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The Event List allows you to view and manipulate the status of events held within the Cisco Info Server. You can display multiple filtered views of the events.
This chapter includes information about how to use the Event List and contains the following sections:
The Event List displays alerts. An alert is an event, alarm, message, or data which the Cisco Info Server receives. By default, a single alert comprises 24 fields of information held within the Cisco Info Server database.
This information on each alert is displayed according to defined filters and views. Filters select the fields from the Cisco Info Server being used to generate the Event List. Views are a way of choosing which of the filtered fields to display.
When you start an Event List, a window containing one or more Monitor boxes is displayed. The number of Monitor boxes depends on how your system administrator has configured your system. A Monitor box represents a filter and view that have been created for the Event List, and also displays statistics on the state of all alerts that match the filter.
From the Monitor box, you can display the detailed Event List windows and select an alternative view.
Some alerts may be assigned to either the administrator or the super user. You cannot manipulate these alerts.
This section describes how to use the Event List on the UNIX platforms.
The recommended method for starting the Event List, is to click on the Event List button on the Conductor. You can also start the Event List from the command line:
host% nco_event &
When you run the Event List, the Monitor Box window is displayed. The window has three sections: the Menu bar, the Monitor box area, and the Status line. Figure 2-1 shows the Monitor Box window.
The Monitor box area displays one Monitor box. The Status line displays messages, the name of the user, and the Cisco Info Server to which it is currently connected. Between these two sections is an area in which Monitor boxes are displayed.
The following sections describe the Monitor Box window. For more information on the menus available, see Appendix A, "UNIX Desktop Reference".
To exit from the Monitor Box window, select the File menu's Exit option.
Click on the View button to display an Event List window for that filter and the currently selected view. The Option button on the right allows you to select a view for the filter. See Chapter 4, "View Builder" for more details.
The button at the top contains the name of the filter. Click on this button to start the Filter Builder, which displays the configuration of the filter and the metric value. For more information on using the Filter Builder, see Chapter 3, "Filtering Alerts".
The Number field displays the number of alerts matching the filter.
The Highest field displays the severity of the highest severity alert that matches the filter.
The Lowest field displays the severity of the lowest severity alert that matches the filter.
The Metric field's value is defined in the filter and provides summary information. It is derived from the alerts that match the filter. When you click on the Filter button, the setting of the Metric is displayed.
Below the Metric field is the Distribution Indicator. This can be displayed as either a lavalamp or a histogram. The color segments are proportional to the number of alerts at particular severity levels. For example, when half the alerts were at critical level then half the Distribution Indicator would display the color red.
Note, you can choose which information in the Monitor box to display from the Event List preferences. See Section, "Event List Preferences".
An Event List configuration is a group of Monitor boxes that are saved in a configuration file.
To open an Event List configuration file, select the File menu's Open option. A file selection window is displayed where you can select a configuration file (indicated by the file name extension .elc) to load into the Event List. The selected file name is displayed in the Title bar of the Event List.
To open a new Event List configuration file, select the File menu's New option. This clears the current Event List and sets the configuration to default.
To save the current group of Monitor boxes, select the File menu's Save option. This saves the current Event List configuration into the file it was loaded from; the file name is displayed in the Title bar of the Event List. When the Title bar displays [None] as the file name, this option operates the same as the File menu's Save As option.
To save the Event List with another file name, select the File menu's Save As option. A file selection window is displayed where you can select another directory and file name. Event List configuration files should be saved with a .elc file name extension.
The Event List automatically refreshes at intervals to display all incoming alerts. However, you can refresh the Event List between the intervals to ensure you have all of the latest alerts. To update all information in Event List windows, select the View menu's Refresh All option.
You should also note that when your system administrator makes any changes to the Cisco Info Center configuration, you need to resynchronize the Event List. To do this, select the File menu's Resync option. Your system administrator will contact you when you need to use this command.
You can freeze the Event List so updates are not displayed. Select the View menu's Freeze All option. This is a toggle button. To restart automatic updates from the Cisco Info Server, select the View menu's Freeze All option again.
To display the Event List Color window, which you can use as a guide to the severity colors, select the Windows menu's Color option. You can keep this window open for reference while you use the Event List.
To close all of the Event List windows, select the Windows menu's Close All Event Windows option.
The system administrator can define tools, for example, a ping or telnet command, to use from the Monitor Box window. To invoke these tools, use the Tools menu.
