Xm410 Installadmin Guide

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(text here)

xMatters installation andadministration guide

(version 4.1)


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This manual provides information about xMatters. Every effort has been made to make it as complete and accurate as

possible; however, the information it contains is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on

the part of xMatters, inc. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means without the prior written consent of

xMatters, inc.

Current to:

xMatters version 4.1.0 patch 023

xMatters integration agent version 4.1 patch 008

For more information about the latest changes, features, and fixes, and instructions on how to install

xMatters patches, consult the release notes at the xMatters Community site: community.xmatters.com.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Copyright © 1994-2014. All rights reserved.

xMatters™, xMatters lite, xMatters workgroup, xMatters enterprise, xMatters on demand, xMatters service provider,

xMatters mobile access, Relevance Engine, AlarmPoint Systems™, AlarmPoint®, AlarmPoint® Java Client,

AlarmPoint® Mobile Gateway, AlarmPoint® Integration Agent, AlarmPoint® Express, AlarmPoint® Standard,

AlarmPoint® Professional, AlarmPoint® Enterprise, AlarmPoint® Service Provider, and AlarmPoint® Notification

Server are trademarks of xMatters, inc.

All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Contacting xMatters, inc.:

You can visit the xMatters web site at: http://www.xmatters.com

xMatters, inc.

Corporate Headquarters

12647 Alcosta Blvd, Suite 425

San Ramon, CA 94583

Telephone: 925.226.0300

Facsimile: 925-226-0310

Client Assistance:

Email: [email protected]

International: +1 925.226.0300 and press 2

US/CAN Toll Free: +1 877.XMATTRS (962.8877)

EMEA: +44 (0) 20 3427 6333

Australia/APJ Support: +61-2-8038-5048 opt 2

Other Resources:

Join the xMatters Community: http://community.xmatters.com


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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to xMatters 1About this document 2

Important xMatters Terms 2

Document Conventions 3Introduction to xMatters 3

The xMatters Critical Event Notification Platform 4The Role of xMatters in Service Availability 4xMatters Features 5Real-World Application Examples 8

How the xMatters system works 10xMatters Products 11Managed Devices, Systems, or Applications 15Communication with the Management System 16Sending a Request to xMatters 17

Chapter 2: Installing xMatters 19Installation Overview 20xMatters Products, Licensing, and Deployment Options 20

Product Licensing 20xMatters Deployment Options 21

Language Support 22Component Installation Order 23xMatters System Requirements 24

Hard Disk Space 24Software Requirements 25Hardware Requirements 30

Pre-Installation Configuration 32Hardware 32Software 33Oracle Database Configuration Considerations 35

Microsoft SQL Server Database Configuration Considerations 39IBM DB2 Data base Configuration Consid erations 42Configuration Checklist 44

Network Por t Defaults 45Installing Dialogic Voice Cards and Drivers 50

Analog Dialogic Cards 50Installing Dialogic T-1 and E-1 Cards 55Configuring T-1/E-1 Dialogic Cards 58

Installing xMatters 63Synchronizing System Time (Required) 83

Configuring NTP on Windows Server 2003 83Configuring NTP on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 85

Suggested Post-Installation Tasks 85Text-To-S peech Engines 86

Using Microsoft SAPI 87Using NeoSpeech TTS with xMatters 87

Virtual Devices 89Modifying the common.properties File 91Tuning Node Performance 92Starting and Stopping xMatters Components From a Command Line 92

xMatters Nodes 92xMatters web server 93

Uninstalling xMatters 93Windows Uninstall 93Console Uninstall 94

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xMatters installation and administration guide

Chapter 3: System Configuration 95About System Configuration 96Login to xMatters 96Companies 97

Define company details 98Delete a company 100Change company states 100View and change company quotas 101Create company login pages 104Customize the login error message 106Configure Single Sign On 107Map tenant user logins 108

Licenses 109 Nodes 110

View and manage nodes 111Tune your node's performance 116Configure node logging 117

Device engines 118Device Engine Types 120

Resources 150

Resource ty pes 151Clusters 156Define cluster details 157

Protocol providers 157Protocol Provider Details Reference 161

User service providers 191Define user service providers 192

LDAP servers 193Define LDAP server details 194Create LDAP search filters 197

Global Configuration 198Health monitor messages 204

Constants 209Global Constants 210

Company Constants 211Event Domain Constants 212Available Constants 212

Schedule Jobs 215Schedule a Process Expired Data job 216

Clear runtime and historical data 219Configuration Process Examples 220

Configure xMatters SMS 220Configure automatic SMS device deactivation 224

Chapter 4: Administrating xMatters 227About system administration 228Permissions: functions and roles 228

Manage functions 228Roles 231

Permissions: lock ing external data 236Administrators 238

Super administrators 238Company administrators 239Log in as another user 241

Sites 242Countries 244Time zones 245Languages 246

Com pany holidays 247

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Custom holidays 247Site holidays 248Example: Create company holidays 249

Custom user information 251Custom attributes 252Custom fields 253

Password policy 255

Device types 257Manage device names 258Specify a whitelist of email domains 259

Event domains 260Import and export event domain information 261Define event domain details 262Define response contribution values 263Define predicates 264

Subscriptions 267Preparing Subscriptions 268Configuring Subscription Domains 269Managing Subscriptions 275Searching for Subscriptions 283

Message domains 284Define message domain details 285

Custom messaging panels 286Define custom messaging panel details 287

Custom pages 288Define custom page details 288

Import data 289Format spreadsheets 289Import your data 292

Phone recordings 294Propagation Details 294Add a recording 296Modify system voice recordings 299Manage phone recordings 300

Chapter 5: Reporting 301About repor ting 302

Access reports 302Work with reports 302Availa ble reports 305Activity reports 306Event Details Reports 311Replaying an Event 316Com pany reports 321Domain summary report 323Synchronization report 324Application audit report 327Low-use user report 328

System re ports 329Component status report 329

Node networ k statistics report 330Audit reports 331

Security audit report 331Web service audit report 332

Chapter 6: Advanced xMatters Administration 335Disaster Recovery Deployment Considerations 336

Overview 336Deployment Installation and Configuration 337

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Upgrading an xMatters DR Deployment 338Disaster Recovery Procedures 339Configuring xMatters nodes for Failover 340Use Case Scenario 342

Failover in xMatters 343Considerations 343Database Components 345

Summary 347Fronting the xMatters web server 348

Forwarding Requests from Apache HTTP Server 348Forwarding Requests from Microsoft's IIS 350

High Bandwidth Configuration for a Heavily Loaded Web Server 355Serving Static Content From a Fronted Web Server 356Caching static content 357Configuring the Database Connection Pool 357

Monitoring and Configuring Web Server Usage 360Determining We b Server Usage 360Modifying the Web Session Timeout 360Modifying the Web Continuation Timeout 361

Enabling and Disabling AJP, HTTP, HTTPS & JMX 361Enabling AJP on the xMatters web server 361Disabling HTTP on the xMatters web server 362Enabling HTTPS on the xMatters web server 362Enabling JMX on the xMatters web server and nodes 363

Deploying xMatters on WebSphere 364Enable cookie-based session management 368Increasing security by marking cookies as secure 369Advanced SMS administration 370

SMS Responder Validation 370Configuring SMS HELP and STOP Responses 371Internationalizin g SMS messages for MMA compliance 372

Chapter 7: Data Synchronization 377Introduction 378

Installing the Data Synchronization Module 378Data Synchronization Components 379Staging Area 379Standard Fields 380List Fields 381External Keys Assigned via the Web User Interface 382Staging Table Content 382

The Configuration File 414alarmpoint-synchro nization Element 414com pany Element 414staging_area Element 415Table Elements and Related Field Elements 416

Example Conf iguration 431Data Synchronization Command 434

Command Line report 435Synchronization Report (Web User Interface) 437Logging 438

Multiple-Company Environments 438Creating Company Staging Areas 438Concurrent Company Data Synchronization 440

Troubleshooting Data Synchronization 441Error Flags 441Resolving Specific Er rors 443

List of Tables 445

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Chapter 1: Introduction to xMatters


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About this document

The xMatters installation and administration guide is intended to help xMatters administrators install, configure, and

maintain an xMatters installation.

