Installation guide

Table 21-19. SMTP Email Notification Details (Continued)
Email Entry Description
Alarm Definition Alarm definition in vCenter Server, including the alarm name and status.
Description Localized string containing a summary of the alarm. For example:
Alarm New_Alarm on host1.vmware.com changed from Gray to Red.
If the alarm was triggered by an event, the information in Table 21-20 is also included in the body of the email.
Table 21-20. Event Details in Email
Detail Description
Event Details VMODL event type name.
Summary Alarm summary, including the event type, alarm name, and target object.
Date Time and date the alarm was triggered.
UserName Person who initiated the action that caused the event to be created. Events caused by an
internal system activity do not have a UserName value.
Host Host on which the alarm was triggered.
Resource Pool Resource pool on which the alarm was triggered.
Datacenter Datacenter on which the alarm was triggered.
Arguments Arguments passed with the alarm and their values.
Running Scripts as Alarm Actions
You can write scripts and attach them to alarms so that when the alarm triggers, the script runs.
Use the alarm environment variables to define complex scripts and attach them to multiple alarms or inventory
objects. For example, you can write a script that enters the following trouble ticket information into an external
system when an alarm is triggered:
n
Alarm name
n
Object on which the alarm was triggered
n
Event that triggered the alarm
n
Alarm trigger values
When you write the script, include the following environment variables in the script:
n
VMWARE_ALARM_NAME
n
VMWARE_ALARM_TARGET_NAME
n
VMWARE_ALARM_EVENTDESCRIPTION
n
VMWARE_ALARM_ALARMVALUE
You can attach the script to any alarm on any object without changing the script.
Alarm Environment Variables
To simplify script configuration for alarm actions, VMware provides environment variables for VMware
alarms.
Table 21-21 lists the default environment variables defined for alarms. Use these variables to define more
complex scripts and attach them to multiple alarms or inventory objects so the action occurs when the alarm
triggers.
Chapter 21 Working with Alarms
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