Glossary

A

Alert

A normalized, enriched message presented via the MoM. The result of the processing of a raw message

AlertServer

Is a BES Daemon that handles the alert processing of raw alerts, its functions include normalization, enrichment, service state calculation, communication with user clients and writing of workfiles

AID - Active Information Display

Displays event data one page at a time in a tabular grid layout, where each row represents a single record in the result set

AIOps

The application of artificial intelligence techniques in IT operations

ASI

Automated Service Intelligence

Authenticator

A standalone Identity and Access Management (IAM) product that provides Authentication Services for ASI, including Single Sign On (SSO) and Federation for managing multiple organizations and security domains

Automation

The ability to trigger automatic actions based on changes in alerts or service state

B

BESapi

An application programming interface for BES, it is used for the windows-based configuration clients

BAU - Business As Usual

The continuation of normal execution of standard functional operations within an organization

BES - Business Enterprise Server

Part of Interlink Software’s suite of Hybrid IT Infrastructure Monitoring tool stack

BSM - Business Service Management

An approach that emphasizes the treatment of IT as an integral part of an enterprise, where IT is aligned IT to business needs

C

CAB Change Advisory Board

The team or collection of people responsible for running the change control process

CAF - Common Alert Format

A pattern of standard fields that are common across all BES alerts

CEF - Common Event Format

A pattern of standard fields that are common across all BES events

CI - Configuration Item

A CI is an item that describes a component process or group of items that are part of a configuration management system

CMS - Configuration Management System

Is an ITIL term for a system of tracking individual CIs in an IT system

CSI - Continual Service Improvement

Is an ITIL term for the iterative improvement of processes and services

D

Database

A repository of structured data held in a computer

DBA - Database Administrator

A specialist in database administration

Dbi

The BES daemon that manages the storing of the normalized alerts by reading the workfiles and writing their contents to the BES database

DR - Disaster Recovery

is the process of recovering from a catastrophic failure of a service and usually consists of duplicate hardware and software al a different site

E

Enrichment

The process of automatically adding information to an alert as it is created to make the alert clearer or to provide information to assist the support teams e.g. Links to support documents, user-friendly descriptions etc.

Event

An event is a change to an existing alert caused by either normal alert lifecycle (i.e. assignment, acknowledgement, recurrence or closure) or by automatic or manual intervention (i.e. adding a note or creating an incident)

EventDaemon

Is the BES daemon that handles the bidirectional communication with BES integrations

F

Firewall

A firewall is a filtering mechanism that is designed to restrict access to network resources

G

H

HITIM Hybrid IT Infrastructure Monitoring

The ability to monitor virtual or physical systems no matter where they are located

I

Integration

A modular add on to the product to enable communication between other vendor products to synchronize alerts, collect metrics or raise incidents

J

Java

Java is a programming language which allows code to be written that is platform independent

K

L

LAN - Local Area Network

A network to allow computers on a site or campus to communicate with each other and with shared resources such as printers, file shares etc.

LMP - Left Most Program

Is the starting point in the message channel, which is usually an integration with another product and is where all raw alerts enter the system

M

Message

A raw message from a managed system received into the Hybrid IT Management stack

MIB - Management Information Base

A database used for managing the entities in a network

MOM - Manager of Managers

A term used to describe a systems management tool that provides a focal point for monitoring and managing the enterprises systems and infrastructure. Such a tool is BES

Message Channel

The message channel is the alert path from the LMP or integration to the RMP POWERpack_Trans

N

NAS - Network Attached Storage

A device connected to a network that is designed to provide disk storage for data

Normalization

The process of mapping the disparate fields of a raw alert into a standard set of fields (CAF)

O

OLA - Operation Level Agreement

An agreement between the various teams (support, service management, etc.) and the Operations team, so that everyone is aware of the agreed levels of services to be delivered and consumed

OSGI - Open Service Gateway Initiative

Is an open Java framework for delivering modular applications and services

P

POWERpack_trans

The POWERPack transformer manages the flow of raw alerts from the message channels to the AlertServer

