realevent

Configures the following settings for system alerts (events):

• Configuration parameters. These are general notification settings.

• Notification methods. This section describes how to configure the different notification methods - email, text messaging and web page.

• Events. This section describes how to create and configure alert events.

• Filters. This section describes how to specify days and times of day when alert messages should be sent to particular recipients.

Syntax

realevent options

Options

The following list summarises the available command line options. The remaining sections describe how to use these options.

-a Amend.

-b boundEvent-specific bound setting.

-c configurationOption
Displays configuration help.

-D daysSpecifies the days on which an alert should be sent (filter configuration).

-d Disable.

-E eventsSpecifies the events to which a filter applies.

-e Enable.

-f filterSpecifies a filter.

-h Help.

-i eventIDSpecifies an event.

-l List configuration (lower case L.).

-m messageDefines a message.

-n notificationMethod
Specifies a notification method.

-p paramSpecifies a configuration parameter.

-r recipientSpecifies the recipient of an alert.

-s Send message (raise an alert).

-T timesSpecifies the period during which an alert should be sent (filter configuration).

-t messageSpecifies the text of a message.

-v valueSpecifies the value of a parameter.

-w Initialise the specified notification method. Use with the -n option.

-x Debug.

-z Zap. Resets or deletes (as appropriate) the specified parameter.

Restrictions

• On UNIX hosts, system alerts must be configured by the realman user.

• On Windows hosts, system alerts must be configured by a user with administrator privileges.

Configuration parameters

This section describes how to configure general notification settings.

Syntax

realevent -ap param -v value

Sets the specified parameter to value.

realevent -zp param

Clears the specified parameter.

Syntax elements

Examples

realevent -ap myemail -v plato@deepspace.phi -l

Sets the value of the myemail parameter to the email address "plato@deepspace.phi". The -l (lower case L) option specifies that on completion the new configuration should be displayed.

realevent -zp myemail

Resets the myemail configuration parameter to a null string.

Notification method configuration

This section describes how to configure the different notification methods - email, text messaging and web page.

Syntax

realevent -a{e}{w}n notificationMethod {-r recipient}

Configures and/or enables the specified notification method. When enabling (e option), a recipient must have already been set up, or must be specified with the -r option. If the w option is included, the notification method is initialised if appropriate (in practice, this only applies to the html notification method, for which it clears the web page).

realevent -ae{w}n notificationMethod

Enables the specified notification method.

realevent -ad{w}n notificationMethod

Disables the specified notification method.

realevent -zn notificationMethod

Clears and disables the specified notification method.

Syntax elements

Examples

realevent -aen sms -r 01234012345@fastsms.com

Enables the sms notification method and sets it to the phone number 01234012345, with the text message being forwarded by the SMS server fastsms.com.

realevent -adn smtp

Disables the smtp notification method, but leaves its configuration unchanged.

realevent -aen smtp

Enables the smtp notification method, using the current configuration.

realevent -zn sms

Disables the sms notification method and resets it to its default state (no recipient).

Event configuration

This section describes how to create and configure alert events. Events are of two types: predefined service and system events, and user-defined events (some user-defined events may be created by NEC Software Solutions applications). User-defined events can be generated using either realevent or the ALERT TCL command.

Syntax

realevent -a{e}i eventID {-b boundValue} {-t message}

Configures and/or enables (-e option) the specified event. When enabling, the event must have already been configured, or the -b and/or -t options must be specified.

realevent -aei eventID

Enables the specified event.

realevent -adi eventID

Disables the specified event.

realevent -zi eventID

For Reality service and system events, resets and disables the specified event. For NEC application events and user-defined events (see below), deletes the specified event.

Syntax elements

eventIDThe ID of the required event. There are four types of event, with IDs in the following ranges:

1001-1999 Reality service events.

2001-2999 Reality system software events.

3001-3999 NEC application events.

4001-4999 Available for user-defined events.

Reality service and system alerts are generated automatically by the system. NEC application and user-defined events are generated with either realevent -s or the ALERT TCL command.

boundValue
A setting specific to a particular Reality Service or System Event. Bound values can be used to limit the number and type of events that will be reported; for example, you can choose to receive notification of all daemon log events, or just those that are most serious.

Note that you cannot define bound values for user-defined and NEC application events.

messageThe message to be sent to the recipient. For pre-defined events this overrides the default message.

Examples

realevent -aei 1002 -b 4 -t "My daemon messages"

Enables event 1002 and configures it to report daemon log events down to level 4. Recipients will be sent the message "My daemon messages", instead of the default message.

realevent -adi 4001

Disables event 4001, but leaves its configuration unchanged.

realevent -aei 4001

Enables event 4001, using the current configuration.

realevent -zi 1002

Disables event 1002 and resets it to its default state. Note that if the event were user-defined or an NEC application event, it would be deleted.

Filter configuration

This section describes how to specify days and times of day when alert messages should be sent to particular recipients:

• If no filters have been created for a recipient, that recipient receives all messages.

• If a recipient has any filters defined, messages are only sent if there is a filter that allows them.

