Managing Application Templates

Find an Application Template

You can access individual application templates by clicking the AD Templates tab, then the Admin/Config tab.

In the Templates table, click the name of the template that you want to modify.

The data for that template opens in a new screen.

TIP: Another way to get to a template for editing is to click on the associated application name in an application table listing. When the information for the application is displayed, you can see a link to the template for that application in the Application Summary box.

Example template
link on application detail screen

Change AD Application Template Values

To edit the selected application template, do the following:

Click the Edit button to reveal the fields that can be edited.
Change the field values as desired to describe the processes that constitute this application.
Click Apply to overwrite the template with the new values. (You might need to scroll to the right to see the Apply and Cancel buttons.)




	NOTE: HP supplies a default set of application templates with Application Discovery. Editing one of these templates does not actually change the original template. Instead, the original is automatically copied for editing. On HP-UX When you edit and save changes to an HP-supplied application template, the resulting values are stored as `/var/opt/amgr/templates/local/filename.atd`, where `filename` is the same as the original template file name. HP does not support altering the original application templates supplied with Application Discovery in the `/var/opt/amgr/templates/amgr/` directory. On Microsoft® Windows When you edit and save changes to an HP-supplied application template, the resulting values are stored in the VSE installed directory `C:\Program Files\HP\Virtual Server Environment\data\templates\local\filename.atd`, where `filename` is the same as the original template file name. HP does not support altering the original application templates supplied with Application Discovery in the `C:\Program Files\HP\Virtual Server Environment\data\templates\` directory.

Once you apply the application template, a short time passes while Application Discovery attempts to match the newly edited application to discovered processes currently running in the network. As matching completes, applications matching this template description appear in the table called 'Applications affected by this template' (below the template summary), as shown in the following figure at :

Figure 3-2 Template Summary Including Applications Affected by the Template




	NOTE: My application does not appear in the "Applications affected..." table. Why? There are several possible explanations for this to occur: It takes some time for template matching to complete. Action: Wait a couple of minutes to see whether or not matching occurs. For a more precise indicator of the matching interval (and therefore, the likely wait-time), click the Admin/Config tab, then the AD Agents tab, and find the column labeled 'Proc intrvl' (Process interval) for the server where you expect the application to be running. The process interval roughly represents the time needed to refresh the matching data. There is an error in the template values such that the application described in the template does not match any currently running processes. Action: Double-check your template values and edit if necessary. The template is correct, but the application described is not currently running. Action: Ensure that the application designated in the template is running on the host where you expect it to be. For more information, see “Data Missing in Application Discovery Screens”.

Create a New Template

The process for creating a new application template is similar to editing an existing template.

To start, click the Admin/Config tab, then the AD Templates tab.
Click the Create New AD Template button.
The application template editor opens.
Fill in the application template values as desired. See “Key to Application Template Values”.
Apply the changes. This action saves the new template under the unique name that you have supplied. (You might need to scroll to the right to locate the Apply and Cancel buttons.)

Your new application template immediately appears in the list of all templates that is displayed when you click the Admin/Config tab, then the AD Templates tab. The new template definition is applied the next time that matching is compared to the collected data.

Key to Application Template Values

The tables on this page provide the definitions for the editable fields in HP Application Discovery (AD) templates.

Summary Fields. These fields let you provide unique identifiers for the template itself. These fields also include options for restricting the application definition to a particular operating environment.

Attribute Fields. These fields let you set limits on how many users and how many processes can be associated with the template. You can also set visibility of the resulting application in HP Application Discovery screens.

Rule Fields. These fields let you build a rule that describes the process constituents for the resulting application. Regular expressions are allowed in these fields when designating user, executable path, and command line arguments.




	Constructing Regular Expressions: HP Application Discovery recognizes regular expressions constructed using Perl 5 or POSIX syntax and semantics. To learn more, consult PCRE - Perl Compatible Regular Expressions at http://www.pcre.org/.

NOTE: HP Application Discovery (AD) interprets executable path strings differently than HP Global Workload Manager (gWLM).

HP Application Discovery looks at a process from the perspective of how it is named when it is running. Therefore, to successfully construct an application that HP Application Discovery recognizes, you must provide attributes (data strings) that describe the running process.

Also, when defining an application, keep in mind that HP Application Discovery looks across your entire network for likely matches, and not just on one particular managed node.

It might help to think of the difference between AD and gWLM this way:

In AD, an executable and arg[0] are compared directly to one another to make a match.
In gWLM, the inode of an executable and the inode of arg[0] are compared to one another to make a match.

The following examples demonstrate the different results that you can expect when using the same executable and arguments in HP Application Discovery as compared to HP Global Workload Manager (gWLM).

