[Xymon] [xymon] canceling acknowledgements

10 Mar 2014

      He's saying if he is monitoring 4-5 different processes or ports, or files, and he acks one of them failing, he needs to know if something else fails.
-----Original Message-----
From: Xymon [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] On Behalf Of Ryan Novosielski
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 10:07 AM
To: xymon at xymon.com
Subject: Re: [Xymon] [xymon] canceling acknowledgements
I'm a little confused about some of this. For one, I don't ack servers
for maintenance, I disable the affected tests. You can cancel a disable
anytime you want. Also, since you acknowledge individual services, why
would acknowledging one of them prevent you getting alerts on others. Do
you mean, perhaps, alerts like on the "ports" test where failures can
occur in different ways?
On 03/10/2014 10:51 AM, john.r.rothlisberger at accenture.com wrote:
...
Oh, this is so old...
There is a simple answer (IMO) as to why you would want to cancel and
ack'd alert - a new alert for an ack'd test has been received.
This has been bugging me for years.  Let's assume you ack an alert for
the service "W3SVC" for 4 hours for maintenance, which you have stopped
on purpose for whatever reason.  Let's assume you also monitor services
for SQL, Java, etc.  If one of those also fails during the 4 hours of
ack time - you won't get an alert.  There are 3 tests that can have
multiple components which I would like to know if new alerts arrive
while a test has been ack'd: disk, procs, & svcs.
I have a situation currently where I have to address this exact
scenario.  As described I have multiple services and processes that I
need to monitor, those are often ack'd but it doesn't change the
importance of knowing if a different process/service needs attention.
Thus, I have written the perl script below which (being just written and
may not be 100% - YMMV) will monitor tests that have been ack'd and look
for changes.  If there is a change that needs to be addressed the ack is
canceled by sending a temporary green status to the host.test.  The next
update from the client triggers a new alert.
Maybe this will help someone else too...
Steps:
Copy contents to ~bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl
Create directory ~server/tmp/ACKS
Log file created in ~logs
Create the following crontab entry
*/5 * * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1

#!/usr/bin/perl

Script Name:  watch_ackd_alerts.pl
Author:       John Rothlisberger
Created On:   March 10, 2014
VERSION="1.03102014.09";

Purpose:      A script to monitor ack'd alerts and watch for changes.
Example:  The C: drive fills up and sends out a red
alert.  Knowing this will
take some time to fix you ack the alert for 60 minutes.
If, during that 60
minute window the D: drive fills up you will not be
notified as the 'disk' test
has been acknowledged.  This script is an attempt to
short circuit the ack and
allow for the new alert to be sent out.

Execution:    Run every 5 minutes from xymon crontab:
*/5 * * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1

Setup COUNT and directory where to store ack info files.
$COUNT=0;
$ACKSDIR="/home/xymon/server/tmp/ACKS";
Log file
open(LOGFILE,">> /home/xymon/logs/ack_terminate.log") || die("can't open
port_watch.email:  $!");
input file example

servername|test|color|flags|lastchange|logtime|validtime|acktime|disabletime|sender|cookie|line1|ackmsg|dismsg|msg
Open input file
open ALERTS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondboard
color=yellow,red' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
Parse all active alerts
while (<ALERTS>) {
chomp;
@LINE=split(/\|/,$_);
$SERVERNAME=@LINE[0];
$TESTTYPE=@LINE[1];
$COLOR=@LINE[2];
$ACKTIME=@LINE[7];
$COOKIE=@LINE[10];
$LINE1=@LINE[11];
$ACKMSG=@LINE[12];
$DISMSG=@LINE[13];
$MSG=@LINE[14];
Skip all alerts except disk, procs, and svcs (others are not tested)
next if ((! $TESTTYPE == "disk") || (! $TESTTYPE == "procs") || (!
$TESTTYPE == "svcs"));
If the alert has been ack'd we want to watch for any changes.
if ( $ACKTIME > 0) {
  $COUNT+=1;

  $REDS=0;

  $YELLOWS=0;

  $REDS_CMP=0;

  $YELLOWS_CMP=0;

