Defining action properties and attributes

This section describes the fields that appear on the action object properties dialog boxes, and includes the list below. Some fields appear in more than one properties dialog box. All fields are required unless marked Optional.

Note

The Hide field is used in ALL action node properties and is selected by default. The Hide field determines where a property can be defined, and when selected, you can only define the property in the Properties dialog box. When the Hide field is cleared, you can define the property on the Properties dialog box or on the Rules tab. If you define the property on the Properties dialog box and clear the Hide field, then any value that you enter on the Rules tab overrides the value set on the Properties dialog box.

In addition, see Working with the Event Journal for further details about the Journal / Journal node.

Append to file

(Optional) The Append to file field determines whether the log file is deleted and a new file is created or if the log text is appended to an existing log file. The default (field is cleared) is to delete the file and create a new one.

Arguments

Any arguments that you want to pass to the program or script you are starting must be typed here. They should be written in the format and using the syntax that the program or script can understand. TrueSight Middleware and Transaction Monitor cannot verify or ensure that the arguments are correct for the program.

For example, you could pass a web site address to Internet Explorer or topic information to an SNMP trap.

Audible

(Optional) When the Audible field is selected, a sound is played after an event occurs. Only wav sound files are supported.

BCC

(Optional) Enter or select the e-mail address of the person or people receiving the message. Separate multiple recipients with a semi-colon. If you do not wish to be prompted for the BCC value, select the Hide field.

If the e-mail addresses you use are listed in the Contacts tab, TrueSight Middleware and Transaction Monitor only sends a message to that person (or people) if they are on call according to information in the Contacts tab. If the person is not on call, they do not receive a message. If a person is listed in the Contacts tab, but does not have a schedule defined, that person is considered to never be on call and does not receive any messages until a schedule for them is created. If a person is on call and has a schedule created, they do receive messages.

Body

The Body field holds an alert message up to 8 megabytes (nearly 8.4 million characters). The message can contain any characters you want to use. You can use formatted outputs to define the text that appears in the MVMM Monitor Console. See Formatting output for details.

Unlike the other fields, the Body field must be defined on the Properties dialog box field and cannot be defined on the Rules or Templates tab.

CC

(Optional) Enter or select the e-mail address of the person or people receiving the message. If you have multiple recipients, then they must be separated by a character. This character must be semi-colon. If you do not wish to be prompted for the CC value, select the Hide field.

Color

(Optional) Messages that appear on the Alerts pane in the Monitor Console can be in nearly any color you want. Use the Color field to select the color of the message.

Destination Table

The Destination Table field must contain the name of a database table to be written to when the event is triggered. This table must be accessible to the database user that the MVMM Event Service uses to log into the database.

File name

The File Name must contain the full path of the file that you want to write. If only a file name is given (that is, a full path is not provided), the file is written to the directory where the MVMM Event Service is installed. The file can be written to any directory to which the MVMM Event Service has access.

For example, if you are running the services on Windows and want to save the file to a Linux computer, then Windows must be able to mount the share point (generally using Samba). Or if you want to save the file to a different Windows computer, the directory to which you want the TrueSight Middleware and Transaction Monitor to write the file must be shared.

Header

(Optional) The Header field contains text that is written to the file before the message when the event is triggered. The Header field is a convenient area to place text that is static and constant for every file. For example, you can use this field to write short messages.

Message

The Message field holds an alert message of up to 8 megabytes (nearly 8.4 million characters). There are no restrictions on the characters used. This text appears in the Alerts pane of the MVMM Monitor Console. You can use formatted outputs to define the text that appears in the MVMM Monitor Console. See Formatting output for details.

Name

The Name field contains an identifier that TrueSight Middleware and Transaction Monitor uses internally. This field cannot be edited.

Output Queue Name

Enter the name of the queue where the message is put after it crosses the channel. The queue must belong to the queue manager specified in the Queue Manager Name field. To put a message on a remote queue, the MVMM Event Service user must also be an enabled user on the system that holds the destination queue.

Program

See Execute program.

Queue Manager Name

This field defines the queue manager. If the IBM MQ client is used, it must fulfill these requirements:

Channel listener is running on the remote queue manager system.
Remote queue manager is listed in Queue Manager Name field.
Local queue name is specified in the Output Queue Name field.
Remote host name is specified in the Remote Host Name field.
Server/client connection channel name is specified in the Remote Channel Name field.
Port number for server/client connection channel is specified.

Enter the name of the queue manager onto which you want to put a message when the event occurs. IBM MQ does not need to be installed on the computer where the MVMM Monitor Console or MVMM Event Service are installed. In fact, it is unlikely that either one would be on the same computer as the queue manager.

Remind Every

To configure the reminder notification frequency, select the Remind Every check box. Specify in days, hours, minutes, and/or seconds.

Remote Channel Name

Enter the name of the channel you want to use to send the message. This field is needed only if the destination queue is on a remote system. This field is required if you defined a remote destination queue in the Output Queue Name field.

