Sun Management Center 3.6.1 User's Guide

Chapter 17 Managing Data Property Attributes Using the Web Console

This chapter explains the following topics:

Overview of Module Data Properties

The module data properties provide additional information about the modules. The Attribute Editor in the web console provides the same capabilities as the Attribute Editor in the Java Console, which is described in Chapter 10, Monitoring Data Property Attributes. You can use the Attribute Editor to customize the monitoring criteria for the module data properties. Specifically, the Attribute Editor enables you to perform the following tasks:

Set alarm thresholds for defined alarms
Specify actions to take when alarm conditions occur
Change the interval at which data updates on the screen
Define schedules for creating log files of historical data points

The Attribute Editor in the web console has one or more tabs at the top of the page that enable you to switch between different panels. These tabs differ depending on the selected object. The possible tabs are described in the following sections:

Note –

Each Attribute Editor displays one or more of these tabs, depending on the specific object to which an instance of the Attribute Editor applies.

Info Tab in the Web Console Attribute Editor

The Attribute Editor Info page provides additional information about the selected object, such as:

Module name, version, and description for the selected module
Host name for the host on which the module resides
Other information about the specific module, such as folder and variable in which data property information is stored

Alarms Tab in the Web Console Attribute Editor

The Alarms tab enables you to set alarm thresholds only for those data properties that have associated simple alarms. These simple alarms use the rCompare rule, which is described in Appendix D, Sun Management Center Software Rules. The Attribute Editor Alarms page enables you to set alarm thresholds for simple alarms only.

Note –

To set an alarm threshold, you must have the appropriate security permission. For more information, see Chapter 18, Sun Management Center Security.

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

Determine the thresholds that trigger an alarm of a particular severity
Determine when alarms are sounded, for example, only on weekdays

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. For more information about alarm rules, see Appendix D, Sun Management Center Software Rules.

The following table lists common simple alarm limits for monitored properties. The alarm limits are also displayed in the Parameter Description field. You can set thresholds for one or more of these alarm limits for selected data properties.

Table 17–1 Common Simple Alarm Limits in Sun Management Center Software


Alarm Limit	Description
Critical Threshold (>)	Critical (red) alarm occurs if the value exceeds the limit that is entered in this field.
Alert Threshold (>)	Alert (yellow) alarm occurs if the value exceeds the limit that is entered in this field.
Caution Threshold (>)	Caution (blue) alarm occurs if the value exceeds the limit that is 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 a specified time period. For example, if the value is `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 triggered.

Actions Tab in the Web Console Attribute Editor

The Attribute Editor Actions page 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 provide the name of a script in the critical action field. This script might send an email to a system administrator whenever a critical alarm is generated for the Load Average Over the Last 5 Minutes data property.

You can set separate actions for different alarm conditions. You can also define a single action to occur when any change happens to any of the alarm conditions. To define actions, you use the Action buttons on the Actions page.

Note –

The check boxes that are 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.

Use the Alarm Action Modification dialog box to modify the registered alarm actions. Two buttons in the dialog box (Email and Generic) allow you to choose one of two options for an alarm action.

Email: Enables you to specify an address, subject, and message to be sent as email
Generic: Enables you to select generic shell scripts that are installed on the managed node

Refresh Tab in the Web Console Attribute Editor

Use the Refresh page in the Attribute Editor 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. For more information, see To Specify How Often the Data Display Updates.

History Tab in the Web Console Attribute Editor

Use the History page in the Attribute Editor to save older data for a monitored property. For example, you might choose to record a history of data points every 120 seconds as identified in the sample interval. You can also specify whether to store this information in a disk file or in the memory cache.

The two types of disk files are circular, which has a maximum of 1000 lines, and text. These files are located in the /var/opt/SUNWsymon/log directory in the file that is specified in the Text File Name field.

A circular disk file is automatically saved under the name history.log. If you do not choose a file name for your text file, data are automatically saved under the name agent_default.history.

If you select memory cache, you must indicate in the Max Size (sample) field the number of data points to save. 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 can be graphed. See Chapter 9, Viewing Data Properties in a Graph for more information.

Note –

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

Using the Attribute Editor in the Web Console

The procedures in this section explain how to view specific attributes, change the refresh interval, and modify history information in the web console attribute editor.

To Access Specify Data Property Attributes

Navigate through the hierarchy to a data property table.

For example, to view information about the memory on a host, follow these steps:
1. Select a managed object in the main console page.
2. Click the Go to Details link.
  
  The Host Details page appears.
3. In the Host Details page, click the expansion icon to the left of Operating System.
4. Click the expansion icon to the left of Kernel Reader (Simple).
5. Click Memory Usage Statistics.
  
