Foglight® for SAP ASE 5.9.5.10

Developed and tested for Foglight Management Server 5.9.2 or higher

Release Notes Revision 1

February 2020

Revision 1:

Foglight for SAP ASE 5.9.5.10 Release Notes Revision 1 is a re-release of the Foglight for SAP ASE 5.9.5.10 Release Notes with the following change:


Contents

Welcome to Foglight for SAP ASE

New in this release

Resolved issues and enhancements

Known issues

System requirements

Product licensing

Getting started with Foglight for SAP ASE

About Us

 


Welcome to Foglight for SAP ASE

The Cartridge for SAP ASE enables Foglight to monitor SAP ASE database systems. The cartridge monitors database resource utilization for capacity planning, problem determination, and trend analysis, in both real-time and historical time.

These Release Notes cover the resolved issues, known issues, workarounds, and other important information about the 5.9.5.10 release of Foglight for SAP ASE. Review all sections before starting the installation.

 


New in this release

This release contains the following new features and updates.

Java-based cartridge

This release features a new, Java-based architecture for the Cartridge for SAP ASE. This change provides deployment enhancements for Remote Monitoring including the support for all the Operating Systems, which are supported by the Foglight Agent Manager.

 


Resolved issues and enhancements

The following is a list of issues addressed and enhancements implemented in this release.

Defect ID

Resolved Issue

SYFOG-59

Fixed an issue that Sybase_RS is not capturing the error messages from Repserver errorlog.

SYFOG-61

Fixed an issue that the Sybase_RS agent is displayed under the agent name instead of the hostname.

SYFOG-62

Fixed an issue when there are long running transactions on multiple databases on the same instance, long Running Transaction alarms failed to generate consistently.

SYFOG-65

Fixed an issue that the header information is missing from the Engine Activity Report.

SYFOG-67

Fixed the arithmetic overflow error for Top Users collection in SAP ASE.

SYFOG-68

Fixed an issue that the Avg CPU in Top Users dashboard displayed a negative value.

SYFOG-91

Fixed the Syntax error during explicit conversion of VARCHAR value '5.7' to a INT field.

SYFOG-95

Fixed the Sybase MDA agent configure failure in ASE 12.5.4.

 


Known issues

The following is a list of issues known to exist at the time of this release.

Sybase_RS Agent

Defect ID

Known Issue

CR-0231424

The RS_ConnectionStatus rule does not trigger an alarm, even when the rule conditions are met.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

CR-0230497

Latency and Synchronizing Servers. Invalid latency values reported in the RS_Latency table.
Workaround: In order to report accurate latency values, all Replication Servers, Primary, and Replicate data servers within an ID server domain must be synchronized.

CR-0230496

The RS_PartitionStatus rule does not auto clear after the partition is reset from Offline to Online.
Workaround: This rule event must be manually cleared because we do not report partition online statuses which could possibly result in a data overload within the Foglight database.

CR-0168297

Memory leak on Windows platform.
Workaround: This is a Sybase Open Client API issue and a case is currently open with Sybase.

CR-0130361

The Sybase_RS agent does not launch on AIX 5.2.
Workaround: Since the Sybase_RS agent has the ability to perform most of its monitoring remotely, implement the following workaround:

  1. Choose another server which has the Sybase software (either ASE or Replication Server) installed.
  2. Set up the interfaces file so it has the Sybase Replication Server entry and entries for all of the other associated Sybase Servers (RSSD server, Primary Data Server, Replicate Data Server etc.) being monitored.
  3. Configure an instance of the Sybase_RS agent on this server (the server selected in step 1) to monitor the Replication Server running on the AIX 5.2 server.

Note: Since the Sybase_RS agent is monitoring the Sybase replication server remotely, the tables related to the replication server error log (RS_ErrorlogDetail and RS_ErrorlogSummary) do not post any data.

