Concept Overview

The boom management solution consists of 3 main parts: boom Agent, boom Server and the boom GUI. The core server application requires a MySQL or Oracle database. All components can co-exist on one physical system or can be installed separately.

The boom Agent is the main component that is responsible for performing monitoring tasks by using a combination of binary probes, scripts or JAVA Monitors with Policies that define monitor parameters and threshold levels. In addition Filter Policies allow filtering and creation of event based Indications submitted by external application and Logfile Monitors. And finally Remote Actions give administrators and operators the possibility to perform corrective actions or discover the detailed system status even on firewalled systems.
Each agent can take the role of a collection station and perform remote monitoring tasks for agent less hosts (e.g. using SSH, SNMP, etc).

The boom Server application is the core component that collects and stores all Indications, makes a second stage correlation, manage all sort of configurations and interacts with GUI Clients and Agents.

The boom GUI is not only an Indication Browser but also a very powerful control and summarization console. A big number of helper functions and tools allow the administrators and operators to get a clear status overview as well as simplified configuration tasks.

The agent based architecture together with the full featured GUI Client allows the user to get the optimal load balancing of systems, reduced network traffic and improved operator and administrator productivity.

boom Agent

The boom Agent is a distributed part of the boom solution, that needs to be installed on the managed node. The Agent depends on deployed policies and binaries and is responsible for monitoring various parameters of the system, calculation and delivering data to the central boom server. Furthermore the boom Agent can perform remote actions (triggered from the boom server) and forward performance data.

The boom Agent can be installed on any system that have jre 1.5+ installed. At first start the Agent generates an ID which will be send togetger with an approval request to the configured boom Server. After the approval action (or auto-approval) the Agent is able to communicate with the central server.

If the boom Agent can't access the central server because of a firewall rule, the manual action "Add a new Agent" can be used to add such host to the boom Server. Generally, the communications between Agent and Server is possible if at least one component can establish a connection with another. The boom Agent can be used in firewalled or NAT environments without reducing functionality.
After installation and registration of the Agent, usually, one of the first actions is to deploy a set of policies and binaries. On the server side, policies and binaries are grouped in logical groups called "Assignments". The boom Agent is not aware of Assignments, it operates only with policies and related binaries.

All monitoring, calculation and filtering made by the boom Agent are defined in deployed policies. A policy is a sort of configuration file that informs the Agent what has to be monitored, when, how and what kind of results should be delivered to the central boom server. A single monitored value or message that needs to be delivered to the central boom server named "Indication".

Indications

All Indications coming from the boom Agents will be processed by central boom server and delivered to an Operator UI.

Each Indication has a severity, text, and other attributes that helps to cover various complex processing or integration scenarios.

boom Server