Message administration screens
Messages provide information about events and errors during system operations. System messages vary in content, priority, destination, and threshold parameters. You select a system message, and you use the Message Administration screens to:
- List all the parameters associated with the message.
- Add or remove a new destination to or from the current list of destinations for the message.
- Modify a message priority.
- Modify the message threshold period.
- Add or remove a threshold and threshold message ID pair to or from the current list of thresholds for the current system message.
Fields
The following fields are displayed by the browser:
- Amount of interval � Threshold period, as a number of units of time. The units are specified in the Type of interval field.
- Destination � Specifies a list of destinations where the message should be sent. By default, messages are sent to the message master log and sent to either the alarm (if the message is an alarm) or event (if the message is an event). The destinations are described below:
- log � The main log file, also called Master Log.
- stderr � Causes the message to go to standard out of the process that logged it.
- SCREEN � The message goes nowhere, the process must display it.
- /dev/console � The message goes to this device.
- alertPipe � Message is sent to this named pipe. The alerter reads it.
- alarm � A log file named alarm.
- event � A log file named event.
- sccsCtlPipe � A named pipe.
- MxmtrPipe � A named pipe.
- trace � A log file named trace.
- admin � a log file named admin. All messages of type ADM
- maint � a log file named maint. All messages of type EVN or ERR.
- ret � a log file named ret. All retired alarms.
- fax� a log file named fax. List of faxes sent or received.
- dev � a log file named dev. Messages of type DEV.
- hist � a log file named hist. Messages from adminstrative console commands.
- cdr � a log file named cdr.
- Priority � Specifies the urgency level of the message. The Message Priority may be NONE or - (for none), * (for minor), ** (for major), or *C (for critical).
- Threshold � A positive number that is assigned to a Threshold Message ID. Thresholds are triggering devices that alert operations personnel to take action when a certain number of messages are generated within a certain period of time. Message thresholding allows for escalation of message priority or criticality. A system message may be of little concern when it occurs in small numbers within long time intervals. However, if message occurrences increase within shorter time intervals, this may indicate more serious problems with the system. Message thresholding sends a new message when a threshold is reached. The new message may be higher in priority and have a different destination set than the original message.
- Threshold message ID � Specifies the ID of the message generated when a threshold is reached. The priority and the destinations for the threshold message should be meaningful. For example, message ID VROP003 may have a priority of minor (*), while its corresponding threshold message ID could be THR003 which has a major (**) priority. Generating the THR003 message after enough VROP003 messages have been generated within the Threshold Period is the threshold action. THR001, THR002, THR003, and THR004 have priorities of none (-), minor (*), Major (**), and critical (*C), respectively.
- Type of interval � Unit of time. Choose either weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds. The entry for this field is combined with the value entered in the Amount of interval field to set the threshold period.
See also
