Creating and Responding to Alarms

This section illustrates how to work with simple alarms in the web console. To work with more complex alarm conditions, use the Java Console functions described in Chapter 12, Managing Alarms.

To Create an Alarm Condition

The following example procedure shows how to create a simple alarm. This example creates an alarm condition when the system load over the past five minutes exceeds a specified value.

1. Select a data property table from the Host Details Browser page.

   For this example, select the System Load Statistics table in the Kernel Reader (Simple) module.

2. Choose a specific data property in the data property table.

   For this example, select the value for the Load Average Over Last 5 Minutes property.

   The Attribute Editor appears for the selected data property.

3. Click on the Alarms tab in the Attribute Editor window.

   The Alarms page appears.

4. In the Critical Threshold (>) field, type an appropriate value.

   For this example, type .050. This value is probably lower than what you would normally use, but will most likely generate an alarm to illustrate the process.

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

   In a few moments, the Load Average Over the Last 5 Minutes data field in the System Load Statistics data properties table turns red. In addition, red alarm icons appear on the following folders and icons, unless your system has an open, unacknowledged black (down) alarm:

   • Operating System

   • Kernel Reader

   • System Load Statistics

   Click Reset to reset the Attribute Editor to the default parameters.

6. Click the Host Details Alarms tab.

   The alarm that you created is reflected in the alarms table when the table is refreshed.

7. Acknowledge this alarm.

8. 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.

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   Tip –

   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.

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To Acknowledge Open Alarms

1. Open the Host Details Alarms page for the managed object.

2. Select the alarm that you want to acknowledge.

3. Click the Acknowledge button.

To Add a Note to an Alarm

Alarm notes contain an expanding list of notes for a specific alarm. You can add notes over the life of the alarm to track its history.

1. Open the Host Details Alarms page for the managed object.

2. Select the alarm to which you want to add the note.

3. Choose Add Note from the Options menu, and click the Go button.

   The Add Note window appears.

4. Type text in the note.

5. Click OK to close the Add Note window.

   The note that you entered displays

To View or Provide a Recommended Response to an Alarm

The Suggested Fix feature enables you to provide a recommended correction to an alarm condition.

1. Open the Host Details Alarms page for the managed object.

2. Select the appropriate alarm.

3. Choose Suggested Fix from the Options menu, and click the Go button.

   The Suggested Fix window appears. Any default software-provided information appears in the Suggested Fix section of the window. Any existing user-provided information appears in the User Suggested Fix section of the window.

4. Type your recommendation for responding to the alarm condition in the User Suggested Fix section of the window.

5. To close the Suggested Fix window, click OK.

To Delete Alarms

To conserve space and to keep the database current, you should delete alarms after the alarms have been closed. A closed alarm means that the condition no longer exists.

1. Open the Host Details Alarms page for the managed object.

2. Select the alarm that you want to delete.

3. Choose Delete Alarms from the Options menu, and click the Go button.

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   Tip –

   To delete all closed alarms, choose Delete All Closed Alarms from the Options menu, and click the Go button.

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