Table 3-2 An Example Comparison of Match Behavior in AD and gWLM for Same Executable Path and Arguments

Example Inputs		AD	gWLM
Executable	Process arg[0]	AD	gWLM
`/usr/sbin/biod`	`/usr/sbin/biod`	match	match
	`biod`	no match	match
	`./biod`	no match	match
`biod`	`/usr/sbin/biod`	match	not allowed
	`biod`	match	not allowed
	`./biod`	match	not allowed

Summary Fields and Their Descriptions

The following figure shows the Summary portion of an application template. Fields and their descriptions follow the image.

Summary fields,
which include template identifiers and environment attributes.

Field	Description
`Name`	Required. Unique name given to the template to represent the application.
`Version`	Required. Version number of the application this template matches.
`Title`	User-defined name for the template.
`Description`	User-defined summary describing the template.
`OS`	Operating system to which the template applies. If this field is left blank, HP Application Discovery tries to match the template within all operating systems for which it has information.
`OSver`	Operating system version to which the template applies. If this field is left blank, HP Application Discovery tries to match the template against all operating system versions for which it has information.
`Architecture`	Architecture to which the template applies. If this field is left blank, HP Application Discovery tries to match the template against all architectures for which it has information.




	NOTE: If you want to define a template based on where the processes that you want to collect into an application are running, you can check the 'Unmatched procs' table on a particular host screen or the 'Processes not matched by this template' table on a template editing screen to get this information. See “Filling in the Summary Fields Using Table Data” for tips on finding specific process attributes for this purpose.

Attribute Fields and Their Descriptions

The following figure shows the Attributes portion of an application template. Fields and their descriptions follow the image.

Attribute fields,
which include several options to separate data by scope.

Field Description

Is visible?

By default during initial discovery, HP Application Discovery sets objects recognized as packages to "no" and objects recognized as templates to "yes".

This field designates whether or not the application shall be visible to users of the HP Application Discovery user interface:

yes – show the application data associated with this object.
no – hide the application data associated with this object.




	NOTE: Visibility actually has no affect on template matching, but is included here as a convenience. It is a global setting that allows you to control data presentation in all HP Application Discovery screens. It is not stored as a user preference.

Pid scope

How many process identifiers (pids) are allowed in an application:

one — one pid per running application.
Effect: Each new concurrent run of this application is shown as a separate instance from the others in HP Application Discovery.
session – any number of pids per application for the duration of one terminal group session.
Effect: All associated pids are treated as one running application instance for that session. However, because sessions on HP-UX and Linux are maintained per user, this has the effect of delineating running applications per user. Thus, if you log in twice (two concurrent terminal windows), you can have two separate instances of this running application. This effect is similar to that obtained by setting user scope=one.
any – any number of pids per application.
Effect: Pids have no specific effect on defining the application described by this template.

User scope

How many users' processes can be associated with one instance of this application:

one – one user's processes per application.
Effect: A separate instance of this application will be shown for each different user who runs this application. This effect is similar to that obtained by setting pid scope=session.
any – any number of different users per application.
Effect: Number of users has no specific limiting effect on defining the application described by this template. That is, only one instance is recognized, regardless of how many users are running the application concurrently.

is pidtree

Shall child processes spawned by the parent be considered part of the parent application instance or as a separate instance:

no – child processes are not considered part of the parent application instance. This is the default value.
Effect: Child processes will be shown as separate application instances in HP Application Discovery.
yes – child processes are considered part of the parent application instance.
Effect: Child processes will not be shown as separate application instances in HP Application Discovery.




	NOTE: If you want to define a template based on ownership or how many instances are currently running, you can check the 'Unmatched procs' table on a particular host screen or the 'Processes not matched by this template' table on a template editing screen to get this information. See for tips on finding specific process attributes.

Rule Fields and Their Descriptions

The following figure shows the Rules portion of an application template. Fields and their descriptions follow the image.

Field Description

Rule

Rules can be simple or complex, and are based on types that can be added to or deleted from the rule. Possible type values used to construct a rule include:

Or
Can contain a list of one or more And, Or, User, Group, Path or Cmdline values.
Effect: Any one of the rules within this statement can be true to match a process to the application.
And
Can contain a list of one or more And, Or, User, Group, Path or Cmdline values.
Effect: All of the rules within this statement must be true to match a process to the application.
User
Supply the user name associated with the process. In addition to literal names, regular expressions are allowed.
Effect: Make matching to a process dependent on a particular user.
Group
Supply the group name of the process. Regular expressions are allowed.
Effect: Make matching to a process dependent on a particular group.
Path
Supply the executable path of the process. Regular expressions are allowed.
Effect: Make matching to a process dependent on a particular executable path.
Cmdline
Supply the command line arguments used to start the process. Regular expressions are allowed.
Effect: Make matching to a process dependent on a particular command line argument.




