Active Administrator 8.6 - User Guide

Managing alerts

Managing alerts

Alerts give you the opportunity to combine different alert conditions into a set that is sent to specified individuals. You can also add a filter to the condition set to further isolate audit events for the email recipient.

 

NOTE: The email server must be configured to send notifications. See Setting email server options. TIP: You can configure the notification service to send emails in batches. See Setting notification options. NOTE: The Active Directory Health module also uses alerts to help you manage Active Directory®. See Setting alerts. TIP: Each alert has a separate email address list for notification. To manage the email list, you can edit the individual alert or you can manage the email address lists in one location. See Managing email addresses.

The Alert page shows the alerts in the top pane and the alert history for a selected alert in the bottom pane. You can size the panes by dragging the horizontal split bar up or down.

To manage alerts

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Use the tool bar to manage alerts.

 

Table 69. Alerts tool bar

Option	Description
Refresh	Refresh all alerts.
Refresh Selected	Refresh selected alerts.
New	Add a new alert. See Creating an alert.
Edit	Edit an existing alert.
Delete	Delete a selected alert.
More	Enable or disable alerts. Suspend or resume email notifications. See Managing alerts.
Notification Policy	Set the policy for alert notification emails. See Changing the alert notification policy.
Global Quiet Times	Set global alert quiet times for all alerts. See Setting global quiet time.
Alert History	Filter the alert history, view details on an alert history item, resend an alert in an email, or run a report. See Setting global quiet time.

Creating an alert

Creating an alert

A wizard guides you through creating a new Active Administrator® alert. Alerts provide you the opportunity to combine different conditions into one alert that is sent to specified email recipients. You also can add a filter to the alert to further isolate audit events for the recipient.

To create a new alert

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Click New.

3	On the Welcome page, click Next.

4	Type a name and optional description for the alert.

5	Select the priority of the alert: normal, low, or high.

6	Click Next.

7	Click Add and type the email address to receive notification of the alert.

▪	To edit a selected email address, click Edit.

▪	To remove a selected email address from the list, click Remove.

 

NOTE: To manage the Auditing and Alerting Alerts email address list, see Managing email addresses.

8	Click Next.

9	Select the Event Definitions to include in the alert.

▪	To filter the list, type text in the Filter box. The list changes as you type characters. The definitions displayed contain the characters you type. For example, if you type com, the definitions displayed may contain the words Completed or Computer.

▪	To clear the filter and restore the list, click X.

▪	To show only selected definitions, open the Show box, and choose Selected.

▪	To show only unselected definitions, open the Show box, and choose Unselected.

10	Click Next.

11	Add alert filters.

Use this feature to help limit the number of emails sent to the specified email list. Alert filters are optional and applied to the details section of the event. Only the events that match the filter will be included in the notification email. For example, if the alert filter is Contains OU=Sales, only the events where OU=Sales appears in the details section are included in the notification email.

a	To add a new alert filter, click Add.

–OR-

To edit a selected alert filter, click Edit.

b	Select if the email Contains or Does not contain the condition text.

c	Type the text to find in the details section of the alert.

d	By default the filter conditions are combined using the OR operator. If you want to connect with the AND operator, select AND all conditions.

12	Click Next.

13	Define the quiet time during which no notifications are sent. Alerts that are triggered during the quiet time are still logged to the Alert History. Setting an Alert Quiet Time is optional.

NOTE: There is also a global quiet time that you can set. The quiet times set here are in addition to any global quiet times. See Setting global quiet time.

a	To add a new quiet time, click Add.

–OR-

To edit a selected quiet time, click Edit.

b	Select Enabled. To disable a quiet time, clear the check box.

c	Select All Days or specify a specific day.

d	Set the start and end time.

e	By default, actions associated with the alert are stopped during quiet time. To run actions during quiet time, select the check box.

14	Click Next.

15	Set the alert threshold. The alert threshold sets limits that must be met before alerts are sent out.

a	To add a new threshold, click Add.

–OR-

To edit a selected threshold, click Edit.

b	Select Enabled. To disable a threshold, clear the check box.

c	Select the event definition from the list.

d	Select the number of events and minutes to define the threshold.

16	Click Next.

17	Define the action that this alert runs when the alert condition is met.

NOTE: The action is run using the Notification service account. Please make sure the Notification Service account has sufficient rights to all of the resources needed by the action.

a	Select Enabled. To disable an action, clear the check box.

b	Type the full path to the executable for the program or script or browse to locate the executable.

NOTE: The script must reside in a share on the Active Administrator server. That share must be accessible to the Active Administrator Foundation Server (AFS) service and the operator of the remote Active Administrator console. The path to the script must be entered using Uniform Naming Convention (UNC).

c	For the argument, browse to open the list of Alert Action Variables.

a	Select a variable in the top box.

b	Click Insert.

c

Click OK.

d	Optionally, type the path to a folder that contains the executable or browse to locate the folder.

e	If you want to delay the action that the alert will run, enter a time delay in minutes.

18	Click Next.

19	Review the summary.

20	Click Finish.

Managing existing alerts

Managing existing alerts

You can enable and disable alerts, either individually or all at once. A disabled alert is not triggered, therefore no email is sent regardless of the status of the notification policy.

You also can suspend email notifications, either individually or all at once. To suspend the email notification globally, see Changing the alert notification policy.

NOTE: Suspended alerts will not send emails when the alert is triggered. The suspended alert is still logged into alert history.

To enable or disable selected alerts

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Right-click one or more alerts, and choose Disable or Enable.

To enable or disable all alerts

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Select More | Disable All or More |Enable All.

To suspend or resume email notification on selected alerts

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Right-click one or more alerts, and select Suspend or Resume.

To suspend or resume email notification on all alerts

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Select More | Suspend All or More |Resume All.

Changing the alert notification policy

Changing the alert notification policy

You can view the status and past history of the alert notification policy. The alert notification policy determines how many notifications are sent within a specified time period and if an email is sent to the administrator when alerts are suspended. You also can disable the notification of alerts altogether.

To change the notification policy

1	Select Auditing & Alerting | Alerts.

2	Click Notification Policy.

The Status and History pages display information about the current status of the alert notification policy.

3	Click Settings.

4	By default, the alert notification policy is enabled. To disable the policy, clear the check box.

5	Set the maximum number of alerts to send and the period of time to include. By default, a maximum of 100 alerts are sent in a 20 minute period and the counter resets after 10 minutes.

6	By default, a notification is sent to the administrator when alerts are suspended. To not send notifications, clear the check box.

7

Click OK.