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Chapter 9

Attribute Editor




This chapter describes the following topics:


Attribute Editor for a Data Property

The Attribute Editor for a data property provides additional information about the property and enables you to customize various monitoring criteria. You can use the Attribute Editor to set:

The Attribute Editor has one or more tabs at the top of the window that enable you to switch between different panels. The tabs for the System Load Statistics data property are:


Note - Each Attribute Editor displays one or more of these tabs, depending on the type of Attribute Editor. The Attribute Editor that is displayed depends on the selected object.

 

To Open the Attribute Editor

  1. Click the right mouse button and select a data property table cell (FIGURE 8-2).
  2. Proceed with one of the following:

Information Tab in the Attribute Editor

The Information panel (FIGURE 9-1) provides you with additional information about the selected object.

FIGURE  9-1 Attribute Editor Info Tab for a Monitored Property


Alarms Tab in the Attribute Editor

The Alarms panel (FIGURE 9-2) enables you to set alarm thresholds (TABLE 9-1) for simple alarms only.

Simple alarms are based on thresholds. A monitored data property is greater than, less than, not equal to, or equal to a single threshold value. By contrast, complex alarms are based on a set of conditions becoming true. For more information on alarm rules, see Appendix E.

FIGURE  9-2 Attribute Editor Alarms Tab for a Monitored Property

TABLE 9-1 shows common simple alarm limits for monitored properties. The alarm limits are also displayed in the Parameter Description field (FIGURE 9-2). You may set thresholds for one or more of these alarm limits for selected data properties.

TABLE  9-1   Common Simple Alarm Limits in Sun Management Center Software
Alarm Limit
Description

Critical Threshold (>)  

Critical (red) alarm occurs if value exceeds limit entered in this field.  

Alert Threshold (>)  

Alert (yellow) alarm occurs if value exceeds limit entered in this field.  

Caution Threshold (>)  

Caution (blue) alarm occurs if value exceeds limit entered in this field.  

Critical Threshold (<)  

Critical (red) alarm occurs if value is below the limit entered in this field.  

Alert Threshold (<)  

Alert (yellow) alarm occurs if value is below the limit entered in this field.  

Caution Threshold (<)  

Caution (blue) alarm occurs if value is below the limit entered in this field.  

Alarm Window  

Alarm occurs only during this time period. For example, if you type day_of_week=fri, an alarm occurs only if the alarm condition exists on a Friday. If an alarm condition exists on Tuesday, no alarm is registered.  

The software offers you the following flexibility in setting your alarms:


Note - You need the appropriate security permission to set an alarm threshold. See Chapter 14 for more information.

 

To Create an Alarm

The following example illustrates how to create a simple alarm. This example creates an alarm threshold in the Kernel Reader module.

  1. Click the Browser tab button in the Details window.
  2. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Operating System icon in the hierarchy tree view.
  The Operating System modules are displayed.
  3. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Kernel Reader icon.
  The Kernel Reader properties are displayed.
  4. Double-click on the System Load Statistics icon.
  The System Load Statistics properties table is displayed in the contents view.
  5. Click with your left mouse button and select the table cell for Load Averages Over the Last 5 Minutes.
  6. Click the Attributes button.
  The Attribute Editor window is displayed.
  7. Click on the Alarms tab button.
  The alarm rows are displayed.
  8. Type a value in the Critical Threshold (>) field which is less than the current value (FIGURE 9-2).
  Entering this value enables you to create a critical alarm.
  9. Complete one of the following actions:
  After some time, the Load Average Over the Last 1 Minute data field in the table turns red. In addition, red alarm icons are displayed on the following folders and icons: Operating System, Kernel Reader, and System Load Statistics (unless your system has an open, unacknowledged severity 1 black alarm).
  10. Click the Alarms tab button in the Details window.
  The alarm you created should be reflected in the alarms table. See Chapter 12 for more information on this subject.
  11. Acknowledge this alarm.
  12. Create additional alarm thresholds and familiarize yourself with their operation.
  Once you have created these alarms, you can set up security permissions so that another Sun Management Center software user cannot change your alarm thresholds. For more information on security, see Chapter 14.

Note - You do not need to fill in alarm information for all alarm thresholds. For example, you may choose to create only a critical alarm threshold.

The preceding example illustrates creating a situation where an alarm is registered if a value exceeds the alarm limit. TABLE 9-1 lists other common alarm limits in the software.


Actions Tab in the Attribute Editor

The Actions panel (FIGURE 9-3) enables you to instruct the software to perform a predetermined action if an alarm occurs.


Note - Acceptable actions include scripts that are stored in the /var/opt/SUNWsymon/bin directory. These scripts execute with root permissions.

