In a series of posts on dynamic model, I've gone through extending the Smarts model using the dynamic model capabilities. As discussed, extending the model is not all that hard. Some things are very straight forward, others require looking at some examples etc. Unfortunately, using SNMP instrumentation is quite difficult, and often beyond the capabilities of mere mortals like the author of this post.
Fortunately, SNMP is not the only instrumentation method available. It is possible to instrument the objects using the remote Smarts API with one of the available languages ASL, Java or Perl, provided that you're familiar with the Smarts API.
There is another option. RapidConnector is developed for these type of uses. RapidConnector hides the complexities of specific detailed APIs using higher level abstraction that is consistent when working with different management systems, databases, etc.
RapidConnector makes it possible to use log files, database tables, TCP sockets, etc. as the instrumentation source for Smarts. The values for the new properties can be set easily. This is not to say that this cannot be done without RapidConnector. No doubt Smarts objects can be instrumented using the Smarts API as described above without RapidConnector, just like you can do SNMP instrumentation in dynamic model. It is possible, but not “easy”. RapidConnector enables mere mortal to do these things without requiring in depth understanding and experience with Smarts API or the instrumentation source.
Going back to our example with application monitoring, let's assume that we have an end to end response time measurement tool that performs a simulated transaction and records the response time in a file. What would it take to use this file as the instrumentation source and populate the lastResponseTime property of the MyApplication object?
A typical RapidConnector adapter for this case may include FileReader, Filter, Assignment and ICTopologyWriter components. FileReader component would be used to parse the file and create variables for the values in the file. (take a look at the DNS Server Monitoring Tutorial for a detailed example that uses the FileReader). Filter component would allow us to specify which lines to process and which lines to ignore. Assignment transformer would be used to define the actions we need, and ICTopologyWriter would execute the actions.
With RapidConnector, you still need to define the logic of your adapter, but you can work with Smarts, databases, etc. safely without investing too much time to learn the intricacies and gotchas of each of the systems.
And since the RapidConnector adapters are implemented as decoupled components, if you want to use a database instead of a file, you can just replace the FileReader with DatabaseReader without touching the rest of the adapter.
So if you want to take advantage of dynamic model but don't want to mess around with SNMP instrumentation download RapidConnector and give it a go, or even better, let us know what you're trying to do and we'll give you a head start with provide you a configuration file you can work with.
