Adding and Editing Rules

Adding or Editing Rules provides access to a series of dialogs and options used to capture any important events that do (or do not) occur. The dialogs are the same regardless of whether you are adding or editing a rule.

NOTE: In the following text 'Add' is interchangeable with 'Edit'.
TIP: This section assists with the first four tabs used when adding a rule. See also Adding rule criteria and Rule actions for assistance when using these two pages.
To Add a Rule: 
  1. From the Enterprise Server Options Rules page, click Add Rule. The Add New Rule dialog is displayed.

There are six pages available:

NOTE: Only the first four pages are covered here. See the Criteria and Actions pages for the last two pages used when adding rules.

The settings in this panel are used to determine sequence, action processing and activity of the rule.

Rule Settings section

Sequence

The setting in this field defines the order in which rules are examined. Enter a unique sequence number to specify the sequence position of the rule. Identical sequence numbers are automatically prevented from entry.

Log Rule Messages

Check this box if to identify whether rule is performing as expected. By selecting this option, diagnostic messages are written to the Message Log File . Note that both the Save to Log File and Log Diagnostic Messages options must be selected).

NOTE: All log files are saved with an extension of .hlf. to %Program Data%\Halcyon\Enterprise Server Options\Logs
Description

Type a descriptive text for the new rule. This could be a summary of what the rule’s intended use, for example; Warnings Received - Weekends Only.

Action settings section

The fields in this section define what happens if an alert is or is not received.

Action if Alert Received

If this option is selected, action is taken if an alert generated by this rule is received within the Rule Active time range specified below.

Action if Alert Not Received

If this option is selected, action is taken if an alert generated by this rule is not received within the Rule Active time range specified. This option is recommended for time critical jobs.

Error Text

Enter the text of the message that is generated for a rule that has the Action If Alert Not Received option enabled.

Rule Active settings

Mon-Sun

Specifies on which days the rule is active. Click on a day to select or deselect as required. The default setting is active every day.

From - To

Specifies a time range between which the monitor should scan for events matching this rule sequence. Hours can span over midnight, for example, 22.00 - 03.00 hours.

These settings configure the default panel, alert type, background and font colors for alerts that have been processed against this rule for display purposes in the Enterprise Console.

Alert Display Settings section

The fields in this section define the level at which the alert is raised. By default, alerts generated by rules are raised at Information - Low level.

Override Alert Type

Check this box to enable the display of an alternative alert type when an alert is triggered by the rule.

Once enabled, use the drop-down menu to select an alternative alert type.

Background Color section

This section allows you to determine the background color of any alert messages raised by this rule. Only one option is allowed.

Default Background Color

This setting keeps the default background color of the alert as defined in the Enterprise Console | Appearance | Alert Status Colors option.

Device Background Color

This setting keeps the default background color of the device as defined in Device Manager | Add Device | Display | Color option.

Selected Color

Specify a color as the background color of any alert messages raised by this rule.

NOTE: Click to browse for a color that is not available in the color list.
Flash Background Color

Select this option to flash the background color of the alert raised by this rule when it is displayed in the Enterprise Console.

Font Color section

The fields in this section determine the font color of any alert messages raised by this rule. Only one option is allowed.

Default Font Color

This setting retains the default font color of black.

Selected Font Color

Specify a color as the font color used in any alert messages raised by this rule.

NOTE: Click to browse for a color that is not available in the color list.

The Alert Message page is used to provide alternative text details for alerts, providing greater clarity and meaning to the alert when received.

NOTE: The actual alert information remains the same so that any matching rule information is captured prior to the text being changed.

Alert Message settings

Message

Enter free text and/or use the Alert, Device and Details variables (as displayed) to generate alternative text once matching rule criteria has been proven.

An example of the current alert message text convention is displayed in the Example field.

Within Enterprise Console, substitution variables are listed as hyperlinks. Click on the blue text of a substitution variable to select and insert in the Message field at the current cursor position.

