Rapid Recovery 6.4 - User Guide

Configuring notification groups

1. To set notifications at the Core level, from the icon bar, click (More), and then select Notifications.
   The Notifications page appears. Skip to step 3.
2. To set notifications for a specific protected machine, do the following:
   1. From the Protected Machines menu, click the machine for which you want to specify notifications.
      The Summary page appears.
   2. In the Summary page of the protected machine, from the More drop-down menu, select Notifications.
      The Custom Notification Groups page appears.
3. If you want to add a new notification group, click Add Group. Skip to Step 5.
   The Add Notification Group dialog box appears, showing a general description area and two tabs.
4. If you want to edit the default notification group or an existing notification group, in the Notification Groups pane, click the (More) drop-down menu for the appropriate notification group, and select Edit.
   The Edit Notification Group dialog box appears, showing a general description area and two tabs.
5. In the general description area, enter the basic information for the notification group, as described in the following table.

   Option	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the event notification group. This information is required. Caution: The value you enter for the notification group name cannot be changed later.
   Description	Enter a description that clarifies the purpose for the event notification group. This information is optional.

6. In the Enable Alerts tab, configure the set of system events that result in alerts. These appear on the Alerts page when you view events in the Core Console. You can select sets of events as described in the following table:

   Option	Description
   All Alerts	To create alerts for all events, select
   Errors	To create alerts for errors, from the Select Types menu, click Error. This is represented by a red X.
   Warning	To create alerts for errors, from the Select Types menu, click Warning. This is represented by a yellow exclamation point icon.
   Info	To create alerts for informational messages, from the Select Types menu, click Info. This is represented by a blue i.
   Restore Default	For the default Core notification group, to restore the set of events to appear as alerts to the default, from the Select Types menu, click Reset to defaults. NOTE: This option is available when editing the default Core notification group only. It is not available for new Core notification groups or for configuration notifications for a specific protected machine.

7. To create alerts for a specific event type (error, warning, or informational message), do the following:
   1. If the All Alerts option does not display alert groups, click the right angle bracket > symbol preceding the All Alerts label. The symbol changes to a downward-facing arrow, and the view expands to show groups.
   2. Then click the right angle bracket > symbol next to any specific alert group to display related events in the group.
      • To define alerts for all events in every group, select the checkbox for All Alerts.
      • To define alerts for all events within any alert group, select the checkbox next to that group.
      • To select only some alert types within an alert group, expand the group and then select only those specific events for which you want to log, report, and set alerts.
8. Click the Notification Options tab.
9. On the Notification Options tab, specify how to handle the notification process.

   Option	Description
   Notify by email	Designate the recipients of the email notification. You can choose to specify separate multiple email addresses as well as blind and carbon copies. NOTE: If using Exchange Server, SMTP relay must be set up on the server. Otherwise event notifications will not be sent to the designated email address. For more information, consult your Exchange Server administrator.
   Notify by Windows Event Log	Select this option if you want notifications to be reported through the Windows Event Log.
   Notify by syslogd	Select this option if you want notifications to be reported through syslogd. Specify the details for the syslogd in the following text boxes: Host: Port:
   Notify by Toast alerts	Select this option if you want notifications to appear as pop-up messages in the lower-right corner of your screen.
   Notify by SNMP Trap	The Rapid Recovery Core serves as an SNMP agent, sending traps (notifications about specific events) to an SNMP manager. The result is the reporting of Core information such as alerts, repository status, and protected machines. Select this option if you want to notify Core events by SNMP trap. You must also specify a trap number, which is used by the SNMP manager.

10. Click OK.
    If creating a new group, you will see a message indicating that the notification group name you defined cannot be changed after creating the group. Other properties within the notification group can be changed at any time.
    • If you are satisfied with the group name, confirm this message and save your work.
    • If you want to change the group name, click No to return to the Create Notification Group window, update the group name and any other notification group settings, and save your work.

Understanding email notifications

Configuring an email server

1. Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
2. On the icon bar, click (Settings), and then do one of the following:
   • From the list of Core settings on the left side of the Settings page, click SMTP Server.
   • Scroll down on the right side of the Settings page until you can see the SMTP Server heading.
3. Click on the setting you want to change.
   The setting you selected becomes editable.
4. Enter the configuration information as described in the following table.

