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IPSentry - Alert - X10 Power Control

The X10 Power Control feature provides you with a way to control external power sources through the X10 power control modules and CM11A controller or new CM17A (Firecracker) transmitter.

This is ideal for turning on and off external sirens and alarm lights in and around the data center providing highly visual and audible alerts to local personnel.

See: http://www.x10usa.com for product information.

Note: We strongly advise against configuring the X10 alert to power-cycle computer systems as the potential for data loss due to power loss can be substantial.  This is not intended for use on systems susceptible to damage due to power fluctuations.

Please see the How-To section for additional information on various configurations.

Enabled
This frame provides a tri-state selection regarding the status of the alert which allows you to enable, disable, or use the global state (default)

• Yes
  The YES option signifies that the alert is enabled for this device and should use the settings provided in the remaining configuration fields for this alert.  The settings for the alert will be unique to this specific entry.
   
• No
  The NO option signifies that this alert is disabled, regardless of the default or other configurations, this alert will NOT be generated in case of a failure of the monitored device under which it is defined.
   
• Default
  The DEFAULT option signifies that the alert should be identical to and make use of the settings outlined in the default configuration model.   Any changes made to the default configuration will be applied to all alerts marked "Default" allowing global changes to alert setting through the default configuration. 
  
  Note that if the default configuration has the enabled flag set to "NO", all alerts marked as "default" will be ignored during the triggering of alerts.

Alert Success
All alerts with the exception of paging alerts make use of this setting.  When checked, the alert will be generated both when the system fails an when the the failure is corrected. 

For example, if you are monitoring a web server and it fails, the alert would be triggered noting that there is a failure.  Additional failure notification will be sent according to the alert schedule outlined below.  Once the system is recovered and the failure corrected, another alert will be generated as an "UP" notification.

In using alerts such as Pager or Email, the IPSentry Keyword %IPS_M_STAT% will be converted to the current state of the device making it possible to recognize immediately whether the alert was triggered due to the system going "DOWN" or coming back "UP".

CM11A CM17A (Firecracker)
Currently, only the X10 CM11A, CK11A, and CM17A controllers are supported. 

Com Port
Enter the communication to which the X10 PC Interface controller is attached.

House
X10 Units are identified by their HOUSE/UNIT code.  Each represented by a unique identity.  Enter the House Code of the unit you wish to control.

Unit
X10 Units are identified by their HOUSE/UNIT code.  Each represented by a unique identity.  You may enter one or more unit codes (separated by ",").   All units entered must have the same house code.

Failure Action
Upon detection of a failure, IPSentry will perform one of the following:
     ON - Sends a request to power ON the selected unit.
     OFF - Sends a request to power OFF the selected unit.
     CYCLE - Sends OFF, wait the specified number of seconds, sends ON.

Success Action
When IPSentry detects the monitored device after a failure has been detected, IPSentry will perform one of the following:
     ON - Sends a request to power ON the selected unit.
     OFF - Sends a request to power OFF the selected unit.
     CYCLE - Sends OFF, wait the specified number of seconds, sends ON.

Power On/Off Delay
If using "CYCLE" as a Failure option, enter the number of seconds that IPSentry wait after powering down the unit before sending the request to power up the unit.

Alert Schedule
The alert schedule allows you "fine tune" the alerting functions to avoid unnecessary alerting during an extended failure.  You may not want to be paged every single time a failure is detected after the first alert.  You can use this schedule to set how many failures must be detected before the first alert.  Set how many failures must be detected for each subsequent alert, and the maximum number of alerts you feel are adequate to obtain a response from specified personnel. 

• First After [n] failures
  Represents the number of sequential failures that must occur before the alert notification is processed.  You can increase this value if you notice a large amount of false alerts being processed.  On some systems, response times may not be consistent and a failure may be detected due to overhead at peak times.  If the failure continues for this number of cycles, the alert will be processed.
   
• Every [n] failures
  Once the first alert has been processed, IPSentry will only process the alert notification after this many sequential failures.  In many cases, once a failed entry has triggered an alert, notification during every IPSentry polling cycle is not usually required.
   
• Max of [n] alerts
  Enter the maximum number of times you want IPSentry to process the alert notification.  A value of -1 - infinite.  This counter is based on sequential failures without a single success.
   

Note:  Setting the first-after or every values to any value less than 1 can have unexpected results.

Load Defaults (button)
This button will load the default configuration information into the appropriate fields.  This is a quick way to use a standard configuration with minor variations between entries.

Note: You need NOT use this option when the enabled option is set to "Default" since the replacement of the alert configuration with default configuration values will be done automatically when the alert is triggered.  You need only use this button when the enabled option is set to YES and you wish to slightly modify the default configuration and make the entry specific to the monitored device to which this alert is related.

Test Alert (button)
This option will attempt to process the alert as configured. A message will be displayed regarding failure or success of the alert generation.

Related Topics

• IPSentry - Alert Options

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