How to change the ITNM domain name
Have you ever wondered ‘How do you change the ITNM domain name also known as the Precision domain? This is a simple question, however the consequences of a name change in ITNM when there is existing topology data is severe as the domain name is embedded in a plethora of locations throughout the ITNM architecture. This article provides an indirect solution by not changing the domain name directly but by creating an additional domain with the desired name and then deleting the existing domain.
It should be noted that the solution detailed in this tip will remove all the NCIM topology information from the database along with any poll policies for the domain. It would be sensible to only apply this procedure to either a fresh installation of ITNM or a development server in a development network.
Environment
This tip was created on a virtual machine with a 64-bit version of Linux running ITNM 3.9 fix-pack 1. The VM in question is monitoring a small network consisting of four routers; ITNM has been running for a few weeks and has collected a fair amount of data. It should be observed that the server in question has ITNM GUI, ITNM and an ObjectServer all installed on the one server utilising a DB2 database local to that server.
Scenario
The current ITNM domain name is NEDWORK; however there is a requirement to change the ITNM domain name to ORBDATA in keeping with the other ITNM servers in the development network.
Create the new domain
First of all the current statuses of the Netcool processes are displayed by issuing the itnm_status command.
The Network Manager domain (ITNM domain) is displayed as NEDWORK.
The current network views are displayed on screen the only views that are populated are the itnmadmin and itmuser views. They both contain identical views.
When performing this procedure the new ITNM domain will contain blank itnmadmin and itnmuser views. Still as these views are derived from a dynamic template it is a simple process to recreate the aforementioned views.
The domain_create.pl Perl script (located in $ITNMHOME/scripts/perl/scripts) is run using the following command:-
ncp_perl domain_create.pl –domain ORBDATA –password password –clone NEDWORK
Of note is the –clone option this takes all the configuration information from the NEDWORK domain and creates an identical configuration for ORBDATA.
By checking the $NCHOME/etc/precision directory and displaying only files pertinent to the newly created ITNM domain it can be observed that a DbLogins.ORBDATA.cfg file which provides the ITNM domain with the access details to access the DB2 database has been created. The details within this file have been cloned from the existing DbLogins.NEDWORK.cfg file.
It is notable that the Discovery configuration has also been cloned from the existing NEDWORK domain.
Update control scripts
At this point stop all the running ITNM processes by issuing the itnm_stop ncp command.
Wait until all the ITNM processes have stopped this can be verified by issuing the itnm_status ncp command.
Change directory to the $ITNMHOME/bin directory and create copies of the following files itnm_control.sh and ncp_control.sh.
Using vi the value of the $PRECISION_DOMAIN variable is altered. This variable is located in the following section of the itnm_control.sh script.
Change the line PRECISION_DOMAIN=NEDWORK to read PRECISION_DOMAIN=ORBDATA.
The $PRECISON_DOMAIN variable is located in the following section of the ncp_control.sh script.
Again, change the line PRECISION_DOMAIN=NEDWORK to read PRECISION_DOMAIN=ORBDATA.
Restart the ITNM processes by issuing the itnm_start ncp command.
Wait until all processes are started, verified by the itnm_status ncp command.
Remove old domain
To remove the existing domain the domain_drop.pl (located in $ITNMHOME/scripts/perl/scripts) Perl script is run using the following command:-
ncp_perl –domain NEDWORK –password password
It is worth mentioning again that issuing this command on the NEDWORK domain will delete all the existing NCIM topology and poll policies on the NEDWORK domain.
On issuing the command a prompt will be displayed ‘Are you sure you want to completely remove domain NEDWORK from NCIM? [y|n]’. Answer ‘y’ to continue and completely remove the NEDWORK domain.
Check ITNM GUI
On completion of the drop_domain.pl Perl script the NEDWORK domain topology has been deleted. Log into the ITNM GUI and select Availability > Network Availability > Network Views. The itnmadmin view is blank as this was previously populated with content form the now deleted NEDWORK domain.
To recreate the itnmadmin view, click on the ‘New View’ icon this will being up another window. Within this window enter the new ITNM domain in the ‘Name’ textbox, in this case ORBDATA. Keep parent as NONE, from the ‘Type’ select ‘Dynamic Views – Template’.
Click on the ‘OK’ button to complete the creation of the view.
Repeat this step for the itnmuser view.
Start ITNM Discovery
While the views are created there is nothing to display as all the topology information has been removed by the domain_drop.pl script and ORBDATA has yet to perform a discovery.
The ORBDATA ITNM domain contains the discovery configuration from NEDWORK so there is no further configuration necessary. So from the ITNM portfolio (left-hand side of the ITNM GUI) select Discovery > Network Discovery Status and click on the ‘Start Full Discovery’ (Green arrow) button, to begin the network discovery.
On completion of the discovery the itnm admin views are displayed.
The All Routers view is selected and the four routers that are within the discovery scope are displayed on screen.
Conclusion
The solution used throughout this tip was developed after stumbling across a legitimate question that was asked ‘How do you change the ITNM domain name’. On installation the deployment engine embeds the domain name into the control scripts (nco_control, itnm_control) the NCIM database and the initial configuration files are created using this domain name. The domain name can literally be anything (provided it adheres to the allowed format), and in most cases the domain name will never be changed. It is far more normal in large estates to create additional ITNM domains rather than change the name of an existing domain. What this tip actually does is create another domain and delete the original existing domain which is fine in a development network or in a Proof of Concept’ however for most existing installations with lots of data this will not be feasible as the existing data is deleted. In conclusion, the ideal scenario would be to use this solution on a freshly installed ITNM server which is yet to perform a network discovery as there would be no loss of data. Future articles will provide tips on a variety of ITNM topics.
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