Designing and Managing Behavior Models - Alarm Actions - Inform -
Fire Trigger      Inform OpC

Inform

Once NerveCenter has used its event-correlation abilities to detect a problem, it can notify a network management platform or another NerveCenter server of the problem using the Inform action. This alarm action enables you to notify OpenView Network Node Manager or another NerveCenter when a significant network event is detected.

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   For information about sending messages to Hewlett Packard OpenView IT/Operations, see the section Inform OpC.

For information about sending messages to: MicroMuse Netcool/OMNIbus, IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console, or CA Unicenter TNG, see the section Inform Platform.

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(For information about integrating NerveCenter with OpenView, see the Integrating NerveCenter with a Network Management Platform online guide.)

Inform sends the equivalent of an SNMP trap to its recipients, and the specific trap number in the trap indicates the nature of the problem. The recipients of the trap must be set up to interpret this trap properly and to take appropriate action. For example, when OpenView Network Node Manager receives an Inform message from NerveCenter, it usually displays a customized message in its event browser.

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   Although the message that the Inform action sends to its recipients contains the same information as a trap, the message is not sent via UDP. Because the delivery mechanism must be reliable, the message is sent via TCP.

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Typically, a behavior model uses the Inform alarm action on a transition to some terminal state. For example, consider the predefined alarm SnmpStatus, shown in SnmpStatus Alarm.

SnmpStatus Alarm

Only one transition in this alarm contains an Inform action. That is the transition SS_ICMP_Failed, which leads to the DeviceDown state.

An alarm does not specify who is to receive Inform messages. The recipients of these messages are set up in the NerveCenter Administrator by the person who configures NerveCenter.

If the destination is a network management platform, such as OpenView Network Node Manager, you must create a new event message for the platform that will be posted when OpenView receives your Inform message. If the destination is another NerveCenter server, you must create a trap mask in the destination NerveCenter to capture the Inform message. (For information on how to create such a trap mask, see the section Creating a Trap Mask on page 205.)

 
  To add an Inform action to a transition:

1. From the Transition Definition window, select the New Action button.

   A pop-up menu listing all alarm actions is displayed.

2. Select Inform from the pop-up menu.

   The Inform Action dialog is displayed.

   

3. Type a number in the range 100000 to 199999 in the Specific Number text field, or leave this field blank.

   For more information about the specific number field, see Inform Specific Numbers.

4. Select the OK button in the Inform Action dialog.
5. Select the OK button in the Transition Definition window.
6. Select the Save button in the Alarm Definition window.

As mentioned earlier, each Inform message looks like an SNMP trap. Thus, it contains a great deal of information other than a specific-trap number that you can display in an OpenView event message or use in a NerveCenter trap mask. This information is listed below:

• A timestamp.
• A generic trap number. This number will always be 6.
• An enterprise. The enterprise OID will always be 1.3.6.1.4.1.78.
• A list of variable bindings. For a list of these variable bindings, see the section Variable Bindings for NerveCenter Informs on page 207.