Perl

Programming language used to create customization programs

ppmd

This is the component that starts, stops, and monitors BES daemons and message channels

Q

Query

An SQL statement designed to retrieve data from a database

R

Resilience

Is an organization’s ability to maintain an acceptable level of service of critical systems during periods of network, hardware, or software failure

RFC

Request for Change

Is a request into the change management process specifying the work required dates etc. for planned work Request for Comment

Are part of the as internet standards process and are descriptions of specifications, communication protocols and procedures that may go on to be standards

RMP - Right Most Program

The end point in the message channel and is always POWERpack_trans

RPM - RPM Package Manager

A free and opensource tool for installing and upgrading applications in Linux systems

.rpm

The file extension of an application package designed to be installed using RPM

S

SaaS - Software as a Service

Is the provision of software as a service over the internet

SAN - Storage Area Network

Is storage that is available within a network that is not associated with a server or PC

SCM - Service Configuration Manager

Is part of the Interlink Software Hybrid IT Infrastructure Monitoring tool stack and is used to create and implement enrichment policies, and service models. SCM is EOL

SCT Service Component Type

A logical collection of components, usually at the technology layer, such as Windows, Linux, Switch, Router

SE - Service Element

A logical collection of components, usually at the application or functional layer, or geographical layer. For example Application, Database, Hosting, Northern Region

Service Management

The creation of a relationship model of the systems and services that under-pin a business service then to use the state of the underlying components to drive an understanding of the business service health

Service Visualization

The grouping of related systems and or services and displaying them in a clear and concise manner

SC Service Component

Also known a measurement point and is the alert or metric that affects a node on a service model

SLA - Service Level Agreement

An agreement between the service management team, and the customer (who could be internal or external), on the level of service to be provided and consumed

SMARTEvc

Management console for the configuration of correlation in the Interlink Software HITIM tool stack

SMARTEvm

Management console for the configuration of automation in the Interlink Software HITIM tool stack

SMARTView

Management console for the configuration of normalization in the Interlink Software HITIM tool stack

SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol

Is an Internet Standard for the polling (querying) of data or receiving of traps (alerts) from network attached devices

SQL - Structured Query Language

Language used to communicate with databases

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer

SSL is a protocol that ensures transactions are safe between the server and client. This process also uses a third party, a Certification Authority (CA) to trust the certificates used in the communication. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, this is a global standard security technology. To simplify it, SSL allows for a private "conversation" between the two parties, such as Browser and Server

SSO - Single Sign-On

A centralized session and user authentication service in which one set of login credentials can be used to access multiple applications

T

TLS

• Top Level Service

  Is the business service that is being modeled. It has no parent service element. Directly feeding into the TLS will be the SE’s (Service Elements)

• Transport Layer Security

  A communication protocol designed to provide secure transmission of data over a computer network

Transformer

A transformer is a script or program that sits in the message channel path that is used to pre-process the alert before it reaches the POWERpack_trans

U

UAT - User Acceptance Testing

An environment or phase used to test new configurations and changes against data and infrastructure that is identical to or very similar to the live production environment. If testing is successful in UAT, then there is high confidence that the change will work in production

uni-REXX

Scripting language used for automated operations, transformers and DEVops rules

UserAO

The ability for a user of the system to be able to trigger a User Initiated Automated Operation

V

VPN - Virtual Private Network

A secure connection between remote networks or between a client PC and a remote network that traverses a public network

W

WAN - Wide Area Network

Network connectivity that connects different locations together to allow one Local Area Network to communicate with another

workfiles

Files created by the AlertServer that are used by Dbi to write alerts to the database and by Integrations to handle Events

X

XML - Extensible Markup Language

XML is used both as a format for passing data between different components in the Interlink Software Hybrid IT Infrastructure Monitoring tool stack and for configuration files

Y

Yum

Linux package manager used to install and update application packages

Z