On Fri, Oct 07, 2005 at 09:45:32AM -0700, Brehm, Scott wrote:

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alerts. My hobbit-alerts.cfg includes the following:

HOST=* SERVICE=conn MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red

HOST=%atscm MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red MAIL person2 at titan.com COLOR=red

HOST=%atscs MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red MAIL person3 at titan.com COLOR=red

I want alerts for any connection problems, but only want alerts for other hosts if they come from two specific sets of hosts.

As you've found out yourself, EXSERVICE=conn on the two host-specific rules will do it. Instead, you could also use the keyword "STOP" with the "conn" rule - like

HOST=* SERVICE=conn MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red STOP

This will make the alert-handler stop looking for recipients after your general "conn" rule has been matched.

Will placing the STOP as shown stop looking for just conn events or all events? And for just sbrehm or for all persons? In the example I still need to notify person2 and person3 of connection problems with their systems.

The STOP condition triggers when it is used - i.e. it will only have effect for "conn" tests, since it is inside a rule that has "SERVICE=conn". But if you need to alert person2 and person3 of "conn" problems, then you cannot use the STOP keyword.

Another way to avoid the duplicate alerts might be to restrict your general rule to not include the two special hosts:

HOST=* EXHOST=atscm,atcsc SERVICE=conn
    	MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red

HOST=%atscm
    	MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red
    	MAIL person2 at titan.com COLOR=red

HOST=%atscs
    	MAIL sbrehm at titan.com COLOR=red
    	MAIL person3 at titan.com COLOR=red

So ... several ways of doing the same thing. You choose which one matches your thinking best :-)

Regards, Henrik