This page last changed on Aug 21, 2007 by mbartelt.

Configuring Escalation Schemes

Available in HQ Open Source unless marked by * for HQ Enterprise only

This screen allows users to view and manage all defined escalation schemes and to create a new escalation scheme. Escalation schemes are then assigned to alert definitions.

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Tasks Available in This Screen

On this screen, users can do the following tasks:

To create a new escalation scheme:

  1. Initiate a new escalation scheme:
    • If the right-hand side of the screen displays "Step 1 - Create New Escalation Scheme," simply continue to step 2.
    • If the right-hand side of the screen displays an already defined escalation scheme, click in the "Escalation Name" section.
  2. Fill in the scheme's general information:
    • Name
    • Description (optional)
  3. Select when HQ should kick off the escalation chain (defined below) under the following two circumstances:
    • When the alert is acknowledged: HQ can either "Allow user to pause escalation for" a number of minutes (HQ will do nothing for that time), or it can "Continue escalation without pausing" (HQ immediately takes the next action in the escalation chain).
    • When the alert state changes: HQ can either notify everyone on the escalation chain of the change or notify only the users who have already been notified (that the alert was triggered and of subsequent escalation actions taken)
  4. Click Next Step.
  5. Create the escalation chain.
    1. Click Create Action.
    2. Select the method by which HQ will notify selected users: Email, SMS, an entry in the system log, SNMP trap, or suppress the alert.
    3. Specify the necessary details for the method:
      • "email" or "SMS": Select whom HQ will notify:
        • All users assigned to a specific role. On the ensuing dialogue, check the roles and click at the bottom of the dialogue.
        • A subset of all HQ Users. On the ensuing dialogue, check the desired users and click at the bottom of the dialogue.
        • Non-HQ users ("Other Recipients"). Type in comma-separated email addresses in the new text box to the right.
      • "Sys Log": Information required for logging events to the logfile: Meta, Product, and Version
      • "SNMP Trap": The target machine's IP Address and port (format: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/port) and the trap OID (format: x.x.x.x)
      • "Suppress Alerts": No additional information is required. This selection means that, when the alert is triggered, HQ will not do anything (notify people, etc.) until the triggering condition is resolved on its own or until the alert is marked "fixed."
    4. Select how long HQ should wait until escalating the alert (that is, before performing the next action (if any) in the escalation chain). The "continue" value means "do not wait at all."
    5. Click Save.
      The details of the action (all the selected values) are displayed at the right under "Action Details."
    6. For as many additional escalation actions desired for this escalation chain, repeat steps 5-1 through 5-5.
      An escalation chain can have one or more actions.

To view an existing escalation scheme:

  • In the "Escalation Name" section, click the scheme's name.
    The scheme's details are displayed to the right.

To edit an escalation scheme:

  1. In the "Escalation Name" section, click the scheme's name.
    The scheme's details are displayed to the right.
  2. To change the scheme's Name, Description, or high-level instructions, click Edit. Change the values and click Save.
  3. To create a new action, click Create Action and follow step 5 above.
  4. To delete an existing action, click to the right of the action.
    (Actions cannot be edited; they must be deleted and recreated.)

To delete an existing escalation scheme:

  • In the "Escalation Name" section, click to the right of the scheme's name.
Editing or Deleting Escalation Schemes

If an escalation scheme that is currently in progress for a specific alert is edited or deleted on this screen, HQ immediately stops executing the scheme. Furthermore, all changes (including deletion) are then propagated down to any alert definition that has this escalation scheme assigned to it. (In the case of deletion, this means that the alert definition no longer has this escalation scheme.

Sections On This Screen

Escalation Name

This section lists all the defined escalation schemes in HQ. To view a scheme, click its name.

Escalation Scheme

This section provides a high-level description of the escalation scheme. It describes what HQ should do when an alert with this escalation scheme is acknowledged (whether to start executing escalation-scheme actions immediately or to pause for a user-selected amount of time first) and whom to notify when the alert's status changes (everyone in the escalation chain or a subset).

Escalation Scheme Actions

This section, which is displayed when users look at an existing escalation scheme, displays all the actions defined as part of this escalation scheme. HQ performs the actions in the order from top down, waiting between actions the amount of time listed under Wait time before escalating.

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Navigating via the Masthead Menu

Main screens in Hyperic contain a masthead menu. Users can navigate to the following parts of HQ using this menu:

Dashboard Takes users to the Dashboard, the starting screen in HQ, which displays information about resource health, recent alerts, recently performed auto-discovery scan, and control actions
Browse Resources Takes users to the screen where they can locate and navigate through information about all managed resources
Alert Center Takes users to the Alert Center, where they can look at all alerts triggered across the system
Report Center * Takes users to the Report Center, where they can generate all reports available in HQ.
Administration Takes users (with "Administer Hyperic HQ Server Configuration" permissions) to the Administration screen, where they can manage the system-wide settings
Recent Resources Provides a drop-down list of resources that the user has recently viewed. Selecting one of those resources takes the user to the Current Health screen for the resource.
Help Opens screen-sensitive online help in a secondary window

The masthead also displays the two most recently triggered alerts. Users can click the alert's time to be taken to the alert detail.

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Next Steps

Assign the escalation scheme to an alert definition
Acknowledge an alert

Related Information

Learn more about escalation
Learn more about Syslog

Return to HQ Administration.

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Document generated by Confluence on Sep 05, 2007 11:52