	NOTE: If you want to define your application based on specific ownership, path, or command line arguments, you can check the 'Unmatched procs' table on a particular host screen or the 'Processes not matched by this template' table on a template editing screen to get this information. See“Filling in the Rule Fields Using Table Data” for tips on finding specific process attributes for this purpose.

Create an Application Template Rule

Application Discovery provides a set of options and fields that help you to define a valid application template rule. The rule you create governs discovery of the application that you have defined. You can create rules that apply generally or specifically to a process, user, or group.

Create an Aggregation Rule

An aggregation rule is one in which you designate one or more characteristics in order to collect the associated process or processes into an application that can be matched by Application Discovery.

The following procedure assumes that you have opened an application template and are ready to edit the Rules form.

To add a type within the And statement braces, select a type, and click the Add Rule button aligned with the dot (.) within the And statement. In the example below, a User type is added when the button is clicked.
The result when the Add Rule button is clicked is as follows:
You can add a new type after "User" within the original And statement by clicking the Add Rule button at (below), or you can add additional statements or types after the original And statement by clicking the Add Rule button at .
Continue in this way until you have added all the types that you want in the rule.
Fill in the empty values to complete the rule description for this template, and click Apply. (You might need to scroll to the right to locate the Apply and Cancel buttons.) For guidance on the values that work in each field, see “Key to Application Template Values” and “Check Unmatched Processes to Find Application Candidates”.

Aggregation Rule Examples

The following images demonstrate several ways to construct an aggregation rule in Application Discovery that will collect exactly the processes that you want associated to this template to be defined as an application.

The following figure shows a simple aggregation rule that collects processes by specified executable path and command line argument.

Simple rule with
executable path and argument.

The following figure shows an aggregation of multiple processes by specified executable path into one application.

Example of a
rule that collects multiple process into one application.

The following figure shows an aggregation of multiple processes specified using regular expressions.

Example of a
rule that uses regular expression.

How to Remove Types from the Aggregation Rule

You might want to remove types from a rule to correct it or refine it. To remove a type, click the Del Rule button to the right of the type field that you want to remove. To delete And or Or statements, click the Del AND or the Del OR button to the right of the closing brace for that statement. When an And or an Or rule is deleted, all the rules that it encloses are deleted also.

This example shows which Del Rule button to click to remove the Group type within an And statement and to remove the entire And statement.

Example showing
correspondence of delete button to its type.

Check Unmatched Processes to Find Application Candidates

In Application Discovery, processes running on a host system that do not match existing template or package definitions are called unmatched processes. Characteristics of unmatched processes can be entered into a template to define an application.

Understanding the Tables Showing Unmatched Processes

The create and edit application template screens show unmatched processes found across the computing network in a table called "Processes not matched by this template". The same data types are also displayed for a particular host on each individual host page in a table called “Unmatched Processes”.

'Processes
not matched by this template' table headings showing process
attributes.

You can sort or filter this table to find processes with which you want to define an application.




	TIP: One way to reduce the amount of 'noise' cluttering your tables is to create a template that collects 'uninteresting' processes into an application that can be hidden.

Using the Table Data to Fill in An Application Template

Find data in the unmatched processes table, and type it into the appropriate fields in an application template to define the constituents of the application template.

Filling in the Summary Fields Using Table Data

In the following image, you can see the columns directly relevant to the Summary fields in an application template (dark gray). By entering a specific operating system (OS), operating system version (OSver), and/or architecture (Arch), you can limit the application of the template to particular systems in your network.

Data that can
be used in defining the Summary portion of an application template.

For more details about this part of an application template, see “Summary Fields and Their Descriptions”.

Filling in the Template Attribute Fields

In the following image, you can see the columns indirectly relevant to the Attributes fields in an application template – pid, ppid, user, sid, and ct. These columns are indirectly relevant because you do not use the actual values in the columns to define the Attribute fields. Instead, this information is provided to help you decide which attributes are appropriate to select.

For example, when viewing the data in the table, looking at the relationships among process IDs, users, and sessions can help you determine what relationships you want to define in the application template.

Data that can
be used in setting Attributes in an application template.

For details about setting attributes in an application template, see “Attribute Fields and Their Descriptions”.

Filling in the Rule Fields Using Table Data

In the following image, you can see the columns directly relevant to the Rule fields in an application template. By entering one or more users (User), groups (Group), paths (Path), and/or arguments (Cmdline), you can limit the application of the template to particular processes running in your network.

Data that can
be used in defining the Rule portion of an application template.

For more details about this part of an application template, see “Rule Fields and Their Descriptions”.