About Annotations

Annotations are comments, suggestions, or automated operations that run scripts. They are defined by an asset type, asset resource type, an attribute, or an incident type.

They are defined by an asset type, asset resource type, an attribute, or an incident type. At a minimum, use annotations in text to document an incident. You can also use annotations to build a Incidents Knowledge Base that contains a mixture of comments, suggested actions, and automated annotations that run scripts to perform operations. Annotations enable you to provide solutions or recommended actions for specific incidents.

You can View Annotations, View Possible Impacts and Causes, View Comments, View Suggested Actions, and Add Annotations associated with an incident in the Message Center or from the Incidents tab in the Asset view, as shown in Figure 3-10.

Figure 3-10 Annotation Icons

Description of Figure 3-10 follows
Description of "Figure 3-10 Annotation Icons"

Viewing Annotations

Annotations are available from several different locations in the UI.

  • In the Message Center, when an annotation is associated with an incident

  • In the Asset view, when an annotation is associated with an incident

  • In the Incident Knowledge Base (in the Plan Management section), when an annotation is associated with an asset type

When an annotation is associated with an incident, use the View Annotations icon to browse the Incidents Knowledge Base.

  1. Open the incident from the Message Center or Assets view.

    • Message Center View: Click Message Center, then click an Incident category: Unassigned Incidents, My Incidents, or Incidents Assigned to Others.

    • Assets View: Click the asset in the Assets section of the Navigation pane, then click the Incidents tab in the center pane.

  2. Click the incident in the center pane.
  3. Click the View Annotations icon.

Example 3-1 Example Annotation

The CPU usage on a Sun Fire x4150 host is exceeded and an incident is generated. You assign the incident to Lee. Lee is concerned because these systems are often used to host Oracle Solaris Zones. Lee adds the following comment to the incident: "This asset is not powerful enough and cannot cope with the load". Lee also wants to associate an annotation with the Global Zone asset type to recommend checking for processes that are consuming excessive CPU usage on the Global Zone. Lee adds the following annotation to the asset type: "Run the 'prstat 1 1' command to check which processes are taking CPU." The annotation is saved in the Incidents Knowledge Base and appears the next time CPU usage is exceeded on a global zone asset type.

About Creating Annotations

You can create annotations while you are working on a resolution, when you mark an incident as fixed, and when you close an incident. You can create annotations by asset type, asset resource type, attribute, or incident type.

Annotations contain automated operations with an operational profile, suggested fixes or actions, or text comments.

You have the option to add annotations for incident types to the Incidents Knowledge Base (KB). You can associate Automated Action and Suggested Action annotations with an operational profile, which can contain a script.

When you create an annotation, other users who have set up notification profiles to use e-mail or a pager are informed about the new annotation and see its content.

To see the procedure for creating annotations, see Adding an Annotation.