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ServicePilot OnPremise

ServicePilot Deployment

There are two ways of deploying ServicePilot:

  • Software as a Service: cloud-based ServicePilot Web interface managed by ServicePilot Technologies that customers will connect to via the Internet. Only one agent minimum is required for monitoring.
  • On Premise: Customers install the ServicePilot software on premise.

This document applies to the On Premise installations of ServicePilot where a local administrator will need to install, upgrade, backup and manage the ServicePilot server.

Install ServicePilot

ServicePilot Manager server system requirements

Before you install ServicePilot, check that your system meets some basic requirements.

Contact ServicePilot Technologies for more details if needed.

The following are minimum requirements for a basic monitoring system. More powerful hardware or virtual machines will be required depending on the amount of data to collect and the concurrent usage expected.

  • 8 core CPU
  • 8GB RAM min
  • High performance hard disk with enough space to store ServicePilot data - min 250GB
  • Windows server 2016 or later

Install ServicePilot

For installations of ServicePilot, download the ServicePilot Manager software and install it on your own Windows server.

  • Download the executable file for the ServicePilot Technologies web site. ServicePilot engineers will provide the installer URL.

  • Follow the Install ServicePilot Manager video to complete the installation of the ServicePilot Manager software.

ServicePilot Agent system requirements

ServicePilot Agents require very little CPU, RAM and hard disk space. When installing the ServicePilot Manager, a ServicePilot Windows Agent is automatically installed on the same server. This might be sufficient to monitor systems on the local enterprise network, however further ServicePilot Agents may be installed to obtain data from remote sites and servers.

As an Administrative user of the ServicePilot, for Agent pre-requisites, download and installation instructions go to Settings > Agents > Download.

Installing ServicePilot Agents

To install a ServicePilot Agent, as an Administrative user of the ServicePilot, for Agent pre-requisites, download and installation instructions go to Settings > Agents > Download.

You may also follow the Install ServicePilot Agent video to install ServicePilot Agents that will collect and send data back to the ServicePilot Manager.

Enable HTTPS support with SSL certificates

The ServicePilot web interface can be served using HTTPS by enabling this ability in the running configuration and restarting the ServicePilot Manager. You can either generate your own certificate or you can purchase one from a commercial certificate authority.

Note: ServicePilot Agents communicate with the ServicePilot Manager using HTTP or HTTPS. If HTTPS is enabled or the ServicePilot Manager web interface port is changed then all ServicePilot Agents will also need to be re-configured and restarted.

Once you obtain the certificate, certificate private key and CA certificate chain, you will need to update your server to use them. Follow these steps to activate SSL support:

  1. Obtain or convert your server certificate, certificate private key and CA certificate chain to a password protected PKCS12/PFX file
  2. Import the certificate into the Windows Local Machine Personal Certificate key store. If the certificate is imported correctly it will be visible in the certlm.msc application with a certificate and key icon.
  3. Open the ServicePilot Setup Console and click on the Certificates button.
  4. Double-click on the certificate you imported that will be visible in the list if it can be used. The certificate thumbprint will be copied to the Thumbprint field. Click on OK to save this change.
  5. Open the ServicePilot web interface and log in as an administrator
  6. Click on Settings > Configuration
  7. Click on Basic
  8. Click on Other settings > Edit configuration
  9. Click on the Expand button
  10. Add the following information to the general: section:
  11. Save the configuration using the Save button
  12. Restart the ServicePilot Manager using the Restart button
  13. Once the ServicePilot Manager is restarted, try logging in to the web interface using HTTPS

Configure ServicePilot Agents for HTTPS

All ServicePilot Agents will need to be configured to use the newly secured communication. On each machine with a ServicePilot Agent, including the server on which the ServicePilot Manager is installed, run the following procedure:

Windows

  1. Open the ServicePilot Setup Console ("C:\Program Files (x86)\ServicePilot\ServicePilot ISM Enterprise\Console.exe")
  2. Go to the Agent tab
  3. Stop the ServicePilot Agent
  4. Set the correct port number (443 by default)
  5. Check the HTTPS checkbox
  6. Start the ServicePilot Agent

Linux

  1. Stop the spagent daemon
  2. Edit the /etc/spagent/spagent.conf agent configuration file to include the correct port and indicate that HTTPS is being used
  3. Start the spagent daemon

ServicePilot license key

ServicePilot already running

If ServicePilot is already running an the ServicePilot license key is to be updated:

  1. Log in to the ServicePilot Manager web interface as an administrator
  2. Click on SETTINGS > Configuration > License then License key
  3. Enter the license key provided by ServicePilot and activate online or offline depending on ServicePilot Manager server access to the Internet

ServicePilot not running

If ServicePilot is not yet running, the licence key can be applied from the ServicePilot Setup Console. To start the ServicePilot Setup Console, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\ServicePilot\ServicePilot ISM Enterprise\Console.exe and run with escalated administrative privileges.

