Foglight for DB2 (Cartridge) 7.1.0 - Getting Started Guide

Foglight 6.3.0 uses alarm templates to gather alarm rules into a domain-specific template that is easily modified and applied to targets. You can customize how the alarms generated by the default Foglight for DB2 LUW rules are triggered and displayed in by assigning alarm templates via the Alarm Template Settings tab. You can apply an existing template, create a new template using an existing template as reference, or create a template based on an agent. All changes to alarm templates apply to the selected agents.

Refer to Viewing, Creating, and Managing Alarm Templates in the Foglight 6.3.0 User Guide for more information.


	IMPORTANT: Avoid editing Foglight for DB2 LUW rules in the Administration > Rules & Notifications > Rule Management dashboard. Default rules may be modified during regular software updates and your edits are lost. Always use the Alarm Templates dashboard.

Figure 3. Use the Alarms view to assign alarm templates.

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

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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.W hen viewing all alarms, the Alarm Template Settings tab is displayed, enabling configuration of alarm templates.

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Category of rules — Displays a set of related rules with configured alarms. In this view, you can set email notifications for the category of rules.

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Rule name — Displays the email notification status for the selected rule. If the rule has multiple severity levels, displays the notification configured for each severity level. In this view, you can enable or disable email notifications for the alarm and edit alarm messages.

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You can complete the following tasks:

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Assign an Alarm Template to selected agents

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Modifying alarm threshold values

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

Assign an Alarm Template to selected agents

You can override the alarm rules for the selected agents by assigning an alarm template. You can use the template to enable or disable alarms for all rules or an individual rule, or to change the threshold values of an alarm rule.

To see descriptions of the rules, follow the steps described in Reviewing Rule Definitions .

To assign an existing alarm template:

In the Alarms view, click the Alarm Template Settings tab.

Select Assign a template to selected agent(s),

Do one of the following:

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Select an alarm template from the drop-down.

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Click Save and Navigate.

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Select Create a new template from the drop-down. This will allow you to create a new template based of an existing template.

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In the Clone from field, select the template to copy.

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Enter a name for the new template.

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Click Save and Navigate.

The template will be displayed in the Alarm Template dashboard. Refer to Viewing, Creating, and Managing Alarm Templates in the Foglight 6.3.0 User Guide for more information on editing alarm templates.

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. For an example, see the DBSS - Worker Thread rule. The threshold values corresponds to the lower bounds shown in this table. 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 DBSS - Buffer Cache Hit Rate, the threshold values are reversed: Warning > Critical > Fatal.

To change alarm status and threshold values:


	IMPORTANT: The procedure below is a summary. Refer to Viewing, Creating, and Managing Alarm Templates in the Foglight 6.3.0 User Guide for more information on editing alarm templates for more information on working with alarm templates.

In the Navigation panel, click Alarm Templates.

If you have previously configured an alarm template, select that template.

Otherwise, click the Factory Template to view the default rules. Duplicate the factory template to make an editable copy, selecting the appropriate domains.

Click the appropriate DB2 domain tab.

Scroll or search to find the alarm rule you want to edit. Click the rule to select it.

Edit the rules using the procedure described in Viewing, Creating, and Managing Alarm Templates in the Foglight 6.3.0 User Guide

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 email notifications 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 or on a defined schedule, as described in the following topics:

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Configuring an email server

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Defining Default Email settings

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Defining email notifications, recipients, and messages

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Defining variables to contain email recipients

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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.

E.nabling 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:

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

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Changes in the monitored environment trigger an alarm.

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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 2. 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 3. 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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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 Email Notifications .

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 .

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

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

Figure 4. Message Settings.

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 regularly, 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.