As technology changes rapidly around us and as more and more companies begin to adopt smarter, dynamic infrastructure, services and applications to support the goals, objectives and expected outcomes of the business, technology and business operations and support organizations must also evolve to support these changes. This evolution must take place on many fronts – from the organizational structures we see in IT, Facilities, Lines of Business, Finance, Sales/Marketing, etc to a fully integrated business assurance platform solution unifying each domain organization’s valuable data and information.

When realized, this business assurance platform solution can offer technology and business operations support teams a common, consolidated solution overlay where Business Service Management (BSM), Business Process Management (BPM), Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), Business Transaction Management (BTM) [APM] and Business Quality of Experience (BQE) [SQM/SLM/EUE/RUM] all come together to a provide the right information in the right context with the right scenarios [actions, decision support, etc] available to the right personas within this new, consolidated Business Assurance Center. When everyone has the same consolidated view into how the business is performing and understands their own unique role in supporting or enabling the business to meet its goals, objectives and expected outcomes – only then will companies be most ready to evolve into a smarter, more dynamic company of the future.

I’m heading to IBM’s IMPACT conference shortly to speak about this vision of convergence within the typical technology and business operations and support organizations of the future. If you’re around, ping me and lets catch up and chat.

Last week, a new release of IBM Tivoli Network Manager 3.9 and OMNIbus/WebGUI 7.3.1 hit the streets. These releases are based on the Tivoli Integrated Portal (TIP) version 2.1 which offers numerous improvements in the common GUI platform, common reporting, etc.

If you currently have or plan to have a deployment architecture with the current releases of TBSM, WebGUI and ITNM utilizing a common TIP console (a single installed instance of TIP supporting the GUI requirements for each product) you need to be aware of the current limitations of that deployment pattern.

ITNM 3.9 and OMNIbus/WebGUI 7.3.1 are both based on TIP version 2.1. TBSM 4.2.1 (which includes WebTop 2.2 or WebGUI 7.3 if upgraded) and ITNM 3.8 are both based on TIP 1.1.x. There are numerous things you should be aware of related to installation, support and functional operation of these products together.

* Incompatibility of TIP 1.1.x and TIP 2.1 running as a converged GUI “container” (one single TIP for all products)
* Installation of TIP 1.1.x and TIP 2.1 on the same system (installation user, installation directories, ports)
* Functional operation – multiple WebTop/WebGUI’s (2.2/7.3 + 7.3.1), LIC, multiple browser windows
* Patching, Maintenance, Future Upgrades

Trying to grab relevant documentation, support notes, installation order, etc. and link here.

LIC from TBSM 4.2.1 to WebGUI 7.3.1 requires TBSM 4.2.1 FP2 IF3 as detailed in the release notes for this IF here.

1) Create the RawEvents view for the Netcool/OMNIBus used by TBSM and WebGUI 731.
2) Enable SSO between the TIP 1.1 server hosting TBSM 421 and the TIP 2.1 server hosting WebGUI 731(included within the TIP documentation)
3) Enable the launch point within TBSM.
4) Save the changes to the file and restart the dashboard and data servers in the environment.
5) After restart, the right-click “Launch to” context menu should contain a menu item titled “Service Affecting Events (WebGUI 731 AEL).

TIP Documentation

WebGUI 7.3.1 Compatibility with Other Versions

Tivoli Integrated Portal versions

Coexistence with IBM Tivoli Netcool/Webtop V2.2
The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 Web GUI cannot coexist on the same instance of Tivoli Integrated Portal as IBM Tivoli Netcool/Webtop V2.2. However, you can run the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 Web GUI and Netcool/Webtop V2.2 on separate instances of Tivoli Integrated Portal on the same computer, or in a distributed environment.

ITNM 3.9 GUI Install Planning Tips

Installation directory requirements

For example, Network Manager 3.9 GUI components must be installed in a different directory than IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager 4.2.1 GUI components (the former uses Tivoli Integrated Portal 2.1, while the latter uses 1.1.x). When installing Network Manager, the installation process might recognize existing Tivoli Integrated Portal directories. Make sure you use a different directory if you have products running a previous Tivoli Integrated Portal version.

Integration with other Tivoli Products

IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager 4.2.1
Note: Compatibility between Network Manager 3.9 and IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager 4.2.1 is restricted to launch-in-context and DLA export capabilities. For more information, see Integration with other Tivoli products and Exporting discovery data to CCMDB, TADDM, and TBSM.

Compatibility with other Tivoli Products

IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition and IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager (TBSM) require integration with Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus to become fully operational. The following information lists the versions of this product that can be integrated with the server-side components and the Web GUI component of Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1:

* The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 server-side components are compatible with IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager (TBSM) V4.2.1. However, if you intend to install the server-side components on a computer that already hosts TBSM V4.2.1, you must make sure that, at a minimum, Fix Pack 01 has been applied to the TBSM installation.
* Compatibility between the Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 Web GUI and TBSM V4.2.1 is restricted to launch-in-context.
* The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 server-side components are compatible with IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition V3.8 and V3.9.
* The Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus V7.3.1 Web GUI component is compatible only with IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition V3.9. The Web GUI is not compatible with IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition V3.8.

LIC Inegrations

IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager 4.2.1 Yes
Note: Launch-in-context from TBSM to the Web GUI is supported for the Active Event List (AEL). However, the AEL is launched in a separate browser window, not in the Tivoli Integrated Portal framework. For more information, see the IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager Information Center at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v3r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tivoli.itbsm.doc%2Fwelcome.htm