Chapter 1, Getting Started

Using Alerts

 For more comprehensive information on alerts, including a description of all the pre-configured alerts provided in the Alert Library, see Chapter 3, ``Alerts''. Also see Chapter 4, ``Action Programs'' for descriptions of the default action programs that can be invoked by the alerts.


Alert Notices

When an alert is triggered, an Alert Notice will be displayed as a pop-up window on your screen. If you receive an alert notice at this stage you can temporarily disable the receipt of these notices by hitting ESC. The alert will be put back on the Alert Notice Queue.


Alert Notice View



Alert Notice Fields

System Name
The name of the system generating the alert notice.

Title
The alert category.

Description
The type of alert in more detail.

Action
A recommended course of action.



Creating Simple Alerts

 SCO Doctor has a Knowledge Module for systems management. This module contains a library of over 30 preconfigured Alert Routines that you can enable or modify to meet your needs. You can also add to the Alert Library by creating alerts to monitor any system parameter or resource that is stored in one of the management databases. The following example creates a simple alert that will be triggered when the user CPU usage reaches a certain level, say 50% and maintains that level for a certain period of time, say one hour.

  1. Display the list of alerts by selecting the Intelligence, Alerts menu option.

  2. Select Edit, Insert to display the Create Alert dialog box.

  3. Enter a name for the alert you are creating.

  4. Set the Enable field to True and set the period to 3600 seconds. To prevent you from being swamped by alerts this alert will only run once per hour.

  5. In the Database field, press F3 to invoke the database pop-up selection list. Select the Percent Database.

  6. In the Table field, press F3 to invoke the table pop-up selection list. Select the pcpu table which contains percentage CPU load statistics.

  7. In the Column field, press F3 to invoke the column pop-up selection list. Select the user column.

  8. Enter the data values and the threshold information required to trigger the alert. Using these fields you can set this alert to trigger when the user CPU usage equals 0%, is less than 10%, greater than 50% and so on. For this example, set the Relation field to GT for greater than, and set the threshold to 50% by entering 50.



Modifying Simple Alerts

 An alert can be modified by selecting View, Intelligence, Alerts. Use the arrow keys to highlight the alert to be modified and then press ENTER or select Edit, Modify. Enter the new values in the modify dialog box.

  1. Select View, Intelligence, Alerts.

  2. Select Edit, Modify or use the arrow keys to highlight the alert to be modified and press ENTER.

  3. The modify dialog box will be displayed. Enter the new values.