Cisco Unified Real-Time Monitoring Tool Administration Guide, Release 9.1(1) - Alerts for IM and Presence service [Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CallManager)]

About alerts

The system generates alert messages to notify administrators when a predefined condition is met, such as when an activated service goes from up to down. Alerts can be sent out as email/epage.

RTMT, which supports alert defining, setting, and viewing, contains preconfigured and user-defined alerts. Although you can perform configuration tasks for both types, you cannot delete preconfigured alerts (whereas you can add and delete user-defined alerts).

Alert options
Preconfigured alerts
Alert fields
Alert logs

Alert options

The Alert menu (System > Tools > Alert) comprises the following menu options:

Alert Central—This option comprises the history and current status of every alert in the system.

Note

You can also access Alert Central by selecting the Alert Central icon in the hierarchy tree in the system drawer.
Set Alert/Properties—This menu option allows you to set alerts and alert properties.
Remove Alert—This menu category allows you to remove an alert.
Enable Alert—With this menu category, you can enable alerts.
Disable Alert—You can disable an alert with this category.
Suspend cluster/Node Alerts—This menu category allows you to temporarily suspend alerts on a particular IM and Presence node or on the entire cluster.
Clear Alerts—This menu category allows you to reset an alert (change the color of an alert item from red to black) to signal that an alert has been taken care of. After an alert has been raised, its color automatically changes to in RTMT and stays that way until you manually clear the alert.
Clear All Alerts—This menu category allows you to clear all alerts.
Reset all Alerts to Default Config—This menu category allows you to reset all alerts to the default configuration.
Alert Detail—This menu category provides detailed information on alert events.
Config Email Server—In this category, you can configure your email server to enable alerts.
Config Alert Action—This category allows you to set actions to take for specific alerts; you can configure the actions to send the alerts to desired email recipients.

In RTMT, you configure alert notification for perfmon counter value thresholds and set alert properties for the alert, such as the threshold, duration, frequency, and so on.

You can locate Alert Central under the Tools hierarchy tree in the quick launch. Alert Central provides both the current status and the history of all the alerts in the system.

Preconfigured alerts
Alert fields
Alert logs

Preconfigured alerts

You can enable or disable preconfigured and custom alerts in Alert Central; however, you cannot delete preconfigured alerts.

The following list comprises the preconfigured alerts for the system:

AuthenticationFailed
CiscoDRFFailure
CoreDumpFileFound
CpuPegging
CriticalServiceDown

Note
The CriticalServiceDown alert only generates when the service status equals down (not for other states).
HardwareFailure
LogFileSearchStringFound
LogPartitionHighWaterMarkExceeded
LogPartitionLowWaterMarkExceeded
LowActivePartitionAvailableDiskSpace
LowAvailableVirtualMemory
LowInactivePartitionAvailableDiskSpace
LowSwapPartitionAvailableDiskSpace

ServerDown

Note

The ServerDown alert generates when the currently "active" AMC (primary AMC or the backup AMC, when the primary is not available) cannot reach another node in a cluster. This alert identifies network connectivity issues in addition to a server down condition.

SparePartitionLowWaterMarkExceeded
SparePartitionHighWaterMarkExceeded
SyslogSeverityMatchFound
SyslogStringMatchFound
SystemVersionMismatched
TotalProcessesAndThreadExceededThreshold

Alert fields

You can configure both preconfigured and user-defined alerts in RTMT. You can also disable both preconfigured and user-defined alerts in RTMT. You can add and delete user-defined alerts in the performance-monitoring window; however, you cannot delete preconfigured alerts.

The following table provides a list of fields that you may use to configure each alert; users can configure preconfigured fields, unless otherwise noted.