This guide is part of a set of xMatters manuals. The other guides in the set are:

n xMatters user guide: intended for end users, this guide explains the basics of the xMatters web user interface, and

how to accomplish common tasks. The User Guide also includes a section for User and Group Supervisors about

more advanced tasks, such as Group creation and management.

n xMatters Online Developer's Guide: this guide is intended for developers and administrators, and contains

instructions on using the xMatters scripting tools, web services, custom panel APIs, and integration components.

n xMatters AlarmPoint Java Client Guide: this guide explains how to configure and use the custom features of the

AlarmPoint Java Client.

n xMatters integration agent guide: this guide describes and explains how to use the integration agent to facilitate

bi-directional communication between xMatters and one or more manag ement systems.

n xMatters mobile access guide: this guide introduces the mobile access component, an xMatters module that allows

xMatters Users to access management systems remotely, via any web-enabled Device, such as a BlackBerrySmartphone.

xMatters administrators may also refer to some of the advanced features described in the xMatters user guide.

Important xMatters TermsThis manual uses the following terms to refer to specific components within xMatters.

Event

An event is any kind of message generated by an external source that enters xMatters and describes a situation that

requires a notification. Event is also used to refer to an incident or situation as it progresses through the system, from

injection to notification to resolution. Each event requires at least one alert.

Event can also be a generic term used to refer to an incident, change request, message, or other specific item within a

management system.

Management system

Management system is a catch-all term for any external source of events that sends information into xMatters. This could

be an automated network monitoring program, a sophisticated help desk suite, or even a simple system of manually

entered messages.

Alert

An alert (or notification) is any message sent by xMatters to a device, in order to inform a user of an event that requires

attention. The alert contains information about the event, such the time and location, and may ask users to respond,

acknowledging that they have received the notification.

Devices

A device in xMatters is any means of receiving a notification message. Devices can include physical items like phones,

or intangible items such as email accounts.

Users

In xMatters, people who can receive notifications are called “users”. Every person in the xMatters system is a user

defined by a set of details, including ID number, user name, login password, and so on.

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Groups

In xMatters, groups are used for collecting users and devices and organizing them into notification schedules. Full

definitions of groups and group components, including an example of group creation, are included in the xMatters user

guide.

Document ConventionsThis manual uses the following styles and conventions when discussing xMatters and other software components.

Styles

Some instructions appear in the following format: MENU > OPTION; for example, File > Open means click the File

menu, and then click the Open menu option.

Words in bold typically reference text that appears on the screen. Words in monospace font represent the following:

n text that must be typed into the computer

n directory and file names

n code samples

Directory pathsExcept when deliberately referring to an operating system path for a specific component or feature, directory paths in this

document are listed i n Unix format. Windows users must substitute the given paths w ith the Windows equivalents.

The xMatters installation folder is referred to throughout the documentation as .

n On Windows systems, the default is C:\Program Files (x86)\xMatters

n On Unix systems, the default is /opt/xmatters

The xMatters integration agent installation folder is referred to throughout the documentation as .

n On Windows systems, the default is C:\xMatters\IntegrationAgent

n On Unix systems, the default is /opt/xmatters/integrationagent

Directory Path Example

On a default Unix installation, the xMatters node configuration file is located in the /opt/xmatters/node/config

folder.

In the xMatters documentation, this path is shortened for ease of reference to /node/config

Introduction to xMatters

xMatters is the leading Actionable Information Delivery platform which accelerates decision making, improves

operational effectiveness and increases IT service and application availability across the real-time enterprise.

xMatters transforms event data, instantly notifying the appropriate personnel with information relevant to their role. This

intelligent targeting reduces false alarms and enables mobile IT personnel to complete the resolution process more

accurately and efficiently. The xMatters approach delivers business service information further increasing IT service

visibility, reducing the cost of operations and transforming traditional organizations into proactive, real-time enterprises.

The xMatters platform is used in a variety of ways, including IT Service Delivery, IT Service Support, Business

Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Enterprise Messaging. Over 800 global firms, including 7 of the 10 largest Global

2000, rely on xMatters to ensure the availability of their mission critical and virtualized systems, networks, applications

and processes.

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This part of the guide introduces xMatters to IT managers, business continuity professionals, and others who require a

sophisticated critical event communication system. The following sections first discuss how xMatters meets important

business needs, and then describe xMatters products, componen ts, and features.

Note: To learn about xMatters features from an end user perspective, refer to the xMatters user guide.

The xMatters Critical Event Notification PlatformxMatters has consistently focused on critical event resolution, developing unrivaled domain expertise in every major

event resolution category, including:

n Network monitoring

n Application management

n Business continuity

n Employee safety

n Data center job scheduling

n Network security

n Help desk management.

xMatters is an interactive alerting application, designed to capture and enrich important events, to route those events tothe right person on any communication device, and to give that person the ability to solve, escalate or enlist others to

resolve.

xMatters allows you to take critical business information and contact the right people via voice phone, SMS, two-way

pagers, instant message, and email.

Through integrations, the xMatters system can become the voice and interface of an automation engine or intelligent

application (the Management System, such as BMC Remedy or HP OpenView). When a Management System detects an

event that requires attention, xMatters places phone calls, sends pages, messages, or emails to the appropriate personnel,

vendors o r customers.

The xMatters system is also persistent, escalating through multiple devices and personnel until someone accepts

responsibility or resolves the event. Once contacted, the xMatters system gives the notified person instant two-waycommunication with the Management System. Responses are executed immediately on the Management System,

enabling remote resolution of the event.

The Role of xMatters in Service AvailabilityxMatters automates the event resolution cycle within leading service management organizations. Built on the premise

that events must be resolved as a prerequisite to Business Service Management, xMatters provides numerous benefits at

multiple levels of an organization.

Providing real information to IT Management:

n Business Service Management: xMatters allows IT Management to “sign up” to receive relevant information

when services are about to be interrupted, SLAs are about to breach or events go unresolved. Stop viewing the

dashboard, xMatters will find you if something goes wrong!

n Compliance: xMatters facilitates Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance by providing one enterprise-wide event

resolution system. xMatters provides the bridge between all events and the people who solve them: one system for

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Delivering on ITIL Processes:

n Incident & Problem Management: xMatters automates the incident and problem management process by enabling

personnel to solve events before the service degrades.

n Configuration Management: xMatters may use a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as a trusted

source of event, personnel and asset information. Using this repository, personnel can subscribe to events that may

occur on any asset in the organization. When the event occurs xMatters locates, informs and enables resolution of

the event.

n Capacity Management: xMatters plays an important role in the performance process by providing proactive

information to IT personnel when performance thresholds are met or about to be exceeded. Personnel can interact

and increase the available resources with the press of a button.

n Change Management: xMatters automates the change process by allowing personnel to sign up to receive

authorization alerts (e.g., A change is pending your approval, press or say 1) to approve, 2) to decline, 3) to

reschedule, etc.). Additionally, customers can subscribe to alerts when a change is approved or declined on a

service that impacts their business area.

n Service Level Management: xMatters uses service level mappings to proactively inform IT service users of

poten tial interrupti ons in managed services. Additionally, xMatters uses sophisticated event handling to escalate

events where the service is governed by an SLA and may be about to breach.

n Service Support / Service Desk (Incident Control a nd Communication): xMatters automates personnel dispatchand ticket assignment and provides real time feedback as the incident is in process. xMatters also provides

proactive information, outbound, to affected users in real time, avoid ing costly inbound service calls.

n Continuity Management: Reducing the risk of disaster, xMatters provides a module focused on the Continuity of

Operations. xMatters allows personnel to build, test and initiate scenarios that may affect an organization’s ability

to recover in the face of a disaster. The crisis communications ability of xMatters ensures personnel that meet

specific criteria are dispatched and respond immediately.

xMatters FeaturesxMatters is a three-tier application that accepts system events from any number of management systems. Those events

may be “network down” alarms from a network management tool or alerts that a “significant order has been placed.”

xMatters is the event notification and interaction platform between a management system and an enterprise’s global

personnel. To ensure that when events occur the right people are found, xMatters was engineered to include the indu stry-

leading features summarized below.