  $NEED_COMP=0;

  print LOGFILE
"-------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
  print LOGFILE "SERVERNAME: $SERVERNAME\n";

  print LOGFILE "TESTTYPE: $TESTTYPE\n";

  print LOGFILE "COLOR: $COLOR\n";
If this is a new ack'd alert we will create a static file that holds
current test state.
We will use this file to decide if there have been changes to what has
been ack'd.
  if (! -e "${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" ) {

     open DETAILS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondlog
${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE}' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
     open OUTFILE,
">${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" or die
"Couldn't execute: $!";
     while (&lt;DETAILS>) {

        chomp;

        if ( $_ =~ /^&/ ) {

           $_ =~ s/\&//;

           @DETLINE=split(/ /,$_);
Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0
           if ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "red" ) {

              $COL_VALUE = "2";

           } elsif ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "yellow" ) {

              $COL_VALUE = "1";

           } else {

              $COL_VALUE = "0";

           }
Create the status file which will be used on subsequent runs.
           print OUTFILE "${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}\n";

           print LOGFILE "DATE: ${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}\n";

        }

     }

     close OUTFILE;
We have already recorded the initial state of the test and saved it to
a file.
Now we will check new status output with that file to see if the
alerts have changed.
  } else {

     open DETAILS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondlog
${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE}' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
     while (&lt;DETAILS>) {

        chomp;

        if ( $_ =~ /^&/ ) {

           $_ =~ s/\&//;

           @DETLINE=split(/ /,$_);
Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0
           if ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "red" ) {

              $COL_VALUE = "2";

           } elsif ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "yellow" ) {

              $COL_VALUE = "1";

           } else {

              $COL_VALUE = "0";

           }

           push (@COMP_contents, "${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}");

        }

     }
Get the initial ack file that was created.
     open INITFILE,
"<${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" or die
"Couldn't execute: $!";
     while (&lt;INITFILE>) {

        chomp;

        push (@INITFILE_contents, "$_");

     }

     close INITFILE;
Create a hash that contains the initial ack file.
     %INITF = map(($_,1), at INITFILE_contents);

     foreach (@COMP_contents) {

        if ($INITF{$_}) {
No change to the alert - nothing to do.
           print LOGFILE "Alert hasn't changed: $_\n";

        } else {
Alert has changed in some form.
           print LOGFILE "Alert has changed: $_\n";

           @CURRENT=split(/:/,$_);

           $CUR_COLOR=$CURRENT[0];

           $CUR_TEST=$CURRENT[1];

           @ACKD_EVENT=grep (/:${CUR_TEST}/, @INITFILE_contents);

           @ACK_EVENT=split(/:/,$ACKD_EVENT[0]);

           $ACK_COLOR=$ACKD_EVENT[0];

           $ACK_TEST=$ACKD_EVENT[1];
Compare the current alert color with that which was saved initially.
           if ( $CUR_COLOR &lt; $ACK_EVENT[0] ) {
New color is lower than initial color - leave ack alone.
              print LOGFILE "NO ACTION NEEDED (new level lower than
ack level).\n";
           } elsif ( $CUR_COLOR > $ACK_EVENT[0] ) {
New color is greater than initial ack color, dump ack so new alerts
can be sent.
              if ( $ACK_COLOR == "" ) {
New alert not previously detected (different service, process, or disk
alerting)
                 print LOGFILE "ACK COLOR $ACK_COLOR\n";

                 print LOGFILE "NEW ALERT - DISABLE ACK AND SEND NEW
ALERT.\n";
Reset the server.test status to green.  Next update will reset the
alert condition effectivly
canceling the acknowledge.
                 open RESET, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0
'status+10 ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE} green Ack Reset New Alert Rcvd.' |"
or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
                 close RESET;

              } else {
Level of original alert has upgraded (typically yellow->red)
                 print LOGFILE "ACK COLOR $ACK_COLOR\n";

                 print LOGFILE "OLD ALERT - DISABLE ACK AND SEND NEW
ALERT.\n";
Reset the server.test status to green.  Next update will reset the
alert condition effectivly
canceling the acknowledge.
                 open RESET, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0
'status+1 ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE} green Ack Reset Alert Level
Changed.' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
                 close RESET;

              }

           } else {
Nothing to do here.
              print LOGFILE "NO ACTION NEEDED (new level equals ack
level).\n";
           }

