Foglight for Oracle (Cartridge) 5.9.7.10

You can customize how the alarms generated by the default Foglight for Oracle rules are triggered and displayed in the Alarm view’s Settings tab. All changes to alarm settings apply to the selected agents, with the exception of thresholds, which can be customized by agent.


	TIP: If you want to copy alarm settings to another agent that was not in the selected list— for example, you add a new agent — you can copy the alarm customizations to that agent. For instructions, see Cloning Agent Settings .


	IMPORTANT: Avoid editing Foglight for Oracle rules in the Administration > Rules & Notifications > Rule Management dashboard. Default rules may be modified during regular software updates and your edits will be lost. Always use the Alarms view.

The Alarms list controls the contents displayed to the right and the tasks that are available.

•

All Alarms – Displays all rules with configured alarms and indicates whether alarms are enabled. In this view, you can enable or disable alarms for all the rules at once. You can also set email notifications and define mail server settings.

•

Category of rules – Displays a set of related rules with configured alarms. In this view, you can enable or disable alarms and also set email notifications for the category of rules.

•

Rule name – Displays the alarm status for the selected rule. If the rule has multiple severity levels, displays the threshold configured for each severity level. In this view, you can enable or disable the alarm, edit the alarm text, and edit severity levels and their thresholds. You can also set email notifications for the alarm.

You can complete the following tasks:

•

Enabling or disabling alarms for selected agents

•

Modifying alarm threshold values

•

Editing the text of the alarm message

Your changes are saved separately and applied over the default rules. This protects you from software upgrades that may change the underlying default rules.

Enabling or disabling alarms for selected agents

You can override the global alarm sensitivity level setting for the selected agents. You can enable or disable alarms for all rules, a category of rules, or an individual rule.


	TIP: If you want to see descriptions of the rules, follow the steps described in Reviewing Rule Definitions .

To enable or disable alarms:

In the Alarms view, click the Settings tab.

Decide on the scope for the change: all alarms, a category of rules, or a selected rule.

Complete the steps for the selected scope:

Table 31. Alarm scope
Scope	Procedure
All alarms	Click All Alarms. In the Alarms Settings tab, click either Enable all or Disable all.
Category of rules	Click a category. Click either Enable all or Disable all.
Selected rule	Click the rule. In the Alarms Settings tab, click the link that displays the alarm status. Select Enabled or Disabled from the list and click Set.

Click Save changes.

Modifying alarm threshold values

You can and should modify the thresholds associated with alarms to better suit your environment. If you find that alarms are firing for conditions that you consider to be acceptable, you can change the threshold values that trigger the alarm. You can also enable or disable severity levels to better suit your environment.

When a rule has severity levels, a Threshold section appears in the Alarm Settings tab showing the severity levels and bounds by agent. Many rules, such as Baseline rules, do not have severity levels and thresholds.

When editing thresholds, ensure that the new values make sense in context with the other threshold values. For most metrics, threshold values are set so that Warning < Critical < Fatal. However, in metrics where normal performance has a higher value, such as DBO - SGA Library Cache, the threshold values are reversed: Warning > Critical > Fatal.


	TIP: If you want to review the thresholds for all Foglight for Oracle rules in a single view, use the Rule Management dashboard. In the navigation panel, click Homes > Administration, then click Rules. Type DBO in the Search field to see the list of predefined rules for Oracle databases. For rules with severity levels, you can see the threshold values set for each level. If you want to edit threshold values, return to the Alarms view. Edits made directly to the default rules may be overwritten during software upgrades.

To change severity levels and thresholds:

In the Alarms view, click the Settings tab.

Click the multiple-severity rule that you want to edit.

Click the Alarms Settings tab.

In the Threshold section, review the defined severity levels and existing threshold bounds for all target agents. The colored bar across the bottom of the view indicates the percentage of collections that fall within each threshold.

From this view, you can perform the following tasks:

Table 32. Tasks
Task	Procedure
Edit severity levels and set threshold (lower bound) values for all agents.	Click Enhance alarm. Select the check boxes for the severity levels you want enabled and set the threshold values. Click Set.
Change the threshold (lower bound) values for one agent.	Click Edit beside the agent name. Set the new threshold values and click Set.
Copy the changes made to one agent’s threshold values to all other agents.	Click Edit beside the agent name that has the values you want to copy. Select Set for all agents in table and click Set.

