Chapter 7 Managing Alarms

This chapter describes how to manage alarms.

Alarm Management

Note –

You must install the Java Console layer of Sun Management Center 3.6 to manage alarms. For more information, see Chapter 12, Managing Alarms, in Sun Management Center 3.6.1 User’s Guide. Users might also be using other products to manage alarms.

About Setting Alarms

Alarms can be set to alert you when CPU or memory has reached a predetermined threshold. These alarms provide the feedback necessary to adjust the resource reservations to more appropriate levels.

You can set alarm thresholds for a container's use of CPU and physical memory resources. Three levels of alarms are available: Critical, Major, and Minor. You can also request that an email be sent when alarms are generated. The alarms are displayed as icons in the navigation window and in the Containers table. Each icon displays a tool tip that contains alarm details when the cursor is placed over it.

The Container Manager GUI displays only those alarms that are generated by its own module. Alarms that are generated by the Container Manager module are visible in both the Sun Management Center Java and Web consoles. If you use Sun Management Center to view the Container Manager alarms, the alarm names match up according to the following table.

Table 7–1 Alarm Threshold Names


Container Manager	Sun Management Center
Critical	Critical
Major	Alert
Minor	Information

To Set an Alarm Threshold

Steps

If the Container Manager GUI is not already open, access it as described in To Start the Container Manager GUI.

In the Hosts view, select the host with which the container is associated.

Select the Projects tab.

A table appears that lists all containers that are associated with that host.

In the table, click the appropriate project in the Project Name column for which you want to set an alarm.

The Properties page for the container appears.

Select the Alarm Thresholds tab.

The Alarm Thresholds page appears. Three levels of alarms are available: Critical, Major, and Minor.

Locate the level of alarm to be set, and provide the alarm values in the text fields.

Three alarm settings are available:
- CPU Threshold Less Than – Provide an integer or decimal value. The alarm is triggered when the CPU usage falls below this value.
- Memory Threshold Greater Than – Provide an integer in Mbytes. The alarm is triggered when the memory usage exceeds this value.
- Mail To – Provide a valid email address. An email alert is sent to this address when the alarm is triggered.
Note –
You can set one, two, or three levels of alarms at once. If more than one alarm is triggered, the alarm with the highest value appears as an icon in the GUI. Likewise, an email alert is sent for the alarm with the highest value.

Click Save.

The alarm is now set. The Container Manager monitors this container against the alarm values that are provided.

You can add actions that will be executed when alarms are generated. You can add actions using the Java Console layer of Sun Management Center 3.6. For example, when a host running zones is not responding, the Container Manager generates a critical alarm. This alarm will be propagated to the host, where the action for critical alarms has been set.

To Remove an Alarm Threshold

Steps

If the Container Manager GUI is not already open, access it as described in To Start the Container Manager GUI.

In the Hosts view, select the host with which the container is associated.

Select the Projects tab.

A table appears that lists all containers that are associated with that host.

In the table, click the appropriate project in the Project Name column for which you want to remove an alarm.

The Properties page for the container appears.

Select the Alarm Thresholds tab.

The Alarm Thresholds page appears. The values for the alarms that are set for the container are displayed.

Remove the alarm values from the text fields.

Click Save.

The alarm is no longer set.

To View Open Alarms

Steps

If the Container Manager GUI is not already open, access it as described in To Start the Container Manager GUI.

Select the Open Alarms tab.

The Open Alarms table lists all the alarms that are currently open for a Container Manager module.

The Open Alarms table shows the severity of the alarm, the alarm message, the agent or host name (managed object), start time of the alarm, and whether the alarm has been acknowledged in the Sun Management Center console.

Click the appropriate link in the Managed Object column to navigate to the object that is in an alarm condition.