Configuring blackout policies

Blackout policies enable you to black out events originating from various devices. These policies help you blackout events only, they are not applied to data. The following instructions help you to create, edit, copy, view, enable, disable, and delete blackout policies.

https://youtu.be/cvJCAuZr5cA

To create a blackout policy

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page, click Create, and do the following:

1. Specify a unique name, optional description, and precedence number for the policy.

2. Create the selection criteria based on which the policy is applied to the events.
   Values that you specify in the selection criteria are case-sensitive. For example, Message Equals test and Message Equals TEST are considered as different values.

    Constructing the selection criteria

   When you click in the box, you are prompted to make a selection. Each time you make a selection, you are progressively prompted to make another selection. 

   The selection criteria consist of an opening parenthesis, followed by the slot name, the operator, the slot value (which can be a string based on the type of slot selected), and the closing parenthesis. You can optionally select the logical operator AND or OR to add additional conditions. Specifying the opening and closing parentheses is optional.

   Example criteria: If you specify the following criteria, all the PATROL events with the "Open" status are selected and the policy is applied to them.

   The green tick mark indicates that the selection criteria syntax is correct.

   

   You can also copy the criteria by clicking Copy . The copied criteria can be reused in subsequent policies by pressing Ctrl+V in the selection criteria field.

   About specifying the class

   A condition based on the class slot must be specified before any other condition. In the subsequent conditions, the list of slots change based on the class specified. The subsequently displayed slots are subclasses of the parent class selected in the first condition.

   For example, in the following image notice the list of slots specific to the selected Alarm class.

   

3. Click Add Policy Configuration and configure the blackout settings.
   You can configure one of the following settings. You can also select a desired time zone under the Advanced Settings.

   1. One Time: Can be used to black out event notifications during a specified time period only, such as a holiday, or during an expected change in your IT environment.
      Perform the following steps to configure this setting:

      1. Select the start date for the blackout and click Next.
         You can click the arrows to change the month and the year.

      2. Set the start time for the blackout. The current system time is the default. Perform the following steps:

         1. Move the hours hand to set the hours part of the time.
         2. Move the minutes hand to set the minutes part of the time.
         3. Select the time of the day that is A.M. or P.M.
         4. Click Next.
      3. Select the end date for the blackout and click Next.
         You can click the arrows to change the month and the year.
         
      4. Set the end time for the blackout. The current system time is the default. Perform the following steps:
         1. Move the hours hand to set the hours part of the time.
         2. Move the minutes hand to set the minutes part of the time.
         3. Select the time of the day that is A.M. or P.M.
         4. Click OK.
   2. Recurring: Can be used to black out event notifications for a specified time period on a recurring basis, such as during a regular maintenance window, or if your IT operators don't want to see event notifications during certain times of the day.
      Perform the following steps to configure this setting:
      

      1. Configure the start time and end time of the blackout. 
         

          Click to see more information about the blackout time

         Appointment time
         Name	Description
         Start Time	Set the start time for the blackout.
         End Time	Set the end time for the blackout.

      2. Configure the recurrence pattern of the blackout.

          Click to see more information about the blackout recurrence

         Recurrence pattern
         Name	Description
         Repeats	Indicates how often the blackout schedule will run. It has the following options: Daily: Select this option to run the blackout schedule daily. Weekly: Select specific days of the week when the blackout schedule should run. Monthly: Specify dates of the month when the blackout schedule should run.
         Exclude Weekends	Select this option if you don't want to run the blackout schedule on weekends.

      3. Configure the range of recurrence of the blackout.
         

          Click to see more information about the blackout range of recurrence

         Range of recurrence
         Name	Description
         Start Date	Specify the date when you want the blackout to begin.
         No End Date	Select this option if you don't want the blackout to end, which means the blackout schedule executes perpetually.
         End Date	Specify the date when you want the blackout to end.
         End After	Specify the number of occurrences after which you want the blackout to end.

4. (Optional) In Blackout Actions, specify the action that you want to take during the blackout window. To learn about blackout actions, see Blackout policies.
5. Click Save.

6. (Optional) Select Enable Policy.
   You can enable or disable the policy any time from the Blackout Policies page.

7. Save the policy.

To edit a blackout policy

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page:

1.  Do one of the following:
   • Select the policy and click Edit.
   • From the Actions menu of a policy, select Edit.

2. Edit the policy and save the changes.

   Can I edit active policies?

   You cannot edit active policies. To edit an active policy, you must first disable it.

To copy a blackout policy

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page:

1. Click the action menu of the policy that you want to copy and select Copy. 
   The Create Blackout Policy page is displayed with the configurations of the copied policy. 
2. Modify the configurations according to your requirements to create a new policy quickly.

To view the list of blackout policies

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page, view the list of blackout policies.

By default, the policies are sorted by the last updated date and time (Modified By / On column). To sort on a different column, click the column heading.

To enable or disable a blackout policy

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page, do one of the following:

• Select the policy and click Enable or Disable.
• From the Actions menu of a policy, select Enable or Disable.
• Edit the policy and select or clear the Enable Policy check box.

To delete a blackout policy

On the Configuration > Blackout Policies page, do one of the following:

• Select one or more policies, click Delete, and click OK.

• From the Actions menu of a policy, select Delete, and click OK.