The following steps are required before adding a monitored device to DPOD.

Obtain Credentials

DPOD requires credentials (a user name and password) in order to access the monitored devices:

1. The user account needs to be Privileged.
   DPOD requires a privileged user since it is making some configuration changes to the DataPower gateway for monitoring (documented in Gateway Changes Performed by DPOD) and also performing management tasks such as secure backups, synchronizing domains, upgrading firmware, stopping/starting/updating services, etc.

2. It is highly recommended to create a dedicated user for DPOD in the gateway for the following reasons:

   1. It decouples DPOD user from other activities on the gateway. If a user is shared between several systems/components and gets locked/suspended because of another system/component, it will affect DPOD as well.

   2. It allows better auditing with the ability to identify all actions made by DPOD on the gateway.

3. The user account needs to be defined as a local account in the gateway (not an LDAP account), otherwise DPOD will not be able to access the gateway in case of an LDAP issue (for sampling, fetching information, changing configuration, etc.).

Configure Network Time Protocol (NTP)

Ensure each of your monitored devices is configured to use NTP.

DPOD should be configured to use the same NTP servers as your monitored device(s). DPOD might produce inconsistent view of the system if its monitored devices do not use the same time synchronization source, as the reported time is based on the monitored device time.

Ensure Connectivity to/from DPOD

Check the network routing and access from the monitored device to DPOD. The DataPower Gateway needs to route packets to DPOD agents through the desired interface. You may validate this through the DataPower Web GUI: [Control panel → Troubleshooting → TCP Connection Test].

To ensure network connectivity from DPOD to the monitored device you may invoke telnet using the gateway’s IP address and SOMA port and make sure it can connect.

Perform Required Configuration

The following steps needs to be performed on each of the monitored devices:

1. Set IBM DataPower Gateway Appliance Name on [Administration->Device->System Settings->Appliance Name].
   Important: Avoid using spaces in appliance names.

2. Configure the services in the XML Management interface [Network->Management->XML Management Interface] as follows: 

   1. Make sure the XML Management Interface is enabled.

   2. Enable SOAP Configuration Management.

   3. Enable AMP Endpoint.

   4. Enable SLM Endpoint.

   5. Enable WS-Management Endpoint.

   6. Make sure the Access Control List (if used) allows the DPOD server to access the XML Management Interface.

3. Make sure the device locale is set to EN. Adding a device with a locale other than EN may cause some DPOD features to not work as expected.

4. To capture payload of DataPower services (WSP, MPGW), as well as API-Connect v5/v5c APIs, follow Configure WS-M for Payload Capture.

Backup the Monitored Devices

Before you Add Monitored Devices to DPOD, it is imperative that you take a full (secure) backup of your device.

When a monitored device is added to DPOD, DPOD will perform changes to the monitored device, such as creating log targets, enabling system statistics, creating host aliases, etc. As all these actions potentially alter the system configuration, so a backup is paramount in case a restore is required later on.

You may also backup the objects that DPOD might alter, such as the XML Management Interface, the Web Services Management Agent, etc.