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What is SANscape Alert?

Instead of keeping the SANscape Console program running in the foreground, you can use SANscape Alert as a companion utility of SANscape Console running as a background service that sends messages from the hosts and arrays to specified email addresses. Using SANscape Alert, you can:

  • Define the types of message traps sent

  • Define the timing of messages sent

  • Send encrypted messages

  • Receive messages and decrypt encrypted messages on the Mail Receiver Tool (which functions as an email viewing program if you do not have a program such as Microsoft Outlook on the receiving computer)

To use SANscape Alert throughout the storage data network, install it as a service on each computer that has a controlling SANscape Agent (a controlling agent is the only agent that talks to a specific array).

One major benefit of installing SANscape Alert on all host computers is that it can be configured to ping each computer periodically, and will send a single-point-of-failure message from a SANscape Agent to the specified email addresses when a host fails.

SANscape Alert is composed of the following components:

  • SANscape Alert Agent (daemon) – operates in background mode continuously on the computer where it is installed. The daemon can be installed and used on any computer where SANscape is running.

  • SANscape Alert Config Tool (UI) – a utility that configures the types of message traps that are sent to the SANscape Agent and that are sent to a specific email address as an alert or for informational purposes. Also known as the UI (user interface).

  • SANscape Alert Mail Receiver Tool – displays the messages that are collected. Also known as the POP3 Mail Receiver.

How SANscape Alert Operates

After connecting to a SANscape Agent, SANscape Alert receives any event from the agent; if the event is assigned a TRAP condition, then SANscape Alert emails the event to the user-specified email address.

If SANscape Alert cannot connect to any agent or the agent is offline, then it tries to discover the agent every five minutes. This prevents SANscape Alert from being disconnected from the agent when network traffic is congested.

In the typical setup shown in the following figure, the array hosts (computers #1, #2, and #3) are used with the array devices (#A, #B, and #C respectively). Each host contains a SANscape Agent and a SANscape Alert daemon. Each SANscape Alert daemon can be configured by the Config Tool to send event messages to any email address (shown as computer #5, which uses the Mail Receiver Tool to download the messages).

The SANscape Alert Config Tool and the SANscape Console program can be located on any computer on the network and are located on one computer (#4) for convenience only.

Setting Up the SANscape Alert Configuration

Only one instance of the SANscape Alert Config utility can be open at a time. The configuration information is saved in a file named ssalert_cfg.xml.

Note: To implement any configuration change to a SANscape Alert service, you must be connected to a SANscape Alert server and you must click Save Configuration after you have completed the changes.

To Set Up the Configuration:

  1. Start SANscape Alert.

    On Solaris/Linux/HP-UX/IBM AIX, type
    ssalertd

    On a Windows 2000 operating system, choose Start > Programs > Dot Hill SANscape > SANscapeAlert > Dot Hill SANscape Alert Config Tool.

    On a Windows 2003 operating system, choose Start > All Programs > Dot Hill SANscape > SANscapeAlert > Dot Hill SANscape Alert Config Tool.

    If you have previously configured and connected to one SANscape Alert daemon, the Config Tool automatically connects to the server that you last used.

  2. For the first-time installation, you must first set up a connection between the Config Tool and a server where a SANscape Alert daemon is running.

    1. To create a server connection, choose Servers > Server List Setup.

    2. In the Server List Configuration dialog box, click Add and enter the SANscape Alert daemon server name and IP address.

    3. Keep the default port number (which is displayed automatically and is used by the SANscape Alert Config Tool (UI) to communicate with the SANscape Alert daemon).

    4. Type the ssconfig login password for the server. This is the same login password that was set when you installed SANscape. If this password has not already been set, you must set it before continuing. See Solaris - Creating Users and Passwords, Linux - Creating Users and Passwords, HP-UX - Creating Users and Passwords, IBM AIX - Creating Users and Passwords, or Windows - Creating Users and Passwords.

  3. Click Apply.
  4. The SANscape Alert server Name and IP Address appear in the Server List. The SANscape Alert Config Tool can access multiple servers, but can only connect to one server and one SANscape Alert service at a time.