For example, you can enter the name of a script in the critical action field so that an email is sent to a system administrator whenever a critical alarm is generated for the Load Average Over the Last Five Minutes data property.

As shown in FIGURE 9-3, you can set separate actions for different alarm conditions or one for any alarm condition (action on any change). The conditions are:



TABLE  9-2   Alarm Conditions
Condition
Action specified in this field allows you to:

Critical  

Notify a user that a critical alarm has occurred, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to the critical alarm.  

Alert  

Notify a user that a alert alarm has occurred, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to the alert alarm.  

Caution  

Notify a user that a caution alarm has occurred, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to the caution alarm.  

Indeterminate Action  

Notify a user that a indeterminate event (not associated with an alarm) has occurred, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to the event.  

Close Action  

Notify a user that an alarm has been closed, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to alarm closing.  

Action on Any Change  

Notify a user that any of the previous conditions in this table has occurred, or specify a script or application to invoke in response to any one of these previous conditions.  


Note - The check boxes shown to the right of the Action buttons enable you to specify automatic or manual execution of a specific alarm action. By default, all actions are set for manual execution. Only manual actions can be modified.

FIGURE  9-3 Attribute Editor Actions Panel for a Monitored Property

When you activate the check box and click the Actions button, the Action Dialog Selection window is displayed (FIGURE 12-8). This window enables you to modify the registered alarm actions. Two buttons in the dialog (Email and Other) allow you to choose one of two options for an alarm action.



TABLE  9-3   Alarm Actions Modification Dialog Buttons
Tab
Function

Email  

Allows you to specify an address and message to be sent as email.  

Other  

Allows you to select generic shell scripts installed on the managed node.  

TABLE 9-3 lists these buttons and their functions.


 

To Register an Alarm Action

  1. Click on the Attribute Editor Actions tab.
  The Attribute Editor Actions dialog is displayed.
  2. Press the Actions... button next to the action to be registered.
  The Action Selection dialog is displayed.
  3. Select the type of alarm action you want to register (E-mail or Other).
  4. Make your entries in the fields of the selected action.
  5. Click OK to accept the entries and close the Alarm Action dialog.
  The entry is displayed in the corresponding Action field of the Actions dialog.

 

To Modify Alarm Actions

  1. Click the Action button for the alarm action you want to modify.
  The Action Selection dialog is displayed.
  2. Select the type of alarm action you want to modify (E-mail or Other).
  3. Make your changes in the fields of the selected action.
  4. Click OK to accept the changes and close the Alarm Action dialog.
  The change is displayed in the corresponding Action field of the Actions dialog.

 

To Send an Email

The following describes an example of how to send an email to a user when a critical alarm occurs.

  1. Click the Browser tab button in the Details window.
  2. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Operating System icon in the hierarchy tree view.
  The Operating System modules are displayed.
  3. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Kernel Reader icon.
  The Kernel Reader properties are displayed.
  4. Double-click on the System Load Statistics icon.
  The System Load Statistics properties table is displayed in the contents view.
  5. Click with your left mouse button and select the table cell for Load Averages Over the Last 5 Minutes.
  6. Click the Attributes button.
  The Attribute Editor window is displayed.
  7. Click the Actions tab.
  The Action Selection screen displays.
  8. Click Email to activate the To and Message fields.
  9. Type username in the To field and the message in the Message field.
  10. Complete this procedure with one of the following actions:
  The following email is sent to the user whenever an alert alarm occurs.

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2000 15:25:39 -0800
From: root@MachineB (0000-Admin(0000))
Subject: Sun Management Center - Alert Alarm Action
Mime-Version: 1.0

Sun Management Center alarm action notification ... {Alert: 
machineB Kernel Reader Load Average Over The Last 5 Minutes > 
0.01Jobs}


 

To Define Your Own Alarm Action Script

The following procedure describes how to customize an alarm action (other than an email message as described previously) to notify a user when an alarm condition occurs.

  1. Create your custom alarm action script, using the following optional arguments:

TABLE  9-4   Arguments for Custom Alarm Action Script
Argument
Definition

%statusfmt  

The alarm severity, such as Warning, Critical, and so on.  

