Monitoring Gateway transfer events: Overview

Monitoring Gateway with Sentinel

Configuration requirements

Gateway objects

Monitoring Gateway with Sentinel

You can use Sentinel to collect information about targeted Gateway transfer activities. Sentinel enables you to generate graphic views of these events.

Sentinel provides you with tools that help you create pre-programmed automatic responses to specified network conditions. Using these tools, you can configure Sentinel to act immediately to handle exceptional and/or abnormal transfer events that occur in Gateway. You can also configure Sentinel to respond to a programmed event that fails to occur.

Configuration requirements

Required products 

To operate Gateway and Sentinel together, you require the following Axway products:

GatewayGateway is a router and file server. It provides a secured front-end for handling data exchanges between partners connected via public networks (in particular, Internet) and enterprise network applications. It supports a wide range of protocols, including FTP, SFTP, HTTP/S, EDIINT, OFTP, PeSit, ETEBAC3, ETEBAC5, RosettaNet, and WebServices.

Sentinel Sentinel is a monitoring product that provides you with a set of tools for viewing and reacting to events that occur in your network applications and platforms.

ComposerComposer is the centralized management product for the Axway 5 Suite. Via Composer, you design, manage and deploy your configuration.

Network architecture

Composer Server, Gateway, and Sentinel can be installed either on the same machine or on different machines and on the same or different platforms. When installed on the same machine, you can either use the same or different users to access the products. Additionally, you can use the same database for the Composer Server and the Sentinel Server.

Gateway objects

To enable you to monitor Gateway transfer activities using Sentinel, Gateway provides the following objects:

• Tracked Objects
• Requests
• Indicator Requests
• Correlation Rules
• Dashboard

You import these Gateway objects from the Axway Support website https://support.axway.com.

Tracked Objects

Gateway sends event information related to Gateway transfer activities to Sentinel. It transfers this information in messages called Tracked Event Messages. The Sentinel database receives and stores these Tracked-Event Messages in structured table records. It converts each Tracked-Event Message into a database record called a Tracked-Event Record. Tracked Objects define the structure of these database Tracked-Event Records.

Gateway provides two Tracked Objects:

• XFBLog
• XFBTransfer

Each Tracked Object contains a set of attributes that include Sentinel system attributes and Gateway-specific attributes. A Tracked-Event Message is an event notification containing a value for each attribute defined in the associated Tracked Object.

For details about the attributes contained in each Gateway Tracked Object, refer to the Axway Gateway online documentation.

XFBLog

XFBLog describes the contents of an XFBLog file. This log stores traces of the events and errors that occur on Gateway, according to the trace level defined.

XFBTransfer

XFBTransfer includes attributes that you can use to identify:

• Transfer process steps
  
View details
Gateway generates one Tracked-Event Message for each step in the transfer process. In each Tracked-Event Message, the State attribute identifies the relevant step of the transfer process. The possible values of the State attribute for the Tracked-Event Messages of a single Gateway transfer include:
• Created: The Requester prepared a transfer request and updated the transfer catalog or, alternatively the transfer mailbox.
• To_Execute: The Requester sent the transfer request to the Server.
• Sending: The Sender is sending data.
• Receiving: The Receiver is receiving data.
• Sent: The Sender sent all of the transfer data.
• Received: The Receiver received all of the transfer data.
• Terminated: The Sender sent all of the transfer data, and the Receiver received all of the transfer data. Both partners successfully completed the transfer.
• Acked: The Sender received an Acknowledgement (Type=EERP) or an MDN (Type=RECEIPT for EDIINT transfers).
• Other miscellaneous information
  
View details
You can use XFBTransfer to identify:
• Role of transfer partners
• Transfer monitors
• Users
• Transfers
• Transfer validity period
• Transfer date
• Transfer dates and times
• Transfer protocols
• Transfer options
• The size of transfers
• The structure and contents of transfers
• Details about SMTP/POP3 transfers

Requests

Gateway provides the following set of predefined Requests:

• XFBLog: Transfers log
• XFBTransfer: Current transfers list
• CurrentAlertTransfer: Current transfers alerts list (Criteria:Alert=1)
• CurrentDayTransfer: Current day transfers list
• NbAlert: List of alerts (Criteria: Alert=1)
• NbEnd: List of transfers ended (Criteria: IsEnd=1)

Indicator Requests

Gateway provides a set of Indicator Requests for the XFBTransfer object:

• NbAlert: Count of alerts
• NbEnd: Count of transfers completed

You can use these Indicator Requests in the definition of a Dashboard.

Correlation Rules

Gateway provides the following set of Correlation Rules.

• XFB_Alert: Sends Alert notifications via email. To generate Alerts, other Correlation Rules call this Correlation Rule.
• XFB_AutoAck: To clear redundant Alerts, this Correlation Rule modifies the value of the IsAlert attribute in Tracked-Event Records that precede the current Tracked-Event Record in the relevant Processing Cycle.
• XFB_Delay: Generates Alerts for transfers that Gateway does not complete within five minutes.
• XFB_LinkCycle: Creates Cycle Links between two Processing Cycles that have the same processing ID.
• XFB_Number: Checks that a given number of transfers are executed in their time window.
• XFB_Period: For XFB transfers that are associated with the Model File Identifiers IDF1 and IDF2, this Correlation Rule verifies that the transfers occur within the specified time ranges.
• XFB_Route: Routes Tracked-Event Messages to a remote Sentinel Server.
• XFB_Show: Prints details about Tracked-Event Records on the Correlation Interface screen.
• XFB_Statistic: Generates Tracked-Event Records that store transfer statistics.

Dashboards

Gateway provides a Dashboard object with the following three Dashboard pages:

• TransfersOn the Transfers page, you can display and monitor file transfer and protocol data.
• PartnersOn the Partners page, you can display and monitor file transfer data in terms of the Partners involved.
• DurationOn the Duration page of the Dashboard object, you can display and monitor file transfer duration information.

Related topics

General implementation procedure