When encountering an issue with Foglight the first step is determine the area of the product where the problem is happening and what is occurring. Understanding both of these criteria can help you decide how to investigate the issue and where in the product you should begin your investigation.
User Interface:
- Logging into the Foglight FMS Console
- LDAP is not working for Single Sign-On
- Pages don't work correctly
- Slow navigating between pages
- License doesn't work
- Installing or upgrading a component failed (FMS, FglAM, or cartridge)
- Out of the Box reports that comes with Foglight are not working
When encountering these types of issues, consider the following items:
- Has there been a recent change in the configuration (i.e. password, server settings, architecture)?
- Review this Knowledgebase Article "Cannot open or access the Foglight Management Server (FMS) homepage" 338990
- Had the Foglight Management Server recently been restarted?
- Stopping the Foglight Management Server (FMS) 338994
- Starting the Foglight Management Server and Logging in 338992
- Does the issue happen for another user, and more specifically, does it happen for the "foglight" user?
- Is the issue specific to a certain area of the product (e.g., performance is only slow in "Rules Management")
- Has the latest version of the FMS, FglAM, or Cartridge been installed? (Knowledgebase article 339338 describes how to find the Foglight versions that are installed)
- Immediately after the issue is encountered, is there anything written in the Foglight Management Server log file 339332
- Are all of the necessary cartridges enabled (e.g. Database Agents typically require
- Navigate to Administration | Cartridges | Cartridge Inventory
- Confirm that the latest version of cartridges are enabled. This may require unchecking the "Only display enabled cartridges" checkbox is enabled.
- For database agents, there should also be a DB_Global_View_UI cartridge enabled, as well as a SMA_DB_Global cartridge enabled if it is present.
Connections to monitored hosts:
- "Usability Connection Availability" alarms
- Credential alarms
- Some metrics are missing from dashboards (blank, "-", or N/A)
- All of the agents from one specific FglAM missing data
When encountering these types of issues, consider the following items:
- Review the Deployment Guide to confirm the FglAM sizing is appropriate for the number of agents being monitored.
- For database connections, attempt the same connection outside of Foglight using the same account and password as in the agent while using a SQL Client (e.g. TOAD, SQL*Plus, SSMS) to confirm that a login is successful.
- Since the agents make their connections from the Foglight Agent Manager (FglAM) to the hosts, it's best to attempt a connection from the FglAM to the host if possible
- For OS connections, try connecting with PowerShell, WBEMTest or even logging in with a RDP client (in some situations) to confirm that the account works.
- Navigate to Administration | Agents | Agent Managers to check if the FglAM is listed and connected to the FMS
- Consider restarting the Foglight Agent Manager
- Check the Foglight Agent Manager log file for any error messages 339335
- Navigate to Administration | Agents | Agent Status to check if the agents are activated or if multiple agents cannot be activated
- Deactivate and reactivate the agent in Agent Status
- Check the firewall settings on the host and FglAM.
- Consider temporarily deactivating the firewall between FglAM and the Monitored Host to test the connectivity
- Use the Validate Connectivity panel built into some of the agents to test connectivity.
- For example as described in "Defining the Connection Settings for SQL Server Monitored Instances" 234887
- If a lack of permissions is identified, the user will be notified and prompted to grant the appropriate permissions.
- Check the credentials used in the agents
- Database connection credentials are managed in the agents themselves (Administration | Agents | Agent Status | Edit Properties)
- OS connection credentials are managed in the Credentials area (Administration | Credentials | Manage Credentials), this area is described in "Investigating and resolving OS (Operating System) credential issues" 338544
Data collection issues or alarms (not related to connections) are fired
- Metrics (data) shown in Foglight isn't what I expect or there are less being counted
- A "Collection Status" alarm fires indicating an agent Collection failed
- An alarm wasn't fired when I expected it, is the rule or alarm working?
- Error messages in the agent log files
When encountering these types of issues, consider the following items:
- Review the database agent log file looking for error messages that may be related to the issue or question 339334
- Restarting a database agent will force all of the Agent Status Property values to be reprinted to the log file and all of the collections will be restarted and queued.
- For performance reasons, database agents limit the number of rows collected (e.g. 200 or 500 rows), this can be increased using a groovy script (for example this is described in KB article 206543 and 210638)
- For collection query timeout issues, increase the length of time before the query times out (e.g. KB article 114612)
- Review Knowledgebase article "Investigating and troubleshooting rule and alarm issues (multiple causes)" 114543
- Use the Validate Connectivity panel built into some of the agents to test connectivity.
- For example as described in "Defining the Connection Settings for SQL Server Monitored Instances" 234887
- If a lack of permissions is identified, the user will be notified and prompted to grant the appropriate permissions.
- Export a copy of the alarms as described in Knowledgebase article 339019 and look for trends (eg. the alarms fire every hour 156825)
Obtaining additional assistance
These Knowledgebase articles can help to engage Quest Support to assist with your investigation and finding a resolution of the issue.
- How to open a Service Request (SR) using the Quest Support Portal to request Technical Support 338968
- What type of details should be included with Service Requests for Technical Support assistance? 339016
- Attaching support bundles and screenshots (files) to a Service Request 338971
- How to search technical documents on the Quest Support portal 338996
