Apex vs. Apex Lite

111 Pages·2016·5.79 MB·English

Apex
User Guide
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Understanding Apex.........................................................................................................6
Learn about Apex.........................................................................................................................................6
Apex vs. Apex Lite....................................................................................................................................6
Understanding the certificate trust model................................................................................................7
How to view certificates..........................................................................................................................8
How to change the trust of a certificate...............................................................................................8
Certificates and how they are used.......................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Activating and configuring............................................................................................10
Licensing......................................................................................................................................................10
How to license Apex..............................................................................................................................10
How to modify baseline calculations.......................................................................................................11
General and data transfer settings..........................................................................................................11
Chapter 3: Gather data from your products...................................................................................12
Understanding data sources.....................................................................................................................12
How to add a data source....................................................................................................................12
How to assign a data source...............................................................................................................13
How to edit a data source....................................................................................................................13
How to delete a data source................................................................................................................14
How to force the transfer of network trending data........................................................................14
How to transfer older network trending data...................................................................................14
Data source settings.............................................................................................................................15
Understanding business groups...............................................................................................................15
How to create a business group..........................................................................................................16
How to nest a business group..............................................................................................................16
How to filter a business group.............................................................................................................17
How to hide a business group.............................................................................................................17
How to halt a business group from retrieving data..........................................................................17
Business group settings........................................................................................................................18
Understanding dashboards......................................................................................................................18
How to create a dashboard.................................................................................................................20
How to promote a dashboard.............................................................................................................20
How to let dashboards automatically refresh...................................................................................21
How to export a dashboard.................................................................................................................22
How to import a dashboard................................................................................................................22
How to filter a dashboard....................................................................................................................22
How to save a dashboard as PDF.......................................................................................................23
How to delete a dashboard..................................................................................................................24
Understanding dashboard times........................................................................................................24
Additional Apex dashboards...............................................................................................................26
Understanding thresholds.........................................................................................................................30
How to configure thresholds................................................................................................................30
Understanding threshold color bars in tables...................................................................................31
Understanding widgets.............................................................................................................................32
How to create a widget........................................................................................................................34
How to add a widget to a dashboard.................................................................................................34
How to filter a widget...........................................................................................................................34
How to edit a widget.............................................................................................................................35
How to export a widget........................................................................................................................35
How to import a widget.......................................................................................................................36
How to delete a widget.........................................................................................................................36
Understanding key fields......................................................................................................................36
Widget settings......................................................................................................................................37
Widget types and categories....................................................................................................................38
Understanding status widgets.............................................................................................................38
Widget fields by data stream type and widget type.........................................................................40
Understanding an application dependency map (ADM)......................................................................58
Visualizing the components of multi-tier applications....................................................................58
How to create an application dependency widget...........................................................................59
How to operate an application dependency widget.........................................................................60
Understanding scheduled reports............................................................................................................61
How to create a scheduled report.......................................................................................................62
How to edit scheduled reports.............................................................................................................63
Scheduled report options.....................................................................................................................63
Understanding GigaStor Report drill down............................................................................................63
Overall steps needed for drill down....................................................................................................64
How to prepare Observer for drill down............................................................................................65
How to prepare Apex for drill down...................................................................................................66
How to drill down using Apex..............................................................................................................70
Chapter 4: Installing and upgrading................................................................................................73
How to install Apex....................................................................................................................................73
Supported Operating Systems.............................................................................................................74
Ports used by Observer Platform v17 and later.................................................................................74
4 Table of Contents (23 Jan 2016) — Archive/Non-authoritative version
System specifications............................................................................................................................74
Understanding your deployment strategy.........................................................................................75
Installing the Apex appliance..............................................................................................................75
Setting the IP address...........................................................................................................................79
Configuring the Lights Out Management port (newer revisions)...................................................80
Set up Apex for the first time....................................................................................................................82
How to begin using Apex.....................................................................................................................82
How to license Apex..............................................................................................................................83
How to create a user.............................................................................................................................84
How to configure general settings......................................................................................................85
How to have Apex managed by OMS.................................................................................................85
How to upgrade or downgrade Apex......................................................................................................86
How to retrieve a list of available Apex versions..............................................................................86
How to download a version of Apex...................................................................................................87
How to install a version of Apex..........................................................................................................87
Upgrade settings...................................................................................................................................87
Chapter 5: Troubleshooting..............................................................................................................89
Understanding logging in Apex................................................................................................................89
How to view event logs........................................................................................................................89
How to send Syslog messages.............................................................................................................89
How to send SNMP traps......................................................................................................................90
How to send e-mail alerts....................................................................................................................91
How to return to the default log settings...........................................................................................93
Understanding alarms...............................................................................................................................93
How to create an alarm........................................................................................................................94
How to disable an alarm......................................................................................................................94
Alarm settings........................................................................................................................................95
Troubleshooting network, server, and application issues....................................................................96
Is it the network?...................................................................................................................................97
Is it the server?.......................................................................................................................................99
Is it the application?...........................................................................................................................101
Summary..............................................................................................................................................103
Chapter 6: Backups and Secondary...............................................................................................105
Configuring a failover or redundant Apex............................................................................................105
Defining a failover Apex.....................................................................................................................106
Becoming a primary/secondary Apex..............................................................................................107
Understanding configuration backups.................................................................................................107
How to create a backup.....................................................................................................................107
How to restore configuration settings..............................................................................................108
How to schedule backups..................................................................................................................108
How to change where backups are stored......................................................................................108
Index..................................................................................................................................................110
Table of Contents (23 Jan 2016) — Archive/Non-authoritative version 5
1
Chapter 1: Understanding Apex
Learn about Apex
Apex helps your organization create reports, called dashboards, from the
data collected by Observer Platform products. These reports can assist your
organization with troubleshooting, planning, performance, compliance, and more.
Apex vs. Apex Lite
Apex is a full-featured reporting engine for combining information from many
assets while Apex Lite has limited functionality and can only be used for reports
of the local asset.
Table 1: Apex vs. Apex Lite
Feature Apex Apex Lite
System and user X X
dashboards
Import dashboards X X
Filtering X X
Event logging / X X
notifications
Tags X X
Tables X X
Graphs X X
Charts X X

