Error messaging

Instrumentation

Instrumentation is the definition of what can be monitored about CIs and the way in which their behaviour can be affected. In other words, instrumentation is about defining and designing exactly how to monitor and control the IT Infrastructure and IT service s.

Instrumentation is partly about a set of decisions that need to be made and partly about designing mechanisms to execute these decisions.

Decisions that need to be made include:

• What needs to be monitored?
• What type of monitoring is required (e.g. active or passive; performance or output)?
• When do we need to generate an event?
• What type of information needs to be communicated in the event?
• Who are the messages intended for?

Mechanisms that need to be designed include:

• How will events be generated?
• Does the CI already have event generation mechanisms as a standard feature and, if so, which of these will be used? Are they sufficient or does the CI need to be customized to include additional mechanisms or information?
• What data will be used to populate the Event Record?
• Are events generated automatically or does the CI have to be polled?
• Where will events be logged and stored?
• How will supplementary data be gathered?

Note: A strong interface exists here with the application ’s design. All applications should be coded in such a way that meaningful and detailed error messages/codes are generated at the exact point of failure – so that these can be included in the event and allow swift diagnosis and resolution of the underlying cause. The need for the inclusion and testing of such error messaging is covered in more detail in the Service Transition publication.

Error messaging is important for all component s (hardware, software, networks, etc.). It is particularly important that all software applications are designed to support Event Management. This might include the provision of meaningful error messages and/or codes that clearly indicate the specific point of failure and the most likely cause. In such cases the testing of new application s should include testing of accurate event generation.

Newer technologies such as Java Management Extensions (JMX) or HawkNL™ provide the tools for building distributed, web-based, modular and dynamic solutions for managing and monitoring devices, applications and service -driven networks. These can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for programmers to include error messaging within the code – allowing a valuable level of normalization and code-independence.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23