Spotlight on SQL Server 10.0.3 - Getting Started Guide

Take action when the alarm severity returns to Normal. See "Example Alarm Action Rules" (page 1) for more information.

Take action when the alarm severity has been other than Normal for a specified period of time.

You define the period of time in hours, minutes or days. For example, take action when the alarm severity has been other than normal for 5 days.

Take action when an alarm requiring acknowledgement has not been acknowledged for a specified period of time.

You define the period of time: in hours, minutes or days.

This condition is applicable to alarms requiring acknowledgement. Alarms are configured to require acknowledgement using the Alarms Dialog (page 1). Alarms are acknowledged in Spotlight Today (page 1) and Spotlight Home Pages (page 1).

Select the alarm(s) this rule applies to (or the alarms this rule does not apply to). If this condition is not specified this rule applies to all alarms.

Take action when the alarm severity changes to one of the following: Information, Low, Medium or High.

Select the connection(s) this rule applies to (or the connections this rule does not apply to)

See also the conditions for the connection type and the connection's tag.

Select from the connection types: Analysis Services, High Availability, SQL Server Replication, SQL Azure, SQL Server, VMWare and Windows.

See also the conditions for the connection and the connection's tag.

This rule is conditional on the connection matching a specified tag name.

Tag names are applied to connections on the Connection Properties Dialog - Tags Page (page 1). Tag names are a way to group your connections in a way that is meaningful to you and independent of the connection name or connection type.

Does this rule apply to a specific date? Does this rule apply to every date except a specific date?

The date is as per the date on the Spotlight Diagnostic Server.

Does this rule apply to one or more days of the week? For example, the rule may apply only to the weekend or only to weekdays.

The day of the week is as per the day on the Spotlight Diagnostic Server.

Refer to the text that is displayed in the Details column of the Alarm Log (page 1) when the alarm is raised. Take action when the Details column contains (or does not contain) one or more specific phrases.

To edit the text that will display in the Details column, see the Alarms Dialog (page 1).

Decrease the severity to one of: Normal, Information, Low or Medium.

Notes:

• If the action is to decrease the severity to Low then the alarm raised must have a severity of High or Medium for any action to take place. If the alarm raised has a severity lower than the severity selected for this action then no action will be taken.
• If the alarm requires acknowledgment and has not been acknowledged, then this action will decrease the alarm severity without acknowledgement.

Note: This feature is available only in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise.

Execute a Powershell script on the monitored server. The script is executed remotely using the username/password configured on the Spotlight Diagnostic Server.

Tip: To use variables in your Powershell script see Alarms - Message Variables (page 1) for more information.

Note: This action fails if the Windows connection to the monitored server is configured to Use Diagnostic Server credentials. See "Connections to Windows Servers" (page 1) for more information.

Note: This feature is available only in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise.

Execute a SQL script on the monitored server. This action is applicable only to SQL Server connections. The script is executed under the username and password Spotlight uses to connect to the SQL Server.

Tip: To use variables in your SQL script see Alarms - Message Variables (page 1) for more information.

Note: This feature is available only in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise.

Execute a command line on the Spotlight Diagnostic server.

When filling in the command line field:

• File or path names that contain spaces should be enclosed in double quotes.
• Use variables where applicable. See "Alarms - Message Variables" (page 1) for more information.

• Here is an example. You can echo tag values as follows.

  Output to file:	echo {{TAG_VALUE #tagname}} >>c:\output.txt
  Output to monitor:	MSG /SERVER:<computer name> * "{{TAG_VALUE #tagname}}"

The behavior of the invoked program depends on the nature of the program.

• It is recommended that you do not invoke a UI-based program in response to the alarm, as the program will run as a service on a remote host.
• If the program that runs in response to an alarm is still executing when the alarm fires again, subsequent commands to run the program are ignored until that execution finishes.
• If you attempt to stop Spotlight on SQL Server whilst a program or command line action is still executing, Spotlight on SQL Server will wait until that program or command line action has ended before stopping.

Re-evaluate this rule after a specified period of time. If the conditions of this rule are still true at that time then repeat the actions. Continue to repeat these actions at this interval for as long as all conditions are true.

You define the period of time: in hours, minutes or days.

For example, if the rule is to Send an email if a CPU alarm is raised and Run actions again after 5 minutes, then an email will be sent every 5 minutes for as long as the CPU alarm is raised.

Note: This feature is available only in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise.

Send an email. Enter the target email address, subject line and content of the message to be sent.

Tips:

• You can create a default recipient list. See "Configure the Mail Server Used by the Spotlight Diagnostic Server" (page 1) for more information.
• To include text specific to the alarm in the email use variables. See Alarms - Message Variables (page 1).

Return the alarm severity to Normal.

Note: If the alarm requires acknowledgment and has not been acknowledged, then following this action the alarm severity will be returned to normal without acknowledgement.