Support for blackouts

This topic discusses how to set and control blackouts for various BMC PATROL objects.

Using blackouts

You can set blackouts for various PATROL objects such as parameters, application instances, or application classes by using the BMC PATROL Agent configuration interface.

You can control blackouts for PATROL objects by using options for setting types of blackouts.

You can use the /AgentSetup/Blackout configuration branch to configure blackouts for PATROL objects. The branch maintains the list of objects that you want to black out and the object-specific blackout configuration such as the type of blackout, schedule information, duration, and information message to be associated with the blackout.

You can configure a blackout by using pconfig, wpconfig (Windows), xpconfig (UNIX ^® ), PATROL Configuration Manager, or a PSL pconfig script, by using the following format:

"/AgentSetup/Blackout/<object>" = {REPLACE = "[TYPE; START_INFO; DURATION; INFO_MSG]"}

The preceding format contains the following options:

PATROL objects

PATROL object options	Description
Application class	Blackout is applied to the specified application class, and all the instances and the parameters contained in the application class instances.
Application class instance	Blackout is applied to the specified application class instance and all its parameters.
Parameter	Blackout is applied to the specified parameter.

The object is specified in the following format:

/APP_NAME[/INST_NAME][/PARAM_NAME]

You can specify the application class ([/APP_NAME]) in an exact form, and in a generic form by using the __ANYAPPL__ wildcard string, as illustrated below:

For exact: /AgentSetup/Blackout/FILESYSTEM
For generic: /AgentSetup/Blackout/__ANYAPPL__

__ANYAPPL__ applies the blackout to all the application classes, instances, and parameters contained in that application class.

Note

If you have set the blackout for a specific PATROL object for the same or overlapping duration of time, the product applies the combined blackout to that PATROL object. For example, if you have set the TYPE_COLLECTION blackout on an application class by using __ANYAPPL__ and have set the TYPE_EVENT blackout on a parameter contained in that application class, the resultant blackout type for that parameter is TYPE_COLLECTION | TYPE_EVENT.

You can specify the application class instance ([/INST_NAME]) in an exact form, and in a generic form by using the __ANYINST__ wildcard string, as illustrated below:

- For exact:/FILESYSTEM/dev-pts/FSCapacity
- For generic:/FILESYSTEM/__ANYINST__/FSCapacity

For example,

"/AgentSetup/Blackout/PROCPRES/__ANYINST__/PROCPPCount" = {REPLACE = "[TYPE; START_INFO; DURATION; INFO_MSG]"}

TYPE represents the type of blackout. Specify the name of the type of blackout based on the PATROL object activities that you want to suppress during blackout, as described in the following table.
Types of blackout

Type name	Type value	Description
TYPE_COLLECTION	1	Suppresses data collection for parameters of an application class or an application class instance When the TYPE_COLLECTION blackout starts for a PATROL object, PATROL Agent sets the state of the PATROL object and any object contained in that object, to OK. The product sends the state message for that object to all the PATROL consoles. For example, if you have set the TYPE_COLLECTION blackout at the application level, PATROL Agent sets the state of application class, its instances, and the parameters to OK.
TYPE_ALARM	2	Suppresses range evaluations When the TYPE_ALARM blackout starts for a PATROL object, PATROL Agent sets the state of the PATROL object and any object contained in that PATROL object, to OK. The product sends the state message for that object to all the PATROL consoles. For example, if you have set the TYPE_ALARM blackout at the application instance level, then PATROL Agent sets the state of application instance and its parameters to OK. When the TYPE_ALARM blackout is completed, PATROL Agent evaluates thresholds for each object for which blackout rules were applied. The product thereafter sends a state event for the PATROL object that is in WARNING or ALARM state, and also for any object that is contained in that PATROL object and is in the WARNING or ALARM state. Note: If you set the blackout type as TYPE_ALARM, recovery actions are not ran.
TYPE_EVENT	4	Suppresses event generation You have set the TYPE_EVENT blackout on the PATROL objects. When the blackout is completed, PATROL Agent sends a state event for the following types of PATROL objects: Parameters that are in WARNING or ALARM state Parameters that are contained in a PATROL object (application class or instance) and are in WARNING or ALARM state. Note: The BlackoutStart and BlackoutStop events are not suppressed even if you have set the TYPE_EVENT blackout type. For more information about these events, see Events generated.
TYPE_RECOVERY	8	Suppresses recovery action
TYPE_SNMPTRAP	16	Suppresses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps generated by the standard event classes Note: SNMP traps generated by using the snmp_trap_send() PSL function are not suppressed.
TYPE_INFO	32	Generates only the blackout start and stop information events
TYPE_ALL	63	Runs all blackout types The value 63 is a sum of all type values (1+2+4+8+16+32=63).

When an event is generated for a PATROL object, the event description displays the type values described in the above table for various types of blackout.

Note

Do not enter the type value while specifying the type of blackout. Ensure that you use the type name while setting a blackout.
TYPE is case-sensitive. You must specify values in upper case only.

You can define multiple types by separating the types by using a | as in case of TYPE_EVENT|TYPE_RECOVERY|TYPE_COLLECTION, TYPE_RECOVERY|TYPE_SNMPTRAP, and so on.

Example

"/AgentSetup/Blackout/PROCPRES/__ANYINST__/PROCPPCount" = {REPLACE = "[TYPE_ALARM | TYPE_EVENT; START ONCE AT 12:54 FROM 03072014; 1; \"Combination of Multiple Types of Blackout\"]"}

FROM is specified in MMDDYYYY format. In the above example, the value 03072014 represents the collections beginning from March 07, 2014

START_INFOrepresents the condition when you want the blackout to start for the specified object. Specify START_INFO in the following format:

START \[ONCE/DAILY/DOW/DOM] \[LIST OF DAYS\] AT TIME

The following table describes the values that you can specify for START_INFO.

START_INFO options

START_INFO options	Description
ONCE	Applies the blackout once
DAILY	Applies the blackout daily
DOW	Applies the blackout on a day of the week To specify Monday, enter 1; for Tuesday, enter 2; and so on.
DOM	Applies the blackout on a day of the month (1 to 31)
LIST OF DAYS	Applies the blackout on the list of days that you specified as a range by using ‘-' or as comma-separated values This is applicable for the DOW and DOM options. Note: The following happens when you specify a range: For DOW, if you do not specify the start day in the range, the product assumes Monday as the start day; similarly, if you do not specify the end day in the range, the product assumes Sunday as the end day. For DOM, if you do not specify the start date in the range, the product assumes 1st as the start date; similarly, if you do not specify the end date in the range, the product assumes the last date of the month as the end date.
TIME	Applies the blackout at the time that you specified in the Hour:Min format (24-hour format), when you want the blackout to start

Note

START_INFO is case-sensitive. You must specify values in upper case only.

DURATION represents the duration for which you want the blackout to be applied. Specify the duration in minutes.
If you set the duration to 0 (zero), the blackout is set for an infinite duration.
INFO_MSG represents the information message that you want the product to render on the consoles, for the BlackoutStart and BlackoutStop events.
For the examples that illustrate the usage of the blackout functionality, see Examples.

Support for blackouts

Using blackouts

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