Syntax

realevent -af filterNumber {-E events} {-r recipient} {-D days} {-T times}

Creates or amends a filter. When creating a new filter, you must specify a recipient.

realevent -zf filterNumber

Deletes the specified filter.

Syntax elements

Examples

realevent -af 1 -r me@home.com

Amends filter number 1 to allow messages to be sent only to the recipient me@home.com. If filter number 1 does not exist, it is created with all events enabled for all days and times.

realevent -af 1 -D wed-mon

Amends filter number 1 to allow messages to be sent on the days Wednesday to Monday only.

realevent -af 1 -E 1001-1999

Amends filter number 1 to allow only messages resulting from events 1001 to 1999 to be sent.

realevent -af 1 -T 17:30-2:00

Amends filter number 1 to allow messages to be sent between the hours of 5.30 pm and 2 am only.

realevent -af 1 -r him@home.com -E "*" -D "*" -T 18:00-23:59 -l

Amends filter number 1 to allow all events to send messages to the recipient him@home.com, between 6 pm and midnight on any day. The -l option specifies that, on completion, the changed configuration should be displayed.

realevent -zf 1

Deletes filter number 1.

Other options

realevent -s -i 1001 -m "Sending test event 1001"

Error messages

Unable to access the config file [path]

This usually indicates that you are not the realman user on UNIX, or an user with administrator privileges on Windows, and therefore realevent is unable to create the config file.

The SMS template

The SMS template is used to create an email that is sent to the SMS gateway server. This extracts the message and forwards it to the specified mobile phone number. The contents of the SMS template will depend on the requirements of your SMS gateway server - refer to your SMS gateway server documentation for details.

The template can contain the following codes:

%myemail% Represents the value of the myemail configuration parameter; that is, the return email address.

%smsextra% Represents the value of the smsextra configuration parameter.

When an alert is raised, these are replaced with the appropriate configuration parameter values.

SMS gateway providers

The following companies can provide SMS gateway services:

• FASTSMS (fastsms.co.uk).

• Agile Telecom (www.freesms.net).

• Yahoo (www.yahoo.com).

Service and system events

Example

The following example demonstrates the procedure for configuring the alert system on a Windows host to use email notification:

realevent -ap myemail -v reality@deepspace.phi
realevent -ap smtpserver -v mail.deepspace.phi
realevent -aen smtp -r "fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi;bert.smith@deepspace.phi"
realevent -aen html -r c:\realman\html\alerts.htm
realevent -aei 1002 -b 4
realevent -aei 4001 -t "Application alert"
realevent -af 1 -E "*" -r fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi -D mon -T 18:00-23:59
realevent -af 2 -E "*" -r fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi -D tue-thu -T 18:00-09:00
realevent -af 3 -E "*" -r fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi -D fri -T 00:00-09:00
realevent -af 4 -E "*" -r bert.smith@deepspace.phi -D fri -T 18:00-23:59
realevent -af 5 -E "*" -r bert.smith@deepspace.phi -D sat-sun -T "*"
realevent -af 6 -E "*" -r bert.smith@deepspace.phi -D mon -T 00:00-09:00
realevent -l

This example does the following:

1. Sets the return address for the SMTP and SMS notification methods.

2. Sets the name of the email server.

3. Sets up and enables the SMTP notification method. Two recipients are specified.

4. Sets up and enables the HTML notification method. One recipient is specified.

5. Enables Reality service event 1002 and configures it to report daemon log events up to level 4. Recipients will be sent the default message.

6. Creates and enables user-defined event 4001 and configures it to send recipients the message Application alert.

7. Creates filters 1 to 6 to allow events to send messages only between 6 pm and 9 am on Monday to Friday, and at weekends (from 6 pm on Friday to 9 am on Monday). On weekdays, alert messages are sent to one SMTP recipient and at weekends, to the other.

   Note

   Since no filters have been created for the HTML recipient, all alerts will be logged on the web page.

8. Finally the configuration is displayed:

   param:myemail=[reality@deepspace.phi]
   param:smtpserver=[mail.deepspace.phi]
   param:smstemplate=[]
   param:smsextra=[]
   notify:smtp enabled, recipient=[fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi;bert.smith@deepspace.phi]
   notify:sms disabled, recipient=[]
   notify:html enabled, recipient=[c:\realman\html\alerts.htm]
   notify:snmp disabled, recipient=[]
   filter:1 fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=mon-mon, Times=18:00-23:59
   filter:2 fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=tue-thu, Times=18:00-09:00
   filter:3 fred.bloggs@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=fri-fri, Times=00:00-09:00
   filter:4 bert.smith@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=fri-fri, Times=18:00-23:59
   filter:5 bert.smith@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=sat-sun, Times=*
   filter:6 bert.smith@deepspace.phi, Events=*, Days=mon-mon, Times=00:00-09:00
   event:1001 disabled, bound=0, text=[Bad event code]
   event:1002 enabled, bound=4, text=[Daemon event logged]
   event:4001 enabled, bound=0, text=[Application alert]