An Event List window displays alerts in a scrollable list. When alerts arrive in the Event List, they appear at the bottom of the list.
The Event List scroll area is made up of rows and columns:
The Title bar displays the names of the view and filter currently in use for this window. Figure 2-2 shows the Event List window.
The Status line displays messages about the Event List; typically displaying how many items have matched the current filter condition or have been processed by an operation, as well as, the current date and time.
To work with the Event List, you must first select an alert. Once you select an alert, you can use the facilities available from the Alerts menu. When you click on the right mouse button over the scrolled area, a popup Alerts menu is displayed. When you have not selected any alerts, none of the items on this popup menu are available.
To select a row and deselect all other rows, click on the mouse button on any alert in the Event List.
To select multiple rows, click and hold the mouse button and then drag the pointer up or down the list. To deselect an alert within a multiple selection, Control-click an alert.
To select all alerts in the Event List, select the Edit menu's Select All option. To deselect all alerts, select the Edit menu's Deselect All option.
To select all alerts that match a particular field value, Shift-click the left mouse button over the field to be matched. For example, to select all alerts where the Status field is closed, find an alert which displays the Status field as closed, move the mouse pointer over that field, then Shift-click the mouse button. All currently selected alerts are deselected.
To resize the columns in the Event List:
1. Press and hold the Shift and Control keys.
2. Click on the mouse button on a column divider.
3. Drag the mouse to change the width of the column.
To make a column a secondary sort of a first column, click on the Title button on another column after sorting the first column. For example, when you click on the Title button on Severity, and you then click on the Title button on Node, the Event List is sorted by ascending severity and ascending node names.
To set a column to be sorted in descending order, press the Shift key, then click on the Title button to select the sorting column. Any column being used in a sort is marked with a plus (+) or minus (-). Plus indicates ascending order, minus indicates descending order. The sorting is transitory and is not retained in the current view.
Your system administrator can define tools to be used on the first selected alert in the Event List. Select the Alerts menu's Tools option to display the submenu of available tools.
Your system administrator can also define other tools. To invoke these tools, use the Tools menu.
See Appendix E, "Cisco Info Center Diagnostic Tools", for more information on the available tools for Cisco Info Center.
To acknowledge an alert, select the Alerts menu's Acknowledge option. This acknowledges all selected alerts. You can acknowledge only the alerts assigned to you or to the user nobody.
The Event List automatically ignores any alerts not assigned to you. The Status line displays the number of acknowledged alerts and how many could not be acknowledged as they are not assigned to you.
To deacknowledge an alert, select the Alerts menu's Deacknowledge option. This deacknowledges all selected alerts. You can deacknowledge only the alerts assigned to you or to the user nobody.
The Event List automatically ignores any alerts not assigned to you. The Status line displays the number of deacknowledged alerts and how many could not be deacknowledged, as they are not assigned to you.
Each alert in the Event List has an associated priority, which is indicated by the color in the display. For example, all critical severity alerts are red.
To change the priority for the alert, select the Alerts menu's Prioritize option. Select a priority setting from the sub-menu. You may only set the priority of alerts assigned to you or to the user nobody.
The Event List automatically ignores any alerts which are not assigned to you. The Status line displays the number of alerts that have had their priority set and how many could not be set, as they are not assigned to you.
When you are a normal user, you can assign only the alerts assigned to you or to the user nobody.
To assign an alert to another group, select the Alerts menu's Group Assign option. Select a Cisco Info Center group from the submenu to assign all currently selected alerts to that group.
When an alert is assigned to another group, the alert is owned by the user nobody within that group.
To assign the alert to yourself, either select your name from the Alerts menu or select the Alerts menu's Take Ownership option.
When you are a normal user, you can delete only the alerts assigned to you or to the user nobody.
To display a list of known resolutions, which are determined by the class of the alert, select the Alerts menu's Resolve option. When you select one of these resolutions, a pre-defined text string is appended to the journals for the alerts and the alerts are set to a Clear severity. All alerts are then deselected in the Event List.
Use the Next and Previous buttons to move to the previous or next selected item in the Event List and to display information about that alert. Note, this may fail when the alerts have been deleted elsewhere in the system.
To copy the alert information to the Clipboard, click on the information you want to copy, then click on the right mouse button. Select the Copy to Clipboard option from the popup menu.
The Add To Journal button displays the Journal window with the currently displayed alert. See Section, "Viewing and Adding to the Journal", for more details.
