System triggers

System-level triggers provide the following benefits:

  • You can set thresholds by using wildcard patterns, object set names, or specific object names.
  • System-level triggers allow you to assign a priority value for each exception that you define to indicate the severity of the condition encountered. BMCTRIG uses priorities to order the objects when generating maintenance jobs. You can also use priorities to limit which corrective actions are generated.
  • Using system-level triggers is the only method that allows you to define and use your own exceptions. To create your own exceptions, you need to provide REXX routines to perform the evaluation. You then need to define your exception to DASD MANAGER PLUS. For more information, see Creating-user-defined-exceptions.

  • You determine what to monitor, defining as many or as few thresholds as you want.

    Tip

    BMC installs a set of common thresholds that you can use as an initial set of conditions to monitor.

You can specify thresholds and corrective actions in BMCTRIG command syntax, or you can define them in a central repository as system-level thresholds for use by all BMCTRIG jobs, as follows:

  • Thresholds in the BMCTRIG command syntax

    Specifying thresholds and corrective actions in command syntax makes them applicable to that specific job only. (To specify an option in the command syntax, typically you select that option by using the BMCTRIG panel.)

  • System-level thresholds

    Specifying thresholds and corrective actions in the central repository makes them available to all BMCTRIG jobs and provides a central point to administer exception thresholds and corrective actions. Using system triggers also provides a greater level of flexibility and control than is available when thresholds and actions are specified in BMCTRIG command syntax. For more information about the flexibility and control that system triggers provide, see Exception-conditions-overview and Job-generation.

If you administer thresholds at the system level, you can also choose whether to allow syntax overrides at the BMCTRIG level. The installation option SYSTRIGS, in conjunction with the command syntax option SYSTEMTRIGGERS, provides control over which definitions BMCTRIG uses.

Using the installation option SYSTRIGS=F forces BMCTRIG to use system triggers. When you specify this option, BMCTRIG ignores any thresholds or corrective actions that you specified in BMCTRIG command syntax. When this option is in effect, BMCTRIG also ignores the SYSTEMTRIGGERS option in the command syntax.

When you set SYSTRIGS to Y or N in the installation options module, this option specifies whether BMCTRIG uses system triggers as the default behavior. In this situation, you can use the SYSTEMTRIGGERS option in the command syntax to override the default behavior for individual BMCTRIG jobs.

If you do not set the SYSTRIGS option in the installation options module, BMCTRIG ignores system triggers by default (which is similar to setting it to N). In this case, BMCTRIG uses system triggers only when you specify the SYSTEMTRIGGERS option in the command syntax.

Important

You must define system triggers by selecting Thresholds, Corrective Actions, and Priorities from the DASD MANAGER PLUS Main Menu before you execute the BMCTRIG job to use the triggers.

 

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