Creating an Alarm Action Set

An Alarm Action Set is a set of actions that the Multimedia Server will enact whenever an alarm from that subscription occurs. For example, an action set can page the security guard and send an e-mail message to the technician on duty, announce the message over a phone and fax the alarm to a remote center. You can create more than one action set for an alarm configuration. Each action set you create is based on a filter. Within each action set, you can define more than one procedure for that action set to follow.

Note: When you modify an action set, all corresponding records in the journal table will be deleted. If this occurs while the server is running, the server will be temporarily stopped. For more information, refer to Server Journal Log.

To create an action set:

  1. Right-click on Default and select New > Alarm Action Set from the pop-up menu. The Default alarm configuration object can be found in the Alarm Configurations folder on the tree control.

  2. Enter a name for this action set.

  3. Select a filter from the Alarm Filter to Use drop-down list.

  4. In the Alarm Actions field, select what you want to occur from the list under Action Type. Clicking the ellipsis button in each Action Destination row opens the Select Action Destination dialog box. An action destination is a multimedia agent (e.g., Marquee Window) that determines the means for sending the alarm, or it is a role (e.g., General Manager) of a person or group to be notified. Select an action destination from the tree control on the left and then click the Set selected item asAction Destination button. You can select as many action destinations as you like.

In the Action Destination field, you can also select <NO ACTION> by clicking the Set asNo Action button. When this option is selected, the Multimedia Server will wait a specified amount of time (the delay time) before executing the next action.

  1. Select from the Media Template list only if you wish to override the previously defined template under the multimedia agent.

  2. If you are listing more than one Alarm Action to follow, you have the option of having them all occur at once or delaying the next action to take place. If you want the next action to take place at the same time as the previous one, leave the Delay set to 0 minutes. If you want the next action to take place after a certain number of minutes (if the Stop Action Condition has not yet been met) enter the number of minutes under Delay, min.

  3. Check the Ignore Schedule box only if you wish to override any predefined schedules. (See Schedules for information.)

  4. For each action, you can specify when to initiate each action: On Alarm, On Return to Normal, or On Acknowledgement.

    • The action type for the first alarm action in the action set should be set to On Alarm. The On Alarm action attribute must be listed in the action set before On Return to Normal or On Acknowledgement.

    • Use of On Return to Normal or On Acknowledgement action attribute settings requires an associated Alarm action attribute.

    • Only the action destinations that receive the alarm message will receive the return to normal or acknowledgement messages.

  1. The Stop Actions Condition field is where you define what will stop the list of Alarm Actions from escalating to the next action. If you do not check any of the options, the complete list of actions will occur regardless of whether any alarms were acknowledged or returned to normal.

    • If you check Acknowledgement Received, the list of actions will continue until one of the actions is acknowledged. The acknowledgement can be verified by either a multimedia agent or the alarm viewer.

    • If you check Values Returned To Normal, the list of actions will continue until the values return to normal.

    • If you check Return to Normal AND Acknowledgement, the list of actions will continue until one of the actions is acknowledged and the values return to normal.

    • Checking Receipt Confirmation tells the Multimedia Server that, yes, the alarm has been responded to, but does not mark the alarm as acknowledged. Therefore, the alarm will not be shown as acknowledged in the alarm viewer.

    • If more than one stop actions condition is checked, the complete list of actions will occur until one of the conditions has been met. For example, if both Values Returned to Normal and Receipt Confirmation are checked, the actions will occur until either the values have returned to normal or a confirmation has been sent through the multimedia agent.

Note: The use of stop actions conditions is not required. However, if you do not select a stop actions condition, the infinite actions loop is disabled.

  1. Use the Actions Loop field if you wish to return to the first action destination and repeat all alarm actions until the specified stop actions condition has been met. If you want the loop to be repeated continuously, select Infinite Loop. If you want the loop to be repeated only a certain number of times, select Repeat and then enter the number of times you want the actions loop to be repeated. Alternatively, if you do not want an actions loop, select Don't Loop at All.

Note: Be careful when enabling action looping.  The Actions Loop is performed after the delay of the last action in the action set.  It is possible for agents to queue hundreds of action requests.  This occurs if the agent takes more time to process action requests than it takes to repeat the action loop.

  1. Check Enable This Action Set for your alarm actions to take effect, and then click Apply.

To delete an alarm action entry, select the entire row and click the Delete Action button key. To add an action to the list, click the Add Action button. To change the order of an action, select the action and click the Move Up button or Move Down button.

Note: The Stop Actions Condition options apply to the escalating list of actions to be taken and not to one individual alarm action. However, if you only have one action and would like it to continue happening until it is acknowledged or until the values return to normal, check Enable Alarm Actions Loop and choose the Stop Actions Condition you wish to use to stop the action.