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From the Entry Editor, click on the Alerts Tab, click on Add-Ins Tab

Add-In Alert Configuration
The add-ins alert allows you to select from a list of available add-in which perform specific tasks based on the results of a monitoring task.  These add-ins can be those distributed by RGE in the ipSentry application distribution, 3rd party add-ins, or add-ins that you may have developed using the ipSentry add-in SDK interface.

IPSentry Entry Editor

The Add-In Alert tab provides you with the ability to configure additional alert functions by incorporating third-party or in-house custom add-ins which comply with the ipSentry Add-In Development Specification.

This tab provides the means necessary to Add, Edit, Remove, and Sequence add-in alert functions to fit your requirements.

Please see the How-To section for additional information on various configurations.
See documentation available for ALERT Type add-in components for their specific configuration details.

RGE currently provides the following Alert Type Add-In Components

HTTP/s Enhanced Web Add-In
Can be utilized to post status data to a web site, post form data for web based paging or other web page access requirements for alerting.

Network Time Add-In
Can be utilized to set the local system clock.  The use of this add-in as an alert is no longer necessary since the monitoring portion of the add-in can be configured in such a way as to adjust the local clock during the monitoring cycle.

Service State Controller Add-In
Use this add-in to control services (Start, Stop, Restart, etc..)  This is an ideal add-in for initial active attempts at auto-correcting problems which may be due to stalled out services where a service restart may be the only requirement to correcting the issue.

SNMP Monitor and Alert
Use this add-in to send SNMP traps to trap receiving systems.

DNS/RADIUS/UDP Add-In
Can be utilized to send UDP packets as an alerting option.

Alert Add-In List
This area contains a list of add-ins that will be triggered. The order of add-ins within the list is displayed in the sequence in which they will be triggered.

The list contains important configuration information such as the Add-In Name, Alert Schedule, Recovery settings and add-in args.

Add (button)
Click this button in order to browse and select from a list of Alert Style add-ins currently installed on the system. Remember, only add-ins that can be used for alerting will be displayed in this list even though you may have other add-ins installed.  Remember, only add-ins designed for "Alerting" will be available in the add-in selection list.

IPSentry Alert Add-In Manager
Remove (button)
After highlighting an add-in in the add-in list, hit this button to remove the add-in from the list of add-in alerts to be triggered.

Modify (button)
Hit this button to launch the Add-In Alert Configuration dialogue. From this window you will be able to set the Alert Schedule and Recovery values as well as modify the add-in configuration settings by clicking on the Add-In Configuration button.

IPSentry Alert Add-In Configuration

In the Alert Add-In Configuration dialogue, you will be presented with the standard alert configuration options such as Recovery Count and Alert Schedules since each add-in alert entry is considered a single alert.

To set the configuration for the add-in, simply click the Add-In Configuration button to bring up the selected add-in configuration utility for the selected add-in component.

Move UP/DOWN Selector
Click the UP or DOWN arrows to the right of the add-in list to move the selected add-in item up or down in the alert configuration.
Add-in alerts will be processed in the order they appear in the list."

Alert Status
This group represents the status of the selected alert for the device.
Alert Status - Enable, Disable, Use From Template

Enabled
When this option is selected, the configuration details for the alert are active and specific to this entry.  Other entries may reference this entry.

Disabled
When this option is selected, no alerting of this type will be performed by the selected entry when a CRITICAL result is encountered

Use From
When this option is selected, the alert configuration defined in the selected entry (named in the field next to this selected) will be utilized.  You will use this option when you wish to utilize a group or template reference for alerting configurations.  By clicking on the browse button (...), you will be presented with a list of entries from which you may use their configuration for the specified alert.

When selecting this option, all detail entry fields will be disabled.

Trigger  on recovery count
Recovery Alert Specification
When this option is selected, the alert specified will also be triggered when the system recovers from a critical state.  The most common uses for this option are in email messaging and pager/cell/SMS messaging where you specify the %%mach.state%% keyword in the alert messages.   This way, if a system fails and then recovers, the recipient of the notification would be alerted to this fact.

The value that you enter after this option is the number of successful (OK) results that must occur after a failure before the entry is deemed 'recovered'.   If you enter a value of say three (3) in this field, ipSentry will need to monitor this item at least 3 times, with three successful results before any recovery alert would be generated.  This helps avoid constant UP/DOWN/UP/DOWN notifications.
For add-in alerts, this option will be specific and specified within each add-in configuration entry.

Alert Schedule
The alert schedule provides you with the ability to define the failure count requirements and alert/notification quantities that will be generated.  For example, you may want to be alerted immediately upon failure of a device, but from that point on, if the device is still failing, you may only want to be alerted every 5 failures and receive no more than 6 alerts during any constantly failed duration.   This is exactly where you specify this information.
For add-in alerts, this option will be specific and specified within each add-in configuration entry.
IPSentry Alert Schedule Part

First After
This field represents how many failures (sequential) must occur before any failure notifications are triggered.  A value of 1 will cause immediate notification upon the first failure.  A value of 2 or more will require that number of failures before the first alert is generated.  In the example scenario above, you would enter a 1 in this field.

Then Every
This field represents the number of failures that must occur before further alert/notification actions are taken once the first notification has been processed.   In the example scenario above, you would enter a 10 in this field.

No More Than...
This field represents that maximum number of times that the alert will be triggered during a failure.  If you set this value to -1, there is no maximum.  If you set this value to zero - you might as well just disable the alert.   In the example scenario above, you would enter a 6 in this field so that no more than the alert will be triggered no more than 6 times during a failure.

Alerting Frequency Schedule

Load From
Click this button to load the alert configuration data from another entry in the ipSentry system.  This function comes in handy when you have an alert configured that needs only minor changes for the current configuration.   Once you select a device from which to copy the alert, the configuration of that alert will be populated into the appropriate fields.

Copy To
Click this button to copy the current alert configuration being modified to one or more existing entries.  This allows for the bulk duplication of alert configurations via entry selection.  You will be presented with a list of entries to which you wish to apply this alert configuration.

Test Alert
Click this button to test your alert configuration settings and insure that the basic configuration is correct.

You will be presented with a dialogue requesting whether you wish to test as critical or as a recovery type alert.

Test Alert Dialogue

After selecting to test as Critical or Recover, you will be presented with an active display during the test.
 
Alert Test

Note that when testing alerts, many of the keyword will not contain accurate data since there will be no monitoring data available.  For example, if use the %%mach.trimres_fxxxx%% keyword, the result will either be empty or contain the results of the last live monitoring of the current item.

When testing alerts to insure that keyword structures are correct, the result text should not contain the keyword.   The data will either be replaced with nothing (if no data is available) or it will be replaced with the correct data.

For example: If you enter the keyword %%mach.nameX%%, this is an invalid keyword so it will not be replaced and will be included as it is entered.  However, if you enter %%mach.name%%, this will be replaced. Similarly, if you use a keyword such as %%mach.drive.minfree%% and have the alert tied to a service monitor, the value will be unknown since service monitoring does not use this value - but the keyword will NOT exist in the resulting message data.
 




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