Table 1 Alert Customization
Field	Description	Comment
Alert Name	High-level name of the monitoring item with which RTMT associates an alert	Descriptive name. For preconfigured alerts, you cannot change this field. For a list of preconfigured alerts, see Preconfigured alerts.
Description	Description of the alert	You cannot edit this field for preconfigured alerts. For a list of preconfigured alerts, see Preconfigured alerts.
Performance Counter(s)	Source of the performance counter	You cannot change this field.
Threshold	Condition to raise alert (value is...)	Specify up < - > down, less than #, %, rate greater than #, %, rate.
Value Calculated As	Method used to check the threshold condition	Specify value to be evaluated as absolute, delta (present - previous), or % delta.
Duration	Condition to raise alert (how long value threshold has to persist before raising alert)	Options include the system sending the alert immediately or after a specified time that the alert has persisted.
Alert Action ID	ID of alert action to take (System always logs alerts no matter what the alert action.)	Alert action is defined first. If this field is blank, that indicates that email is disabled.
Enable Alerts	Enable or disable alerts.	Options include enabled or disabled.
Clear Alert	Resets alert (change the color of an alert item from red to black) to signal that the alert has been resolved	After an alert has been raised, its color automatically changes to red and stays that way until you manually clear the alert. Use Clear All to clear all alerts.
Alert Generation Rate	How often to generate alert when alert condition persists	Specify every X minutes. (Raise alert once every X minutes if condition persists.) Specify every X minutes up to Y times. (Raise alert Y times every X minutes if condition persists.)
User Provide Text	Administrator to append text on top of predefined alert text	N/A
Severity	For viewing purposes (for example, show only Sev. 1 alerts)	Specify defaults that are provided for predefined (for example, Error, Warning, Information) alerts.

Alert logs

The alert log stores the alert, which is also stored in memory. The memory is cleared at a constant interval, leaving the last 30 minutes of data in the memory. When the service starts/restarts, the last 30 minutes of the alert data loads into the memory by the system reading from the alert logs that exist in all servers in the cluster. The alert data in the memory is sent to the RTMT clients on request.

Upon RTMT startup, RTMT shows all logs that occurred in the last 30 minutes in the Alert Central log history. The alert log periodically updates, and new logs are inserted into the log history window. After the number of logs reaches 100, RTMT removes the oldest 40 logs.

The following file name format for the alert log applies: AlertLog_MM_DD_YYYY_hh_mm.csv.

The alert log includes the following attributes:

Time Stamp—Time when RTMT logs the data
Alert Name—Descriptive name of the alert
Node—Node name for where RTMT raised the alert
Alert Message—Detailed description about the alert
Description—Description of the monitored object
Severity—Severity of the alert
PollValue—Value of the monitored object where the alert condition occurred
Action—Alert action taken
Group ID—Identifies the source of the alert

The first line of each log file comprises the header. Details of each alert is written in a single line, separated by a comma.

Work in Alert Central

You can access Alert Central and perform the following tasks:

sort alert information
enable, disable, or remove an alert
clear an alert
view alert details

Before You Begin

Review the information about alerts.

Procedure

Step 1

Perform one of the following actions:

On the Quick Launch Channel:
- Select System.
- In the tree hierarchy, double-select Tools.
- Select the Alert Central icon.
Select System > Tools > Alert > Alert Central.

Step 2

Perform one or more of the following actions:.

If you want to:	Action
Set alert properties	See Set alert properties.
Suspend alerts on IM and Presence nodes	See Suspend alerts on IM and Presence nodes or cluster.
Configure emails for alert notification	See Configure emails for alert notification.
Configure alert actions	See Configure alert actions.
Sort alert information in the Alert Status pane	Select the up/down arrow that displays in the column heading. For example, select the up/down arrow that displays in the Enabled or InSafeRange column.
Sort alert history information	Select the up/down arrow in the columns in the Alert History pane. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the Alert History pane to see alert history that is out of view in the pane.
Enable, disable, or remove an alert	Perform one of the following actions: From the Alert Status window, right-select the alert and select Disable/Enable Alert (option toggles) or Remove Alert, depending on what you want to accomplish. Highlight the alert in the Alert Status window and select System > Tools > Alert > Disable/Enable (or Remove) Alert.
Clear either individual or collective alerts after they are resolved	Perform one of the following actions: After the Alert Status window displays, right-select the alert and select Clear Alert (or Clear All Alerts). Highlight the alert in the Alert Status window and select System > Tools > Alert > Clear Alert (or Clear All Alerts).
View alert details	Perform one of the following actions: After the Alert Status window displays, right-select the alert and select Alert Details. Highlight the alert in the Alert Status window and select System > Tools > Alert > Alert Details. After you have finished viewing the alert details, select OK.

Troubleshooting Tips

You can only remove user-defined alerts from RTMT. The Remove Alert option appears grayed out when you select a preconfigured alert.

Related References

About alerts

Set alert properties

Using the alert notification feature, the application notifies you of system problems. The following configuration setup is required to activate alert notifications for a system performance counter:

From the RTMT Perfmon Monitoring pane, you can select the system perfmon counter and:

Set up an email or a message popup window for alert notification.
Determine the threshold for the alert.
Determine the frequency of the alert notification (for example, the alert occurs once or every hour)
Determine the schedule for when the alert activates (for example, on a daily basis or at certain times of the day).

Procedure

Step 1

Perform one of the following actions:

If you want to:	Action
Set alert properties for a performance counter	Display the performance counter. From the counter chart or table, right-select the counter for which you want to configure the alert notification, and select Set Alert/Properties Check Enable Alert.
Set alert properties from Alert Central	Access Alert Central. Select the alert for which you want to set alert properties. Perform one of the following actions: Right-select the alert and select Set Alert/Properties Select System > Tools > Alert > Set Alert/Properties. or Check Enable Alert.

Step 2

Select the severity level at which you want to be notified in the Severity list box.

Step 3

Enter a description of the alert in the Description pane.

Step 4

Select Next.

Step 5

Configure the settings in the Threshold, Value Calculated As, Duration, Frequency, and Schedule panes.

Table 2 Counter Alert Configuration Parameters

Setting

Description

Threshold Pane

Trigger alert when following conditions met (Over, Under)

Check and enter the value that applies.

Over—Check to configure a maximum threshold that must be met before an alert notification is activated. In the Over value field, enter a value. For example, enter a value that equals the number of calls in progress.
Under—Check to configure a minimum threshold that must be met before an alert notification is activated. In the Under value field, enter a value. For example, enter a value that equals the number of calls in progress.
Tip Use these check boxes in conjunction with the Frequency and Schedule configuration parameters.

Value Calculated As Pane

Absolute, Delta, Delta Percentage

Select the radio button that applies.

Absolute—Because some counter values are accumulative, select Absolute to display the data at its current status.
Delta—Select Delta to display the difference between the current counter value and the previous counter value.
Delta Percentage—Select Delta Percentage to display the counter performance changes in percentage.

Duration Pane

Trigger alert only when value constantly...; Trigger alert immediately

Trigger alert only when value constantly...—If you want the alert notification only when the value is constantly below or over threshold for a desired number of seconds, select this radio button and enter seconds after which you want the alert to be sent.
Trigger alert immediately—If you want the alert notification to be sent immediately, select this radio button.

Frequency Pane

Trigger alert on every poll; trigger up to...

Select the radio button that applies.

Trigger alert on every poll—If you want the alert notification to activate on every poll when the threshold is met, select this radio button.
Trigger up to...—If you want the alert notification to activate at certain intervals, select this radio button and enter the number of alerts that you want sent and the number of minutes within which you want them sent.

Schedule Pane

24-hours daily; start/stop

Select the radio button that applies:

24-hours daily—If you want the alert to be triggered 24 hours a day, select this radio button.
Start/Stop—If you want the alert notification activated within a specific time frame, select the radio button and enter a start time and a stop time. If checked, enter the start and stop times of the daily task. For example, you can configure the counter to be checked every day from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or from 9:00 pm to 9:00 am.

Troubleshooting Tips

For IM and Presence clusterwide alerts, the Enable/Disable this alert on following server(s) does not display in the Alert Properties window. Clusterwide alerts include number of registered phones, gateways, media devices, route list exhausted, media list exhausted, MGCP D-channel out of service, malicious call trace, and excessive quality reports.

What to Do Next

Configure alert actions

Related Tasks

View performance counters

Work in Alert Central

Configuration of alert actions

In RTMT, you can configure alert actions for every alert that is generated and have the alert action sent to email recipients that you specify in the alert action list.

The following table provides a list of fields that you use to configure alert actions. Users can configure all fields, unless otherwise marked.

Table 3 Alert Action Configuration
Field	Description	Comment
Alert Action ID	ID of alert action to take	Specify descriptive name.
Mail Recipients	List of email addresses. You can selectively enable/disable an individual email in the list.	N/A

Configure alert actions
Configure emails for alert notification

Configure alert actions

Before You Begin

Set alert properties.

