opEvents 4 Getting Started

Owned by Josune Cordoba (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 21, 2021 by Mark Henry (Unlicensed)
4 min read

Introduction

opConfig 4 is the NMIS 9 compatible version.  In this guide, you will learn all you need to start using opEvents. 

Before you start

We recommend you:

  • The individual performing this installation has a small bit of Linux experience
  • Root access is available
  • Internet access is required for installing any missing but required software packages
  • NMIS 9 must be installed on the same server that opEvents is being installed on. Here you can read the NMIS installation guide. NMIS9 is not required to be running, but opEvents needs the NMIS modules to work. 
  • You will need a license for opEvents ( CONTACT US for an evaluation license )

Getting Started

Download the latest product version from opmantek.com.

Installation Steps

opEvents is distributed in a self-extracting download format that simplifies the installation process quite a bit. More information on running the installer can be found HERE: The Opmantek Installer

Transfer the opEvents installer file onto the server in question, either by direct download from the Opmantek website, or from your desktop with scp or sftp or a similar file transfer tool.

  • Start the interactive installer and follow its instructions:

    sudo sh ./opEvents-Linux-x86_64-3.0.0.run
    ...
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    opEvents (3.0.0) Installation script
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    ...
    This installer will install opEvents into /usr/local/omk.
    To select a different installation location please rerun the
    installer with the -t option.

  • The installer will interactively guide you through the steps of installing opEvents. Please make sure to read the on-screen prompts carefully. Also, a preconfigured file can be used. 
  • When the installer finishes, opEvents is installed into /usr/local/omk, and the default configuration files are in /usr/local/omk/conf, ready for your initial config adjustments.
  • A detailed log of the installation process is saved as /usr/local/omk/install.log, and subsequent upgrades or installations of other Opmantek products will add to that logfile.
  • For detailed information about the interactive installer please check the Opmantek Installer page.

Database Setup

If necessary the installer will offer to install MongoDB locally for you; if that is undesirable, or if you have a remote MongoDB installation that you want to use you'll need to adjust the MongoDB-related settings:
open conf/opCommon.nmis in an editor, go to the database section and change the server, username and password to reflect your MongoDB installation.
The result should look similar to the following (but there might be extra settings related to other products):

'database' => {
  'db_server' => 'localhost',
  'db_port' => '27017',
  'db_name' => 'nmis',
  'db_username' => 'opUserRW',
  'db_password' => 'op42flow42',
},

License

Access the opEvents GUI and acquire, restore or enter your license.
The opEvents GUI is accessible at http://<yourservername or ip address>/omk/opEvents/, and until you have entered a valid license neither the opEvents GUI nor the CLI tools will operate.

Configuration and Use

At this point opEvents should be ready for operation.

Your next step should be to consult the opEvents Basic Concepts: 

  1.  Understand the different menu options and what they accomplish in opEvents. 
  2.  Descriptions and lists of common Event Log entries to help in understanding what causes each event.
  3.  Learning Common Node Properties. A number of Opmantek products use a common node configuration infrastructure, which supports standard, product-specific and custom node attributes.
    1. Common Node Properties
    2. opEvents Normalised Event Properties
  4. opEvents input sources: opEvents can process information from a variety of sources, some of which can be extended to suit non-standard deployments. Including parsing syslogs, event logs, etc.

Setting priority levels and creating Event Actions and Escalations

Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions below!

Purging events

opEvents can produce a lot of data and it is important to have a purging policy. For this, we can set up a cron job, as an example: 

# purge the database once weekly
12 3 * * 5              root /usr/local/omk/bin/opevents-cli.pl act=purge

opEvents will only cleanup the data types that have a purging policy. For this, you can update omk/conf/opCommon.nmis: 

'opevents_events_purge_older_than' => 43200, # Minutes!! Will cleanup events older than 30 days.
#'opevents_rawlogs_purge_older_than' => 43200, 
#'opevents_archivelogs_purge_older_than' => 43200, 
#'opevents_reports_purge_older_than' => 43200,

As an output example: 

omk$ ./bin/opevents-cli.pl act=purge debug=9
Purging disabled for rawlogs
Purging disabled for archivelogs
Db purge of events: 646 entries (of 1872749) in events are older than 30d
Purged events: removed 646 records from events
Db purge of events: 322 entries (of 1185634) in actionlog are older than 30d
Purged events: removed 322 records from actionlog
Purging disabled for reports


Upgrade to version 3.2.0 and later.

Starting from version 3.2.0,  we have made significant changes on our internal shared code for all our applications to work on Opmantek's latest and fastest platform, however, previously installed product are not compatible with this version. 

To find out more about this upgrade please read: 

What's next?