   Option	Description
   SMTP server	Enter the name of the email server to be used by the email notification template. The naming convention includes the host name, domain, and suffix; for example, smtp.gmail.com.
   From	Enter a return email address. It is used to specify the return email address for the email notification template; for example, noreply@localhost.com.
   User name	Enter a user name for the email server.
   Password	Enter the password associated with the user name required to access the email server.
   Port	Enter a port number. It is used to identify the port for the email server; for example, the port 587 for Gmail. The default is 25.
   Timeout (seconds)	Enter an integer value to specify how long to try to connect to the email server. It is used to establish the time in seconds before a timeout occurs. The default is 60 seconds.
   TLS	Select this option if the mail server uses a secure connection such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

5. For each setting, when satisfied with your changes, click to save the change and exit edit mode, or click to exit edit mode without saving.

   Caution: If you do not confirm each change, your settings will not change.

6. Click Send Test Email and then do the following:
   1. In the Send Test Email dialog box, enter a destination email address for the test message and then click Send.
   2. If the test message fails, exit the error dialog box and the Send Test Email dialog box, and revise your email server configuration settings. Then send the test message again.
   3. Once the test message is successful, click OK to confirm the successful operation.
   4. Check the email account to which you sent the test email message.

Configuring an email notification template

1. Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
2. On the icon bar, click (More), and then select Notifications.

   The Notifications page appears.

3. In the Email Settings pane, click Change.

   The Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box appears.

4. Select Enable Email Notifications.
   The email template is enabled and is visible. The values of the default email template are described in the following step.
5. Review the contents in the Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box and determine if the default content suits your needs.

   Option	Description
   Enable email notifications	This setting enables or disables the email notification template. To enable email notification, select this option. To disable email notification, clear this option.
   Email Subject	The contents of this text field control the subject line for email messages sent as notifications of system events. The default email subject line is as follows: <hostName> <level>: <name> for <agentName>
   Email	The contents of this text area control the body for email messages sent as notifications of system events. The default email body message is as follows: <shortCompanyName> <coreProductName> on <hostName> has reported the <level> event "<name>" Date/Time: <localTimestamp> <message> <if(details.errorDetails)> <details.ErrorDetails.Message> <details.ErrorDetails.Details> <endif> --- About this event: <description> <coreAdminUrl>
   Send Test Email	Clicking this button sends a test email message to the email address you specify in the resulting Send Test Email dialog box.
   Restore Defaults	Clicking this button removes any customized changes from the email template, and restores the Email Subject and Email fields with the default contents described in this table.
   OK	Clicking this button confirms and saves the settings in the Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box.
   Cancel	Clicking this button cancels any changes in the Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box.

6. If you want to customize the email template, make changes to the text or variables described in the preceding step. The variables used in the default are described in the following table.

   Option	Description
   hostName	The host name of the Core
   details	The details object of the specific event.
   agentName	The name of the protected machine associated with this event, if the event has a scope of a single protected machine.
   repositoryName	The name of the repository associated with this event, if the event has repository scope.
   jobSummary	The summary of the job associated with this event, if the event has job scope.
   remoteSlaveCoreName	The name of the remote target Core associated with this event, if the event has target Core scope.
   remoteMasterCoreName	The name of the remote source Core associated with this event, if the event has source Core scope.
   productName	The name of the product, for example 'AppAssure Core' or 'Rapid Recovery Core.' This product name can be changed for branding using white labeling.
   companyName	The name of the company selling the product.

7. In the Email Subject text box, enter a subject for the email template.

   The Email Subject is used to define the subject of the email notification template, for example, <hostname> - <level>: <name>.

8. In the Email text box, enter the information for the body of the template which describes the event, when it occurred, and the severity.
9. Click Send Test Email , and then do the following:
   1. In the Send Test Email dialog box, enter a destination email address for the test message and then click Send.
   2. If the test message fails, exit the error dialog box and the Send Test Email dialog box, click OK to save the current email template settings. Then modify your email server settings as described in the procedure Configuring an email server. Ensure that you reenter the password for that email account. Save those settings and then return to this procedure.
   3. Once the test message is successful, click OK to confirm the successful operation.
   4. Check the email account to which you sent the test email message.