Overviews - Alerts

View, assign, close, and configure IBM Spectrum Protect alerts.

The table shows active and inactive alerts. When an alert closes, it is removed from the table.

An alert represents an error, warning, or informational message that is issued by an IBM Spectrum Protect server. Alerts are shown in the Operations Center and can be sent as email notifications.

Tips:
  • The Client category shows alert information for clients that do not correspond to another client category. This category does not summarize all the client alerts.
  • The Server category shows alert information for server-related issues, but not the server database, active log, or archive log. Alert information for these items is shown in the Inventory category.
  • Redundant alerts might be shown if a spoke server is configured to be a hub server for other spoke servers. For best results, a server should not act as both a hub and a spoke.
  • You cannot use the Operations Center to assign alerts to system-generated administrator IDs such as the SERVER_CONSOLE, ADMIN_CENTER, and IBM-OC-server_name IDs.

The following information and actions are available on the page:

Configure
Click the Configure toggle to change alert settings for the hub and spoke servers.
Tip: The Configure Alerts table shows only the alert definitions on the hub server.

The following actions are available in the Configure Alerts table:

Add Alert
Defines a new alert trigger on the hub server and on any spoke servers for which the alert trigger is valid.

For more information about IBM Spectrum Protect messages, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.

Delete Alert
Removes the selected alert triggers from the hub server and from any spoke servers on which the alert triggers are defined.

Any existing alerts that were generated by a deleted alert trigger will remain in the Operations Center until they are closed, either manually or automatically.

Configure Notification
You can only select administrator IDs that are registered on the hub server. However, alert notification will also be configured on any spoke servers that have the same administrator ID defined.
Tip: This action is only available when at least one administrator ID on the hub server has an email address specified and the hub server is configured for email notification.

The same configuration is required on any spoke servers that will send alert notifications.

  • To update an administrator ID, issue the UPDATE ADMIN command and specify values for the EMAILADDRESS and ALERT parameters.
  • To configure email notification, use the SET ALERTEMAIL command and related commands.
  • To configure email server settings, use the SET ALERTEMAILSMTPHOST and SET ALERTEMAILSMTPPORT commands.
Status
The following status indicators can be shown in the table:
  • Informational status icon Info: Processing continues with an informational message, and no action is required.
  • Warning status icon Warning: Processing can continue, but problems might occur later.
  • Error status icon Critical: Processing cannot continue. You must immediately correct the issue that is described in the alert message, or the data protection services that are provided by the affected server will be interrupted.
Active
When an alert is first issued, it is active. Active alerts are identified with a check mark.
  • An active alert automatically moves to the inactive state if an administrator does not deactivate or close it within a specified time interval.
  • An inactive alert is automatically reactivated if the alert condition occurs again.
  • An inactive alert is automatically closed if the alert condition does not recur and an administrator does not close the alert within a specified time interval.
  • Closed alerts are either deleted from the server immediately or retained for a specified time interval before deletion. Closed alerts are removed from the table.

The time intervals for managing the alert lifecycle are specified when you initially configure the Operations Center, and can be changed on the Settings page.

Assigned
Shows the administrator ID of the alert owner.

Administrators must log in to the Operations Center to view the alerts that are assigned to them. Alert owners are not automatically notified when they are assigned an alert, even if IBM Spectrum Protect is configured to send email notifications when new alert conditions occur.

Alert Message
Each alert message corresponds to an IBM Spectrum Protect server message.

For more information about server messages, including a detailed explanation and the appropriate administrator response, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.

Activity Log
Use the activity log pane to troubleshoot alerts. The activity log shows related messages that were issued before and after the selected alert occurred. To view additional messages, use the QUERY ACTLOG command.

For more information about using IBM Spectrum Protect commands, see the IBM Spectrum Protect documentation.