  1. Click on the License menu item.
  2. Click on Enter a new license key and accept the license contract
  3. Enter the license key provided by ServicePilot and click on Continue
  4. If the ServicePilot Manager does not have Internet access:
  • Select Activate offline
  • Click on Get an activation by email
  • Send the presented Harware ID to [email protected]
  • Paste the Activation key received by email in to the corresponding field and click on Activate
  1. If the ServicePilot Manager server has Internet access then just click on Activate

Manage ServicePilot

Start or stop the ServicePilot services

Windows

The ServicePilot Manager and ServicePilot Agent services may be started and stopped using the provided ServicePilot Setup Console. These services will be automatically started during boot. This console can also perform initial configuration and allows the administrator to view the state of the ServicePilot components.

Start ServicePilot Setup Console

If the ServicePilot Setup Console is not running then it may be started by running C:\Program Files (x86)\ServicePilot\ServicePilot ISM Enterprise\Console.exe with escalated administrative privileges.

The ServicePilot Setup Console may be run from the ServicePilot ISM system tray icon by selecting Launch Console.

Stop and start the ServicePilot Manager from the Manager tab.

Stop and start the ServicePilot Agent from the Agent tab.

Linux

The ServicePilot Agent registers itself as a Linux daemon. Start and stop the spagent daemon using the standard commands based on your Linux distribution.

Configure outbound email server

To be able to sent email alerts, ServicePilot needs an outbound SMTP relay configured.

To configure an email server:

  1. Log in to the ServicePilot Manager web interface as an administrator
  2. Click on SETTINGS > Configuration, then Basic, and then click on Email server.
  3. Set an SMTP Server host name, From email address and To email address.
  4. Click on the Advanced features checkbox to add further SMTP server settings that might be required.
  5. Click Save to save your changes.
  6. Click Test to bring up a test dialog box allowing you to send test emails to verify your connection.

Troubleshooting SMTP issues

Some email servers now require more authentication before accepting email for delivery. You might need to enable a less secure access method or provide an application specific password for your SMTP service to allow ServicePilot to be able to send email.

Refresh the configuration

To update changes made to packages, you can use one of the two following methods:

Using the ServicePilot interface

  1. Log in to the ServicePilot Manager web interface as an administrator
  2. Click on SETTINGS > Configuration, then Advanced, and then click on Reload

Using the ServicePilot API

The API allows the configuration to be updated automatically without the need to restart ServicePilot. The cURL command below is an example of a request using the API key with write permission 10000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 to the ServicePilot server https://data.servicepilot.com.

curl -H "X-Api-Key: 10000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" -d "{}" -X POST "https://data.servicepilot.com/api/service/reload"

Backup & Restore ServicePilot

ServicePilot configuration and data backups

ServicePilot automatically backs up configuration and data in the same place as the running configuration and database. Customers may copy these backups to another server or snapshot the disk as they wish.

Create a full backup of ServicePilot (configuration and data)

ServicePilot makes backups of configuration and data automatically that can be copied off the ServicePilot Manager server. However customer custom configuration should be included to create a complete backup.

Backup ServicePilot configuration

Copy the following files and directories to create a backup of the configuration:

  • The ServicePilot licence key, activation key, server certificate and other ServicePilot Setup Console settings.
  • <WorkFolder>\Conf
  • <WorkFolder>\Packages
  • <WorkFolder>\Pictures
  • <WorkFolder>\Web

Backup ServicePilot data

The ServicePilot data is saved in the running configuration’s WorkFolder. Back up the following directories:

  • <WorkFolder>\Backup
  • <WorkFolder>\Pdf

Restore ServicePilot configuration

Follow these steps:

  1. Install ServicePilot, if not already in place
  2. Stop ServicePilot Manager
  3. Restore all of the configuration to a new empty WorkFolder
  4. Set the configuration WorkFolder in the ServicePilot Setup Console to the newly restored directory
  5. Start the ServicePilot Manager

Restore ServicePilot data

The ServicePilot data is automatically restored to the database from the backup files under <WorkFolder>\Backup.

Note: Data restoration occurs in the background and takes severals days.

To view the current state of the database:

  1. Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
  2. Click on Tools > Widget > Database.
  3. The DB History column of the Collection Status table indicates the number of days of history currently present in the database.

