Form rules

By using Form rules, you can define rules for common situations without having to write RDL code. 


Related topic

Administering

To create a rule

  1. Click the pencil icon under Edit to select an MVCA server from the server list.
  2. Click the Rules tab and then click Add FORM.

Rule name

Enter a descriptive unique rule name in the Name field.

Trigger

You can use the Trigger section to define when actions for the rule are executed. The selector field enables you to change the trigger options group based on the session type.

Important

The default session is the Console Messages session.

Each trigger group is composed of several steps. Each step allows you to enable the trigger and specify parameters for each trigger.

When steps for multiple triggers are defined, they operate as a logic between the groups. For example, if a trigger is defined with Color selected with the white sub-option, and Message ID is selected with IEE136I entered, both of these must be true for the actions to be executed.

Every trigger group contains an Ignore Interval setting (in minutes). If this is set, after a form rule is triggered, it does not trigger again until the ignore interval expires. This setting is in minutes.

At least one trigger step must be enabled in a form rule.

Console messages

When Console Messages is selected, the following triggers are available:

Trigger

Description

Color

Select the color of the mainframe message

Message ID

Enter message IDs

Multiple message IDs are entered using a comma. The message ID might be a regular expression that matches a given pattern. For example, the regular expression IEE.*I matches any message that starts with IEE and ends with I. For more information about how to construct regular expressions, see Regular expression. 

Contains

Enter the text that you want to search

If the text is found within the message, it will be displayed. The text might be a regular expression that matches a given pattern. 

IS WTOR

Evaluate messages that contain WTOR

These messages require an operator response.

Variable Expression

Evaluate any message

This trigger contains an RDL expression that gets evaluated when a message is received. If the result of the expression evaluation is true, the trigger is satisfied. The RDL expression can contain global and session variables and can call RDL functions (built-in or user-defined). 

HMC LPAR Job Completion

This trigger group applies to HMC LPAR Job and is triggered after the job is completed.

Trigger

Description

Job Complete

Enter the LPAR Job ID for which the trigger is to be applied.

HMC LPAR and CPC status change

This trigger group applies to HMC sessions. LPAR and CPC status changes going from operating to not operating can be caught.

Trigger

Description

CPC/LPAR Name

Enter the name of the CPC or LPAR

Old Status

Select the check box and click the field to select the desired values.

The following options are available for LPAR:

  • Operating
  • not operating
  • not Activated
  • Exception

The following options are available for CPC:

  • Operating
  • not communicating
  • Exception
  • Status check
  • Service
  • Not operating
  • No power
  • Service required
  • Degraded

New Status

Select the check box and click the field to select the desired values.

The following options are available for LPAR:

  • Operating
  • not operating
  • not Activated
  • Exception

The following options are available for CPC:

  • Operating
  • not communicating
  • Exception
  • Status check
  • Service
  • Not operating
  • No power
  • Service required
  • Degraded

SNMP

This trigger group applies to SNMP sessions. SNMP V1 and V2 traps can be handled using this trigger group.

Trigger

Description

Trap/Query Name

Name of the SNMP trap handler (if defined) or SNMP query

Agent Address

IP address or host name of the SNMP device being monitored

To enter multiple addresses, separate them with a comma.

Enterprise OID

Enterprise OID (applies to V1 traps only)

Generic Trap

Generic trap number

Applies to V1 traps only.

Specific Trap

Specific trap number

Applies to V1 traps only.

Syslog

This group applies to Syslog messages originating from UNIX, Linux, and similar systems.

Trigger

Description

Hosts

The IP addresses or host names of the systems sending the Syslog message.

To enter multiple addresses, separate them with a comma.

Severity, Emergency, Alert, Critical, Error, Warning, Notice, Informational, Debug, Facility

Evaluates to true when the received message has one of the selected values.

The Facility trigger has the following available options:

  • kern
  • user
  • mail
  • daemon
  • auth
  • syslog
  • Ipr
  • news
  • uucp
  • cron
  • authpriv
  • ftp
  • cron2
  • local0
  • local1
  • local2
  • local3
  • local4
  • local5
  • local6
  • local7

Contains

Enter the text that you want to search

If the text is found within the message, it will be displayed. The text might be a regular expression that matches a given pattern.