Open Integration Technologies

xMatters provides XML integration options and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to help ease integration of

xMatters into your environment. For more information on how to use the Java Client integration application, see the

Java Client User Guide. For information on using the integration agent, refer to the xMatters integration agent guide.

Web Based Application User Interface

Administrators and other Users with the appropriate permissions can use the xMatters web user interface to access their

key tasks. This web-based interface allows enterprises to manage the xMatters system remotely and access a single,centralized application for event notification. In xMatters workgroup, customized, self-service home pages allow Users

the ability to view and modify their details (e.g., Device details, passwords).

Event Assignment and Subscription

xMatters provides APIs to design custom applications for event assignment and event subscription. This powerful feature

allows users to subscribe to specific events. xMatters can be configured as a self-service application. For example, Bob

Smith in London can subscribe to “Critical network failures in Munich.” If the network fails in Munich, he is notified on

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Granular Staff and Device Scheduling

The xMatters system allows users to build complex schedules at the device level. Those schedules may include or

exclude days, holidays, time ranges, multiple time ranges, device hunt order, retries per device, time between retries and

many other scheduling options. Each person can have several notification devices, each with time and date parameters.

Example of Multiple Notification Devices

The table below shows how Network Operations Manager Ted Davis wants to receive notifications on his devices. M-F

stands for Monday to Friday, and the hours are listed in 24-hour format.

Time Notification

M-F 0700-1730 Send a message to his alpha pager.

M-F 2200-0200 Email message only.

All other times Queue notifications to next open time window.

Day and Time Schedules for Devices

Complex Group Scheduling and Escalation ProcessesxMatters can contact a specific person or a group of people. An xMatters Group is a list of people to be notified in

certain situations. xMatters can contact Group members sequentially or simultaneously. xMatters can also alter its

notification process to escalate a situation if it is unable to contact someone within a specified time frame.

In addition, xMatters Group scheduling is extremely flexible, able to reflect even the most complex schedule. Calendar-

based Group scheduling includes person-to-person escalatio ns, Groups-in-Groups, recurring and one-time schedules,

automated rotations and round-robin scheduling. A Group creation wizard makes schedules simple to build, view, and

change in a graphical format that quickly reveals any coverage gaps.

Customizable Calendaring Functions

Holidays and Timeframes

xMatters has the following ways to define when people should be notified:

l Holidays. Different hours and people to contact for specific days (e.g., Boxing Day in Canada).

l Timeframes. Timeframes can be used to alter granular day and time settings for Users, Devices, and Groups.

Time Zone Support

Each person has a Time Zone set directly or through association with a particular Site of a Company. Timeframes for

notification D evices can be entered based on locale, which is the actual time for the person being notified. xMatters

calculates the correct time to notify a person, even when running in a different Time Zone than the person being

notified. When date and time information is sent, it will be converted to recipient’s local time.

Distributed, Modular Architecture

xMatters enterprise is scalable, supporting and managing one or more xMatters Notification Servers in geographically

dispersed locations. This configuration also allows for failover support across the xMatters notification servers, in

addition to message routing based on the location of the servers.

User-Defined Notification Scripting

xMatters provides a sophisticated but easy-to-use scripting language called Action Script that you can use to define how

information is handled. Action Scripts allow you to enhance and refine the data presented on various communications

devices. Action Scripts also allow you to define custom response choices so that the person being notified can take an



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action back on the management system (e.g., assigning a Help Desk ticket or acknowledging an event on an operations

console).

The Action Script editing utility (xMatters Developer IDE) provides a remote Java-based user interface for checking out

and modifying scripts in the xMatters database. Once a script is complete, version control allows marking the new script,

and then importing i t to the xMatters system and promoting it to production.

xMatters includes several out-of-the-box example Action Scripts that can be used as a basis for creating new scripts. In

addition, all xMatters integration modules include custom scripts specific to that particular network management, systemmanagement, or help desk system.

Reports

Authorized personnel can generate real-time and historical reports to monitor and troubleshoot the system. Reports show

the success or failure of every notification, and track delivery and response to the Device level. This web-based, real-time

feedback enables help desk users, operations personnel and business continuity professionals to view the success of each

message sent from xMatters.

Security and Encryption

xMatters allows administrators to control web user interface access through user permissions. Additionally, users can be

authenticated natively or from within the application through a third-party LDAP or Active Directory server. Sensitive

data (e.g., passwords) is stored with strong encryption.

Flexible Licensing

Each xMatters product includes a specific set of licenses that control terms such as number of Users, Devices, and

Notification Servers. However, as your organization’s needs grow and change, additional customized licenses can be

purchased and easily activated through the xMatters web user interface. For more information about purchasing

additional licenses, contact xMatters Sales.

Real-World Application ExamplesThe following examples highlight the actual and potential use of xMatters at Global 1000 enterprises.

Note: Note that these examples often refer to features available only in xMatters workgroup and xMatters enterprise. For full information on xMatters products and features, contact xMatters Sales.

Data Center Automation

The automated notification and event resolution capabilities of xMatters allow IT to manage monitoring systems

including: HP OpenView, BMC Software, Aprisma, Computer Associates, IBM Tivoli, NetIQ, Micromuse, and others.

With xMatters, organizations can automate event handling to distribute the workload around the globe, around the

clock, or within the data center. xMatters collects events from these systems, enriches them, routes them, ensures

responsibility, provides an interface to the applications from remote devices, and generally provides policy-driven

resolutio n scenarios.

The following key functions can be easily implemented using xMatters:

n Creating a real-time two-way telephone menu allowing personnel to take action over the phone.

n Building menus on a two-way pager for handling action requests.

n Contacting p rogrammers when a critical batch jo b fails.

n Notifying management personnel in the event of a crisis; displaying status and resolution instructions.

n Informing end u sers that a critical system is down so that they can w ork around th e outage.

n Escalating notifications to an operations manager when a batch job is behind schedule by a specific duration.



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Global Systems Management

Enterprises considering the global management of IT operations based on skill set must consider a solid, proven,

enterprise-class event resolution system such as xMatters. IT organizations moving to ‘follow the sun’ management of

certain IT infrastructure components will be able to capture events in a location and based on preset criteria (location,

time, skill, priority, etc.) to route the message across xMatters and deliver it to the right person.

For example: an alert generated in New York from HP OpenView could be routed to Munich and delivered via voice in

German to someone working there. That worker can then interact with the application in the US over the phone andexecute sophisticated event-curing commands.

Help Desk Automation

Help Desk Operations are tied into the majority of critical events within IT operations. Peregrine, Remedy, HP, Clarify,

and others provide solutions for recording events, creating tickets and documenting their closure. Deploying event

resolution solutions in conjunction with a help desk application can result in large cost savings. Consider the following

real-life scenario without the use of xMatters:

Tivoli TEC detects a problem and the on-duty IT Operations staff attempts to dispatch an Application Engineer.

Meanwhile, users are calling into the Help Desk with service issues. The Help Desk personnel use a manual

dispatch process to locate an on-duty technician.