PR-069037

Some of the graphical views display incorrect view legends.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

PR-068923

The '/n' character appears in the RS_ErrorLogMsg rule message.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

PR-068260

Unusual table names appear in the Data Browser view for the Sybase_RS agent. The RS_ThreadSummary and RS_PartitionSpaceUsedTrend table names should be listed as the table name followed by the identity columns. Only their identity columns appear in the table’s hierarchy. For example, the RS_PartitionSpaceUsedTrend table should be listed as: RS_PartitionSpaceUsedTrend /apps/sybase/sybase1253/data/sq2 104 sq2 /apps/sybase/. Instead, this table is listed as:/apps/sybase/sybase1253/data/sq2 104 sq2 /apps/sybase/.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

PR-063860

The agent properties do not display the Agent/DCM versions after the agent starts successfully.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

PR-063489

The RS_Latency_Graph view has an incomplete view label.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

SDB-353
SDB-352

On the Databases dashboard, the Up Since and Workload Info columns are not populated for Sybase_RS agent entries. That is because the Sybase_RS agent is not a database monitoring agent. This is expected behavior.

Sybase_MDA Agent

Defect ID

Known Issue

CR-0231209

Received exception: position beyond end of string from BenchMarkTimes.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0231189

UsersBlocking view shows incorrect data.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0231131

Data for UsersBlocked view gets displayed in UsersBlocking view.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0230878

The SYBM_ASE_Availability view does not show the name of the Sybase server.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0230847

The Agent Version and Stored Procedures Version fields are blank.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0230645

The agent parameter Exclusion list name is not the same as in Foglight 4.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

CR-0230598

The Sybase_MDA agent does not work on Windows. The agent has trouble automatically running the rapsinstall2*.sql scripts under Foglight 5 due to the use of a relative directory path name.

Workaround: To work around this, manually run rapsinstall2.sql for any monitored ASE and then manually run rapsinstall2_ase15.sql for any ASE of version 15.X. This is applicable to Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 only.

For example, to manually run rapsinstall2.sql:

c:

c:\>cd Program files\Quest Software\Foglight
c:\> Program files\Quest Software\Foglight> cd config\Sybase\scripts...> isql -Usa -P<Password> -S<SERVERNAME>
-i .\rapsinstall2.sql -o rapsinstall2_out.txt

If the ASE of interest is version 15.X, also do this:

...> isql -Usa -P<Password> -S<SERVERNAME> -i .\rapsinstall2_ase15.sql -o rapsinstall2_ase15_out.txt

CR-0230499

The RS_Latency_Graph view has an incomplete view label.

Workaround: Expected Sybase behavior.

CR-0203573

There are an excessive number of messages in the Foglight Management Server log. If the Sybase_MDA agent attempts to collect from a database where the user does not have a login or permission to access the data, then an error message will be written to the client log file with details on how to resolve the issue. If the agent continues running without the user permission level being modified, this results in several messages being written to the client FMS log file each collection cycle.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future server release.

CR-0147037

The EngineSummary Table shows intermittent negative values for cpu_busy_pct.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

PR-070213

Two similar views, SYBM_DbSpaceTrendBar and YBM_DiskSpaceTrendBar, do not show data.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

PR-070055

The Cache_Efficiency Rule does not have a property named dcache_name.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

PR-070038

The view list includes an extra database name in some of the views.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

SDB-414

Excluding databases can only be done by populating the Exclude DBs list manually in the Sybase_MDA agent properties.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue.

Sybase Dashboards

Defect ID

Known Issue

SYFOG-78

SAP ASE JDBC driver affects credential synchronization.
Workaround: Set up SAP ASE agents by using a dedicated Agent Manager.

N/A

Roles mechanism. To view the new Sybase dashboards, a user must have the minimum privileges of:

  • Foglight Operator

  • Sybase Administrator

To activate or deactivate agents from the Sybase dashboards, the user must have Foglight administrator privileges.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

N/A

On the Top Activity dashboard, SQL Details tab, long SQL statements are displayed across multiple table rows.

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

N/A

When creating a new agent, the Server Configuration collection and Space Trending collection are updated only after one hour (until then, data is not available).

Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this issue. It will be fixed in a future release.

SDB-407

Sybase reports are only be accessible by those Foglight users whose accounts include the Sybase Admin role.

