Designing and Managing Behavior Models - Alarm Actions - Inform Specific Numbers -
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Inform Specific Numbers

When creating an Inform or Inform Platform action, you are expected to supply a Specific Number for the Inform. Normally, you should enter a number in the range 100000 to 199999 or leave this field blank. The trap numbers 0 to 99999 are reserved for NerveCenter use, and the numbers 200000 and above are reserved for future use.

The number you supply becomes the specific trap number in the trap-like message that is sent to all the destinations that have been configured to receive Inform messages. 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.) The portion of NerveCenter that must be installed with a network management platform defines general event messages for these default specific-trap values. However, other NerveCenter servers know nothing of default values in Inform messages sent by this NerveCenter server. For that reason, you must create a trap mask in the destination NerveCenter to receive the Inform message.

If you leave the Specific Number field blank, NerveCenter supplies a default specific trap number. NerveCenter creates this default value by adding 1000 to the severity level of the destination alarm state. Thus, if the Inform action takes place on a transition to a Critical state, the default specific number is 1012, because the severity level of Critical is 12.

You can determine a severity's number by choosing Severity List from the client's Admin menu.

When NerveCenter sends Informs to your platform, NerveCenter first checks the minimum severity value configured in NerveCenter Administrator to ensure that the trap value for the Inform matches or exceeds that severity. There is one case when NerveCenter disregards the minimum severity value specified in Administrator: After NerveCenter sends an Inform, if the condition returns to a normal state-that is, a state below the minimum severity threshold you configure-it's important that NerveCenter notify the platform of this change. Therefore, if a node transitions the alarm from a severity above the minimum value to a severity below the minimum value, and the transition includes and Inform action, NerveCenter will send a Normal Inform to the platform. This allows the platform to reset the mapped severity color associated with the node.