Consider the time and resource savings with xMatters: the event is automatically dispatched to the correct person with

command options to take action on the primary application, accept responsibility and update the ticket, send out

proactiv e service information to users, escalate to addit ional personnel, and so on.

Security Management

Leading Security Administrators are just starting to discover the benefits of automated event resolution for their

environments. Security is a perfect application for event resolution systems because there are a limited number of

specialists within the company and time-to-resolution is critically important.

Consider the importance to preventing an intrusion into your network.

xMatters allows key personnel to receive critical event information to any device (voice is suggested for security,

interactivity, and guaranteed delivery considerations); the recipient can suspend a policy, run a test, ping a device, shut

down a block of IP addresses, notify on-site personnel and other concerned personnel. The event resolution systems

should support voice over telephones and should have pre-built support for the leading security vendors.

Mobile Worker Management and Device Management

A new challenge facing enterprises is managing the contact details, profiles, device types, access, and supported mobile

devices of a mobile work force. xMatters alleviates a large portion of the challenges by allowing self-registration of

devices, schedules, profiles, rotations, device escalations and other concerns.

Additionally, xMatters supports current and evolving protocols including MAPI, SMTP, TAP, UCP, SNPP, WCTP,

HTTP, Voice, RIM and Text to SMS devices. xMatters automatically formats the information for the device type based

on the standard or the provider, which alleviates a large burden on system administrators of Workforce Management

applications.

Business Continuity

Post 9/11 concerns in the United States and worldwide have refocused attention on business continuity, employee safety,

backup and restoration procedures, and other d ata security initiatives. xMatters provides a central portal for emergency

communications to a large number of employees on Disaster Response teams.

Customer Facing Solution

xMatters can be deployed as ‘customer-facing’ solution. IT customers can log on and subscribe to events including SLA

and business interruption. When events occur that meet their requests they are contacted via the device of their choice.



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xMatters can take a single event like “node down” and send different events to different stakeholders:

n Darren, On-Call Technician – “Node down what would you like to do?”

n Trent, Manager – “The network is experiencing delays; Darren is working on it.”

n Keith, Help Desk – “Node 123 is down, Darren is assigned, estimated fix i n 20 minutes.”

n End Users – “Network has delays; we anticipate normal service in 30 minutes.”

How the xMatters system works

The xMatters system can be thought of as a management system employee trained to notify people when problems arise.

The management system can inform the xMatters system about situations in an organization that will trigger

notifications to people based on steps pre-defined in scripts.

The following table summarizes the key components of an xMatters deployment:

Component Notes

xMattersapplication

server

(Node)

The application server (node) is the central xMatters component, running the business processes (i.e.,Action Scripts) that instruct other components in the system. The application server also includes an

integrated notification server that performs the same tasks as a separate notification server node.

Whether your deployment requires an integrated notification server or separate notification server(s) will

depend on many factors, including licensing and expected throughput. Discuss these issues with your

xMatters representative prior to deployment.

notification

server

(Node)

An xMatters deployment can have one or many notification servers that communicate with the

application server and database to queue, route, and send notifications and their responses.

Note that an all-in-one deplo yment does not have a separate notification server node. Also, an xMatters

workgroup all-in-one deployment on Windows does not require a separate notification server node.

Device

Engines

A sub-component of notification servers, Device Engines send notifications to various Devices (Phones,

Pagers, Email, etc.). A notification server may have several Device Engines; for example, a notification

server can have an Email and a Paging Engine. Note that due to thread availability, it is strongly

recommended that a notification server does not have more than one Device Engine of the same type.

xMatters

database

The xMatters database is the central storehouse of User, Device, Group, logging and auditing information

for the xMatters system.

Java

Client

The Java Client acts as a two-way bridge, translator, filter, and message enhancer between the external

management system (BMC Remedy, HP OpenView, etc.) and xMatters. The Java Client formats messages

into xMatters XML messages before being transmitted to xMatters.

xMatters Components

xMatters dynamically selects and runs the script – called an Action Script – appropriate for an incoming event. Scripts

can contact one person, a group, or even a specific communication device. Some scripts establish contact with people or

services, while others provide a choice of actions specific to the situation. xMatters constantly updates the management

system on what is happening, including replies from real-time two-way telephones, messaging devices, two-way pagers,

or email.

An application called the Java Client is installed on the management system, allowing the management system to

communicate with xMatters. The Java Client is like a bridge, translator, and message enhancer between the management

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system and xMatters. If the management system wants to start or stop a situation, it uses the Java Clientto send a

message. To respond, xMatters returns a message to the Java Client, which can log the information, run a command on

the management system, and so on.

The Java Client, running on the management system sends messages to xMatters on behalf of the management system.

xMatters splits the notification process into several basic components, which allows the administrator to reuse several

scripts, making Action Scripting more like piecing modules together than programming.

Note: For details on Action Scripting, refer to the xMatters Online Developer's Guide .

The main processing component in xMatters is called an application server. The application server communicates with

one or many xMatters notification servers to manage sending and receiving of notifications. notification servers contain

Device Engines (e.g., Email Engine, Paging Engine). The application server and notification server use a ‘node’ structure

easily deployed using the same installer.

The sections that follow describe xMatters components, and provide diagrams of example xMatters deployments for each

product version.

xMatters Products

Because xMatters product licensing is very flexible, different deployments of xMatters may not have the same feature set.For a complete matrix of available features and related products, contact xMatters Sales.

The following sections provide a brief description of some sample deployments, and diagrams illustrating the different

components.

Basic xMatters deployments

xMatters can be designed and deployed for smaller groups that do not require voice or distributed load capability

(xMatters can be installed on a single computer). Even a basic deployment is a great way to get started with the xMatters

product family and includes many sophisticated notificatio n opti ons and a web user interface for the system

administrator. The following diagram shows a basic implementation:



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Basic Deployment

xMatters workgroup

xMatters workgroup is a mid-level product intended for mid- to large-size ESM (Enterprise Service Management)

implementations that require voice capability, a rich feature set, greater flexibility, and user self-service (for full feature

details, contact xMatters Sales).

The following diagram shows an example xMatters workgroup deployment:



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xMatters workgroup – Example Deployment

The example deployment shows xMatters workgroup connected to the Management System through the integration

agent. In this case, two xMatters application server Nodes (a Primary and a separately-licensed Secondary) stay in

constant contact via the xMatters database to synchronize information and detect whether the any components have

failed. If the Primary Application Server fails, the Secondary Application Server detects this and takes over notification

tasks.

In this failover example, the database must be run on a separate system. If the xMatters application servers are installed

on Unix, the Voice Engines must run on additional Windows 2003 systems.



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xMatters enterprise

xMatters enterprise is intended for sophisticated ESM implementations that require full voice and text capability, an

industry-leading feature set, unrivalled permissioning and scheduling flexibility, user self-service, customizable event

subscriptions, customizable messaging panels, highly-distributed load capability, and a potentially global deployment.

The following diagram shows an example xMatters enterprise deployment:

xMatters enterprise – Example Deployment



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This sample deployment shows how xMatters enterprise is scalable in a distributed implementation. Multiple

Notification Servers have been deployed to target specific Devices. Moreover, if a Notification Server or related Device

Engine fails, its load is automatically distributed to another Notification Server or Device Engine.

The xMatters enterprise architecture allows for global distribution of system components, providing additional failover

capability and local notifications.

Multiple-Company Deployments

With the xMatters service provider product, or an xMatters enterprise installation with additional Company licenses,

xMatters can be configured to support multiple Companies. This configuration allows a single xMatters installation to

host many distinct Companies, each with a unique feature set.

