Configuring general settings

Through the General tab of the Add Policy dialog, you can create a new policy. A policy specifies a set of actions to be taken when a specific condition on the PATROL Agent is fulfilled. First and foremost, actions include monitor configuration. Once a monitor is configured, policies can also specify threshold creation and the setting of baselines. A policy can also include intelligent server-side thresholds so that IT administrators can immediately be alerted on potential problems.

For detailed explanations of policies, see  Managing monitoring policies

1. In the navigation pane of Central Monitoring Administration, under the Policies drawer, click All and then select a policy view.
2. Click Add, or select an existing policy and click Edit.
3. Enter or edit information in the General tab.

The following table provides instructions for each field on the General tab:

Policies and tenants

When Central Monitoring Administration receives a configuration request from a BMC PATROL Agent that is associated with a provider or a tenant, policies are applied in the following way:

• If only a global policy has a matching tag, then configuration from the global policy applies to the BMC PATROL Agent.
• If a global policy and a provider or tenant policy have matching tags, then configuration from both policies apply to the BMC PATROL Agent. If a conflict arises (that is, two policies configure the same attributes), then configuration from the provider or tenant policy applies.

Policy precedence

When more than one policy is applied to a BMC PATROL Agent and BMC ProactiveNet Child Server, configuration is a union of every attribute defined in the policies. If a conflict arises (that is, two policies configure the same attributes), it is resolved in one of the following ways:

• Policies with the same tag: If conflicting policies have the same tag, the precedence value determines the order in which the policies are considered. The policy with the lower number value for precedence is the policy from which the final configuration is determined.
• Policies with different tags: If conflicting policies have different tags, and BMC PATROL Agent lists both tags, then the policies are determined according to the order that the tags appear in the comma-separated list on the agent. The last tag listed on the agent corresponds to the policy from which the final configuration is determined.