Remote Channel Port

Enter the port number that the channel listener is listening on for the queue manager. The default is 1414. Port 1415 is also frequently used. This field is needed only if the destination queue is on a remote system. This field is required if you defined a remote destination queue in the Output Queue Name field.

Remote Host Name

Enter the host name of the computer on which the queue manager is located. This field is needed only if the destination queue is on a remote system. This field is required if you defined a remote destination queue in the Output Queue Name field.

Reply Queue Name

(Optional) Enter the name of the reply queue.

Response Queue

(Optional) Enter the name of the response queue.

Scheduled Contact

Select the Schedule Contact field if you want the e-mail message to be sent to whichever contact is on duty (as defined on the Contacts tab). If you do not Enter an e-mail address in the To field, but select the Scheduled Contact field, then the e-mail message is sent to whomever is on duty according to information from the Contacts tab.

Sender

Enter the sender's e-mail address. This account must have the rights on the mail server to send e-mail messages. You might want to create a fictitious user (for example TrueSight Middleware and Transaction Monitor Application) to send these messages.

SMTP Host

Enter the host name or IP address of the mail server.

SMTP Port

Enter the port number the mail server uses. Typically, this is port 25.

Subject

(Optional) Enter the subject of the e-mail message that MainView Middleware Monitor sends after an event occurs. You can use formatted outputs to define the text that appears in the Email Subject field sent by MainView Middleware Monitor. See Formatted-output for details.

Time End

The Time End field defines the latest time of the day at which a particular action could be taken. Uses a 24 hour clock. 00:00 (midnight) - 23:59

Time Start

The Time Start field defines the earliest time of the day at which a particular action could be taken. Uses a 24 hour clock. 00:00 (midnight) - 23:59.

Time to continue

Time to continue is the number of seconds you want the product to continue watching for stray updates for a completed transaction before removing any updates on a transaction that arrive after the transaction has been deleted from the BTM view.

This is used if there are individual activities that report back well after the entire transaction completed successfully. For example, transaction "xyz" is marked as complete because it got to an activity that was marked "consume transaction if last activity." If the "time to delay before removal" was set to 120, then after 120 seconds the transaction would be removed from the transaction table. If for some reason an activity reported back on transaction "xyz" five minutes later, then transaction "xyz" would show up on the transaction table just for that one activity. It would be an orphan. However, if that activity reported within the "time to continue trying to remove," then the transaction "xyz" would not reappear in the table as an orphaned activity. The default is zero (and would cause orphans).

Another example of when time to continue is useful is if a transaction times out. If a transaction times out and is removed from the BTM view because of a event rule, a subsequent event rule would continue to watch for stray updates for the timed out transaction.

Time to delay

Time to delay is the number of seconds you want the product to wait after a transaction times out before removing the transaction from the view. This reduces the number of topics in the BTM view, which improves view performance. The default is 300. Messages that complete successfully are automatically removed from the view based on settings in the model.

To

Enter or select the e-mail address of the person or people receiving the message. If you have multiple recipients, then they must be separated by a semi-colon. You can also use distribution lists as long as they have a valid SMTP address. This field is optional if you select the Scheduled Contact field; otherwise it is required. If you do not wish to be prompted for the To value, select the Hide field.

another1@bmc.com; another2@bmc.com; dist_list@bmc.com

If the e-mail addresses you use are listed in the Contacts tab, MainView Middleware Monitor only sends a message to that person (or people) if they are on call according to information in the Contacts tab. Persons not on call do not receive a message. If a person is listed in the Contacts tab, but does not have a schedule defined, that person is considered to never be on call and do not receive any messages until a schedule for them is created. Persons on call with schedule created receive messages.

Topic Instance

Use the triggerTopicInst script. This script takes the trigger's topic instance for evaluation against the Topic Regular Expression box to create the topic that should be removed from the BTM view. This default script is appropriate in most situations.

Topic Regular expression

The Topic Regular expression takes this form:

HostName!ProfileName!ModelName!ActivityName!PathID!TxnID!InstanceID

This regular expression compares topics received from the trigger, and by default, deletes the topics that match the profile, model, and transaction ID of the trigger. There are three types of characters used for this matching.

.* is a regular expression that can match anything
! is the delimiter between element of a topic
== is the value of that element passed from the trigger

Illustrated below is a completely generic regular expression that captures everything for every profile, model, and transaction ID. It is: .!==!==!.!.*!==!.*Generally, this is the topic regular expression that you want to use. It removes anything matching it from the view that has timed out or matches the trigger you created (or modified).

In addition to .* and == as generic values, you can use concrete values too. This example uses a concrete hostname of MEXICOCITY. For the rule to trigger, the host passed to the action must match MEXICOCITY.

MEXICOCITY!==!==!.!.!==!.*

Topic Type

Use the triggerTopicType script. This script takes the trigger's topic type for evaluation against the Topic Regular Expression box to create the topic that should be removed from the BTM view. This default script is appropriate in most situations.

TopicPath

The TopicPath defines the topic that you want displayed in the console alert when it is triggered and in the alert journal for an event rule. The TopicPath field cannot be configured from a template because it is derived from the typed topic input specified in the template trigger.