    If you do not specify a password for each server, you are asked for a password each time you reconnect to a server.

  5. Click Close.

  6. To connect to a SANscape Alert server, choose Servers > Connect Servers and then select the desired server from the list that is displayed.

  7. Click the Basic Information tab to enter information used for the email server and event messages.


    • System ID and Location – descriptive fields for the server where the SANscape Alert service resides.


    • Customer and Contact Information – provides information to be attached to the event emails, which is helpful when the event messages are sent to multiple email locations.


    • SMTP Server – the IP address or domain name for the server that SANscape Alert uses to send email. If you enter an incorrect address (or domain name), SANscape Alert cannot find it and mail messages are not sent. If the SMTP server needs authorization, you must enter the necessary information to log in to the SMTP server.

  8. Configure the From field using the following format
    name@domain

  9. To specify the trap messages to be reported, click the Trap Information tab and click Add. In the Add Trap dialog box, select the desired parameters.
  10. As a minimum, select a trap event, enter the minimum interval between mails, and enter one email address. To enter multiple email addresses, separate each address with a space, comma, or semicolon. To receive email immediately when an event occurs, enter an * in the minimum interval between mails field.

  11. SANscape Alert can connect to multiple SANscape Agents at the same time. To connect to one or more SANscape Agents, click the SANscape Agent Information tab and click Add.

  12. For each SANscape Agent, specify the Agent Name, Agent IP Address, Port and Password for the ssconfig user accessing that agent.

    • Agent Name – name that is included in emails. You can use the real machine host name or an alias.

    • IP Address – Type the IP Address for the agent.

    • Port – the SANscape Agent listener port number. Keep the default value 1270 (other valid values are 1271, 1272, and 1273). If you cannot connect to the agent, change the value and try again.

    • Password – the password for the ssconfig user. Before the SANscape Alert daemon can connect to the SANscape Agent, the Service must provide the correct password for the ssconfig user.

  13. After you have entered the agent parameters, click Apply to save the configuration, or click Discard to cancel changes. Each agent listed in the agent sends the specified event messages to the SANscape Alert Service where this configuration has been saved.

  14. After you create or edit any configuration, click Save Configuration in the main window to save the configuration to SANscape Alert. The SANscape Alert Service restarts to read the configuration file again.

  15. To see the current status of each agent at a specific moment, click Probe SANscape Agent in the main window. In the Agent Information window, the colored status buttons indicate if the SANscape Alert Service is active with the SANscape Agent on each agent server.

    • Red – SANscape Alert cannot connect to the SANscape Agent.

    • Yellow – SANscape Alert is seeking the SANscape Agent.

    • Green – SANscape Alert is connected to the SANscape Agent.

    • None – The SANscape Agent information has not been saved.

    The color and text of this button can change every 20 seconds.

Host Event Log

When there is a triggered event, SANscape Alert attaches the host event log to the email that is sent. The events are logged into the system log of the host where the agent is installed. Event Log lists the locations where the events are logged to in each operating system.

Because the host can generate a large amount of messages, it is possible to exceed the mail size limit allowed by some SMTP servers. SANscape Alert limits the size of the host event log to 5 Mbyte. This limit can be changed by defining the mail size limit attribute of the smtp element in ssalert_cfg.xml. The following table lists the location of this file for each OS.

Operating System ssalert_cfg.xml File Location
Solaris, Linux, and HP-UX /opt/dothill/SANscapeAlert/
Microsoft Windows <install path>\service\, where the default install path is C:\Program Files\Dot Hill\SANscape Alert\service
IBM AIX /usr/dothill/SANscapeAlert

For example, to define the host event log size limit to 1 Mbyte (1 Mbyte = 1024 x 1024 = 1048576), define the mail size limit attribute as follows:

		  

smpt auth="false" username="" password ="XXXX" mail_size_limit="1048576" from="test@sina.com" >smtp.sina.com

NOTE: If the mail size limit attribute is not defined, SANscape uses the default value of 5 Mbyte.

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