Table of Contents

Command Center (Metaconsole)

Command Center

From Pandora FMS version 756, the synchronization system for environments with centralized mode was 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 that was done until now.

This change replaces the previous system in disuse, so that, in environments where it was active, it will be necessary to go through the automatic merging system to use the new centralization system to guarantee data integrity.

When upgrading, all already centralized Command Center environments will be forced to go through the new Merging tool section located at Centralised management in order to be properly centralized again.

Only nodes configured in the Command Center that are not disabled are taken into account for the merging process.

The Merging tool will merge the different elements of the node databases and the Command Center (of those to be managed from the Command Center) as follows: A priority order will be established among the nodes registered in the Command Center by placing the highest priority items at the top of the list and the lowest priority items at the bottom.

For example:

This priority list is for cases where the same item exists in the different nodes or Command Center and has different configurations.

In the case of monitoring policies, the modules, alerts and other policy elements are considered separate and independent elements of the policy and will therefore be merged as well.

Example only with modules:

Elements centralized by the Merging tool

The following elements are those centralized from the new Merging tool:

Make sure you adjust the parameter autocreate_group from the server configuration files pandora_server.conf by a valid group ID after unifying from the Merging tool.

Summary of all the above:

The following elements are centralized in Command Center, following the priority rules described above, by means of the Merging tool:

Element ID Profile Name Group Ex. 1) OS
Users ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
User profiles ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Agent groups ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
File collections ❌ ❌ ✅ 2) ❌ ❌ ❌
Alert templates ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Alert commands ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Warning actions ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Server plugins ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ✅ ❌
OS ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Module labels ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Module categories ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Module groups ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Component groups ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Network components ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
Local components ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
Component templates ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Inventory modules ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
Monitoring policies ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Policy modules ❌ ❌ ✅ 3) ❌ ❌ ❌
Inventory modules
policies 		❌ ❌ ✅ 4) ❌ ❌ ✅
Policy plugins ❌ ❌ ✅ 5) ❌ ✅ 6) ❌
Policy collections ❌ ❌ ✅ 7) ❌ ❌ ❌
Alerts and external
policy alerts 		❌ ❌ ✅ 8) ❌ ❌ ❌
Actions on alerts
and external alerts		 ❌ ❌ ✅ 9) ❌ ❌ ❌
Agents within
the policies 		❌ ❌ ✅ 10) ❌ ❌ ❌
Agents 11) ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌

The sections where these elements are centrally managed can only be managed from the Command Center. In case of accessing these elements from the nodes, they can only be listed, editing and creation options disappear. A warning will also be displayed indicating that the environment is in centralized mode, with a link that will take the administrator to the corresponding Command Center section for the configuration of these elements.

Database tables used for the Merging tool

The following tables are synchronized between the Command Center and nodes within the Merging tool:

  • tgroup
  • tcollection
  • tplugin
  • tconfig_os
  • ttag
  • tcategory
  • tmodule_group
  • tnetwork_component_group
  • tnetwork_component
  • tlocal_component
  • tnetwork_profile
  • tmodule_inventory
  • talert_commands
  • talert_actions
  • talert_templates
  • talert_calendar
  • talert_special_days
  • tprofile
  • tuser
  • tuser_profile
  • tpolicies
  • tpolicy_modules
  • tpolicy_modules_inventory
  • tpolicy_plugins
  • tpolicy_collections
  • tpolicy_alerts
  • tpolicy_alerts_actions
  • tautoconfig
  • tautoconfig_rules
  • tautoconfig_actions
  • tpolicy_agents

Prerequisites for launching the Merging tool database merge

console_api_url http://localhost/pandora_console/include/api.php
console_api_pass pandora

If all those requirements are not met, nodes will not be merged and it will return an error. If you check the result errors, it will return a message with the requirements still pending.

It is important, once the database merging is done, to set again the corresponding value of memory_limit in file configuration php.ini. Remember that for the change to take effect, the apache httpd service must be restarted.

Recommendations prior to launching the Merging tool

Although they are not requisites for the database merging process, it is recommended to carry out the following actions too:

When the merging process starts, both the nodes and the Command Center go into maintenance mode (not for admins). The purpose is the same as the recommendation to stop the servers and pandora_db, to prevent a user from modifying elements during the process and for that to cause errors or inconsistencies.

Merging process execution

The merging process has 2 stages, a first stage to synchronyze the different elements that may be managed from the Command Center and a second stage to update the references in the events to those centralized elements. This process is performed that way to allow the console to be accesible again as soon as possible, since event updating is part of the process that may take the longest since it usually entails more information. Both stages are in turn divided into other 2 sub-stages differentiated into 2 progress bars.

Stage 1 elements

In this stage, elements found in the databases from all nodes that can be managed from the Command Center are synchronized. It is the merging process as such and it is divided into other 2 stages, each one with its own progress bar:

If there is an error during this process (for example, connection loss with a database), the process itself will try to restore the generated backups (a third red progress bar will be seen that will mark the restoration progress). If the reason for the failure prevents the backups from being recovered, the recovery must be done manually.

If the source of the failure prevents the backups from being recovered, the recovering shall be performed manually.

Sometimes there might be unexpected failures, for example connection lost for a while between the Command Center and a node's database or the impossibility of creating a backup due to not having enough disk space, so it is possible the error message shown will be generic. If that is the case and you need it, contact Pandora FMS support team to receive assistance.

Stage 2: Event updating

At this stage, the existing references to the different synchronized elements in events will be updated (for example by groups). The stage is subdivided into the update of the main database events and the history database event update and will only affect those events that existed before launching the merging process. The new generated events after centralizing the environment will have all the correct references and will not need to be updated.

Environment already centralized through Merging tool

Once stage 1 is finished, the environment will be considered centralized, and from there you will be able to manage everything from the Command Center. Element synchronization was also changed, now the pandora_ha process of each node is in charge of synchronizing its database with that of the Command Center.

When you make a change in the Command Center (for example, create a user) this queues the necessary queries to the database for the nodes (INSERTS, UPDATES, etc.) which pandora_ha reads in an orderly manner and executes in each server_threshold. This ensures that if a server is down for a while, when it is started again it can catch up correctly.

This list of pending queries can be seen from the Command Center in the Consoles setup. If for some reason any query fails, the node will not continue with the rest, you will see an error in Console setup and it will be necessary to process it manually by an administrator. In most cases you should be able to fix it by launching the merging process again in the Merging tool.

Including new nodes

To add a new node to a centralized environment, go to Setup → Metasetup → Consoles setup → New node. All the fields must be filled in to achieve the connection and at the moment of saving, it will depend on whether it is a completely new node, without any data, it will be added with the Register empty node button, otherwise the Register node with data to merge button must be used.

Click OK if you are sure and the new node will be centralized.

Go back to Pandora FMS index

1)
Execution
2)
Short name.
3) , 4) , 5) , 6) , 7)
Within a policy with the same name
8)
With the same module name within a policy with the same name.
9)
In the same template over the same module name within a policy with the same name.
10)
Within policies with the same name, agent records within Command Center policies will be discarded and only node records will be taken into account.
11)
Node management, deleted in Command Center.