Best practices for Alert Management using Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager Abstract This technical white paper describes the process of configuring and following some best practices of using the Alerts features in Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager version 1.0 to manage the data center better by leveraging the power monitoring and management capabilities.
Introduction Revisions Date Description September 2019 Initial Release for Power Manager 1.0. Acknowledgements This paper was produced by the following: Author: Anand J, Test Engineer 2, Enterprise Software Validation Support: Mahendran P, Test Senior Engineer, Enterprise Software Validation Shruthi Ravoor, Technical Content Developer 2, BDC - InfoDev The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc.
Introduction Table of contents Revisions............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of contents ....................................................................................................
Introduction Executive summary This technical whitepaper provides an overview about configuring and following some best practices of using the Alerts features in Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager version 1.0. It contains Open Manage Enterprise existing capabilities with respect to alerts and how to leverage it for Power Manager events and following alert actions.
Introduction 1 Introduction This white paper illustrates several examples and provides complete steps on how to gain maximum benefit of Alerts feature. Also, the paper describes the alert actions in OpenManage Enterprise and provides information on how IT administrator can leverage them. 1.
Alert Definition 2 Alert Definition Alert definition is a meta data of alerts, defined by Open Manage Enterprise. You can view alerts that are generated for errors or informational purposes. An Error and Event messages have the following information: • • • • • • Message ID—Messages are classified based on components such as threshold violation, power policy violation, and group membership changes. Message—The actual cause of an event.
Alert Filter 3 Alert Filter To filter only Power Manager alerts, you can filter by selection of category such as System Health and subcategory as Metric or Power Configuration in Alert Log page. Metrics - Threshold Violation Alerts. Power Configuration – Group membership changes and power policy violation alerts.
Alert Forward Prerequisite Settings 4 Alert Forward Prerequisite Settings Following are the prerequisites for forwarding Power Manager alerts: • Configure the target IP address, where Power Manager alerts need to be forwarded and community string in Open Manage console in below path. - • Application SettingsAlertsSNMP Configuration Configure trap forward format in below path.
Alert Trap Forward Action 5 Alert Trap Forward Action • • • • • 5.1 OME receives alerts from various SNMP agents and Platform Event Traps (PETs) configured on the network. These traps may be required by another OME instance or other Network Management Systems (NMS). The system administrator can set the rules to define which traps will be forwarded based on the traps severity, traps categories, and devices or device groups.
Alert Trap Forward Action Name and Description 2. Choose the below mentioned categories for Power Manager related alerts, as shown in Figure 3.
Alert Trap Forward Action 3. A specific devices or groups that needs to be monitored can only be selected through the device tree. Device/Device Group Association 4. SNMP trap forwarding can be configured to send alert during a specific date or time range. If none of the options are selected in this wizard, trap forwarding is sent without any time restriction.
Alert Trap Forward Action 5. User can choose the below available severity based on their requirement. Severity configuration 6. Select the SNMP trap forwarding destination as shown in figure7.
Alert Trap Forward Action 7. User can view overall summary of the configuration. Summary 8. If you have alerts forwarded from OME1 to OME2 (In SNMP Format) and later this needs to be forwarded from OME2 to OME3 (In Original Format), you must choose the category as shown in Figure 9 and modify the trap forward format as mentioned in alert forward prerequisite settings.
Alert Trap Forward Action 5.2 Open Manage Enterprise Event Management • To forward alerts from one Open Manage Enterprise console to other Open Manage Enterprise console, do not import MIB as it is pre-defined. Forwarding alerts from OME1 to OME2 • To forward alerts from Open Manage Enterprise to other Network Management System (NMS), import Open Manage Enterprise Power Manager MIB to NMS.
Alert Email Action 6 Alert Email Action • • • • • The Alert Email Action feature notifies you if a device or group exceeds the threshold or exceeds the power cap, without you having to log in to the Open Manage Enterprise console. Alert Email Action forwards the above alerts through email. You can customize alert severity, type, date, device, and days for alert email action. For IT administrator to receive emails through the support desk, an SMTP server is required.
Alert Email Action 6.1 Creating an Alert Email Action To create an Alert Email Action policy, follow the steps from Step 1 Step 5 as described in Creating an Alert Trap Forward Action section. For step 6, select the email action instead of SNMP traps and verify the summary.
Alert Forward Action for Syslog Watcher 7 Alert Forward Action for Syslog Watcher • • • • • • The syslog protocol is a network logging standard supported by a wide range of network devices, appliances, and servers. Syslog messages deliver information on network events and errors. System administrators use Syslog for network management and security auditing. With a dedicated syslog server, the syslog protocol consolidates event records from all over the network into a single central repository.
Alert Forward Action for Syslog Watcher 7.1 Creating an Alert Action for Syslog Watcher To create an alert action for syslog watcher policy, follow the steps from step 1 to 6 as described in Creating an Alert Trap Forward Action section. For step 7, select the syslog watcher action instead of SNMP traps and verify the summary.
Alert Ignore Action 8 Alert Ignore Action An IT administrator can choose to ignore alerts for various reasons: • • • 8.1 If a maintenance task is scheduled in a data center, alerts are received in bulk and the alert log is recorded in large numbers in OME. These are known alerts and can be ignored instead of overloading the database. When you are aware that there are a few faulty devices in the data center that keep generating alerts frequently, alerts from these devices can be ignored.
Generic Recommendations 9 Generic Recommendations • Create static groups in below structure and set the threshold for better management. - • • • Data centerRoomAisleRack Avoid group membership changes. However, Power Manager generates internal alerts for group membership changes. When Power Manager generates any alerts for power policy violation, take necessary actions.
Conclusion 10 Conclusion All the different ways of configuring and managing your alerts from Power Manager through OpenManage Enterprise are explained in detail. For more information about different Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, see the Dell PowerEdge Servers Portfolio Guide.
Technical Support 11 Technical Support • • • Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support. To watch quick and short videos about handling the PowerEdge server components, visit the QRL video website. Storage technical documents and videos provide expertise that helps to ensure customer success on Dell EMC storage platforms.