Procedure

Step 1

Complete one or more of the following actions in the Alert Properties: Email Notification window:

If you want to:	Action
Trigger an alert action with this alert	Select the alert action that you want to send from the list box.
Add a new alert action	Select Configure. Select Add in the Alert Action window. Enter a name for the alert action in the Name field. Enter a description of the alert action in the Description field.
Edit an existing alert action	Select Configure. Highlight the alert action. Select Edit. Update the configuration. Select OK.
Delete an alert action	Select Configure. Highlight the alert action. Select Delete.
Add an email recipient to receive the alert action	Select Configure. Select Add in the Alert Action window. Select Add again in the Recipients frame of the Action Configuration window. Enter an email or epage address of the recipient in the Enter email/epage address field. Select OK. Select OK.
Enable email for a named email recipient	Check Enable Email.
Disable or delete an email recipient	Perform one of the following actions: Highlight the recipient and uncheck Enable. Highlight the recipient and select Delete.

Step 2

Enter the text that you want to display in the email message in the User-defined email text box.

Step 3

Select Save after you finish configuring the alert action.

What to Do Next

Enable trace downloads

Related Tasks

Set alert properties

Configure emails for alert notification

Procedure

Step 1	Select System > Tools > Alert > Config Email Server.
Step 2	Enter the mail server in the Mail Server field.
Step 3	Enter the port number of the mail server in the Port field. The default port is 25.
Step 4	Navigate to the alert properties (see step 1 in Set alert properties).
Step 5	Select Configure on the Alert Properties: Email Notification dialog box.
Step 6	Select Add on the Alert Action dialog box.
Step 7	Select Add in the Recipients area of the Action Configuration dialog box.
Step 8	Enter an email or epage address of the recipient in the Enter email/epage address field.
Step 9	Select OK.
Step 10	Select OK on the Action Configuration dialog box
Step 11	Select Close on the Alert Action dialog box.
Step 12	Enter the text that you want to display in the email message in the User-defined email text box.
Step 13	Select Save.

Enable trace downloads

Some preconfigured alerts allow you to initiate a trace download based on the occurrence of an event. You can automatically capture traces when a particular event occurs by checking Enable Trace Download in Set Alert/Properties for the following alerts:

CriticalServiceDown
CoreDumpFileFound

Caution

Enabling Trace Download may affect services on the server. Configuring a high number of downloads adversely impacts the quality of services on the server.

Before You Begin

Configure alert actions.

Procedure

Step 1	Access the Set Alert/Properties option using either of the following steps: Select an alarm and right select on the alarm Select System > Tools > Alert > Set Alert/Properties.
Step 2	Select Next until the Alert Properties: Trace Download window displays.
Step 3	Check the Enable Trace Download check box.
Step 4	Perform the following actions: Enter the protocol, host IP address, a user name, password, port, and download directory path where you want to save the trace. Select Test Connection to ensure that you have connectivity with the SFTP server. If the connection test fails, your settings are not saved. Select OK Enter the number and frequency of downloads in the TCT Download Parameters window. Setting the number and frequency of download helps you to limit the number of trace files that are downloaded. The setting for polling provides the basis for the default setting for the frequency. Continue to select Next and then select Save. Troubleshooting Tips Enabling TCT Download may affect services on the server. Configuring a high number of downloads adversely impacts the quality of services on the server.

Related Tasks

Configure alert actions

Suspend alerts on IM and Presence nodes or cluster

You may want to temporarily suspend some or all alerts, either on a particular IM and Presence node or the entire cluster. For example, if you are upgrading the IM and Presence service to a newer release, you would probably want to suspend all alerts until the upgrade completes, to ensure you do not receive emails or epages during the upgrade.

Procedure

Step 1

Select System > Tools > Alert > Suspend Cluster/Node Alerts.

Step 2

Perform one of the following actions:

If you want to:	Action
Suspend all alerts in the cluster	Select Cluster Wide. Check Suspend all alerts. Select OK.
Suspend alerts per server	Select Per Server. Check Suspend for each server on which you want alerts to be suspended. Select OK.
Resume alerts	Select System > Tools > Alert > Suspend Cluster/Node Alerts. Uncheck Suspend for each server on which you want alerts to resume. Select OK.

Troubleshooting Tips

Per server suspend states do not apply to IM and Presence clusterwide alerts.

Configure log partition monitoring

Log Partition Monitoring, which is installed automatically with the system, uses configurable thresholds to monitor the disk usage of the log partition on a server. The Cisco Log Partitioning Monitoring Tool service starts automatically after installation of the IM and Presence service.