Upgrade

Defect ID

Known Issue

n/a

Due to architectural changes in the Cartridge for SAP ASE 5.9.3.10, legacy cartridge versions cannot be upgraded to version 5.9.3.10. 

Workaround: You may install the new SAP ASE cartridge on the same FMS instance as the old cartridge.  The new SAP ASE cartridge must use a different FglAM than the legacy cartridge. Both FglAMs may be installed on the same FMS.

 


System requirements

Before installing Foglight for SAP ASE, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:

System requirements

To learn about the system requirements for these components, refer to the Foglight Release Notes and Foglight System Requirements and Platform Support Guide.

Hardware requirements

For the hardware requirements of Foglight Cartridge for SAP ASE, refer to the Supported Platforms table.

For the Foglight Management Server hardware requirements, refer to the Foglight System Requirements and Platform Support Guide.

Software requirements

Recommended SAP ASE Configuration

The values below are minimum requirements for the given parameters:

Value Requirement
sp_configure 'number of locks' 50000
sp_configure 'number of open objects' 2500
sp_configure 'number of open indexes' 1500
sp_configure 'number of open partitions' 1000
sp_configure 'permission cache entries' 50

Supported platforms

Foglight for SAP ASE supports to monitor the following platforms:

Note: Version 5.9.5.10 allows remote monitoring, hence Supported Platforms are the same as the FglAM supported platform list. Refer to the Foglight System Requirements and Platform Support Guide for the supported platforms.

 


Product licensing

Foglight includes a licensing capability that restricts access to those features that are defined in the license. Any Management Server installation requires a license that grants access to server-specific parts of the browser interface and the features associated with them. Foglight cartridges are also license-protected. While some cartridges are covered by the base Foglight license (such as Foglight Agent Manager cartridges and the Foglight for Infrastructure), others may require an additional license.

Foglight for SAP ASE is covered by the base Foglight license that allows cartridges to be installed.

 

To activate a trial or a purchased commercial license:

  1. On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click Administration > Setup > Manage Licenses.
  2. Click Install.
  3. In the Install License dialog box, click Browse.
  4. In the file browser that appears, specify the location of the license file.
  5. In the Install License dialog box, click Install License.

 


Getting started with Foglight for SAP ASE

The Foglight Cartridge for SAP ASE release package contains the following:

  1. Foglight Cartridge for SAP ASE 5.9.5.10
  2. Product Documentation, including:

Installation Instructions

Upgrade

SAP ASE cartridges former to 5.7.5.40 cannot be upgraded to the current SAP ASE cartridge version (5.9.5.10).

Workaround: You may install the new SAP ASE cartridge on the same FMS instance as the old cartridge. The new SAP ASE cartridge must use a different FglAM than the legacy cartridge, as well as a new SAP ASE user account.

History data

To maintain cartridge history, do not remove the legacy cartridge. For the same reasons as mentioned above, the history data in the legacy cartridge is not accessible from the new cartridge. Also, as mentioned in the workaround above, both legacy and new SAP ASE cartridges can be installed side by side. Hence legacy history will be available via the legacy cartridge.

Monitoring the SAP ASE instance

Same SAP ASE instance can be monitored by both Legacy SAP ASE agent and new SAP ASE agent (5.9.5.10), if unique FglAM and unique SAP ASE user account are used for each account.

ASP enhancements

Sybase open client

SAP ASE cartridge 5.9.5.10 does not require Sybase Open Client to be installed.

Installation

After installing the cartridge, update the SAP ASE account for Foglight by manually downloading and running the scripts DB_Sybase_FirstRun_Scripts located under Foglight > Dashboards > Administration > Agents > Cartridges > Components for Download.

  1. Run script rapsAdmin.sql as sa user. This script creates only two helper stored procedures: 
  2. Run these scripts to complete the upgrade and to display the correct information on the new dashboards. For script execution instructions, see "Configuring Sybase Login Privileges" in the Foglight for Sybase User and Reference Guide. Failed to upgrade the user account will result in broken agent instances.
  3. Once you have installed the cartridge, deploy the agent package. For complete information, see "Deploying agent packages to monitored hosts" in the Foglight Administration and Configuration Help. After upgrading the cartridge and starting the agent, the Agent log will display the database version, cartridge version, EBF level, and so on.

