Monitoring events in Active Event Lists

The Active Event List (AEL) is an interactive Java applet for displaying alert data from the ObjectServer. Communication between the ObjectServer and the AEL is bidirectional. The AEL presents alert information from the alerts.status table in the ObjectServer to operators. From the AEL, operators can perform actions against alerts that results in changes to the alert data in the alerts.status table.

Filters and views control how alert data is displayed in the AEL. Use filters to choose which rows from the alerts.status table to display. Use views to choose which fields in a row to display. As a read/write user, you can access to Filter Builder and View Builder components for creating filters and views.

Instructions for
Administrators. You can create publicly accessible filters and views for all read/write clients.

Before you begin

Define the filters and views that you want to be applied to AELs.
Create the tools that you want operators to run. Users that you want to run SQL tools must be validated against the ObjectServer that is defined as a data source. The users must also have write privileges against the ObjectServer. If multiple ObjectServers are defined as data sources, the following conditions apply:
- The tool must be valid against all ObjectServers. If the tool is configured to run against fields that are not in one ObjectServer, the tool cannot be run against the entire selection of events.
- The user must have write-privileges against all ObjectServer. If not, the tool runs against only the ObjectServers that the user can write to.
- If the tool contains prompts, the prompt permits you to select only fields or field values that are common to all ObjectServers.
For non-administrative users to view event information in full, configure their user profiles accordingly.
For users to manually refresh the event data in the AEL, turn off data row caching.

About this task

You can access AELs from a page in Dashboard Application Services Hub that hosts an AEL widget. A default AEL is in the navigation, under Availability > Events > Active Event List. If the Web GUI is configured correctly, it is also possible to access AELs in the following ways:

From Event Dashboards, by clicking the distribution indicator of a monitor box. AEL opening must be specified as a single-click action in the Event Dashboard widget preferences.
From linked active objects in maps.
From hyperlinks that contain AEL query strings.

For access criteria, AEL supports the following comparators and fields.

The = equality comparator.
The Class field and groups.
All other fields and comparators are supported in Event Viewer from version 8.1 Fix Pack 3.

There is no plan to back-port any of the Event Viewer functions to AEL. Event Viewer replaces AEL as the featured event list for Web GUI.

Procedure

Common actions to monitor and manage events AELs are described in the following table.

Table 1. Monitoring and managing events in AELs
Action	Instructions	Notes
Acknowledge and deacknowledge events	Select the events and click Alerts > Acknowledge. To deacknowledge a previously acknowledged event, select the event and click Alerts > Deacknowledge.	You can acknowledge and deacknowledge only the events that are assigned to you, your group, or the `nobody` user. If configured by the administrator, you are required to enter a journal entry whenever you acknowledge an event.
Change the event data that is displayed	To edit the current view, click Edit > Views and use the View Builder. To apply a different view, select a view from the list that is on the toolbar.
Change which events are displayed.	To edit the current filter, click Edit > Filters and user the Filter Builder. To apply a different filter, select a filter from the list that is on the toolbar.
Copy information from the AEL to the clipboard	Select a field and click Edit > Copy. Then, paste the content into another application.
Delete events	Select the events and click Alerts > Delete.	If you have user access privileges to use SQL tools, you can delete events. You can restrict access to this tool.
View event information in full, for single or multiple events	For a single event, double-click the event, or select the event and click Alerts > Information. For multiple events, select the events and click Alerts > Information.	You can view the data from the alerts.status, alerts.details, and alerts.journal tables on the appropriate tabs.
Freeze or unfreeze the AEL	Click View > Freeze to freeze a single AEL, or click View > Freeze All to freeze all the AELs that are open in your browser. A check is displayed against the Freeze menu item to show that the AEL is frozen. Click View > Freeze or View > Freeze All again to unfreeze the AEL.	A frozen AEL is not updated by the next refresh of event data from the ObjectServer. You can still run tools to change the event data, but the changes are not displayed on the AEL until it is unfrozen.
Add a journal entry for an event	Select the event and click Alerts > Journal.
Change the severity of events	Select the event or events and click Alerts > Prioritize. Then, select a priority.	You can change the severity of events only if you have permission to do so. Uou can change only the severity of events that are assigned to you, your group, or the nobody user.
Force a refresh of the event data	Click View > Refresh.	The event list refreshes automatically at regular intervals to show all incoming alerts from the ObjectServer.
Show only events that are of a particular severity	Click the severity color on the event list distribution status bar at the bottom of the AEL. To remove the filter, click All Events.
Filter for events that contain specific data	Select a cell that contains the value on which to base the filter. Then, click Alerts > Quick Filter and select an operator. To remove the filter, click Alerts > Quick Filter > Off.	You can filter for events that occurred at the same time as the selected event, or before the selected event.
Search for text in a column of the AEL	Click View > Find. Then, select the column that you want to search, type the text that you want to search for, and specify the type of search.	The following types of search are available: exact matches, regular expressions, or substrings.
Select or deselect events	Select options are as follows: For a single event, click a row. For multiple sequential events, hold the SHIFT key and click the first and final rows in the selection. For multiple nonsequential events, hold the Ctrl key and click the events. For all events, click Edit > Select all. For all events that match a field hold the SHIFT key (Ctrl+Alt on Windows) and right-click the field. To deselect events, click Edit > Deselect all or hold the Ctrl key and click the events.
Sort a single column	Click the column header once to sort in ascending order. To change to descending order, click the column header again. To unsort, click the column header a third time.	Columns that are sorted in ascending order are denoted by an upwards arrow. Columns that are sorted in descending order are denoted by a downwards arrow in the column header. The data is sorted only by the fields contained in the alerts.status table; conversions are not sorted.
Sort multiple columns	Hold the Ctrl key and click the columns to sort in ascending order. To change to descending order, click the column header again. To unsort, click the column header a third time. Keep the Ctrl key held.
Run tools against events	Select the events. Then, right-click, click Tools and click through to the tool that you want to run.
Take ownership of events	Select the events and click Alerts > Take ownership.	The users or groups to which you can assign events depends on your security permissions. If you are a user with the `ncw_user` role, for example the `ncouser` user, you can assign only the events assigned to you or your group.
Assign ownership of events to a user	Select the events and click Alerts > User Assign, and then select a user.
Assign ownership of events to a group	Select the events and click Alerts > Group Assign, and then select a group.