Configure Alert Notification

EM provides alerts concerning conditions in your Solution Packages through RTView alerts. This section describes how to configure the alerts to execute an automated action (such as sending an email alert). These actions are generated on the Central Alert Server.

By default, alerts execute a .bat script. The script, by default, is not configured to execute an automated action. However, you can uncomment a line in the script that prints alert data to standard output. Or, you can modify the script to execute an automated action.

The following figure illustrates the RTView EM components that are the subject of this section.  

This section includes:

• Configure Central Server Alert Notification
• Configure Backend Server Notification
• Upgrade Notes

Configure Central Alert Notification
This section describes how to configure alert notification on the Central Alert Server. NOTE: These instructions assume you use the project directory you created when you Configured the Central Servers.

At this point you have:

• Verified System Requirements
• Configured the Central Servers

When you uncomment the line in the script that prints alert data to standard output, both the scripts and the Java command handler output alert information to standard output. The alert output appears in the Data Server log file, or in the command window or shell in which the Data Server was started. The following is a sample output from the alert command script:

	----- Alert command script executed: DOMAINNAME=EM-PACKAGE, ALERTNAME=OcObjectCountDeltaUpCache, ALERTINDEX=sim19097~DistributedCache1~near-product-1-3, ALERTID=1075, ALERTSEVERITY=2, ALERTTEXT=High Alert Limit exceeded current value: 3054.0 limit: 2.0 #####

There are two options for configuring EM alert notification:

• Using a batch file or shell script
  This technique requires switching to an OS-specific set of alert definitions that execute the appropriate file type. A sample batch file and a sample shell script are provided which can be customized as needed.
• Using the Java command handler
  The Java source for the EM Java command handler is provided to facilitate customization.

Using a Batch File or Shell Script
A sample batch file, my_alert_actions.bat, and a sample shell script, my_alert_actions.sh, which are located in the rtvapm/common/bin directory, are provided as templates that you can modify as needed. Use the appropriate file for the platform that hosts the Central Alert Server. By default, both scripts send alert information to standard output.

To uncomment the line in the script so that alert data prints to standard output, see:

• Windows (next)
• UNIX/Lixux

4. Open the my_alert_actions.bat file, located in your project directory/servers/central directory, and uncomment the echo line (near the end of the file) to print alert information to standard output. Or, you can modify the script to execute an automated action (such as sending an email alert).

5. Open the emcommon.properties file, located in your project directory/conf directory, and verify the following are set as shown:

6. Restart the Central Alert Server.

9.    Restart the Central Alert Server.

Batch File or Shell Script Substitutions
The default my_alert_actions scripts use the substitutions described in the table below. When you customize the script, you can use a use substitution to get any of the columns in the alert table. To do this, modify the sl.rtview.alert.notifiercommandnew and  sl.rtview.alert.notifiercommandfirstsevchange properties from Step 3 (above) to replace the default substitutions with the substitutions you want to use. You must make corresponding modifications to your script to use modified substitution values.

The substitution names map to the names of the columns in the alert table. Convert the column name to camel case and if it does not start with Alert, prepend alert to it. For example, to use the value of the Alert Name column, use $alertName. To use the value of the ID column, use $alertID. To use the value of the Row Update Time column, use $alertRowUpdateTime. The following table contains the substitutions used by the default my_alert_actions scripts:

Using the Java Command Handler
1. Open the custom_handlers.properties file, located in the rtvapm\common\conf directory, in a text editor.

7. Save the rtview.properties file.

Customizing the Java Command Handler
The source for the EM Java handler is provided in the RtvApmCommandHandler.java file, located in your project directory\custom\src\com\sl\rtvapm\custom directory. By default, the handler prints the alert data to standard output. To change this behavior perform the following steps:

Additional Optional Properties
sl.rtview.alert.notifiercommandcleared - Set this to the command to execute when an alert is cleared. By default, no command is configured. To execute a script, copy the notifiercommandnew line and replace $alertActionScript with the name of the script you want to execute. To execute a custom java command, see the example in common\conf\custom_handlers.properties.

sl.rtview.alert.notifiercommandchanged - Set this to the command to execute when a column in the alert table changes. To execute a script, copy the notifiercommandnew line and replace $alertActionScript with the name of the script you want to execute. To execute a custom java command, see the example in common\conf\custom_handlers.properties. This must be used in conjunction with the sl.rtview.alert.notifiercolumns property

sl.rtview.notifiercolumns - Set this to the name of one or more columns to execute the sl.rtview.alert.notifiercommandchanged notification when they change. For multiple columns, use a semi-colon delimited list. Note that this should be limited to the minimum number of necessary columns, preferably less than 5, as a large number of columns increases the persistence load on the central alert server.

Notification Persistence
To prevent duplication and missed notifications after restart or failover, you must configure the Central Alert Server for alert persistence and also add the following tables to your ALERTDEFS database:

• ALERT_PERSIST_TABLE_CENTRAL
• ALERT_NOTIF_PERSIST_TABLE: Notification information is persisted to this table.

The schemas for both tables are in %RTVAPM_HOME%\common\dbconfig. For ALERT_PERSIST_TABLE_CENTRAL, use the same schema as ALERT_PERSIST_TABLE. To enable notification persistence, override the following property in the emcommon.properties file, located in the projects\emsample\conf\ directory:

    AlertAggregator.sl.rtview.alert.persistAlerts=true

The notifiercommandfirstsevchange notification is not persisted and executes the first time the severity changes on an unacknowledged alert each time the Central Alert Server starts. This means that a notification is executed the first time it changes on a new alert, and again the first time it changes after the Central Alert Server is restarted or fails over.

Notification information is persisted to the ALERT_NOTIF_PERSIST_TABLE for each notification that is executed. In order to optimize performance of the central alert server, limit the number of columns specified in the sl.rtview.alert.notifiercolumns property to the minimum number of necessary columns, preferably less than 5. The more columns you notify on, the greater the number of notifications that are written to the database.

Configure Optional Backend Server Notification
The above sections describe configuring the Central Alert Server to execute all notifications. You may also configure any of the Solution Package Data Servers to notify on only the alerts in that server. To enable notification on a Solution Package Data Server, add the following property to the properties file for that Data Server:

    sl.rtview.alert.notifierenabled=true

This can be done in addition to the Central Alert Server notification. To disable the Central Alert Server notification, set the following property in emcommon.properties to false:

    AlertAggregator.sl.rtview.alert.notifierenabled=true

Upgrade Notes
In previous releases, alert notifications were executed in the solution package data servers, but now notifications are done centrally. In order to support this, the following properties from rtvapm\common\conf\rtvapm.properties have been removed or replaced. If you have modified any of these properties in rtvapm\common\conf\rtvapm.properties or overridden them in your properties file, you will need to make the following modifications: