Setting up Universal Controller

Perform the pre-installation procedure that is required before installing the Controller.

Download the appropriate Universal Controller distribution file from the Stonebranch Customer Portal.

Install the Controller package from the downloaded Controller distribution file. See Universal Controller Installation for help in getting the Controller installed and verified.

After installation, check the Universal Controller properties. If you will be running the Controller in a High Availability environment, you must configure the Controller for High Availability.

Once the Controller is installed and configured, we recommend that you log in and familiarize yourself with the basic features of the user interface. All Controller functions are accessed from the Services. Within the user interface, you will create all your records (for example: users, tasks, and triggers) by entering information into record Details. (See Naming Tips for information on organizing your records.) The records are then displayed in lists of each type, which you can sort and filter and perform a wide variety of other functions.

Use the Controller Security feature to create users and user groups and assign them roles and permissions. You can also define credentials that are used by the Controller to log in to remote machines. You can create Business Services that represent your organization and assign Controller records to them, and assign permission only to users and/or user groups that belong to a specific Business Services. A complete audit history of all Controller activity also is available for regulatory compliance.

Specify LDAP Settings, which allow you to enable the LDAP bridge for both UNIX and Windows operating systems, and Single Sign-On Settings, which allow you to pre-authenticate users to a third-party identity provider.

Define the types of resources that you will need in your operational database. If you have installed Universal Agent on any machines, records for each of them are automatically created when they connect to the Controller. You also may need to define one or more resources, such as email, database, PeopleSoft, and SAP connections, as well as SNMP Managers. You also can create status-based notifications for Agent, Cluster Node, and OMS Server resources. You can set up a throttling scheme for your machines using Virtual Resources and create scripts that you can execute on remote machines.

Once you have your resources in place, you can begin creating tasks. Supported task types are Workflows, Linux/Unix, Windows, z/OS, Universal Command, SAP, PeopleSoft, File Transfer, Manual, Timer, SQL, Stored Procedure, Email, Web Service, Recurring, Task Monitor, Agent File Monitor, Remote File Monitor, FTP File Monitor, System Monitor, Variable Monitor, Email Monitor, Application Control, and Universal.

In order to design your own Integrations, you first must create the Universal Templates on which the Universal Tasks are based.

To run your tasks outside of workflows, you can create task triggers, which define events, conditions, or dates/times that the tasks will run. Trigger types include Cron, Time, Temporary, Manual, File Monitor, Task Monitor, Variable Monitor, Email Monitor, Application Monitor, and Composite. You may also need to set up one or more customized calendars that reflect your fiscal year and holiday schedules, and custom days for those calendars.

You also may need to manually run and control tasks, either from the user interface, the command line, or the API.

The Report Details feature lets you create reports from a variety of Universal Controller database tables. You can use a report to create a Widget.

You will monitor your automated operations from the Activity Monitor, which you can customize using Filters.

The Home Dashboard, a system-defined Dashboard that displays when you log in to the Controller, provides details about the Controller system and status information on active task instances, Agents Overview, Cluster Nodes, and OMS Servers]. You also can create your own Dashboard Details that display information about the Controller, its environment, and the jobs it is running as defined in system-provided and user-defined Widgets.

The Controller lets you to monitor and control all of the applications that you may have running in your entire network.

In addition allowing you to manually run and control tasks, you also can monitor and control your operations and perform basic administrative functions from the command line or the API.

Comprehensive utilities are provided that allow you to manage your Controller records. You can view, restore, and purge old versions of Controller records, bundle and promote records from one Controller server to another, and export and import records when applying maintenance to a Controller. You also can configure the automatic backup and purge of Controller data.

This documentation website provides information to help you install, configure, and use the Controller; see Documentation Help for information on documentation layout and usage. Step-by-step tutorials are available for many of the features and functions described here. Troubleshooting provides a description of error messages that you could encounter, as well as potential problems and solutions. Technical Support for critical and non-critical problems is always available.