Sharing rules and rule sets

You can logically group multiple rule definitions for certain (complex) rule types, such as log file monitors, AppServers, NameServers, WebSpeed Transaction Servers, and databases. These rule combinations, called rule sets, are established and stored in the Fathom Component Library. A rule set comprises one or more rule definitions.

One of the advantages of using rule sets is that they are late-binding: a change to the rule set (such as adding, deleting, or modifying a rule definition) will propagate to all monitoring plans that use the rule set.

By sharing groups of rule definitions, you can manage a large number of resource monitors consistently and efficiently. For example, once a rule set exists, you can associate it with a log file monitor's monitoring plan. When the monitoring plan is active and the log file monitor is polled, Fathom can evaluate each rule in the set. See Chapter 7, "Monitoring File Resources," for details about how log file monitors use rule sets; see the Database Management Guide for details about database resources and rule sets; and see the OpenEdge Server Management Guide for details about AppServer, NameServer, and WebSpeed rule sets.

Choosing a rule's values

You can accept the default resource rule values, or you can set your own values.

To review and change rule definitions or other default values for a sample disk resource:

  1. Click the Disk category in the list frame. The list of disks appears in the detail frame.
  2. Click the disk resource. The Disk Monitor page opens.
  3. In the monitoring plan, click either a schedule or its Edit button. (The Edit button is located to the right of the plan's trending information.)
  4. The Monitoring Plan page for the disk opens.

  5. Review the rule definition:
    • Accept or change the default value that displays in the Alert if disk activity exceeds field. This is the only rule unique to setting up a disk resource monitor. For example, you might want to perform disk monitoring to determine if your disk usage is greater than 75 percent busy at certain peak times during the work week. In this field, override the default value of 90.0 with 75.0.
    • Accept the default alert severity, or choose another severity option from the drop-down list associated with the Alert severity field.
    • Identify alert behavior by accepting or changing values in the following fields:
    • Field
      Description
      Throw alert after: failed poll(s)
      Indicates how many times in a row the polling interval must fail before an alert is generated.
      On alert perform action
      Triggers the action you specify to occur when an alert is generated.
      Clear alert after: successful poll(s)
      Indicates the number of sequential successful polls that must occur before an alert is cleared.
      On clear perform action
      Triggers the action you specify when an alert is cleared.

      Note that by default the On alert perform action displays with the Default_Action displayed. You can elect to use or change to another action. However, the On clear performance action displays a default value of None; this field is optional.

  6. When you finish, click Save. The Disk Monitor page reappears, with the updated values in the Rule Summary:

All values you entered for the plan and rule definitions are immediately in effect. Any future alerts generated for this resource are based on the new criteria you set.

The following figure shows a sample Disk Monitor page for Disk-sd0 on the container chimay. The page includes all the values accepted or updated to define the basic properties, the monitoring plan, and rules for this resource monitor:

The page also provides a graphical view of the disk's status, as well as a link to the Configuration Advisor. See the "Calculating meaningful thresholds with the Configuration Advisor" section for details about using the Configuration Advisor with a disk resource.


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