To view the journal for an alert, select the Alerts menu's Journal option or click on the Add to Journal button in the Event List window. The Journal window is displayed, where you can enter a history of the alert. Figure 2-3 shows the Journal window.
The Journal window is comprised of two text areas. The top area is read only and displays the existing journal history text, complete with the time it was entered and the name of the user who entered it. The lower text area allows you to specify text to be added to the journal. Once you complete the text entry, click on the OK button to write the new text to the end of the journal, automatically time-stamping it. A limit of 4096 characters for each journal entry are allowed.
To apply journal text to all selected alerts, not just the alert whose serial number is displayed at the top of the window, click on the Apply to All Selected check box.
When you click on the OK button, the window closes. When you click on the Stay Open check box, the window does not close when you click on the OK button.
Use the Next and Previous buttons in the Journal window to move to the previous or next selected alert in the Event List window and to display the journal for that alert.
Note, you can also use the Alerts menu in this window; click on the right mouse button with the pointer over the upper text window. For more information on the Alerts menu, see Section, "Using Monitor Boxes".
To find a specific field in the Event List, select the View menu's Find option. Select a field in the current view, specify a string in the Value field, then select the type of match required. Figure 2-4 shows the Find window.
The search types are displayed in the Options frame. The following list describes the search types:
When you click on the Find button, all currently selected rows are deselected when a matching row is found, and the matching row is selected. When more than one row matches your search, click on the Next button to display the next match in the Event List.
The Find window can be used as a drop site from the Event List to set up a search quickly. Click on the middle mouse button on a field in the Event List, then drag it to the list of fields in the Find window. The Options frame is set to Exact Match.
You can also copy alert information from the Event Information window. See Section, "Displaying Alert Information".
On each Event List, the Title bar displays the current filter and view. You can use the Filter and View options buttons to change the filter and view.
To change the filter, click on the Filter options button and select another filter. The Filter options button lists all of the available filters.
To change the view, click on the View options button and select another view. The View options button lists all the available views.
Click on the Edit buttons, next to each options button, to start the Filter Builder and View Builder. Editing filters and views is documented later in this manual. See Chapter 3, "Filtering Alerts" and Chapter 4, "View Builder".
The Jump toggle button controls how the Event List scrolls when an update occurs. When the Jump button is selected, the Event List jumps to the top of the list when an update occurs. When you click on the Jump button to deselect it, the Event List does not jump when updates occur.
To print the current view of an Event List, select the File menu's Print option. This displays the Print window. To use the Print window, select either:
Select either All Alerts In View to print all the alerts in the current Event List, or Selected Alerts to send only the currently selected alerts to the printer.
You can also control the formatting of the output using one of the following options:
|" character at the start and end of fields
Event List configuration can be used to define the way Monitor boxes and menus are displayed, and also to delete filters and views.
To start configuration of the Event List, select the Windows menu's Configuration option from the Monitor Box window. The Configuration window is displayed.
To name a configuration, specify a name in the Name text field.
You can also set the number of Monitor boxes allowed on an Event List using the column slider. To set the number of Monitor boxes, drag the slider until the required number is displayed.
Select either Filters or Views from the Editing option button. The list of currently available filters or views is displayed. The mechanism for working with filters and views is the same, however, this section only explains working with filters.
Click on the Apply button in the Filter Builder, and the changes are applied to the named filter. When you change the name of the filter in the Filter Builder to a name that does not exist in the Event List's configuration, a new filter is created. When you change the name to one that already exists, the new filter replaces the existing filter in the Event List.
When you have finished editing, click on the Apply button to update the filter entry.
When you specify a name for an existing filter, the existing filter is replaced.
You can also create a new filter by using drag and drop from a running Filter Builder into the list.
To delete a filter, select the filter in the scrolled list then click on the Delete button.
Directly below the scrolled list are four buttons for rearranging the order of the filter or view lists, which change the order in which the popup menus and option buttons display the filter or view lists.
To modify the order, select an item in the list, then click on one of the following buttons:
The Event List Preferences window comprises five tabs for each of the types of preference: Monitors, Refresh, Notification, Flash and Misc.
Figure 2-5 shows the Event List Preferences window.
The following sections describe the preference types.
You can configure the Monitor boxes in the Monitor Box window to define which statistics are displayed.
