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Event Monitoring

Dell OpenManage™ Array Manager 2.5 User's Guide

  Event Logging

  Viewing Event Listings

  Managing the Event Log

  Configuring Array Manager's SNMP Support

Array Manager's event management features let you monitor the health of storage resources such as controllers, channels, array disks, virtual disks, and volumes. This chapter on event monitoring has the following topics:


Event Logging

When Array Manager captures a storage event, it does the following.

  1. Updates the status of the storage object that generated the event.

  2. Propagates the storage object's status to all the related higher objects in the storage hierarchy. For example, if the tree view is collapsed, the computer object will show the alert icon.

  3. Logs an event into the Array Manager log and Microsoft® Windows NT® or Windows 2000® application event log.

  4. Sends an SNMP trap if the Array Manager SNMP Agent is installed and enabled.

Note: A critical error will cause a pop-up "critical event" message to display even if the console is not running.

Severity Levels

Events help you identify significant incidents such as a disk failure or a disk addition. These events have three levels of severity:

Event monitoring and logging starts when an Array Manager managed node starts up. If you stop the Manage Node service in Microsoft Windows NT/2000 or the Array Manager Service on NetWare, then event monitoring and logging stops. Every event consists of the following:


Viewing Event Listings

Array Manager generates events that are added to the Microsoft Windows NT/2000 application event log. You can view these events in the Array Manager Events tab or in the Microsoft Windows Event Viewer.

In the right pane of the Array Manager console, click the Events tab to display the events listings. All events that have been logged appear in this section. They are listed under the date and time, and include the source of the event plus a description of it.

Note: The Array Manager Event Log file cannot be viewed through a text editor.

Viewing Specific Events

You can view specific information on each event by double-clicking on it to display the Event Details dialog box. This shows, in addition to the information displayed in the Events tab, the Event ID, Type, Category, User and Computer name. The dialog box provides an easier way to read the description of the event.

Viewing SNMP Traps

SNMP traps that are forwarded by Array Manager can be viewed in any standard SNMP-compatible enterprise management console. Refer to your enterprise management software, Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000, and NetWare® documentation for information on configuring your system for SNMP.


Managing the Event Log

This section describes how you can manage the Array Manager Event Log.

Backing Up and Restoring Events

You can choose to back up the Array Manager Event Log. Backing up saves the file to a specific, predefined location that is not user-selectable. This file cannot be viewed through a text editor.

To back up events:
  1. Right-click in the Events tab and select Backup Event Log from the context menu that appears.

  2. The Event Log is stored locally.

To restore events:

You can restore the most recently saved Event Log.

  1. Right-click in the Events tab area and select Restore Event Log from the context menu that comes up.

  2. The saved events reappear in the Events tab view.

Clearing Events

You can clear all Array Manager events stored in the Event Log. This will remove all entries displayed under the Events tab. You can restore the entries by using the Restore Event Log option (if the Event Log was backed up). This restores the most recently backed-up Event Log entries.

To clear events:
  1. Right-click in the Events tab area and select Clear All Events from the context menu that comes up.

  2. Click Yes to confirm. This clears the Event Log.

Setting the Event Log Size

You can set the size of the Array Manager Event Log to a specific value, so that it will take only a certain amount of space on the disk. The default log size is 10 MB.

If the Event Log is full, every new system event generates a pop-up message indicating that the log file is full. The message also requests that you clear the log file.

You can clear the Event Log or you can continue to let events be written into it. This file will take log entries as long as there is writable space on the disk. Therefore, clearing the file is not required unless your disk space is extremely limited. You may wish to increase the size of your Event Log file to eliminate the error messages that are generated each time a log entry appears.

To set the Event Log size:
  1. Right-click in the Events tab area and select Set Event Log Size from the context menu that comes up.

  2. The Event Log Size dialog box appears, showing the current size of the log.

  3. Enter a new size for the file and press OK. The Event Log Size dialog box closes automatically.


Configuring Array Manager's SNMP Support

By default, Array Manager installs SNMP trap forwarding support. If you do not want to install SNMP support, use the Custom Install option and deselect the SNMP Extension Agent under the Microsoft Windows NT/2000 Managed Node. Microsoft Windows NT/2000 and NetWare SNMP services must be configured and enabled before Array Manager can forward SNMP traps.

Array Manager's SNMP support can be enabled or disabled from the Array Manager Service Manager.

Note: Before configuring Array Manager's SNMP support, you must ensure that Microsoft Windows NT/2000 or NetWare SNMP services are configured and enabled.


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