A multiple-Company deployment offers the following key features:

n Single infrastructure

n Unique company presence within th e infrastructure:

l corporate branding on login screens

l Company-specific reporting

l customizable business workflow

l unique Users, Groups, Devices, and contact methods

l unique password rules, Roles, and LDAP settings

l uniquely-provisioned web services

l data loading abili ty (Data Import and Data Synchronization)

l minimum Reserved SIP telephony allocations for each Company

n Unique company states to enable distinct company state management

n Strict data segregation; Users in one Company cannot view any data about other Companies

n Simple upgrade path for existing xMatters single-Company deployments

n Streamlined administration with Super Administrators providing global ‘host’ administration and Company

Administrators restricted to administrating a single Company or ‘tenant’ in a multi-Company deployment.

This multiple company ability is particularly useful for Service Providers that will host xMatters on behalf of a number of their own customers (i.e., the ‘host’ service provider will have its own employees act as Company Administrators for

all ‘tenant’ Companies).

Other uses include existing customers (e.g., Internal IT service management) who want to extend the existing offering to

include their external customers (e.g., external Public users), and want to ensure that all data visibility, event processing

and notification behavior is strictly segregated. (Note that this solution is not appropriate when sets of Users in different

Companies must interact with each other.)

Since the multiple-Company configuration is part of the existing xMatters infrastructure, all the scalability, resilience,

and load-sharing capabilities of xMatters are available.

Managed Devices, Systems, or ApplicationsThe Managed Devices, Systems, or Applications are not part of the xMatters System. They are components maintained by the Management System. These componen ts init iate the events that are passed to the Management System.

Management System

The Management System is not part of the xMatters System. It is the automation engine or intelligent application t hat

manages other devices, systems or applications. Those other components initiate the events that are passed to the

Management System.



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Event components

These definitions are used throughout this document.

Event

A message sent from the Management System to an integration agent (or Java Client) is termed an Event. The Event

represents the starting point and the highest level of internal tracking in xMatters.

IncidentsAn Incident represents the larger business representation and/or grouping of Events as supplied by the Management

System. The Management Systems could share an Incident identifier to span multiple events. The association of events

to an element allows for the management of multiple Events at the same time.

Alert

An Event received by xMatters creates at least one Alert. An Alert is a pre-formatted Event for personnel subscribed

against the matched criteria. An Alert is the association of an Event to specific users/groups.

Notification

Alerts will create at least one Notification. A Notification is the association of a specific Alert to a Person’s devices.

For each active device that matches the t ime profile of an event, a Notification record will be created.

xMatters notification server engines

Within the xMatters notification servers, each “Server” (one per Engine) runs the appropriate Contact and Action Scripts

with the Event information, which results in a message delivered to a person. The information is forwarded to the Engine

that allocates specific resources for delivery. Resources per engine and possible message delivery mechanisms are

detailed in the following sections.

Phone Engine

Uses Dialogic Voice Cards or SIP for telephony, or Virtual Phone for testing.

Paging Engine

Uses a modem for modem-based paging services, the network and HTTP for Internet-enabled paging services and/or the

xMatters internal Virtual Pager for testing.

Email Engine

Inserts a message into the outbox of a MAPI -compliant server, or to an SMTP server. If a MAPI-compliant server is used,

it will be told to send all outgoing mail. This engine can also use Virtual Email for testing. Reply messages can be read

from a MAPI inbox, POP server, or IMAP server.

Messaging Engine

Sent to the appropriate Instant Messaging (IM) server for delivery to the person’s IM client.

Communication with the Management SystemxMatters typically communicates with the Management System across an Ethernet network. This allows xMatters to run

at any location accessible from the local or wide area network.

The Java Client has two main applications for handling communications between xMatters and Management Systems.

The first is the xMatters Agent, which maintains a persistent connection with xMatters. The second is the xMatters

Client, used by simple Management Systems integrations to put events into the xMatters system, and retrieve responses

to the generated alerts.

The Management System can monitor network devices, network security, mission-critical applications, or any other

system. When it has an event that requires personnel notification, it can use the xMatters Client with parameters about

the event. The xMatters Agent then sends a message to xMatters to start the notification process.



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The xMatters Agent sends notification requests to xMatters, and receives messages from it. The messages can contain

information regarding the status or progress of individual notification requests, reports of acknowledgements by notified

users, or requests from notified users to perform actions on the Management System.

Sending a Request to xMattersThe Java Client can be used to submit many types of messages to xMatters enterprise. For example, requests to start a

notification process, or cancel a prior request. The Java Client has three types of integration methods:

n Command Line

n HTTP

n Remote Method Invocation (RMI)

The following sections summarize these methods, and the comparative time required for each.

Command-line

While the command-line method produces the loosest integration, it is also the fastest to implement. This method is

sometimes used because it reduces maintenance requirements when new releases of xMatters are implemented.

To use this method, the Management System must be able to:

n Launch a command-line when an event occurs; and,

n Pass arguments to the command-line program regarding the event.

HTTP

The HTTP integration method is more difficult than command-line, and requires programming. The APJC accepts an

HTTP ‘post’ and ‘get’ to send XML messages with all relevant data. A program must be written to post the messages

that start notifications, and to create a process that continuously checks the APJC response queue for actions that people

may want to take through xMatters.

Remote Method Invocation (RMI)

The RMI method represents the tightest level of integration, and requires Java programming. This method provides

‘callbacks’ that automatically allow reliable two-way interaction with the APJC. Messages are sent in an XML format.

Time Requirements

In general, command-line integrations can take from several hours to several days, and are relatively simple to

implement. HTTP or RMI integrations usually require at least a week or longer, depending on how the program is

written.

The rest of this chapter covers the use of the command-line integration option.

Application Specific Integration Modules

The Java Client is a quick solution for custom integrations. However, the xMatters system includes a number of pre-

built, Management System integration s. These are available from xMatters, or an authorized xMatters Partner (BMC, HP,

NetIQ, Peregrine, Remedy, and others). The integration s include the Java Clien t and custom Action Scripts and

recordings for the xMatters Notification Servers. Once installed, the integrations can be further customized for tighter

integration with the Management System.



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18 |


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Chapter 2: Installing xMatters


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Installation Overview

Before installing xMatters system components, it is strongly recommended that you review this entire chapter to help

ensure a successful xMatters deployment.

In general, it is recommended that at least one of each of the following personnel are available to address any issues

during the installation and configuration process:

n Network administrator

n Management System specialist

n xMatters administrators (Super Administrator and Company Administrators)

n Database administrator (e.g., Oracle DBA)

n Unix technical personnel (for Unix installations only)

Note: This guide is current to xMatters version 4.1 patch 022. Note that xMatters patches and updates are

cumulative; for more information about the changes in this release and previous updates, refer to to the 4.1

patch 022 release notes on the xMatters Community site at community.xmatters.com.

xMatters Products, Licensing, and Deployment Options

xMatters has created several xMatters applications to meet varying client needs. In addition, xMatters deployments are

highly flexible and scalable as requirements change. The following sections describe xMatters products and typical

deployments.

Product LicensingProduct licenses control xMatters versioning, capabilities, and features, including the following items:

n Number of:

o Nodes

o Device engine connections (threads)

o Companies

o Groups

o Users

o Roles

o Java Client or integration agent connections

n Enhanced messaging (Scenarios)

n Subscriptions

n Advanced Reporting

n Alerts tab

n Languages

n Failover

By default, only the xMatters super administrator has permissions for managing product licensing (for details, see

"Licenses" on page 109).

Installation Overview | 20


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Note: All Users in the xMatters database count towards the license limit. This means that Users not set as Active (i.e.,

on their User Details page) are still counted for licensing purposes. For further details on xMatters licensing,

contact xMatters Sales.

xMatters Deployment Options

xMatters installations are very flexible and will vary with an organization’s needs. Depending on Device Engines,throughput, salability, and other requirements, a system can be deployed on a single computer or distributed across

several local or remote computers.

