Monitoring Your Network - Getting Started with NerveCenter Web Client - Starting the Web Client - Setting Preferences -
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Setting Preferences

Exactly what alarm instances you see on the alarm-summary page and how those instances are presented in the Web client's tree view depend not only on the server to which you're connected, but on a set of preferences you set on the Preferences page. This section explains the procedure for setting preferences and discusses how your settings affect what you see in the alarm-summary window.

 
  To set your preferences:

1. Go to the Preferences page.

   If you select the Modify Preferences radio button while you're logging on to the client, you'll be taken to this page. You can also reach this page from the alarm-summary window: just select Modify Preferences from the drop-down list box in the upper right corner of the window and select the Go button.

   Preferences Page

   

   Click the thumbnail above to view full-sized image.

2. Choose how you want the tree view of your alarm instances to look in the alarm-summary window by selecting values from the two drop-down list boxes.

   In the default tree view, alarm instances are organized first by server and then by severity as shown below.

   Default Tree View

   

   To choose some other organization, change the values of one or both list boxes. The choices in each list box are Server, Severity, Property Group, and Partition. (A partition is a filter set up using the NerveCenter Web Client. Each partition can include a list of IP address ranges. For information on how to create a partition using the NerveCenter Web Client, see Connecting to a Server.)

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   Note    Your specification of a tree view affects not only the organization of the tree view, but also how alarm instances are filtered. Instances are always filtered by server; however, they are filtered by severity only if you choose Severity from one of the listboxes. The same is true for filtering by property group or partition.

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3. If you selected Severity in one of the list boxes, select the severities you want to use in filtering alarm instances. That is, only instances of the severities you select will appear on the alarm-summary page.
   1. Select the Severity Filters tab.

      The Severity Filters page displays.

      Severity Filters Page

      

      Click the thumbnail above to view full-sized image.

      The first time you open it, the Available Severities list contains all the severities defined in the database of the first NerveCenter server to which you connected.

   2. For each severity you want to use in your filtering, select the severity and then select the >> button.

      The name of the severity displays in the Selected Severities list. Information about alarm instances with this severity will be displayed on the alarm-summary page.

4. If you selected Property Group in one of the list boxes, select the property groups you want to use in filtering alarm instances. That is, only alarm instances monitoring nodes in the property groups that you select will appear on the alarm-summary page.
   1. Select the Property Group Filters tab.

      The Property Group Filters page is displayed.

      Property Group Filters Page

      

      Click the thumbnail above to view full-sized image.

      The first time you open it, the Available Property Groups list contains the union of the property groups defined for each NerveCenter server to which you're connected.

   2. For each property group you want to use in your filtering, select the property group and then select the >> button.

      The property group displays in the Selected Property Groups list. Information about alarm instances monitoring a node in this property group will be displayed on the alarm-summary page.

5. If you selected Partition in one of the list boxes, select the partitions you want to use in filtering alarm instances. That is, only instances monitoring machines on subnets specified in the partitions you select will appear on the alarm-summary page.

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   Note    If you have not defined any partitions, the Available Partitions list will be empty. Before you can perform this step you must define one or more partitions using the procedure describe in the section Connecting to a Server.

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   1. Select the Partitions tab.

      The Partitions page displays.

      Partitions Page

      

      Click the thumbnail above to view full-sized image.

   2. For each partition you want to use in your filtering, select the partition and then select the >> button.

      The partition name displays in the Selected Partitions list. Information about alarm instances monitoring nodes in this partition will be displayed on the alarm-summary page.

      See Connecting to a Server, for more information.

6. Check the Display Enterprise Scope Alarms checkbox if you want the Web client to display instances of enterprise scope alarms.
7. In the Alarm View Automatic Refresh field, enter a number of seconds, or leave the field set to 0.

   If you enter a nonzero value x, the Web client will refresh the alarm-summary page every x seconds. If you leave the value set to 0, the client will not refresh the page.

8. Select the OK button.

   Your preferences take effect, and you are taken to the alarm-summary page.

Defining a Partition

A Web-client partition is an alarm-instance filter that enables you to monitor the machines on one or more subnets. You also have the ability to monitor all of the machines on a subnet except ones that you explicitly exclude.

See IP Subnet Filter Exclusion Rules, for more information about filtering alarms by one or more subnets.

 
  To create a partition:

1. Go to the Preferences page.
2. Choose the Partitions tab.
3. Select the Add Partition button.

   The Add Partition dialog is displayed.

   Add Partition Dialog

   

4. Type the name you want to give the partition in the Partition Name field.
5. In the Subnet Address and Subnet Mask fields, enter the subnet address and mask for the subnet you want to monitor. Both entries should contain four octets separated by periods.
6. In the Exclusion List, enter a comma-separated list of machines (or ranges of machines) on the subnet that you do not want to monitor.

   For each machine, enter the last octet of its IP address. For example, the entry 1,2, 5-7 would mean to exclude the machines whose addresses end in 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7.

7. Select the Add button.

   The IP address filter displays in the IP Filters list.

8. Repeat step 5 to step 7 to add further subnets to the partition.
9. Select the OK button.

For the partition filter to take effect, you must:

• Add the partition to the Selected Partitions list on the Partitions tab
• Go to the Alarm View tab, and select Partition from one of the list boxes