Every 5 minutes, Log Partition Monitoring uses the following configured thresholds to monitor the disk usage of the log partition on a server:

LogPartitionLowWaterMarkExceeded (% disk space)—When the disk usage is above the percentage that you specify, LPM sends out an alarm message to syslog and an alert to RTMT Alert central. To save the log files and regain disk space, you can use trace and log central option in RTMT.
LogPartitionHighWaterMarkExceeded (% disk space)—When the disk usage is above the percentage that you specify, LPM sends an alarm message to syslog and an alert to RTMT Alert central.

In addition, Cisco Log Partitioning Monitoring Tool service checks the server every 5 seconds for newly created core dump files. If there are new core dump files, Cisco Log Partitioning Monitoring Tool service sends a CoreDumpFileFound alarm and an alert to Alert Central with information on each new core file.

When the log partition monitoring services starts at system startup, the service checks the current disk space utilization. If the percentage of disk usage is above the low water mark, but less than the high water mark, the service sends a alarm message to syslog and generates a corresponding alert in RTMT Alert central.

To configure Log Partitioning Monitoring, set the alert properties for the LogPartitionLowWaterMarkExceeded and LogPartitionHighWaterMarkExceeded alerts in Alert Central.

When downloading trace or log files from the server, the user has the option of deleting the files from the server after download. You can regain disk space on the server by offloading log files and collecting the traces that you are interested in and saving these traces using the Real-Time Monitoring tool.

If the percentage of disk usage is above the high water mark that you configured, the system sends an alarm message to syslog, generates a corresponding alert in RTMT Alert Central, and automatically purges log files until the value reaches the low water mark.

Note

Log Partition Monitoring automatically identifies the common partition that contains an active directory and inactive directory. The active directory contains the log files for the current version o fIM and Presence, and the inactive directory contains the log files for the previous installed version of IM and Presence. If necessary, the service deletes log files in the inactive directory first. The service then deletes log files in the active directory, starting with the oldest log file for every application until the disk space percentage drops below the configured low water mark. The service does not send an email when log partition monitoring purges the log files.

After the system determines the disk usage and performs the necessary tasks (sending alarms, generating alerts, or purging logs), log partition monitoring occurs at regular 5 minute intervals.

Before You Begin

To utilize log partition monitor, verify that the Cisco Log Partitioning Monitoring Tool service, a network service, is running on the server on Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability. Stopping the service causes a loss of feature functionality.

Procedure

Step 1	Select Tools > Control Center > Network Services.
Step 2	Select the server where you want to monitor the disk usage from the Servers list box.
Step 3	Select Go.
Step 4	Verify the status of the Cisco Log Partition Monitoring Tool (LPM) under Performance and Monitoring Services.
Step 5	Select the radio button next to Cisco LPM if the LPM is not running.
Step 6	Select Start.

Related Tasks

Set alert properties

Best practices

These recommendations can assist you in configuring alerts.

Set up alerts for core dump and collect relevant logs

Set up alerts for core dump and collect relevant logs

Core dumps can be difficult to reproduce so it is particularly important to collect the log files associated with them when they occur and before they are over written. Thus, you should consider setting up an email alert for core dumps so that you will be notified immediately when one occurs to assist in troubleshooting its cause.

Enable email alert in RTMT

Procedure

Step 1	Select System > Tools > Alert Central.
Step 2	Right-click CoreDumpFileFound alert and select Set Alert Properties.
Step 3	Follow the wizard to set your preferred criteria, including checking Enable Email.
Step 4	Select System > Tools > Alert > Config Email Server.
Step 5	Enter the email server settings.

Collect logs

When you receive an email alert, do the following:

Procedure

Step 1	Note which services initiated the alert, which are indicated by "Core" in the email message.
Step 2	Select Tools > Trace & Log Central > Collect Files and select the relevant logs for all impacted services. For example, if the service is Cisco Presence Engine, collect the Cisco Presence Engine, Cisco XCP router and Cisco XCP Connection Manager logs. Or, if the service is Cisco XCP Router, collect the Cisco XCP Router, and Cisco XCP Connection Manager and Cisco Presence Engine logs.
Step 3	Generate the stack trace by running the following commands from the CLI: utils core active list utils core active analyze core file name
Step 4	Select Tools > Trace & Log Central > Collect Files and select the RIS Data Collector PerfMon Log.
Step 5	Select Tools > SysLog Viewer to collect the system logs. Select a node. Click System Logs > messages to view and save the messages. Click Application Logs > CiscoSyslog to view and save the log file.
Step 6	Attach the collected files to your Cisco technical support case.