OpenLM Alerts System Guide

OpenLM Alerts Configuration Guide

Version 1.5.4, September 2009

General

OpenLM Alerts is an alerting system for OpenLM. It allows the system administrators to configure complex conditions and receive alerts if and when these conditions are met. The system is designed to provide maximum flexibility to system administrators by implementing a powerful timing system. The condition builder allows the composition of complex conditions that involve one or more license servers.

System Architecture

The system is a windows service that should be installed on any Windows machine (requires .NET Framework).

All the system settings are stored in an XML file in order to assure that the application will not crash when OpenLM server is not available. The service is sending requests to OpenLM Server in the defined frequency and if one of the conditions is met the system will perform according to users defined policy.

Installation

Check OpenLM System Installation Guide.

Configuration

OpenLM Alerts configuration form is shown during installation process and can be accessed any time after from Start->OpenLM->Alerts System Service->OpenLM Alerts Configuration.

Fill your OpenLM Server name or address and port number. Then check connectivity to OpenLM Server. The result of this test must be successful in order for the system to properly function.

On the lower part of the form you can set the system logging level. The default should be ERROR.

Click on configure mail/sms services will open the following form:

Use your local SMTP settings and it will allow OpenLM Alert to send Alert by email.

The second tab allows you to set your SMS account:

Contact OpenLM in order to receive a username/password for the SMS service.

Adding Alerts

OpenLM Alerts Editor can be accessed from Start->OpenLM->Alerts System Service->OpenLM Alerts Editor

On the lower part the "Alert System Configuration" button allows you to access the system configuration.

The grid shows a list of all your defined alerts.

Click on "Add" button to add a new alert or "Edit" to edit an existing one.

Start by naming your alert and setting its severity level. Then choose the the type of Alert and Click add. Your new alert will be added to the "Query Definition" area. Fill all the fields accurately in order to make the query valid.

Complex conditions on more then one server can also be added:

Then add the destination:

The following destinations are available: Email, SMS and EasyAdmin.

By clicking "Limit Send Times" you can set when the system sends alerts and by that implement your own alerting policy. For example, if the organization needs to be available 24 hours a day, you may want to receive an email during the day and SMS during night hours. Organizations that only provide service during the day may want to receive alert only during day hours.

In the example above we limited the system to send alerts from Monday to Friday - 08:00 to 17:00. A UNIX CRON format can also be used by selecting "Define by custom pattern". There are many free resources that explain cron patterns on the Internet.

After applying the condition we would like to set the check frequency of the condition accessed by the "Frequency" button:

In this case we set the system to check the condition every 15 minutes Monday to Friday.

OpenLM System configuration and usage tips

General

This is the first release of OpenLM Alerts and the number of available conditions is minimal. The next release will include more types of conditions and we are looking forward to getting your feedback about the system and more conditions that you may need.

Installation

We recommend to install OpenLM Alerts Software on a separate machine, not on OpenLM server or any of your FLEXlm servers. This is because OpenLM is monitoring your licensing system and we wouldn't want it to fail with your license or OpenLM server.

Defining conditions

OpenLM allows the user to define any number of conditions but take into account that these conditions are being constantly checked by the server. We recommend to pay attention to the following:

Set the condition check frequency so that conditions will only be check when you also want to receive alerts.
Set the check frequency to be as low as possible (According to the condition).
Use the option to Suppress Duplicated, especially when the results are sent to SMS or email.