Change backup data retention duration

The original source of the ServicePilot database data is stored in the the <WorkFolder>\Backup directory. This may be required if the database gets corrupted of if ServicePilot changes the format the the database. The ServicePilot database sources are kept on disk for 1 year and a month by default. This parameter can be changed in the <WorkFolder>\Conf\servicepilotdb.conf configuration file.

# Backup retention duration
RETENTIONBACKUP=90

Can database backup sources be deleted?

Old data in the <WorkFolder>\Backup directory can be deleted but this may be required if the database gets corrupted of if ServicePilot changes the format of the database. Manually delete source ZIP files if the files will not be needed to restore. For example objectdata_*.zip files older than 1 week would not normally be needed as the ServicePilot database only keeps this data for a week according the <WorkFolder>\Conf\servicepilotdb.conf RETENTIONOBJECTDATA setting.

Change database data retention duration

ServicePilot only keeps data in it's database for a limited time. This is dependent on the type of data stored. For example Object indicator data is kept for 7 days at a resolution of 1 minute whereas the daily summary indicator data is kept for a year. These parameters can be changed in the <WorkFolder>\Conf\servicepilotdb.conf configuration file.

Following are the default retention durations

# Event log retention duration
#RETENTIONEVENTS=90
# IP Flow retention duration
#RETENTIONNETTRACE=30
# AppTrace data retention duration
#RETENTIONAPPTRACE=7
# General object log retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTLOG=30
# General object data retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTDATA=7
# Quarter object data retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTDATAQ=30
# Hour object data retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTDATAH=365
# RCA retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTRCA=365
# Trap retention duration
#RETENTIONTRAP=60
# Syslog retention duration
#RETENTIONSYSLOG=60
# ObjectSL retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTSL=90
# ObjectSLD retention duration
#RETENTIONOBJECTSLD=365
# VoIP event retention duration
#RETENTIONVOIP=90

Upgrade ServicePilot to a new version

It is strongly recommended to create a backup before starting the update process. A quick backup involves stopping ServicePilot and making a complete copy of the running configuration WorkFolder.

Important: Ask ServicePilot Technologies if the database format has changed before starting an upgrade. A backup of ServicePilot configuration and data will be required in this case.

To upgrade the ServicePilot software:

  1. Stop the ServicePilot Manager and Agent
  2. Stop the ServicePilot Setup Console
  3. Stop the ServicePilot ISM system tray
  4. Run the new ServicePilot installer
  5. Install the ServicePilot Manager service in the ServicePilot Setup Console
  6. Start the ServicePilot Manager

Customize ServicePilot

Add custom images to ServicePilot

ServicePilot presents web pages that can contain customer icons and graphics.

Pictures can be uploaded when adding resources to the configuration.

Alternatively, custom images, in JPEG, GIF, PNG or SVG format, can be placed in the running configuration <WorkFolder>\Pictures directory. A logo.png file added to this directory will be used as a company logo for PDF reports.

Add custom web pages to ServicePilot

The ServicePilot Manager may serve custom web pages to users of the ServicePilot web interface if the HTML files are placed in the running configuration <WorkFolder>\Web directory.

Add custom packages to ServicePilot

ServicePilot comes with many built-in packages. ServicePilot configuration can customize how these templates are used to monitor resources. It is possible to extend ServicePilot capabilities using custom packages for new or specialized equipment.

Custom packages are created by ServicePilot Technologies and are applied by placing them in the running configuration <WorkFolder>\Packages directory. The ServicePilot running configuration needs to be reloaded in order for the new custom packages to be available for use. To reload the running configuration:

  1. Click on SETTINGS > Configuration
  2. Click on Advanced
  3. Click on Packages > Reload

Debug

Debug ServicePilot errors

ServicePilot Manager and the Windows ServicePilot Agent store their log files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\ServicePilot\ServicePilot ISM Enterprise\Logs directory. The Linux ServicePilot Agent stores its logs in the /var/log/servicepilot/servicepilotagent.log file.

Consult these files for errors with configuration or communication between the ServicePilot components and monitored devices. Often passwords, IP addresses or port numbers are incorrectly configured when adding monitored equipment. View these logs to see these access errors.

ServicePilot 429 web page errors

If ServicePilot returns HTTP 429 error codes when viewing web pages this normally indicates that the ServicePilot database is overloaded. Too many people are trying to obtain information or too many concurrent complex queries are being made of the system. Please wait and try again later.

This is an additional security feature to help protect against D/DOS attacks.