Setting up unread email as an event in the operator console

This topic describes how you can set up and convert an email from the email server to an event. 

Note

Emails that are already read, or are in draft or deleted modes are not considered to be converted into events.

The TrueSight Infrastructure Management Server connects to the email server periodically using the configured credentials to retrieve emails. These emails are then converted into events. The subject of the email received is updated in the Message (msg) slot of the event and the content of the email is updated in the Detailed Message (mc_long_msg) slot of the event.

Only an email in plain text format or HTML format can be set as an event. For email in HTML format, only the content is extracted and the tags are removed. If an email has both plain text and HTML formats, then the text of the content that appears first in the email is converted as an event.

Related topics

Using-the-operator-console-to-complete-IT-Operator-goals 

Monitoring-and-managing-events-from-the-operator-console

The severity of the event is determined from the content of the email,  if it has any of  the following keywords:

  • State: <severity> 
  • Severity: <severity>

If both the keywords are missing, then the default configured severity value, INFO is used. The following severity values are also supported:

  • OK
  • MINOR
  • MAJOR
  • CRITICAL
  • WARNING

Only emails that are in the configured folder of the email server are read. The following properties can be configured in the pronet.conf property file:

pronet.email2event.mailserver.fqdn=<email server>

pronet.email2event.mailserver.port=143

pronet.email2event.protocol=imap

pronet.email2event.mailserver.username=<user name>

pronet.email2event.mailserver.password=<encrypyted password>
 
pronet.email2event.mailserver.ssl.enabled=false
 
pronet.email2event.folder=inbox
 
pronet.email2event.delete.read.messages=true

pronet.email2event.mailbox.scan.frequency.mins=15

pronet.email2event.enabled=false

pronet.email2event.default.severity=INFO

Parameter description

  • pronet.email2event.enabled: Enable email2event feature by setting this value to true. By default, this value is set to false.
  • pronet.email2event.mailserver.port: Default port number is 143. If you want to enable SSL/TLS, change the port number accordingly.
  • pronet.email2event.folder: Create a folder in the email server and assign the folder name to this parameter. Configure rules in the email server to direct the unread emails to this folder. By default, this parameter is set to INBOX.
  • pronet.email2event.mailbox.scan.frequency.mins: Specifies the frequency in minutes at which the Infrastructure Management Server scans the mail box. By default, the Infrastructure Management Server scans the mail box in every 15 minutes. Emails that are already read, or are in draft or deleted modes are not considered.
  • pronet.email2event.delete.read.messages: If you set this value to false, the emails that are already read by the server and marked as seen are not deleted from the email server. If you set this value to true, the emails that are already read by the server and marked as seen are deleted from the email server. By default, this value is set to true. All other Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) content such as attachments, images, and so on are ignored.
  • pronet.email2event.mailserver.ssl.enabled: If you set this value to true, the communication between email server to the Infrastructure Management server is in SSL/TLS mode. If you set this value to false, the communication between the email server to the Infrastructure Management server is in plain text mode. By default, this value is set to false.

 

Configuring an email as an event

You can configure an email as an event through the command line interface by running the  pw email2event command:

pw email2event

usage:
  pw email2event [-y]|[-c]|[-s]|[-e]

The following table lists the parameters available in the pw email2event command :

Options

Description

–y

Encrypts the mailbox password.

–c

Configures email as event.

-s

Starts scanning email as event.

–e

Stops scanning email as event

Example

  1. Run the following command to encrypt your mail box password. This command will prompt you to enter the mail box password in plain text, and gives the encrypted password as the output.

    $ pw email2event -y

    Assign this encrypted password value to the pronet.email2event.mailserver.password property in the pronet.conf file.


  2. Open the pronet.conf file and configure the following properties:

    pronet.email2event.mailserver.fqdn=<f.e.webmail.bmc.com>

    pronet.email2event.mailserver.username=<username>

    pronet.email2event.mailserver.password=<encrypted password> 

    pronet.email2event.delete.read.messages=false
    pronet.email2event.mailbox.scan.frequency.mins=5 

    pronet.email2event.mailserver.ssl.enabled=true

    pronet.email2event.enabled=true
  3. Restart the server.
    $ pw sys start

Limitations

  • A dedicated email account is required.
  • Only IMAP protocol is supported.
  • IMAP protocol is also supported over SSL or TLS.
  • There is no proxy support in connecting to the email server.
  • NTLM authentication is not supported.
  • The configured user account must have read and write permission for the configured folder.
  • Email servers with HTTP access are not supported.
  • The cell process must be running to create events.
  • Events that are created are assigned to priority 5.