Managing Thresholds in Hardware Sentry KM for PATROL

Predetermined Thresholds and Dynamic Thresholds

There are two types of thresholds in Hardware Sentry: predetermined thresholds and dynamic thresholds.

Predetermined thresholds are thresholds that are known ahead of time because they are always the same. They are identical from one system to another and can therefore be statically configured in the Hardware Sentry engine. Typical examples of parameters with predetermined thresholds are: Status (0 = OK ; 1 = Degraded ; 2 = Failed), PredictedFailure (0 = No failure predicted ; 1 = Predicted Failure) or ByteRate (no alert threshold).

Dynamic thresholds are thresholds that vary from one system to another and cannot therefore be established in advanced. They will be determined by Hardware Sentry at run-time, depending on the server model, the device type and the information available. Typical examples of parameters with dynamic thresholds are Temperature (alert thresholds for the ambient temperature are different from those for the internal temperature of a processor), Fan Speed and Voltage.

Thresholds management in Hardware Sentry

Predetermined and dynamic thresholds are applied to the PATROL Agent configuration during the discovery of Hardware Sentry. Predetermined thresholds are set using the ANYINST/ALL_INSTANCES method, dynamic thresholds are instance-specific and therefore set per instance.

Thresholds are applied only if there are no existing thresholds. Typically thresholds are saved in the PATROL Agent configuration during the very first discovery of the product and are never modified afterwards. Of course, if new devices or components are discovered or if remote servers are added to the monitoring process, additional thresholds will be configured.

Thresholds can therefore be modified at any time. Hardware Sentry KM will not override the customizations. One can think of the thresholds initially set by Hardware Sentry KM as default thresholds that can be tuned up later if required.

Modifying Hardware Sentry Thresholds

If thresholds need to be modified, standard tools provided by BMC such as pconfig, PCM or the Event Management KM can be used. Hardware Sentry KM does not provide any specific way to customize thresholds.

Selecting the Appropriate Thresholds Mechanism

Before making any modifications to the Hardware Sentry KM thresholds, it is strongly advised to make sure that the KM uses the appropriate thresholds mechanism.

To do so, right-click any Hardware icon and select [KM Commands] -> [KM settings] -> [Additional Settings] -> [Thresholds Mechanism Selection].

Select the appropriate mechanism and click [OK].

Path to the Hardware Sentry Thresholds

The path to the thresholds in the PATROL Agent configuration depends on the currently active thresholds mechanism.

Please refer to KB1108 and KB1109 for additional information about the content of these variables and to learn how to set thresholds in the PATROL Agent configuration.

“Tuning” Thresholds Mechanism

“Event Management” Thresholds Mechanism

Reinitializing the Hardware Sentry Thresholds

To reapply default thresholds, Hardware Sentry KM needs to be reinitialized. To do so, right-click any Hardware Sentry host instance and select [KM Commands -> Reinitialize].

Make sure that the “Reset alert thresholds and polling intervals” option is checked and click the [Reinitialize] button.

All predetermined and dynamic thresholds will be removed from the PATROL Agent configuration and replaced by the Hardware Sentry KM default thresholds.

Parameters List

Parameters with Predetermined Thresholds (ANYINST/ALL_INSTANCES)

The following table contains the list of parameters for which ALL_INSTANCES or ANYINST thresholds will be applied as well as the thresholds value.

Exceptions

In some cases, the parameter activation depends on a value obtained at run-time by Hardware Sentry KM. In such cases, specific thresholds may be set in addition to the ANYINST/ALL_INSTANCES thresholds for the following parameters:

Parameters with Instance-Specific (Dynamic) Thresholds

The following parameters have instance specific thresholds. They are determined and set the first time the instances are discovered in accordance to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Exceptions: parameters which thresholds cannot be modified from the configuration

Some parameters’ thresholds cannot be customized with external tools. If required, modifications to these thresholds need to be made using the Hardware Sentry KM interface.

These parameters are:

Related Topics

• Managing Thresholds: the Event Management Thresholds Mechanism
• Managing Thresholds: the Tuning Thresholds Mechanism
• Generating Test Events with Hardware Sentry KM for PATROL
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