To configure the Monitor box, click on the Monitors tab. Select from the following:
You can also select the type of graphical distribution indicator. Select either:
You can configure the Event List to update at a selected time rather than awaiting notification of updates from the Cisco Info Server. Click on the Refresh tab then select the Timed Refresh option. Specify a time (in seconds) in the field.
All of the latest data from the Cisco Info Server is re-sent to the Event List at the selected time.
Do not set refresh to a low value, for example, less than 60 seconds, as this has an impact on Cisco Info Server performance. Note, this option forces the Event List to completely reload all of its data at the set interval. This may have an impact on network traffic.
When you iconify an Event List, you can be notified of any alerts that occur in the Event List.
To receive a notification, click on the Notification tab, then select the Notify when Iconised option. Set the When and How options to define the type of notification. Table 2-1 displays the notification options.
To activate these options, close any open Event Lists and reopen them.
| Option | Type of Notification |
|---|---|
When |
|
How |
Open Window to open the Event List on the screen. When you use a window manager with interactive placement, the Event List displays as the active window.
|
To set the option for a flashing Event List, click on the Flash tab.
Select the Enable Flashing option to use flashing alerts on the Event List. You can then configure the flashing option:
To set miscellaneous details, click on the Misc tab.
Select the Show Colors option to use color to indicate the severity of alerts in Event List windows. You can select this option to change the Event List to monochrome and not display the severity color.
Select the Sort Information Details option to alphabetically sort the detail fields in the Information window, by name of field. When this is not selected, the detail fields are displayed in random order.
This section describes how to use the Event List using a Java-enabled Web browser.
The Java Event List allows you to view and manage Cisco Info Center alerts. The Java Event List displays alerts from the Cisco Info Server using the World Wide Web (WWW).
One of the benefits of using a Java Event List is you can view the information in the Cisco Info Server without the need to login to Cisco Info Center.
To display a Java Event List, you run an applet, which connects to a Cisco Info Server. The applet is configured by your system administrator or Web manager. Therefore, the exact layout of the your Java Event List, and the available functions, cannot be shown in this manual. However, examples of common formats are provided in the following sections, along with an explanation of how to use the features.
The following sections provide examples on how a Java Event List might be configured.
When displaying the Web page containing the Cisco Info Center alerts, you may be required to authenticate your identity and password. See Section, "Authenticate", for more information.
When you display an Event List, one or more Monitor boxes are displayed. A Monitor box displays information about the underlying Event List. Each Monitor box represents an Event List that has been filtered to pre-defined criteria.
For example, the Event List may be filtered to display only alerts with a severity of Warning (3) and above.
The information in the Monitor box can include the following items:
To display the Event List, click on the button at the top of the Monitor box. This button displays the Event List name and an Event List is displayed.
The Event List displays the alerts in a scrollable window. When the alerts arrive from the Cisco Info Server, they appear at the bottom of the list, and the display scrolls.
Figure 2-6 shows a sample Java Event List.
However, you can choose to update the Event List at any point. To update the alerts, you must first select refresh mode. Select the File menu's Refresh Mode option, then select Manual from the sub list. Next, select the File menu's Refresh option to update the list.
Some operations in the Java Event List require you to authenticate your identity and password. Select the File menu's Authenticate option to authenticate yourself for all operations. Specify your user ID and your password in the Authenticate window.
When you do not use this option, you may be requested to authenticate yourself when you use other operations.
To work with the Java Event List, you must select an alert. To select an alert, click on the mouse button on an alert in the Event List.
To select more than one alert, press and hold the Control key, then click on each of the alerts you want to select. To select all of the alerts in the Event List, select the Edit menu's Select All option. To deselect any of the alerts, select the Edit menu's Deselect All option.
Each alert in the Event List has an associated priority, which is distinguished by its color in the display.
To display more information about an alert, click on the alert to select it, then select the Alerts menu's Information option. This operation does not require authentication.
Your system administrator can configure the Event List to display the menus as tabs. Figure 2-7 provides an example of the menu tabs.
The tabs in this example represent menus. For example, the File tab displays four buttons: Refresh, Authenticate, Deauthenticate, and Quit. In this example, to refresh the Event List, click on the Refresh button.
The other menus displayed in this example are: Edit, Alerts, Change, and JEL Everything-Auto. Note, the Alerts and Change tabs contain the functions available in the Alerts menu displayed in Section, "Event List Displayed from a Monitor Box".
Posted: Thu Mar 25 09:33:51 PST 1999
Copyright 1989-1999©Cisco Systems Inc.