        }

     }

  }
}
}
When there are no ack'd alerts clean out the ACK status directory.
if ( $COUNT == 0 ) {
unlink glob "${ACKSDIR}/*";
}

Thanks,
John
Upcoming PTO:
(none)

John Rothlisberger
IT Strategy, Infrastructure & Security - Technology Growth Platform
TGP for Business Process Outsourcing
Accenture
312.693.3136 office**

*From:*Ryan Novosielski [mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu]
*Sent:* Friday, October 22, 2010 5:23 PM
*To:* xymon at xymon.com
*Cc:* xymon at xymon.com
*Subject:* Re: [xymon] canceling acknowledgements
I'm guessing, but I don't know, that these two things would work:

Remove the file created on the server that contains the ack notice.
Ack the same test as the same person for 1 minute or something similar.

I was thinking about this same one the other day. The conclusion I came
to was "Why on earth would I want to do that?" The only reason I could
think of was a case of ack'd by accident.
----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Barber <lebarber at gmail.com <mailto:lebarber at gmail.com>>
Date: Friday, October 22, 2010 9:21 pm
Subject: [xymon] canceling acknowledgements
To: xymon at xymon.com <mailto:xymon at xymon.com>
...
Is there some way to cancel an 'ack' after it has been issued?
Thanks,
Larry Barber
---- _  _ _  _ ___  _  _  _
|Y#| |  | |\/| |  \ |\ |  | |Ryan Novosielski - Sr. Systems Programmer
|$&| |__| |  | |__/ | \| _| |novosirj at umdnj.edu
<mailto:|novosirj at umdnj.edu> - 973/972.0922 (2-0922)
\__/ Univ. of Med. and Dent.|IST/CST-Academic Svcs. - ADMC 450, Newark

This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain
privileged, proprietary, or otherwise confidential information. If you
have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete the original. Any other use of the e-mail by you is prohibited.
Where allowed by local law, electronic communications with Accenture and
its affiliates, including e-mail and instant messaging (including
content), may be scanned by our systems for the purposes of information
security and assessment of internal compliance with Accenture policy.

www.accenture.com
--
____*Note: UMDNJ is now Rutgers-Biomedical and Health Sciences*
|| \\UTGERS      |---------------------*O*---------------------
||_// Biomedical | Ryan Novosielski - Sr. Systems Programmer
|| \\ and Health | novosirj at rutgers.edu - 973/972.0922 (2x0922)
||  \\  Sciences | OIT/EI-Academic Svcs. - ADMC 450, Newark
`'

Xymon mailing list
Xymon at xymon.com
http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon

[Xymon] [xymon] canceling acknowledgements

Paul.Root＠CenturyLink.com

Script Name: watch_ackd_alerts.pl

Author: John Rothlisberger

Created On: March 10, 2014

VERSION="1.03102014.09";

Purpose: A script to monitor ack'd alerts and watch for changes.

Example: The C: drive fills up and sends out a red

take some time to fix you ack the alert for 60 minutes.

minute window the D: drive fills up you will not be

has been acknowledged. This script is an attempt to

allow for the new alert to be sent out.

Execution: Run every 5 minutes from xymon crontab:

*/5 * * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1

Setup COUNT and directory where to store ack info files.

Log file

input file example

Open input file

Parse all active alerts

Skip all alerts except disk, procs, and svcs (others are not tested)

If the alert has been ack'd we want to watch for any changes.

If this is a new ack'd alert we will create a static file that holds

We will use this file to decide if there have been changes to what has

Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0

Create the status file which will be used on subsequent runs.

We have already recorded the initial state of the test and saved it to

Now we will check new status output with that file to see if the

Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0

Get the initial ack file that was created.

Create a hash that contains the initial ack file.

No change to the alert - nothing to do.

Alert has changed in some form.

Compare the current alert color with that which was saved initially.

New color is lower than initial color - leave ack alone.

New color is greater than initial ack color, dump ack so new alerts

New alert not previously detected (different service, process, or disk

Reset the server.test status to green. Next update will reset the

canceling the acknowledge.

Level of original alert has upgraded (typically yellow->red)

Reset the server.test status to green. Next update will reset the

canceling the acknowledge.

Nothing to do here.

When there are no ack'd alerts clean out the ACK status directory.

/5 * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1