Click Save changes.

Editing the text of the alarm message

For individual rules, you can change the message displayed when an alarm fires. You cannot add or remove the variables used in the message. This is a global setting that affects all agents.

To change the alarm message:

In the Alarms view, click the Settings tab.

Select a rule.

Click the Alarm Settings tab.

Click Enhance alarm.

A Customize <rule> dialog box opens.

In the Message box, edit the message text.

If desired, you can restore the default message by clicking Reset message.

Click Set.

Click Save changes.

Configuring Email Notifications

We recommend that you set email notifications for the alarms you are most interested in tracking closely. For example, you may want to be notified by email of any Critical or Fatal situation. Or you may want to be informed whenever a key metric, such as CPU usage, is no longer operating within acceptable boundaries.

You can set up email notifications that are generated when an alarm fires and/or on a defined schedule, as described in the following topics:

•

Configuring an email server

•

Defining Default Email settings

•

Defining email notifications, recipients, and messages

•

Defining variables to contain email recipients

•

Defining scheduled email notifications

Configuring an email server

You need to define the global mail server variables (connection details) to be used for sending email notifications. The setting of the email should be configured in Foglight Administration > Email configuration.

Defining Default Email settings

You can define a default email address to be used by every new agent created in the future, by selecting the Default email button when configuring email notification.

The Email addresses entered are applied to all monitored agents not only for the agents that were selected to enter the Alarm administration.

Enabling or disabling email notifications

You can enable or disable email notifications for all alarms, a category of alarms, or a selected rule. Email notifications are sent only if all the following conditions are met:

•

The alarm email notification setting is enabled for the affected rule.

•

The alarm is triggered by changes in the monitored environment.

•

Alarm notification is enabled at the triggered severity level. See Defining email notifications, recipients, and messages.

To enable or disable email notifications:

In the Alarms view, click the Settings tab.

Decide on the scope for the change: all alarms, a category of rules, or a selected rule.

Complete the steps for the selected scope:

Table 33. Enable or disable email notification settings
Scope	Procedure
All alarms	Click All Alarms. In the Alarms Settings tab, click the Define Email Settings button. Select either Enabled or Disabled from the Alarms notification status list. Click Set.
Category of rules	Click a category. Click the Define Email Settings button. Select either Enabled or Disabled from the Alarms notification status list. Click Set.
Selected rule	Click a rule. In the Alarms Settings tab, click the Define Email Settings tab. Click the link that displays the alarm notification status. Select Enabled or Disabled and click Set.

Click Save changes.

Defining email notifications, recipients, and messages

You control who receives email messages, the subject line, and some text in the body of the email. The body of the email always contains information about the alarm. This information is not editable. You can also control whether an email is sent based on severity levels. You can set different distribution lists for different rules and different severity levels, or set the same notification policy for all rules.

To configure email notifications:

In the Alarms view, click the Settings tab.

Decide on the scope for the change: all alarms, a category of rules, or a selected rule.

Complete the steps for the selected scope:

Table 34. Configure email notification settings

Scope

Procedure

All alarms

Click All Alarms. In the Alarms Settings tab, click the Define Email Settings button. Continue to Step 4.

Category of rules

Click a category. Click the Define Email Settings button. Continue to Step 4.

Selected rule

Click a rule. Click the Define Email Settings tab.

•

To change the severity level that warrants an email notification, click the link that displays the severities. Select the desired level of severity and click Set.

•

To configure email recipients and the message, select the tab for a severity level, and click Edit. Skip to Step 5.

If you selected All Alarms or a category, in the Email Notification Settings dialog box, do one of the following:

•

To change the severity levels that warrant an email notification, from the Messages will be enabled for severities box, select the desired levels of severity.

•

To configure the same email recipients and message for all severity levels, click Configure mail recipients for all Severities and then click All severities.

•

To configure different email recipients and messages for each of the severity levels, click Configure mail recipients for the following options and then click a severity level.

In the Message Settings dialog box, configure the email recipients and message.

•

To — Type the addresses of the people who need to take action when this alarm triggers.

•

CC — Type the addresses of the people who want to be notified when the alarm triggers.


	NOTE: If a mail server is not found, you are prompted to configure a mail server. For instructions, see Configuring an email server .

