing corrective tas"s. .ou can define and assign a schedule using the !BCO
#aw" ,isplay$ which must be saved on a file so that it can be assigned later on to one or more
agents and can be applied to any rulebase ob)ects.
!n creating a schedule$ you can also specify inclusion and e(clusion periods. 7or e(ample$ you
can set a rulebase to be activated only during office hours and be deactivated during holidays.
7or the inclusion period$ you can use Mondays to 7ridays from 8 'M to 9:M and for the
e(clusion period you can include holidays such as Christmas and ;ew .ear.
What are the Hawk 2rou+ o+erations%
here are three #aw" <roup operations+ the ;etwor" =uery$ ;etwor" =uery with test and
;etwor" 'ction. hese group operations allow you to detect and solve problems in the networ".
!f you want to research and test on how to build rules$ these #aw" <roup operations can be used
as an interactive tool.
;etwor" =uery$ from the name itself$ &ueries one or more agents in the networ" to detect the
location where such specified condition e(ists. !t is such a powerful feature that allows you to
communicate with multiple !BCO #aw" agents at one time. 's an individual agent$ you can
as" or &uery multiple agents in your networ".
he ;etwor" =uery with test$ on the other hand$ is where you apply a test based on the results of
the networ" &uery. .ou can use these tests to filter the result set$ but these tests are optional and
only one test per &uery is allowed.
>astly$ the ;etwor" 'ction specifies an action to be performed on any agent in the networ" but
you can only specify an action one at a time.
Both the ;etwor" &uery and ;etwor" 'ction allow you to combine common and identical tas"s
which can be e(ecuted in a single operation and can be performed on each agent in the networ".
What are the &onitoring best +ractices%
?sing !BCO #aw"$ you can have these practices to achieve an efficient and effective way of
monitoring your system and your applications.
@ Create a rulebase based on the process e(istence. his is to chec" or test whether there are not
enough or too many process instances that are running or you can use this rulebase to
automatically restart a failed process.
@ Creating a rulebase that monitors the process resource utili%ation. his is to ma"e sure that the
use of the resources such as the memory and the C:? don1t get too big overtime$ which might
affect the system1s performance.Create a rulebase for your >og7ile or -vent >og Monitoring.
hrough this$ you can ma"e or define another rule based on the entries of those activities logged
on which you1ll be able to perform necessary actions.
@ Chec"ing for the e(istence of an 'pplication Microagent also needs to be monitored. his is
useful in a situation where you want to detect if the application that you are monitoring is not
responding or not communicating with the agents.
'fter studying and configuring !BCO #aw" *ystem$ you will see that it is such a powerful
monitoring tool. !t can help system administrator to guarantee and improve software
performance and availability. 4ith the solutions provided by !BCO #aw"$ monitoring can now
be implemented in the networ" without worrying much of the use of the bandwidth and the
networ" traffic.