  The data property table for Memory Usage Statistics appears.

Select the value in the data property table whose attributes you want to view or modify.

The Attribute Editor appears in a separate window.

To Specify How Often the Data Display Updates

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

Select a data property, for example, System Load Statistics, on the Host Details Browser page.

Select the Value column for Load Averages Over the Last Five Minutes.

The Attribute Editor Info page is displayed.

Click the Refresh tab.

The Refresh page is displayed.

Type a value in seconds in the Refresh Interval field.

For example, if you type 300, the page updates every five minutes.

To change the refresh interval and exit from the Attribute Editor, click the OK button.

When the properties table for System Load Statistics is displayed, the values in the table are refreshed every five minutes.

Tip –
The agent uses less CPU cycles if you use a larger refresh interval.

To Change How Often History Data is Collected

The Sample Interval on the History page controls how frequently history data is captured.

Select a data property, for example, System Load Statistics, on the Host Details Browser page.

Select the Value column for a specific property, for example, Load Averages Over the Last Five Minutes.

The Attribute Editor Info page is displayed.

Click the History tab.

The History page is displayed.

Type a value in seconds in the Sample Interval field.

For example, to collect a history data point every two minutes, you would type 120 in the Sample Interval field.

Click the OK button to set the history interval and exit from the History page.

Working With Alarms in the Web Console Attribute Editor

The procedures in this section explain how to create and respond to alarms using the web console attribute editor.

To Define an Alarm Condition

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

Select a data property, for example, System Load Statistics, from the Host Details Browser page.

Click the Alarms tab.

The Alarms page is displayed.

In the Critical Threshold (>) field, type a value that is less than the current value.

Providing this value creates a critical alarm.

Click OK to apply your changes and close the Alarms page.

In a few moments, the Load Average Over the Last One Minute data field in the data properties table for System Load Statistics turns red. In addition, red alarm icons are displayed on the following folders and icons unless your system has an open, unacknowledged severity one black alarm:
- Operating System
- Kernel Reader
- System Load Statistics

Click the Host Details Alarms tab.

The alarm that you created is reflected in the alarms table when the table is refreshed. For more information about this subject, see Chapter 16, Managing Alarms Using the Web Console.

Click the acknowledge button, which looks like a check mark, to acknowledge this alarm.

Create additional alarm thresholds. Then, 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 about security, see Chapter 18, Sun Management Center Security.

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

To Define a Response for an Alarm

The following procedure describes how to define an action to take when an alarm occurs.

Select a data property, for example, System Load Statistics, from the Host Details Browser page.

Select an appropriate item in the Value column, for example, the value associated with Load Average Over Last Five Minutes .

The Attribute Editor Info page is displayed.

Click the Actions tab.

The Actions page is displayed.

Click the Action button for the alarm level for which you want to define the action.

A window appears on which you choose the type of action and provide appropriate information.
- To notify users through an email, click the Email radio button. Type a comma-separated list of email addresses and a message.
- To run a script, click the Other radio button. Choose a script from the list of available scripts. Then, supply appropriate arguments as needed. See To Define and Use an Alarm Action Script.
- To clear the alarm, click the Clear radio button.

Click OK to apply your changes and close this page.

If you choose to send an email, a message is sent to the specified users whenever the specified alarm occurs. This message might be similar to the following message.

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 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 and Use an Alarm Action Script

The following procedure describes how to customize an alarm action to automatically notify a user when an alarm condition occurs.

Create the script using the following arguments:

%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)

At the command-line level, become superuser.
# su -

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/

Click the Host Details Browser tab.

Set the alarm threshold.

For more information, see To Define an Alarm Condition.

Click the System Load Statistics icon.

The properties table for System Load Statistics is displayed in the contents view of the Host Details Browser page.

Select the Value column for Load Average Over Last Five Minutes.

The Attribute Editor Info page is displayed.

Click the Attribute Editor Actions tab.

The Actions page appears.

Click the Action button for the Critical Actions field.

The Alarm Action Modification dialog box appears.

Click the Other button.

Select custom-alarm-script from the Available Scripts menu.

Type the following string in the Arguments field:

%statusstringfmt

Click OK to apply your changes and close this page.

The script file name is displayed in the Critical Action field on the Actions page.

To Modify Alarm Actions

Click the Action button for the alarm action that you want to modify.

The Alarm Actions modification dialog box is displayed.

Select the type of alarm action that you want to modify (Email or Other).

Make your changes in the fields of the selected action.

Click OK to accept the changes and close the page.

The change is displayed in the corresponding Action field of the Actions page.