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Integrating with the Common Alerting Protocol

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Integrating with the Common Alerting Protocol

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IBM brand Intelligent Operations Center Version 1.0.0

Integrating with the Common Alerting Protocol

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)is used to exchange event information between the IBM? Intelligent Operations Center and external systems.

The CAP is a generic format for exchanging emergency alerts andpublic warnings over various networks. It provides an open non-proprietarydigital message format for all types of alerts and notifications.The CAP is compatible with emerging techniques such as web serviceswhile offering enhanced capabilities. These capabilities include:
  • Flexible geographic targeting using latitude and longitude shapesand other geospatial representations in three dimensions
  • Multilingual and multi-audience messaging
  • Phased and delayed effective times and expirations
  • Enhanced message update and cancellation features
  • Template support for framing complete and effective warning messages
  • Digital encryption and signature compatibility
  • Digital images and audio facilities

Events are self-contained data messages that can be sent or consumedby all components. Events can be published to topic queues and readby all potentially interested subscribing IT systems. The CAP helpsstandardize event content so multiple domains can send and receiveevents in a common format using common conventions. The standard definesthe mandatory and optional fields in the event record and the acceptablevalues for those fields. Event processing management can mediate betweenlegacy formats and the standardized format. The CAP can be extendedto handle day-to-day operations in addition to emergency situations.

Minimally events must contain:
  • A unique event identifier that contains:
    • The sender (system or human)
    • Organization sending the event
    • Serial number within sending system
    • Timestamp of event creation
  • Information that allows recipients to define and prioritize responses:
    • Urgency ? how rapidly recipients should respond to the alert
    • The level of threat to life and property
    • Certainty ? a probability ranging from 100% the event has beenobserved to 0% the event is now not expected to occur
    • Predicted time for events that might happen in the future
    • Duration of events that have been previously reported and whosecontinuation is being reported
    • Anticipated duration of events that represent a situation thatcannot be corrected promptly
    • Recommended or mandated actions and directives
  • Information to allow the event to be correlated:
    • City semantic model references (if one exists)
    • Geospatial coordinates
    • Reference to prerequisite event or an event that was the precipitatingcause
    • Unique asset identifiers for any involved
  • Human readable textual descriptions:
    • Location description
    • Activity description

Using the CAP helps minimize per-event data exchange. Because eventsare formatted in XML the data format can be written and read by avariety of systems thereby preventing the exchange of meaninglessdata or data creating dangerous confusion.

The IBM Intelligent Operations Center providespersistent storage of CAP alerts and a standard interface for presentingthem.

While the entire CAP structure is accepted by the IBM Intelligent Operations Center only some datais used by the IBM Intelligent Operations Center whencalculating key performance indicators (KPI).

The IBM Intelligent Operations Center usesthe WebSphere? Message Broker to integrateevents using the CAP.

The IBM Intelligent Operations Center supportsOASIS Common Alerting Protocol Version1.2.

  • CAP structure
    Each CAP alert message consists of an <alert> segmentthat can contain one or more <info> segments.Each <info> segment can include one or more <area> segments.In most cases CAP messages with a <msgType> witha value of alert includes at least one <info> element.
  • Event types
    Several CAP event types are supported by the IBM Intelligent Operations Center.
  • Using CAP for KPI events
    The WebSphere Message Brokerwhich is provided as part of the IBM Intelligent Operations Center accepts CAP eventmessages and uses the data in key performance indicator (KPI) calculations.
  • Using CAP for non-KPI events
    CAP data can also be used to provide data on events notassociated with KPI calculations.
  • Configuring the IBM Intelligent Operations Center to receive events
    External event queues messages are received by the IBM Intelligent Operations Center on an inbound queue.The messages must follow the Common Alerting protocol.
  • Using the inbound event queue defined for the IBM Intelligent Operations Center
    CAP events can be published into the IBM Intelligent Operations Center by directing themto the included WebSphere Message Broker instance.
Parent topic: Integration points and protocols
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Document Information

Modified date:
08 December 2018

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ibm10751163

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