Post Installation Instructions for 5.9.5.10

After installing the Cartridge for SAP ASE, perform the configuration steps below:

To create a new SAP ASE user, run the following scripts as sa user (use your username and password).

exec sp_addlogin 'username' , 'password' , sybsystemprocs
exec sp_fgl_adduser 'username' , 'foglightGroup'
Grant mon_role to 'username'

    Note: The new user should have only one role: mon_role.

Viewing the Cartridge for SAP ASE:

On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click Administration > Cartridges > Cartridge Inventory. For details specific to the installation of the cartridge agents, see the following sections.

Sybase Adaptive Server Prerequisites: Sybase_MDA Agent

Install Sybase_MDA

The first pre-requisite is that the Sybase_MDA feature be installed on the respective ASE. This feature is not automatically installed on all versions of Sybase ASE. A check the DBA can run is the query: “select * from master..monState”.

If the monitoring tables are not installed in your Adaptive Server (12.5.4 or later), have the Sybase DBA for the respective ASE follow the steps to install the tables listed in the Addendum at the end of this section.

For versions 15.x, there is no need for loopback and installmontables.

Configure Sybase_MDA

The Sybase_MDA feature has numerous parameters to both turn on and turn off specific metrics and determine the amount of memory the ASE will set aside for these metrics.

Performance monitoring how has the ability to enable the user to set the per_object_statistics flag to off.

Configure ports

Callback collections require communication between the Foglight Management Server and the Sybase server.  Ensure that the port used by the Sybase host server is open between the Sybase host and the Foglight Management Server.

Sybase 'mon_role' assigned

The Sybase login defined in the Foglight agent property for the respective agent must have the “mon_role” assigned. This is also applicable to the ‘sa’ login.

Command to execute via ISQL or other client tool:

grant role mon_roleto_<logon_name>

Sybase Adaptive Server Pre-requisites: Sybase_RS Agent

The Sybase_RS agent requires separate common logins to be created for the Replication Server, the RSSD data server, the Primary data server, and the Replicate data server.

Note: Refer to the Sybase_RS "Setting Connection Details" topic in the Managing Sybase Database Systems online help for more information.

Addendum

Preparation of the ASE version 12.5.4 or later for Foglight Cartridge for SAP ASE 5.9.5.10
Install MDA

If the monitoring tables are not installed in your Adaptive Server (12.5.4 or subsequent release), have the Sybase DBA for the respective ASE follow these steps to install the tables.

First, a server named “loopback” must be included in sysservers before installing the scripts for the MDA tables. Proxy tables for the monitoring tables are not created by default when you configure Adaptive Server. The tables are created in the second step using the installmontables script that is included in the Adaptive Server install (located in the $SYBASE/ASE-12_5/scripts directory).

  1. Create a loopback server entry in ISQL:
    1. Logon to Ada.
    2. Execute:
      sp_addserver 'loopback', null, <ASE server name> go
  2. Execute the installmontables script located in the $SYBASE/ASE-12_5/scripts directory (%SYBASE%/ASE-12_5/scripts for Windows) using ISQL:
    isql –Usa –P<sa password> -S<server name> -n –i%SYBASE%/%SYBASE_ASE%/scripts/installmontables
Adaptive Server Enterprise configuration parameters

Sybase_MDA agent requires the following configuration for it to run correctly and gather the specified data for the Foglight Management Server.
The values shown for the following parameters are the minimum required values that the Foglight Cartridge for SAP ASE 5.9.3.10 needs for proper data collection and reporting. Any of these parameter values could be increased if necessary. (You can copy, paste, and execute the following script into an ISQL or other client session.)

