FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

The frequently asked questions and answers (FAQ) have been classified according to the version used:

• NG 7.0 version 756 and later (Command Center).
• NG 7.0 version 755 and earlier.

From Pandora FMS version 756, the synchronization system for environments with centralized mode has been redesigned from scratch, making it faster and more efficient, since the changes will be replicated to the nodes automatically without the need for manual synchronization, as it was the case up to now.

This change deems the previous system outdated, so in environments where it was active, it will have to go through the previous automatic merging system to use the new centralization system and be able to guarantee data integrity.

When updating, all already centralized Metaconsole environments will be forced to go through the new Merging tool section located in Centralised management to be able to be centralized again correctly.

For details visit “Command Center” article.

The user must have the same permissions in the Metaconsole and in the node. The correct creation flow is to create and assign permissions to the user from the Metaconsole and synchronize them.

For more info visit the following link where the synchronization and propagation of users can be observed.

To change the permissions to a user we will do it from the Metaconsole and synchronize that user from the synchronization section.

The synchronization of profiles is based on creating new profiles in the user of the node. In this way, we will avoid touching profiles that are configured in the node.

For more info visit the following link where you can learn more about the synchronization and propagation of users.

We have to make sure that:

• The machine where the Metaconsole resides can see the machines of the instances.
• The machine of the Metaconsole has permissions over the database of the instances.
• We have defined the parameters of authentication (auth) and password of the API (Api password) in the instances, and configured correctly in the Metaconsole.
• In the instances we must have configured the list of IP addresses that can access its API including the Metaconsole IP address.

To be able to synchronize a node to the Metaconsole, we have to click on Advanced → Consoles Setup and fill in correctly the node's data ( Server name, auth token, etc.).

In order to synchronize the license of the Metaconsole, once validated, you must to instantiate all the nodes in the Metaconsole to synchronize. Once this is done, go to Advanced → License and press the Validate and sync button, that will synchronize the license to all the instantiated nodes.

If it is not possible to perform actions on the events it means that we have activated the token of Event replication of the Setup → Enterprise of the Instance, with which you will be able to see the events of the Instance in the Metaconsole.

Once we start the event replication, having the Centralized management Metaconsole token active, the events can only be managed from it. From it they can be validated, put in progress and add comments and responses. To be able to visualize the events in the Instance go to Setup → Enterprise and activate the token Show event list in the local console (read only) to only to be able to see them.

In order to synchronize the data of the Instances Database with the Metaconsole, you need to give permission to the user of the Metaconsole to the Instance database. For them we have to make use of the following mandate:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON <MetaconsoleDatabaseName>.* TO <UserName>@<HostAddress> IDENTIFIED BY <UserPass>;

Once an instance is referenced to the Metaconsole, it appears in the Console Setup view, where you can check the status of the database, API, compatibility, event replication, agent cache and synchronization with the node.

To be able to check the status of a connection again, just click on the checklist you want to review.

The status can be:

• Synchronized: The checklist will be in green color.
• Not synchronized: The checklist will be in red. Hovering the mouse over the button will show in more detail the failure that causes the lack of synchronization.

The use of the API in the Metaconsole is similar to the use of the same one in any instance. To do this you must first know the username, API password and the definition of the list of IP addresses with access to the API. Once the three elements have been configured, the desired actions can be carried out.

For more information on API calls visit the following link where we can see more detailed information about the APIs.

In order to check that the Metaconsole database is working correctly, we'll place ourselves in a node and perform the following check:

mysql –h <IP ADDRESS META> –u <USER META> –p <PASSWD META> <DataBaseMETA>

Por ejemplo:

mysql –h 127.0.0.1 –u root –p pandora metapandora

In order to be able to check if the cache agent is working correctly, ypu must check the information in the database of the instance and the Metaconsole.

First of all, go to the instance database and see the information stored inside the Pandora FMS database, in the table t_agent:

USE pandora; SELECT * FROM tagente;

Afterwards, we will go to the meta console database and we will see the data stored in the table tmetaconsole_agent, where the same data should appear as in the instance.

More data will appear depending on how many instances we have referenced in the Metaconsole. To be able to filter by console use the field servername in the table tmetaconsole_agent.

To be able to observe the logs of an instance from the Metaconsole, a report must be created from the Metaconsole to collect the logs.

Go back to Pandora FMS documentation index