TIP: When using substitution variables throughout Enterprise Console, any entries that are made correctly are highlighted in green and those that will result in an error are highlighted in red.

Using Pipes with Alert Text

Alert text can be reformatted by using pipes to change the number of decimal places reported, remove white space and so on.

For example, to change the text of an alert reporting a numerical value of 1784.238175 so that it only reports two decimal places, use the parameter &N|p2|; resulting in the alert text changing to 1784.24.

NOTE: For a full list of available parameters see Substitution Variable String Parameters. and Substitution Variable Numeric Parameters.

The Advanced settings define the method of counting alerts from this rule and the processing settings applied.

Rule Count Method settings

Alert Count Method

This specifies the method by which alerts raised by this rule are counted.

  • Rule The standard rule counter is incremented each time an alert is processed against this rule regardless of the alert’s source or text.
  • Source A distinct source counter is incremented each time an alert is processed against this rule depending on the alert’s source.
  • Text A distinct text counter is incremented depending on the alert’s message text.
EXAMPLE: Alert Count Examples

Assume the following actions have been defined:

Seq

Action

Perform Action For

Action Type

10

Action 1

1 Alert

Change Display Settings

20

Action 2

1 Alert

Send Email

30

Action 3

1 Alert

Send SNMP Trap

Assume the following alerts have been received:

Time

Alert Message Text

Alert Source

10:00

Test Alert 1

Server Manager

10:05

Test Alert 2

Message Monitor

10:10

Test Alert 2

Message Monitor

 

If the Alert Count Method is Rule then:
  • Action 1 will be performed against the alert ‘10:00 Test Alert 1’ (Rule Counter=1)
  • Action 2 will be performed against the alert ‘10:05 Test Alert 2’ (Rule Counter=2)
  • Action 3 will be performed against the alert ‘10:10 Test Alert 1’ (Rule Counter=3)

If the Alert Count Method is Source then:

  • Action 1 will be performed against the alert ‘10:00 Test Alert 1’ (Server Manager Counter=1)
  • Action 1 will be performed against the alert ‘10:05 Test Alert 2’ (Message Monitor Counter=1)
  • Action 2 will be performed against the alert ‘10:10 Test Alert 1’ (Message Monitor Counter=2)

If the Alert Count Method is Text then:

  • Action 1 will be performed against the alert ‘10:00 Test Alert 1’ (Test Alert 1 Counter=1)
  • Action 1 will be performed against the alert ‘10:05 Test Alert 2’ (Test Alert 2 Counter=1)
  • Action 2 will be performed against the alert ‘10:10 Test Alert 1’ (Test Alert 1 Counter=2)

Rule Processing settings

These settings suspend the rule according to the options defined below. It is good practice to use these options to prevent multiple alerts of the same message being delivered:

Automatically Suspend Rule

Check to enable the Rule Suspension options.

Until Triggered X Times

Specify how many times the rule is triggered before it is activated. The count can also be within a time frame.

Within x Minutes

Adds a time limit to the Until Triggered x Times option.

For x Minutes When Triggered x Times

Defines how many minutes the rule is suspended for after it has been triggered a (user) specified number of times.

Reset Counters on Startup

Check this option to reset these counters on a restart of Enterprise Console. if left blank, the counters continue to accrue from their last position when the Enterprise Console was closed.

Reporting settings

NOTE: This option is only visible if a license has been included for Reporting in this instance of Enterprise Console. Please contact halcyon.sales.admin@fortra.com for assistance should you require access to the reporting function.
Capture Reporting Data

Check this option to enable the capture of reporting data from this rule. Any activity generated by this rule will then be written to the database from where it can be accessed by Advanced Reporting Suite to be included in one of the many available reporting templates.

NOTE: A separate license is required for Advanced Reporting Suite in order to access this data.

The Criteria and Actions pages are covered in their own sections.

Related Topics