Because xMatters licensing is managed through the web user interface, a single installer handles all installation tasks for

all xMatters components except the Java Client. For example, the same xMatters installer executable that installs an

Application Server in N ew York can be used to install Notification Servers in London and Tokyo and a web server in

Los Angeles.

Note: The Java Client has its own installer. For details, refer to the xMatters AlarmPoint Java Client Guide.

xMatters enterprise Deployment Guidelines

Before deploying xMatters enterprise, note the following important guidelines:

n Ensure that xMatters components (including the database server) are not co-hosted with each ot her (see also "All-

in-One Deployment" on page 30).

n Ensure that xMatters components are not co-hosted with third-party enterprise applications.

n Ensure that all xMatters components are redundant (see "Failover in xMatters" on page 343 ).

n Be aware that Microsoft SQL Server Express is not supported for use with xMatters enterprise

n Configure SIP Device Engines on dedicated xMatters notification server Node computers (i.e., the xMatters

notification server Node must reside on a computer that is separate from other xMatters components such as web

servers, application servers, and the database). Note that a maximum of 100 "Number of Line Appearances" is the

tested limit for SIP Device Engines. (See also "Software Requirements" on page 25.)

Note: xMatters does not support phone extensions on SIP.

n Increase the database connection po ol settings for all xMatters components (for details, see "Configuring the

Database Connection Pool" on page 357).

n Optionally, use database replication for cold disaster recovery (see also "Disaster Recovery Deployment

Considerations" on page 336).

n Front web servers with Apache or Microsoft IIS (for details, see "Fronting the x Matters web server" on page 348 ).

n Use a load b alancer to route traffic if multiple web servers are deployed.

n Ensure that all xMatters nodes (Application Servers and Notification Servers) can intercommunicate.

n Set the minimum JVM heap size to the same value as the maximum heap size to eliminate the cost of allocating

memory to the JVM (for details, see "Configuring xMatters Heap Size" on page 359).

n Ensure that latency between the xMatters web server, Application Server and Database is lower than 3 0ms (seealso table entry for "Failover Connectivity" on page 33). xMatters requires a robust network infrastructure with no

measurable communication loss between components. If the network layer is unreliable or has high latency,

product performance and behavi or will be impacted. Operating xMatters in such conditions is not a configuration

supported by xMatters.

Note: It is strongly recommended that you discuss your xMatters enterprise deployment plan with your xMatters

representative prior to installation.

xMatters Products, Licensing, and Deployment Options | 21


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Virtual Machine Deployment Guidelines

Before deploying xMatters in a virtualized environment, note the following guidelines and best practices:

n Add 10 -15% to CPU requirements to compensate for virtualization losses.

n Use a virtual server with multiple processors and CPU cores.

n Allocate two or more virtual CPUs to make use of multi-threading capabili ty.

n

Pre-allocate or dedicate v irtual CPUs and the maximum required memory to the xMatters Virtual Machine toreduce contention between virtual machines and scheduling losses.

n Do not over-commit virtual CPUs or memory on the virtual server.

n Pre-allocate disk space for the xMatters Virtual Machine.

n Disable screen savers and window animations.

n Disable X Window Server if not required.

n Disconnect unused devices on the virtual machine and Virtual Server, including :

l COM ports

l LPT ports

l Floppy drives

l CD-ROM drives

l USB adapters

n Schedule backups and anti-virus scans to run during off-peak periods.

n Use separate network adapters for xMatters Virtual Machine communications and virtual server storage (i.e.,

Network Attached Storage).

n Ensure the HAL/kernel installed on the xMatters Virtual Machine operating system is appropriate for the system

(i.e., uni-processor versus multi-processor).

n Ensure specialized virtual server/machine drivers are installed on the xMatters Virtual Machine operating system

(i.e., virtualized network drivers).

n Virtual machines with a close affinity should be co-located on th e same virtual server to reduce communication

latencies. However, this must be balanced against resource contention. For example, virtual machines that demand

high levels of I/O should be located on separate virtual servers.

n Distribute virtual machines over multiple disk spindles to reduce virtual machine I/O contention and request

queuing. If possible, place the virtual machines with highest disk I/O demands on separate disk spindles; if this is

not possible, use separate virtual servers.

Note: Dialogic cards are not supported when using virtualization. Due to resource-contention that can affect call

quality and performance, xMatters SIP is not supported for virtualized environments.

Language Support

The following table summarizes xMatters language support:

C ompone nt Suppor te d Language s

Web User Interface English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean,

Chinese

Language Support

Language Support | 22


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C ompone nt Suppor te d Language s

Pre-recorded

Languages

As above, with UK and US for English, and Mandarin and Cantonese for Chinese

Integration Modules Integration modules are created only with pre-recorded US English

TTS (Text-To-Speech) xMatters can support any SAPI 5.1-compliant TTS engine in any language. Addition ally, the

xMatters Action Script allows you to control the language spoken based on the selected

language of each User; for details, refer to the xMatters Online Developer's Guide.

Note that the list of available languages is hard-coded in the voice recordings script. If you

change the languages available to a Company, you must also change the script listing the

available languages.

A voice-capable xMatters installation includes the Microsoft Text-To-Speech (TTS) SAPI5.1

engine with the following available English-only voices:

o Microsoft Mary

o Microsoft Mikeo Microsoft Sam

For further details, see "Text-To-Speech Engines" on page 86.

xMatters recommends the NeoSpeech TTS engine, which can be purchased directly from

xMatters. By default, xMatters supplies the English-only Kate TTS voice (other voices are

available from NeoSpeech). For further details, see "Using NeoSpeech TTS with xMatters" on

page 87.

Database When installed as recommended by xMatters, Oracle and IBM DB2 can concurrently support

all xMatters-supported languages. Microsoft SQL Server can concurrently support only a

subset of xMatters-supported languages. For configuration information, see the related

"Support for International Character Sets" sections for each database under "Pre-Installation

Configuration" on page 32.

Component Installation Order

The components of an xMatters deployment should be installed in the or der listed in the following table:

Component Notes

Dialogic voice cards and

drivers

If your deployment will include voice capability, Dialogic cards and drivers shouldalways be installed before Notification Server Nodes are installed and configured on

computers dedicated to Voice notifications. For details, see "Installing Dialogic

Voice Cards and Drivers" on page 50.

Note that Windows 64-bit installations are not supported by Dialogic.

xMatters Components – Installation Order

Component Installation Order | 23


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Component Notes

Database The xMatters application install requires you to enter parameters related to the

database installation. For installation details, refer to your database documentation.

n For Oracle installations, review "Oracle Database Configuration

Considerations" on page 35.n For Microsoft SQL Server installations, review "Microsoft SQL Server

Database Configuration Considerations " on page 39.

xMatters application The xMatters application install includes the xMatters database components, web

server, Application Server Node(s), and Notification Server Node(s). Depending on

your requirements and licensing, this installation can be on a single computer or

distributed across multiple computers (and different physical locations).

Java Client The procedure for installing the Java Client on your Management System depends

on its type and the customization required. For information on the Java Client,

including installation, see the Java Client User Guide. If a customized integration

was provided, refer to the related documentation that accompanied the integration package.

integration agent The procedure for installing the integration agent on your Management System

depends on its type and the customization required. For information on the

integration agent, including installation, see the xMatters integration agent guide. If

a customized integration was provided, refer to the related documentation that

accompanied the integration package. Note that each version of xMatters must be

paired with its own version of the integration agent (e.g., xMatters 5.0 uses

integration agent 5.0.

xMatters System RequirementsBefore installing xMatters, review the following sections to ensure that your software and hardware meet the system

requirements.

Note: These requirements apply only to xMatters lite and xMatters workgroup. xMatters enterprise system

requirements should be determined with the assistance of xMatters Systems Sales and Professional Services.

