Understanding email notifications
You can set up Rapid Recovery Core to notify you of specific events by sending an email message to an email address that you specify. The events which trigger alerts, and the notification methods, are defined in the notification group.
|
|
NOTE: Notification groups must be established regardless of whether you use email as a notification method. For more information, see Configuring notification groups. |
Rapid Recovery uses an email notification template, which determines the information sent in each notification. The template defines the email subject line for each alert, and the content in the email message body. The template has default settings; you can use the default as-is, or you can test and make modifications to serve your needs. At any point after customizing the notification template, you can choose the Restore Defaults option to return to using the default template. For information on viewing and customizing the email template, see Configuring an email notification template.
If you choose email as one of your notification options, you must first configure an email SMTP server. The Rapid Recovery Core uses the server you define to send alerts based on the parameters in the notification group.
Additionally, to receive email notifications, you must enable the Notify by email option within the notification group. This notification option is disabled by default. The Notify by email setting requires a "To" address defined at minimum. (Optionally, you can add copy and blind copy addresses if desired.)
This section includes the following topics:
- Configuring notification groups
- Configuring an email server
- Configuring an email notification template
Configuring an email server
Complete the steps in this procedure to configure an email server.
|
|
NOTE: You must also configure notification group settings, including enabling the Notify by email option, before email alert messages are sent by the system. For more information on specifying events to receive email alerts, see Configuring notification groups. |
- Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
- 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.
- Click on the setting you want to change.
The setting you selected becomes editable.
- 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).
- 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.
- Click
Send Test Email and then do the following:
- In the Send Test Email dialog box, enter a destination email address for the test message and then click Send.
- 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.
- Once the test message is successful, click OK to confirm the successful operation.
- Check the email account to which you sent the test email message.
Configuring an email notification template
When you enable notifications of Rapid Recovery events by email, a default template is created for you by default. The SMTP email server defined for the Core uses this template to send notifications regarding Rapid Recovery events by email.
This topic describes the process of configuring the default email notification template or customizing the content. Using the Restore Default option, you can restore changes to the default notification template at any time.
|
|
Caution: Modify the template at your own risk. You are responsible for testing any modifications to the template. Only the default template is supported. |
Complete the steps in this procedure to configure an email notification template.
|
|
NOTE: You must also configure an email server and notification group settings, including enabling the Notify by email option, before email alert messages are sent. For more information about configuring an email server for sending alerts, see Configuring an email server. For more information on specifying events to receive email alerts, see Configuring notification groups. |
- Navigate to the Rapid Recovery Core Console.
- On the icon bar, click
(More), and then select
Notifications.
The Notifications page appears.
- In the Email Settings pane, click
Change.
The Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box appears.
- 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.
- 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. - 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. - 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>.
- In the Email text box, enter the information for the body of the template which describes the event, when it occurred, and the severity.
- Click Send Test Email , and then do the following:
- In the Send Test Email dialog box, enter a destination email address for the test message and then click Send.
- 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.
- Once the test message is successful, click OK to confirm the successful operation.
- Check the email account to which you sent the test email message.
Once you are satisfied with the results of your tests, return to the Edit Email Notification Configuration dialog box, and click OK to close the dialog box and save your settings.
Configuring event settings
You can configure certain setting specific to events.
For example, you can set repetition reduction settings to reduce the amount of notifications you see for identical repeated events.
You can also set the amount of time, in days, that event records are retained in the database.
View the following topics to learn about configuring event settings.
Related topics: