Creating basic threshold poll definitions

Create a basic threshold poll definition to run simple formulas against MIB variables, or to create threshold polls with interface-level filtering..

1. Click the Administration icon and select Network > Network Polling.
2. Click Add New .
   The New Poll Definition Type Selection page is displayed.
3. Select Basic threshold from the list and click OK.
4. In the Poll Definition Editor, under the General tab, complete the General Properties fields as follows:

   Name

   Specify a unique name for the poll definition. Only alphanumeric characters, spaces and underscores are allowed.

   Type

   This field is disabled. The Polling engine, ncp_poller, automatically populates this field once this poll definition is included as part of an enabled poll policy.

   Event ID

   This field is disabled. The Polling engine, ncp_poller, automatically populates this field once this poll definition is included as part of an enabled policy. The Event ID field is populated as follows:

   • If this is a new poll definition, then the Event ID field is populated with the value POLL-polldef, where polldef is the name of the current poll definition.
   • If you created a poll definition by copying an existing poll definition, then the Event ID contains the same value as the copied poll definition.

   Note: Some of the older default polls have Event ID fields that do not use the POLL-polldef naming convention.

   Event Severity

   Specify a valid number for the severity. The severity level must correspond to a valid severity level as defined in IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.

   Description

   Type a short description of the poll definition.

   Data Label

   Click the data label list and select one of the data labels from the list. By default the data label takes the same name as the current poll definition. To define a new data label, select <Add New Data Label>. The field to the right of the list becomes active. Type the name of the new data label in this field.

   Data Units

   Specify the data units for this poll definition. The appropriate data unit varies depending on the type of data in the poll definition. Here are some typical data types and the data units that correspond to those data types, together with examples from the default Network Manager poll definitions:

   Counts

   Poll definitions where the value is a count of some item. Examples include:

   • dot3StatsAlignmentErrors
   • ifInDiscards
   • ifInErrors

   For this type of poll definition specify a data unit of #.

   Percentages

   Poll definitions where the value is a percentage. Examples include:

   • cpuBusyPoll
   • ciscoCPUTotal5min

   For this type of poll definition specify a data unit of %.

   Specific units of measure

   Poll definitions where the value is a specify unit of measure. Examples include:

   • memoryPoll

   For this type of poll definition specify the appropriate unit of measure. For example, in the case of memoryPoll the appropriate unit of measure is bytes.

5. Click the Classes tab. In the Classes tree, select the check boxes of the required classes.
   Attention: If you leave all classes unchecked, then the system polls all devices that match the scope defined in the poll policy that uses this poll definition.
6. Optional: Click the Interface Filter tab and build the filter against the required fields.

   The Table field is prepopulated with the interfaces table.

   Note: When polling for interface data (not ping polling or remote ping polling), by default, all interfaces in the SNMP interfaces table of the device are polled, whether they were discovered or not. Interfaces might not be discovered if you configured interface filtering for discovery, or for some other reason, for example that they were inaccessible at discovery time. Undiscovered interfaces are still polled unless you configure a filter on the interface records in the NCIM database for the poll. If you add any interface filter to this poll, the filter is applied to the interface records in the NCIM topology database, and only those interfaces are polled. Only the subset of the discovered interfaces that also matches the filter is polled.
7. Click the Poll Data tab and specify the required formula:
   • To specify a MIB Object Identifier (OID), select Single OID. Specify the current or delta value of the required MIB variable and type the variable into the next field.
     • OID without index: 1.3.6.1.4.1.2636.3.1.13.1.7
     • Full indexed OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.2636.3.1.13.1.7.7.1.0.0
   • To specify a complex expression, select Expression and type the formula into the field.
     • OID without index: 1.3.6.1.4.1.2636.3.1.13.1.7
     • Full indexed OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.2636.3.1.13.1.7.7.1.0.0

   To select variables directly from the MIB tree, click Add MIB Object . From the MIB tree, you can specify the current or previous values of the selected MIB variable, or resolve the current value of the variable to the SNMP index.

   Some SNMP object labels refer to more than one OID and are thus not unique. The way that the GUI processes ambiguous labels is determined by the mib_browser.duplicate.mib.label.action property in the mib_browser.properties file. This property has the following allowed values:

   • always: Always use the OID instead of the label.
   • never: Always use the label. This was the behaviour prior to Fix Pack 15.
   • prompt: If the label is unique, use the label. If the label is not unique, you can choose to replace it with the OID, if the OID is known, choose from a list of multiple OIDs with that label, or use the label. This option is the default.
8. Click the Threshold tab and specify the formulas for triggering events and clearing events.
   The MIB OID or expression that you specified on the Poll Data tab is written automatically into the formulas.
   1. In the Trigger Threshold area, select a comparator from the list and type the value against which to filter the MIB OID.
   2. In the Description field, type a meaningful description of the trigger formula. Add the MIB variable to the description in parentheses.
      The description is displayed in the Event Viewer when an event is raised.
      For example:

      CPU usage high (avgBusy5=)

   3. To insert the underlying eval statement into the description, position the cursor before the closing parenthesis, click Add MIB Object , and navigate to the specified variable. Specify whether the current or previous value of the variable is evaluated, or whether the value is resolved to the SNMP index, and click OK.
      The statement is inserted, for example:

      CPU usage high (avgBusy5=eval(text,"&SNMP.VALUE.sysName"))

   4. Repeat steps 6a to 6c for the Clear Threshold area.
9. Click Save.