Installation guide

Table Of Contents
Disabling Alarm Actions
You can disable an alarm action from occurring without disabling the alarm itself. For example, if you have
an alarm set to trigger when a host is disconnected, and you put the host in maintenance mode, you can disable
the alarm action from firing because you know the host is not available. The alarm is still enabled, so it triggers,
but the action does not.
You disable alarm actions for a selected inventory object. You can also disable alarm actions across multiple
objects at one time from the object tab. For example, to disable the alarm actions for multiple virtual machines
on a host, go to the Virtual Machines tab of the host. When you disable the alarm actions for an object, they
continue to occur on child objects.
When you disable alarm actions, all actions on all alarms for the object are disabled. You cannot disable a subset
of alarm actions.
SNMP Traps as Alarm Actions
The SNMP agent included with vCenter Server can be used to send traps when alarms are triggered on a
vCenter Server. The default hardware health alarms send SNMP traps by default.
When an SNMP trap notification occurs, only one trap is triggered and one notification is sent.Table 21-18
describes the trap information provided in the body of an SNMP notification.
Table 21-18. SNMP Trap Notification Details
Trap Entry Description
Type The state vCenter Server is monitoring for the alarm. Options include Host Processor (or CPU)
usage, Host Memory usage, Host State, Virtual Machine Processor (or CPU) usage, Virtual Machine
Memory usage, Virtual Machine State, Virtual Machine Heartbeat.
Name The name of the host or virtual machine that triggers the alarm.
Old Status The alarm status before the alarm was triggered.
New Status The alarm status when the alarm is triggered.
Object Value The object value when the alarm is triggered.
NOTE To use SNMP with vCenter Server, you must configure SNMP settings using the vSphere Client.
Email Notifications as Alarm Actions
The SMTP agent included with vCenter Server can be used to send email notifications when alarms are
triggered on vCenter Server. When an alarm is triggered, any number of email notification are sent. You define
the recipient list when you set up the alarm actions for an alarm.
Table 21-19 describes the information provided in the body of an SMTP notification.
Table 21-19. SMTP Email Notification Details
Email Entry Description
Target Object for which the alarm was triggered.
Old Status Previous alarm status. Applies only to state triggers.
New Status Current alarm status. Applies only to state triggers.
Metric Value Threshold value that triggered the alarm. Applies only to metric condition triggers.
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