%statusstringfmt  

The complete alarm string, including severity. (For example: Critical: Machine A Kernel Reader Number of User Sessions > 10)  

  2. At the command-line level, become superuser.

# su

  3. Install the script in the home Sun Management Center directory. The default is the /var/opt/SUNWsymon/bin/ directory. For example:

# cp custom_alarm_script /var/opt/SUNWsymon/bin/


Note - The script filename should not have a .sh extension.
  4. Click the Browser tab button in the Details window.
  5. Set the alarm threshold.
  For more information, see "To Create an Alarm".
  6. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Operating System icon in the hierarchy tree view.
  The Operating System modules are displayed.
  7. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Kernel Reader icon.
  The Kernel Reader properties are displayed.
  8. Double-click on the System Load Statistics icon.
  The System Load Statistics properties table is displayed in the contents view.
  9. Click the left mouse button to select the table cell for Load Averages Over the Last 5 Minutes.
  10. Click the right mouse button.
  The selection menu is displayed.
  11. Click the Attribute Editor... item.
  The Attribute Editor window is displayed.
  12. Click the Actions tab.
  The action rows are displayed.
  13. Type custom_alarm_script %statusstringfmt in the Critical Action field of the Actions panel (FIGURE 9-4).
  14. Click the box next to the Critical Action field to remove the check mark.
  Your script will be executed automatically.
  15. Complete this procedure with one of the following actions:

Note - If the script is not valid, the message "Failed to save attribute information." is displayed at the bottom of the Attribute Editor window.
 

FIGURE  9-4 Specifying a Custom Script for an Alarm Action


Refresh Tab in the Attribute Editor

The Refresh panel (FIGURE 9-5) enables you to set the refresh interval for this object. The refresh interval is the interval between the times when the Sun Management Center agent samples the monitored property.

FIGURE  9-5 Attribute Editor Refresh Tab for a Monitored Property


 

To Set a Refresh Interval

The following example illustrates how to set a refresh interval in the System Load Statistics module.

  1. Click the Browser tab button in the Details window.
  2. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Operating System icon in the hierarchy tree view.
  The Operating System modules are displayed.
  3. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Kernel Reader icon.
  The Kernel Reader properties are displayed.
  4. Double-click on the System Load Statistics icon.
  The System Load Statistics properties table is displayed.
  5. Click with your left mouse button and select the table cell for Load Averages Over the Last 5 Minutes.
  6. Click the Attributes button.
  The Attribute Editor window is displayed.
  7. Click the Refresh tab button.
  The refresh panel is displayed.
  8. Type a value (in seconds) in the Refresh Interval field or click the Advanced button.
  In this example, type 300 in the entry field. The refresh interval is five minutes. For more information on the Advanced button, see "Using the Time Editor".
  9. Complete this procedure with one of the following actions:
  Whenever the System Load Statistics table is displayed, the values in the table are refreshed every five minutes.

Note - By increasing the refresh interval to a larger interval, then the agent uses less CPU cycles.

History Tab in the Attribute Editor

The History panel enables you to save older data for a monitored property. In FIGURE 9-6, a history of data points is recorded every 120 seconds (sample interval). This information can be stored in a disk file or in the memory cache.There are two types of disk files: circular (maximum of 1000 lines) and text. These files are located in the /var/opt/SUNWsymon/log directory. If you select memory cache, you must also indicate how many data points should be saved in the Max Size (sample) field.


Note - You can view this data in a graph by opening the graph for this monitored property. If you have selected memory cache, the graph is displayed with the historical data.

FIGURE  9-6 Attribute Editor History Tab for a Monitored Property


 

To Set a History Interval

  1. Click the Browser tab button in the Details window.
  2. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Operating System icon in the hierarchy tree view.
  The Operating System modules are displayed.
  3. Click the expansion/compression icon next to the Kernel Reader icon.
  The Kernel Reader properties are displayed.
  4. Double-click the System Load Statistics icon.
  The System Load Statistics properties table is displayed.
  5. Click with your left mouse button and select the table cell for Load Averages Over the Last 5 Minutes.
  6. Click the Attributes button.
  The Attribute Editor window is displayed.
  7. Click the History tab button.
  The history panel is displayed.
  8. Type a value (in seconds) in the Sample Interval field or click on the Advanced button.
  In this example, type 120 in the entry field. A history data point is collected every two minutes. For more information on the Advanced button, see "Using the Time Editor".
  9. Click in the check box next to Save History as Disk File or Save History in Memory Cache.
  10. If you decided to save history as a disk file, determine the file type (circular or text) and type the file name in the Text File Name field (text file only).
  A circular disk file is automatically saved under the name history.log. If you do not choose a file name for your text file, it is automatically saved under the name agent_default.history.
  11. If you decided to save history in memory cache, type the number of history data points in the Max Size (sample) field.
  For example, if you set this field to 1000, only the most current 1000 data points are stored in the memory cache. Any older data points are discarded. These data points may be graphed. See "To Graph A Monitored Data Property" for more information.
  12. Complete this procedure with one of the following actions:



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