Hard Disk SpaceThe following table summarizes xMatters installation hard disk space requirements (based on a default installation, with

some allowance for runtime operation):

Component Disk Space Required

xMatters web server only 3 GB

xMatters node only 2 GB

Installation Hard Disk Space Requirements

xMatters System Requirements | 24


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Component Disk Space Required

xMatters web server and Node (i.e., All-in-One deployment) 5 GB

Software RequirementsThis section details the software requirements for an xMatters deployment.

Supported Operating Systems

xMatters supports the operating systems detailed in the following table:

Platform Manufacturer Operating System Version

x86 Various Windows 2003 Server SP2

2008 Server

LINUX Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x

CentOS 5.x

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0 SP2

64-bit AMD, Intel Windows 2003 Server 64-bit SP2

2008 Server R2 64-bit (see "Windows 2008 deployment

considerations" on page 29)

LINUX

(64-bit versionsrunning 32-bit Java)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x and 6.4

CentOS 5.x

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0 SP2

Sparc Sun Solaris 10

PA-RISC HP HPUX 11.23

Itanium

(Integrity)

HP HPUX 11.23, 11.31

POWER

Processor

IBM AIX 5.3 (i.e., 5300-07), 6.1 (6100-GOLD) (traditional and IBM

LPAR env ironments)

Supported Operating Systems for xMatters

Note: xMatters currently supports the Dialogic 6.0 driver release running on Windows 2003 (32-bit only) and

Windows 2008 R2.



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64-bit JVM Compatibility

If your deployment of xMatters will experience high load volumes, it is recommended that you use a 64-bit operating

system and JVM. The following table summarizes xMatters 64-bit JVM compatibility:

Platform Manufacturer Operating System Notes

AMD64

Intel64

Various Windows 2003 Runs only 32-bit JVM provided by xMatters installer

AMD64

Intel64

Various RedHat Ent 5.2 Runs 64-bit JVM provided by xMatters installer

SUSE Ru ns 6 4-bit JVM p ro vided b y xMatters installer

Sparc Sun Solaris Not supported

PA-RISC HP HPUX Not supported

Itanium HP HPUX 11.23, 11.31 Runs 64-bit JVM provided by xMatters installer

POWER

Processor

IBM AIX 5.3, 6.1 Requires manual JVM configuration for 64-bit (contact xMatters

systems for a Knowledge Base Article describing manual setup)

64-bit JVM Support

Virtualization Compatibility

xMatters has been successfully installed and run on several virtualization technologies (including Xen, VMWare,

RedHat, and others). Because the application does not check or otherwise attempt to determine whether it is being run

on a virtual machine, xMatters does not endorse any specific technology, brand, or version.

Due the nature of virtualization technology, the demands of other virtual machines running on the same physical hosts

as xMatters may impact xMatters components, and vice versa. In extreme cases, p erformance may degrade or become

erratic. Accordingly, careful monitoring and capacity planning are essential to avoid these situations; you must ensure

that sufficient resources are dedicated and available to the application. Your feature set may also be limited by the

virtualization layer if it cannot provide appropriate access to hardware resources, such as modems.

Also note that diagnosing and resolving virtualization issues are beyond the scope of xMatters Technical Support, and

are not covered by your support agreement. For help planning virtual installations, contact your virtualization vendor,

and refer to "Virtual Machine Deployment Guidelines" on page 22.

The following table summarizes current virtualization compatibility; note the following definitions:

n

Certified means that xMatters has tested the technology internally with complete functional/regression testing ateach release.

n Validated means the technology has been implemented internally or in a customer environment with a baseline of

"known good state".

n xMatters Components refers to the web server, application servers, and notification servers;



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Operating System xMatters Components Java Client

Windows 2003 Server on VMWare ESX Certified Certified

Windows 2003 Server x64 on VMWare ESX Validated Validated

Windows 2008 R2 x64 on VMWare ESX Validated Validated

Linux RH 5.1 on VMWare ESX Validated Validated

Linux RH 5.1 x64 on VMWare ESX Validated Validated

AIX 5.3 on IBM LPAR Validated Validated

Virtualization Compatibility

Note: Dialogic cards are not supported when using virtualization. Due to resource-contention that can affect call

quality and performance, xMatters SIP is not supported for virtualized environments.

Databases

xMatters supports the databases detailed in the following table:

Database Versions

Oracle 11g Release 2 Enterprise

Microsoft SQL Server Server 2008 (Enterprise or Standard), Express 2008

Note that SQL Server Express has a maximum size of 4GB per database, and is not supported

for use with xMatters enterprise

IBM DB2 9.5 (Linux, Unix, Windows)

Supported Databases

Web Servers

The following web servers can be used as a proxy for xMatters:

Web Server Version

Apache 2.2.2 & 2.2.3-31

Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) 6.0

Web Server Proxy

Note: On xMatters enterprise deployments, web servers must be fronted with Apache or Microsoft IIS (for details, see

"Fronting the xMatters web server" on page 348).

Web Browsers

xMatters supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox 3.



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Note: xMatters can be used with Internet Explorer 8 running in compatibility mode. To use this mode, navigate to

Tools > Compatibility View Settings and add the URL for your xMatters deployment (or select the Display all

websites in Compatibility View check box).

SIP Gateway

xMatters supports the following SIP gateways on Linux, Windows 2003, and Windows 2008:

SIP Ga te way De ta ils

Asterisk xMatters has been validated against Asterisk 1.2.14.

xMatters has been validated against and supports Asterisk 1.4.25.1.

Avaya The following versions of ACM are supported: 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 4.0, and

5.2.1.

The following versions of SES are supported: 3.0, 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 4.0, and 5.2.1.

xMatters has been compliance tested against SES 5.2.1 connecting to Avaya Communication

Manager (ACM) 5.2.1, and has been compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya

Aura Communication Manager 5.2.1 and Avaya Aura SIP Enablement Services 5.2.1. Additionally,

Avaya has granted xMatters with the Avaya Developer Connection Compliance Award for

successful compliance testing with Avaya Aura Communication Manager 6.0 (R016x.00.0.345.0),

Avaya Aura Session Manager 6.0 (6.0.0.0.600020), and Avaya Aura System Manager 6.0 (6.0.0.0-

556).

Cisco xMatters has been validated against and supports Cisco Unified Communications Manager

(formerly CallManager) version 7.0.1 and version 9.

Supported SIP Gateways

SIP Gateway Considerations:n On Linux (32- or 64-bit), SIP is supported only when running the 32-bit JVM. SIP will not function properly

unless Call Progress Supervision is enabled on the PBX (otherwise, human and machine voice detection will not

work). For further details, see "SIP Requires Call Progress Supervision Support", below.

n xMatters deployments that will experience high vo lumes of SIP traffic must have SIP Device Engines configured

on dedicated xMatters notification server Node computers (i.e., the xMatters notification server Node must reside

on a computer that is separate from other xMatters components such as web servers, application servers, and the

database).

n Due to resource-contention that can affect call quality and performance, xMatters SIP is not supported for

virtualized environments.

n If your deployment in cludes a firewall between the x Matters SIP Device Engines and your SIP gateway, ensure

that the firewall has been configured to allow for traffic of SIP and RTP packets, and that packets can beautomatically forwarded to the correct xMatters IP address; the SIP Gateway must use the same IP address to

communicate with the SIP Device Engine. Note that SIP Gateways external to the network where xMatters exists

are not supported.

n Note that the xMatters SIP Device Engine supports only RFC2833 for DTMF tones.

n xMatters does not support phone extensions on SIP.

SIP Requires Call Progress Supervision Support

xMatters deployments installed with Phone or SIP Device Engines require a telephone environment that supports call



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progress supervision. Call progress supervision is a telephony term t hat covers two telep hony features: Answer

Supervision and Disconnect Supervision.

In particular, if the environment does not provide Answer Supervision, the xMatters SIP Device Engine cannot determine

when a call is answered. Instead, it starts playing the recording while the phone is still ringing.

Environments that have call progress supervision include those with direct T1/E1/J1 (ISDN PRI or BRI) connections,

analog Dialogic cards, and POTS lines that support call progress tones.

Note that problems can occur with PBXes and T1 cards that are connected to POTS lines through a channel bank that

does not support call progress supervision, and with PBXes that do not support call progress supervision that are directly

connected to POTS lines.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES)

xMatters supports BlackBerry Enterprise Server 3.5, 4.x, and 5.x (requires Mobile Data Services (MDS) for browser push).

Client-side operating systems

In xMatters (as of 4.0 patch 017 and 4.1 patch 009), you can specify which BlackBerry OS version should be targeted by

each Protocol Provider. For more information, see "BES Protocol Providers" on page 161.

Note: If your system employs multiple BES servers, each of which has a unique list of users, sending a message to a

BES server that does not have the recipient user results in undelivered messages. To resolve this issue, you will

need to configure the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service central push server. This abstracts xMatters and

your users from having to know the BES server on which they are deployed/listed. For further details, contact

your BlackBerry vendor to obtain the latest BES planning guide.

Developer IDE

To install the xMatters Developer IDE, it must be possible to install and run J2SE 1.6; a JVM used by the latter is

installed by default. (Note that the Developer IDE is supported for Windows and Linux, but is no longer supported for

Solaris, AIX, or HP-UX).

Phone Recorder

The Phone Recorder utility allows you to re-record system recordings such as numbers and letters. To use the PhoneRecorder application, a supported Dialogic card must be installed.

Virtual Device Engine

The Virtual Device Server provides Virtual Device interfaces for Pager, Email and Text Phone Devices. On Unix

operating systems, the Virtual Device Server requires an X display server to function (it will not function on a headless

Unix system). Run the Virtual Device Server from an X desktop session on the system on which it is installed, or attach

the server display to a remote X server. This allows the server to create the Virtual Device interfaces when it receives

notifications.

Windows 2008 deployment considerations

Installing the xMatters relevance engine on a Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) deployment requires the xMatters installer

specific to Windows 2008. The installer's archive package filename will include "Win64"; e.g., xm410-Windows-Win64.zip.

Note that this installer does NOT function as method of upgrading an existing Wind ows 2003 xMatters installation.

You must install a new node on a Windows 2008 machine while decommissioning your Windows 2003 machine; this

requires that you have at least one extra machine to host the new node during transition.

If you require additional temporary licenses for the migration, contact xMatters Support.

If you are planning to use Virtual Devices on your test/development system, note that Windows 2008 security

restrictions prevent Windows Services interacting with some applications, including the xMatters Virtual Devices. For



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instructions on how to modify your deployment so that Virtual Devices will work with Windows 2008, please refer to

the xMatters Community site at community.xmatters.com; search on the terms "Windows 2008" and "Virtual Devices".

Using Dialogic cards with Windows 2008

If you are planning on using Dialogic cards for a new xMatters installation, ensure that you acquire the correct (i.e.,

updated for Windows 2008) Dialogic/Syntellect license dongles appropriate for your new deployment.

If you are upgrading your Windows 2003 deployment to Windows 2008, note that your existing dongles will not work

with Windows 2008. For assistance with dongles purchased through xMatters, you can contact xMatters Support via theCommunity site at community.xmatters.com to speak with an associate about acquiring a temporary set of dongles. If

you purchased your dongles through another supplier, you may need to contact your original supplier to obtain updated

licenses.

Hardware RequirementsThe following sections outline the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for an xMatters deployment on

Unix and Windows.

Note: Voice (i.e., phone) and MAPI email deployments require a Windows system. SIP requires Windows Server 2003

or Linux (32- or 64-bit) running the 32-bit JVM.

All-in-One Deployment

In an “all-in-one” deployment, all xMatters components (Application Server, web server, and database) are co-hosted on

the same machine. All-in-one deployments on Unix do not support voice notifications (voice components must be

installed on a Windows server).

Note: Co-hosting the xMatters database and xMatters components is NOT supported for enterprise deployments. The

database server must be installed on a machine that is separate from xMatters.

The following table outlines the minimum hardware requirements for an all-in-one deployment:

Platform Vendor CPU GHz RAM (GB)

x86 Intel 2x P4 3.6 4

x86-64 Intel Core2 Duo 3.0 4

x86-64 AMD K8-Opteron 3.0 4

PowerPC IBM 2 xG5 2.5 4

Sparc Sun 2x UltraSparc IV 1.6 4

PA-RISC HP 4x PA-8700 0.875 4

Itanium HP Itanium 2 (Dual Core) 1.6 4

Minimum All-in-One System Hardware Requirements

Multiple-System Deployments

This section outlines system requirements for larger enterprises that expect to experience extremely high concurrent

loads.



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Note: For high-volume xMatters deployments, ensure that xMatters components are not co-hosted with each other or

with third-party enterprise applications. For further details, see "xMatters enterprise Deployment Guidelines"

on page 21.

The following table outlines the minimum hardware requirements for a multiple-system d eployment (xMatters

Application & Notification Server Nodes, Web Servers, and Databases):

Platform Vendor CPU GHz RAM (GB)

x86 Intel 2x P4 2.8 4

x86-64 Intel Core2 Duo 3.0 4

x86-64 AMD K8-Opteron 3.0 4

PowerPC IBM 2x G5 1.8 4

Sparc Sun 2x UltraSparc IV 1.35 4

PA-RISC HP 4x PA-8700 0.75 4

Itanium HP Itanium 2 (Dual Core) 1.4 4

Minimum Multiple-System Hardware Requirements

Note: To compare the performance of other types of CPUs with that of the benchmark Intel Xeon CPUs, visit

http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/cpu2006.html. Additionally, although the latter table lists the

recommended hardware requirements, it is strongly recommended that you work with your xMatters

representative to determine the hardware requirements of your organization's specific deployment.

Latency RequirementsFor multiple-system deployments, it is recommended that the latency between remote Notification Server Nodes and the

xMatters application server/database not exceed 200ms. Slower connections will experience increased delays between

notification creation and the start of a call, increased delays between voice recordings, and slower text messaging

performance.

Note: xMatters requires a robust network infrastructure with no measurable communication loss between

components. If the network layer is unreliable or has high latency, product performance and behavior will be

impacted. Operating xMatters in such conditions is not a configuration supported by xMatters.

Failover Connectivity

For failover between the Application Server Node, the Web Server, the Notification Server Node, and the database, the

minimum connectivity requirements between the sites are as follows:

n Dedicated bandwidth for Application Server Node and database traffic: 2Mbps

n Network latency between the Application Server Node and the database: below 30ms for a 1024 byte (1KB)

packet round-trip

n Dedicated bandwidth for Web Server Node and database traffic: 2Mbps

n Network latency between the Web Server Node and the database: below 30ms for a 1024 byte (1KB) packet

round-trip



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n Network latency between the Notification Server Node and the database: less than 200 ms for a 1024 byte (1KB)

packet round-trip

n Network latency between the Notification Server Node and the Application Server Node: less than 200 ms for a

1024 byte (1KB) packet round-trip

Note that this typically means the Application Server Node, the web server and the database should all be located in the

same data center. The Notification Server Node is optimized for remote distribution.

Pre-Installation Configuration

The following sections describe hardware, general software, database, and configuration issues that should be considered

before installing xMatters.

HardwareBefore installing xMatters, install and test the following hardware:

Hardware Notes

Dialogic

voice cards

When purchasing Dialogic cards, ensure that each card will fit into the target compute

Xm410 Installadmin Guide

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