You can use registry variables in place of email addresses. Type the variable name between two hash (#) symbols, for example: #EmailTeamName#. For more information, see Defining variables to contain email recipients .

•

Subject — Optional. Edit the text of the subject line to better suit your environment. Avoid editing the variables, which are identified with the @ symbol.

•

Body Prefix — Optional. Add text that should appear above the alarm information in the body of the email.

Click Set to save the message configuration and close the dialog box.

If the Edit Notification Settings dialog box is open, click Set.

Click Save changes.

Defining variables to contain email recipients

You can create registry variables that contain one or more email addresses and (optionally) their scheduled notifications, and use these registry variables when defining email notifications. This procedure describes how to create a registry value. For schedules, see Defining scheduled email notifications.

To create a registry variable:

On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click Administration > Rules & Notifications > Manage Registry Variables.

Click Add.

The New Registry Variable Wizard opens.

Select the registry variable type String, and click Next.

In the Name field, enter a name, for example: EmailTeamName

Optional — Add a description.

Click Next.

Select Static Value.

In the Enter desired value box, enter one or more email addresses (separated by commas).


	NOTE: Email groups are not permitted.

Click Finish.

The Edit Registry Variable dashboard displays the newly created registry variable.

To use a registry variable in email notifications, type the variable name between two hash (#) symbols, for example: #EmailTeamName#. For more information, see Defining email notifications, recipients, and messages .

Defining scheduled email notifications

If someone wants to receive an email about an alarm on a regular basis, such as once a day, you use a registry variable schedule to set up the notification.

To schedule the sending of email notifications for a registry variable:

If you are continuing from Defining variables to contain email recipients, the registry variable is already open for editing in the Edit Registry Variable dashboard.


	TIP: To edit a different variable, navigate to the Administration > Rules & Notifications > Manage Registry Variables dashboard, click the variable name, and select View and Edit Details.

In the Performance Calendars List table, click Add.

The Performance Calendar Wizard opens.

Select a schedule, for example: End of Day

Click Next.

Select Static Value.

In the Enter desired value box, enter one or more email addresses (separated by commas) that should received email notifications based on the schedule.


	TIP: The addresses may the same as or different from those assigned to the registry variable.

Click Finish.

The Edit Registry Variable dashboard displays the newly created schedule. If desired, repeat to add other schedules.

Cloning Agent Settings

You may want an agent to have the same settings as another agent. For example, if you add new agents, you may want them to use the same settings as an existing agent. In this case, you can clone the settings from one agent to other agents. This process does not link the agents; in the future if you update the source agent, you also need to update the target agents.

This procedure walks you through selecting the source agent from the Databases dashboard. However, you can also open the Administration dashboard with multiple agents selected. In this case, you select the source agent in Clone Alarm-related Settings to Other Agents dialog box.

To clone alarm-related settings:

On the Databases dashboard, select the check box for the agent with the settings you want to clone.

Click Settings and then Administration.

In the Administration dashboard, click Alarms.

Click Set configuration on selected agents.

The Clone Alarm settings cross agents dialog box opens.

In the Select the source agent drop-down list, you should see the agent you selected.

In the Select the target agents table, select the check boxes for agents that should inherit settings from the source agent.

Click Apply.

When prompted for confirmation, click Yes.

Reviewing Rule Definitions

If you want to review the conditions of a rule, open the rule in the Rule Management dashboard.


	IMPORTANT: Avoid editing Foglight for Oracle rules in the Rule Management dashboard. These rules may be modified during regular software updates and your edits will be lost. Always use the Alarms view.

You can create user-defined rules from the Rule Management dashboard. If you want to modify a rule, we recommend copying the rule and creating a user-defined rule. User-defined rules need to be managed from the Rule Management dashboard; these rules are not displayed in the Alarms view of the Databases Administration dashboard. For help creating rules, open the online help from the Rule Management dashboard.

To open the Rule Management dashboard:

On the navigation panel, under Homes, click Administration.

In the Rules & Notifications dashboard, click Rules.

Type DBO in the Search field to see the list of predefined rules for Oracle databases.

The Foglight for Oracle rules are displayed. From here, you can review threshold values, alarm counts, and descriptions.

To see the full rule definition, click a rule and then click View and Edit.

In the Rule Detail dialog box, click Rule Editor.

When you are done your review, click Rule Management in the breadcrumbs to return to the dialog box.