Trigger conditions

Using the Trigger conditions section, you can associate messages with other messages and perform actions when certain conditions are met.

The trigger conditions are as follows:

  • If Count Exceeds—This threshold condition allows the rule to count messages by matching the trigger criteria and executes the actions only when a count exceeds the threshold value. The Correlation Field is used to group messages together for counting. 

    Example

    Assume that you use the trigger on option Is WTOR and have a specified message ID for the correlation. The rule counts messages by the message ID and activates the trigger if the count for a group exceeds the threshold. More than four messages with the same message ID are received within 60 seconds, so the rule sends an alert to the viewers. After the rule triggers, it does not trigger again for the next 60 seconds.

  • Ignore Interval—The ignore interval allows you to specify a time period to suppress subsequent triggers of the rule. 

    Example

    Assume that a particular message is repeated often, but you want to take action on the first message only. You can set up the ignore interval to suppress the rule.

BAROC Events

This group applies to BAROC events that BMC AMI Ops Console Management receives.

Trigger

Description

Severity

Specifies the BAROC severity of the event

You can select one or more severities upon which to trigger. The severities are CRITICAL, MAJOR, MINOR, WARNING, INFO, OK, and UNKNOWN.

Priority

Specifies the BAROC priority of the event

You can select one or more priorities upon which to trigger. The priorities are Highest, High, Moderate, Low, and Lowest.

Contains

Gets triggered if the event text contains the specified text

The event text is taken from the message slot in the event.

Host

Specifies the host that has sent the event

The event triggers if the host name is the same as the computer that has sent the event.

Host Address

Specifies the IP address of the host

The event triggers if the IP address of the sender matches this address. 

Actions

You must select at least one action to run a form rule. When all selected trigger steps evaluate as true, the actions execute.

Parameters for all actions use the properties for the current message. To use a message property, add a percentage sign (%) before and after the expression.

Example

%message.MSGID% extracts the message ID for a console session. Right-clicking a message in the MVCA Viewer and selecting Show Message Details displays the message's properties.

Parameters for all actions can use an RDL expression. To use an RDL expression, add a percentage sign (%) before and after the expression. The RDL expression can have references to global or session variables, the current message, or it can also call RDL functions.

Example

%strSubString(message.ROM, 10, 7)% extracts text from the tenth through the seventeenth character in the ROM (rest of message) text of the current message.


Action

Description

Mark as priority and monitor

Marks the message as a priority message and monitors. This action applies only to console sessions. When the message changes color on the screen or rolls off the screen, the message is removed from the priority message.

Send alert to viewers

Sends an alert to all viewers with the given text

Send commands

Sends a command to the session. You can send multiple commands by specifying one per line in the text field.

Example

If you specify a trigger condition with the message ID ITT006A and select Is WTOR, you can send the following command:

reply %message.REPLYNUM%,end

Important

You can automatically respond to the WTOR.

Email

Sends an email for the current message:

  • Host—The SMTP (mail server) host name or IP address
  • Port—The SMTP port (usually 25)
  • Use SSL—Enables an SSL connection to the mail server
  • SMTP User—The user name if authentication is required to send email
  • SMTP Password—The password if authentication is required to send email
  • From—The user name of the sender
  • To—A comma-separated list of email recipients
  • Subject—The subject of the email
  • Body— The text of the email

Send BAROC event

Sends a BAROC event to a cell. The cell must be defined on the main BAROC page.

  • Cell— The name of the cell.
  • Event Text— The text of the event.
  • Severity, Priority— Select the severity and priority of the BAROC event.

Create Remedy Incident

Creates a Remedy incident.

  • Connection Name—The name of the Remedy connection
  • Submitter first and last name—The first name and last name to be used in the incident
  • Summary—Summary text for the incident.
  • Impact type, Urgency—Select the impact type and urgency for the incident.

Run an RDL function

Calls an RDL function. Parameters may also be specified.

Run a program

Runs a program on the server. Enter the program name and parameters in the field.

Update variable value

This action allows you to set a variable value for a rule. The variable name specifies an RDL session variable value. The value can be a string, a number value, or an RDL expression. You can use the variable in the trigger section in other rules, or RDL functions and rules.

Stop processing rules

When checked, rules after this rule are not processed.

Discard

When checked, the message is discarded and not sent to viewers.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*