HP OpenVMS Availability Manager User's Guide


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7.8.1 Customizing Events

You can change the values for any data that is available---that is, not dimmed---on this page. The following table describes the data you can change:
Data Description
Severity Controls the severity level at which events are displayed in the Event pane of the System Overview window (Figure 2-1). By default, all events are displayed. Increasing this value reduces the number of event messages in the Event pane of the System Overview window (Figure 2-1) and can improve perceived response time.
Occurrence Each Availability Manager event is assigned an occurrence value, that is, the number of consecutive data samples that must exceed the event threshold before the event is signaled. By default, events have low occurrence values. However, you might find that a certain event indicates a problem only when it occurs repeatedly over an extended period of time. You can change the occurrence value assigned to that event so that the Availability Manager signals the event only when necessary.

For example, suppose page fault spikes are common in your environment, and the Availability Manager frequently signals intermittent HITTLP, total page fault rate is high events. You could change the event's occurrence value to 3, so that the total page fault rate must exceed the threshold for three consecutive collection intervals before being signaled to the event log.

To avoid displaying insignificant events, you can customize an event so that the Availability Manager signals it only when it occurs continuously.

Threshold Most events are checked against only one threshold; however, some events have dual thresholds, where the event is triggered if either one is true. For example, for the LOVLSP, node disk volume free space is low event, the Availability Manager checks both of the following thresholds:
  • Number of blocks remaining
  • Percentage of total blocks remaining
Escalation actions You can enter one or more of the following values:
  • User: If the event occurs, the Availability Manager refers to the User Action field to determine what action to take.
  • OPCOM: If the event occurs, and certain conditions are met (see Section 7.7), the Availability Manager passes that event to OPCOM. (Data Analyzer on OpenVMS only)
  • HP OpenView: If the event occurs and certain conditions are met (see Section 7.7), the Availability Manager passes that event to HP OpenView. (OpenView agents must be installed and configured on the Data Analyzer node.)
User Action When the Event escalation action field is set to User, User Action is no longer dimmed. You can enter the name of a procedure to be executed if the event displayed at the top of the page occurs. To use this field, see the instructions in Section 7.8.2.

The "Event explanation and investigation hints" section of the Event Customizations page, which is not customizable, includes a description of the event displayed and suggestions for how to correct any problems that the event signals.

7.8.2 Entering a User Action

Note

OpenVMS and Windows execute the User Action procedure somewhat differently, as explained in the following paragraphs.

The following notes pertain to writing and executing User Action commands or command procedures. These notes apply to User Actions on both OpenVMS and Windows systems.

7.8.2.1 Executing a Procedure on an OpenVMS System

The User Action procedure and arguments are passed as string values to the DCL command interpreter as follows:

SUBMIT/NOPRINTER/LOG user_action_procedure arg_1 arg_2 arg_3 arg_4

where:

The Availability Manager does not interpret the string contents. You can supply any content in the User Action procedure that DCL accepts in the OpenVMS environment for the user account running the Data Analyzer. However, if you include arguments in the User Action procedure, they might displace or overwrite arguments supplied by the Availability Manager.

A suitable batch queue must be available on the Data Analyzer computer to be the target of the SUBMIT command. See the HP OpenVMS DCL Dictionary for the SUBMIT, INITIALIZE/QUEUE, and START/QUEUE commands for use of batch queues and the queue manager.

The following is an example of a DCL command procedure:


$ if (p3.eqs."DSKOFF").and.(p1.eqs."PAYROL") 
$ then 
$   mail/subject="''p2' ''p3' ''p4'" urgent_instructions.txt 
call_center,finance,adams 
$ else 
$   mail/subject="''p2' ''p3' ''p4'" instructions.txt call_center 
$ endif 

The pn numbers in the DCL procedure correspond in type, number, and position to the arguments in the preceding table.

You might use a procedure like this one to notify several groups if the payroll disk goes off line, or to notify the call center if any other event occurs.

7.8.2.2 Executing a Procedure on a Windows System

The user action procedure and arguments are passed as string values to the Windows command interpreter as follows:

"AT time CMD/C user_action_procedure arg_1 arg_2 arg_3 arg_4"

where: