Alarm Overview

The Cisco CallManager Serviceability Alarm menu provides a web-based interface that has two main functions:

• To allow configuration of alarms and events

  - Administrators can define what kind of information should be logged.

  - Administrators can define where to store alarms and events.

• To provide alarm message definitions

  - Administrators can evaluate what kind of information (such as parameter and kind of events) is included in which alarm.

Both functions assist you in troubleshooting and monitoring your Cisco CallManager system. You can configure alarms for services (for example, Cisco CallManager, Cisco TFTP, or Cisco CTIManager) for all Cisco CallManager servers in the cluster or for each server individually.

Alarms are used to provide the run-time status and state of the system and to take corrective action for problem resolution; for example, to determine whether phones are registered and working. Alarms contain information such as an explanation and recommended action. Alarm information includes the application name, machine name, and cluster name to help you troubleshoot problems that are not on the local Cisco CallManager.

You can configure the Alarm interface to send alarm information to multiple destinations, and each destination can have its own alarm event level (from debug to emergency). CallManager can direct alarms to the Microsoft Windows 2000 Event Log, a syslog server, system diagnostic interface (SDI) trace log files, or signal distribution layer (SDL) trace log files.

When a service issues an alarm, the Alarm interface sends the alarm to the chosen monitors. Each monitor forwards the alarm or writes it to its final destination (such as a log file). You can use this information for troubleshooting or to pass over to another person for assistance (for example, the Cisco Technical Assistance Center [TAC]).

You can turn on several alarm levels on Cisco CallManager. These alarm levels are equivalent to the widely used syslog severity levels. Table 32-1 shows all available levels and describes the kind of information that generates the alarm. As you can also see from the table, each level can be identified by its name (debug to emergency) or by its number (0 to 7).

Table 32-1. Alarm Event Levels

Level	Name	Description
7	Emergency	System unusable
6	Alert	Immediate action needed
5	Critical	Critical condition detected
4	Error	Error condition
3	Warning	Warning condition detected
2	Notice	Normal but significant condition
1	Informational	Information messages only

When the alarm event level is set to a certain value, it means that alarms that match the configured level and alarms that match more severe levels are generated. In other words, an alarm level of 0 (debug) means all alarms of 0 or higher, and an alarm level of 4 means all alarms of level 4 or higher. So if you configure an alarm level of 5, all critical, alert, and emergency alarms are logged.