Form rules

Form rules allow you to define rules for common situations without having to write RDL2 code.

Creating a rule

To create a rule

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

Rule name

Enter a descriptive unique rule name into the Name field.

Trigger

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

Note

The default session is the Console Messages session.

The following image shows a default 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, it operates as a logical AND 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, once a form rule is triggered, it will 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:

Color—You can select the mainframe message color you want displayed.
Message ID—You can enter message IDs in this field. Multiple message IDs are entered using a comma.
Contains—You can enter text for which you want to search. If the text is found within the message, it will be displayed.
IS WTOR—You can evaluate messages that contain WTOR. These messages require an operator response.
(applicable for version 3.4.10 or later) Variable Expression—You can evaluate messages by using this trigger. This trigger contains an RDL2 expression that gets evaluated when a message is received. If the result of expression evaluation is true, the trigger is satisfied. The RDL2 expression can contain global and session variables and can call RDL2 functions (built-in or user defined).

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.

CPC/LPAR Name—Enter the name of the CPC or LPAR.
Old Status—Check the checkbox and click on the field to select the desired values.
New Status—Check the checkbox and click on the field to select the desired values.

SNMP

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

Trap/Query Name—The name of the SNMP trap handler (if defined) or SNMP query.
Agent Address—The IP address or hostname 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.

Hosts—The IP addresses or hostnames of the systems sending the Syslog message. Multiple addresses may be entered by separating them with a comma.
Severity, Severity, Facility—Evaluates to true when the received message has one of the selected values.
Contains—You can enter the text text for which you want to search. If the text is found within the message, it will be displayed..

Trigger conditions (applicable for version 3.4.10 or later)

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

Following are the trigger conditions:

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.
InformationAssume that you use the trigger on option Is WTOR and have 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. Note that, after the rule triggers, it will 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.
InformationAssume 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 (applicable for version 3.4.10 or later)

This group applies to BAROC events that MainView Console Management receives.

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—Triggers 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 in order 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 on a message in the MVCA Viewer and selecting Show Message Details displays the message's properties.

(applicable for version 3.4.10 or later) Parameters for all actions can use an RDL2 expression. To use an RDL2 expression, add percentage sign (%) before and after the expression. The RDL2 expression can have references to global or session variables, the current message, or it can also call RDL2 functions. For example, %strSubString(message.ROM, 10, 7)% will 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. Multiple commands may be sent by specifying one per line in the text field. Information Example If you specify a trigger condition with the message ID ITT006A and select Is WTOR, you can send a command like: reply %message.REPLYNUM%,end Warning Note 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 and RDL2 function	Calls an RDL2 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 (Applicable for version 3.4.10)	This action allows you to set a variable value for a rule. The variable name specifies an RDL2 session variable value. The value can be a string, a number value, or an RDL2 expression. The variable may be used in the trigger section in other rules, or in RDL2 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.