sp_configure "statement cache size" <size_of_cache>
go
sp_configure "errorlog pipe max messages",1000
go
sp_configure "max SQL text monitored",256
go
sp_configure "sql text pipe max messages",3000
go
sp_configure "statement pipe max messages",3000
go
-- Flags
sp_configure "enable stmt cache monitoring" , 1
go
sp_configure "enable literal autoparam" [0|1]
go
sp_configure "enable monitoring", 1
go
sp_configure "sql text pipe active", 1
go
sp_configure "errorlog pipe active", 1
go
sp_configure "per object statistics active",1
go
sp_configure "statement statistics active",1
go
sp_configure "statement pipe active",1
go
sp_configure "wait event timing",1
go
sp_configure "SQL batch capture",1
go
sp_configure "process wait events",1
go

The following tables list proprietary Sybase flags and the Sybase_MDA agent tables dependent upon them. If any of the settings do not have values that fall in the recommended value range, data collection will issue complaints and fail to successfully collect; indicating that some MDA table collection was canceled as a result of the flags being set incorrectly. To prevent these alerts from occurring, use the appropriate Data Management properties to disable the collection that is failing to collect. Below is a listing of Sybase_MDA agent tables and the configuration settings they depend on:

 

Foglight Table

Sybase MonTable (MDA) Configuration Settings

TopHash

enable stmt cache monitoring = 1

statement cache size = size_of_cache

enable literal autoparam = 0 or 1

Note: Setting enable literal autoparam to 0 causes Sybase to treat each SQL statement separately; setting it to 1 produces bind variables for each search argument in an SQL statement.

TopSQL

enable monitoring = 1
statement statistics active = 1
per object statistics active = 1
statement pipe active = 1
SQL batch capture = 1
max SQL text monitored > 0
statement pipe max messages > 0
sql text pipe max messages > 0

UsersBlocked

enable monitoring = 1
wait event timing = 1
SQL batch capture = 1
max SQL text monitored > 0

UsersLogCache

enable monitoring = 1
wait event timing = 1
per object statistics active = 1

TopApplications

enable monitoring = 1
wait event timing = 1
per object statistics active = 1

Index

enable monitoring = 1
wait event timing = 1
per object statistics active = 1

TopUsers

enable monitoring = 1
wait event timing = 1
per object statistics active = 1
SQL batch capture = 1
statement pipe active = 1
max SQL text monitored > 0
sql text pipe max messages > 0

Additional resources

Additional information is available from the following:

Globalization

This section contains information about installing and operating this product in non-English configurations, such as those needed by customers outside of North America. This section does not replace the materials about supported platforms and configurations found elsewhere in the product documentation.

This release is Unicode-enabled and supports any character set. In this release, all product components should be configured to use the same or compatible character encodings and should be installed to use the same locale and regional options. This release is targeted to support operations in the following regions: North America, Western Europe and Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe.

This release has the following known capabilities or limitations: The server will be enabled for Global Operation, but not localized to any particular locale.

 


About Us

We are more than just a name

We are on a quest to make your information technology work harder for you. That is why we build community-driven software solutions that help you spend less time on IT administration and more time on business innovation. We help you modernize your data center, get you to the cloud quicker and provide the expertise, security and accessibility you need to grow your data-driven business. Combined with Quest’s invitation to the global community to be a part of its innovation, and our firm commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction, we continue to deliver solutions that have a real impact on our customers today and leave a legacy we are proud of. We are challenging the status quo by transforming into a new software company. And as your partner, we work tirelessly to make sure your information technology is designed for you and by you. This is our mission, and we are in this together. Welcome to a new Quest. You are invited to Join the Innovation™.

Our brand, our vision. Together.

Our logo reflects our story: innovation, community and support. An important part of this story begins with the letter Q. It is a perfect circle, representing our commitment to technological precision and strength. The space in the Q itself symbolizes our need to add the missing piece — you — to the community, to the new Quest.

Contacting Quest

For sales or other inquiries, visit https://www.quest.com/company/contact-us.aspx/.

Technical support resources

Technical support is available to Quest customers with a valid maintenance contract and customers who have trial versions. You can access the Quest Support Portal at https://support.quest.com.

The Support Portal provides self-help tools you can use to solve problems quickly and independently, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Support Portal enables you to:

 


Copyright© 2020 Quest Software Inc.

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