How to Apply a Blackout Schedule to a Specific Rule in Foglight (4274221)

This article describes how to apply a blackout schedule to a specific Foglight rule to suppress alarm generation during a defined time period.

Foglight rules generate alarms when their configured conditions and thresholds are met. In some environments, scheduled maintenance, backups, antivirus scans, batch processing, or other planned activities may temporarily trigger expected alerts. Applying a blackout schedule to the affected rule prevents unnecessary alarms during those scheduled periods.

Step 1: Create or Identify a Schedule

1. Log in to the Foglight Console.
2. Navigate to Administration | Schedules | Manage Schedules.
3. Review the existing schedules.
4. If a suitable schedule does not already exist, click Add Schedule and create a schedule that matches the required blackout window.
5. Save the schedule.

Example: Create a schedule for a daily blackout window from 12:00 AM to 2:00 AM.

Step 2: Apply the Schedule to the Rule

1. Navigate to Administration | Rules & Notifications | Rules.
2. Search for the rule to be blacked out (for example, CPU Utilization).
3. Open the rule properties.
4. Select the Schedules tab.
5. Move the desired schedule into the Blackout Schedules section.
6. Click Save.

Step 3: Verify the Configuration

1. Reopen the rule configuration.
2. Select the Schedules tab.
3. Verify that the schedule appears in the Blackout Schedules list.
4. During the next scheduled blackout window, confirm that alarms are not generated by the rule.

Additional Information

• A rule blackout affects only the selected rule.
• Other rules associated with the same monitored object continue to evaluate normally.
• Multiple blackout schedules can be assigned to a rule if required.
• Blackout schedules are commonly used for maintenance windows, antivirus scans, backups, patching activities, and batch-processing jobs.
• Removing the blackout schedule immediately restores normal rule evaluation during the scheduled period.