Threshold graphs X

GigaStor workflow X
integration

Site dashboards X
Feature Apex Apex Lite

Multiple data X
sources

Business groups X

Status widgets X

Application X
dependency maps
(ADM)

Failover / X
Redundancy

Multiple user X
configuration

Thresholds X

Alarms X

Scheduled reports X
Works with Observer Analyzer (Expert and Observer (Expert and Suite)
Suite)
GigaStor
Observer GigaStor

Figure 1: Observer Platform

Understanding the certificate trust model
The certificate trust model allows Observer Platform products to securely
communicate using TLS encryption. It is also provides resistance to man-in-the-
middle attacks by requiring administrator intervention when a known certificate
has changed.
All product-to-product communication is encrypted by default. A web of
trust between Observer Platform products is created by requiring certificates
from each participating software application. The main benefit is that this
Understanding the certificate trust model
Chapter 1: Understanding Apex 7
ensures encryption of communication between all parts of the Observer
Platform.
Each software application owns a unique certificate. This certificate is
automatically created during the first installation of an Observer Platform
application. For example, Apex. The unique application certificate is labeled
Local when viewed from inside that software application. Upgrading to newer
software versions does not create a new certificate, so no certificate maintenance
is typically needed. However, uninstalling and reinstalling (fresh installs) creates
a new certificate. The new certificate will be automatically rejected by other
products that had a pre-existing association with the asset ID of the reinstalled
software.
The first time two products communicate, each checks to see if they have
the certificate for the asset ID of the other software application. If they
do not, then certificates are exchanged, marked Trusted, and associated with
the asset ID of the participating device. This enables the “easy configuration”
model. After an association is made, each application will expect to see the same
certificate (to remain trusted) when communicating.
Note: Prior to version 17 of the Observer Platform, encryption was available
but not enabled by default. This has changed to become the default out-of-
the-box behavior in Observer Platform version 17 and later, and it also uses
a stronger cipher suite.
Certificates are automatically rejected when trust cannot be verified.
If a certificate is associated to an asset ID, and an inbound connection from
that asset (determined by the asset ID) occurs using a different certificate, the
administrator must inspect and manually accept the certificate because the
certificate is in a Rejected state. A rejected certificate breaks the trust model,
so any offending device(s) and software are banned from product-to-product
communication until an administrator investigates and accepts the certificate.
Certificates can be manually rejected by administrators. In the event that
product-to-product communication must be immediately severed because of
an imminent threat or other security risk, an administrator can manually reject
certificates.
How to view certificates
You can view every certificate that Apex has collected. This information shows
certificate trust state, certificate ID, fingerprints, last time seen, last network
location, and more.
To view certificates:
1. In the web interface, click Settings > Certificates.
2. (Optional) Select a certificate and click Details to view its full details.
3. (Optional) Click Prefs to configure which columns appear in the table.
You successfully viewed the certificates that this installation of Apex has
collected.
How to change the trust of a certificate
The trust of a certificate can be changed between trusted and rejected states.
The certificate must remain trusted for communication to occur.
Understanding the certificate trust model
8 Apex (23 Jan 2016) — Archive/Non-authoritative version
To change the trust of a certificate:
1. In the web interface, click Settings > Certificates.
2. Click a certificate to select it.
3. Click Change State and Yes to confirm.
You successfully changed the trust state of a certificate.
Certificates and how they are used
Certificates ensure secure communication between Observer Platform products.
The certificates encrypt this communication and help you the maintain the
authenticity of device communication.
Certificates use public key infrastructure (PKI) to encrypt all product-to-product
communication using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) cryptographic protocol.
The communications that are encrypted include, but are not limited to:
♦ Probe instance redirections
♦ Capture data transfers
♦ Trending data transfers
♦ All other data transfers
Note: The initial handshake between Observer Platform products is not
encrypted.
Understanding the certificate trust model
Chapter 1: Understanding Apex 9
2
Chapter 2: Activating and configuring
Licensing
Licensing your product enables functionality and entitles you to support during
your maintenance period.
How to license Apex
Apex is designed to be used as a server-based application.
If Apex is installed along with an Observer Platform product but not licensed, you
have Apex Lite. Apex Lite provides limited reporting capabilities.
To license and activate Apex:
1. Install and launch the application.
2. Your default web browser will open to the following URL:
https://
localhost/OA
If it does not, type the URL in the location bar of your web browser and press
Enter.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions provided by your web browser to accept
the self-signed security certificate.
Your web browser must accept the self-signed security certificate to continue.
4. Type into the Contact/Department, Company, and License Information
boxes exactly what is listed in your license document.
5. Click the License button.
You successfully licensed and activated your product.
If licensing and activating your product remains unsuccessful, please contact
Technical Support.