Understanding Alarm Management Components

The ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system comprises several components, each of which has a specific responsibility to send, receive, transfer, handle, store, or view network alarms. ZENworks for Servers 3 uses these components to alert you when conditions or events occur on the network that require an action on your part to resolve.

The following sections discuss the different components that ZENworks for Servers 3 uses to monitor and manage alarms on your network.

About the SNMP Trap Receiver

The SNMP trap receiver is an agent that actively receives SNMP traps from managed servers with SNMP agents loaded on them. When the SNMP trap receiver gets an alarm, it is this agent's responsibility to pass the alarm to the SNMP trap injector component and the SNMP trap forwarder component.

Discussing the SNMP Trap Forwarder

The SNMP trap forwarder checks traps passed from the SNMP trap receiver against the Alarm Manager database to determine whether the trap has an SNMP trap-forwarding disposition. If the Alarm Manager database has a forwarding disposition for the trap, the SNMP trap forwarder forwards the trap based on the criteria specified by the disposition. If there is no forwarding disposition, the SNMP trap forwarder simply ignores the trap.

Understanding the SNMP Trap Injector

The SNMP trap injector is responsible for converting the SNMP traps into manageable alarms. After the trap is converted into an alarm, the SNMP trap injector then passes the alarm to the alarm injector.

About the Alarm Injector

The alarm injector is responsible for collecting alarms from the SNMP trap injector as well as other applications that can transfer alarms to the ZENworks for Servers 3 management system. After it receives an alarm, it then passes it to the inbound processor.

Discussing the Three Types of Alarm Processors

The alarm processors are responsible for processing network and server alarms that are added to them by the alarm injector. The following are the three types of alarm processors and their functions:

• Inbound processor. The inbound processor receives alarms from the alarm injector and applies a predefined alarm template to them. The alarm template is based on SNMP traps and other proprietary definitions based on specific criteria from the ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system. After the inbound processor has applied the template to the alarm, it transfers it to the archive processor.

• Archive processor. The archive processor takes alarms from the inbound processor, adds them to a log, and then stores data about them in the Alarm Manager database. After the alarm data is stored, the archive processor passes the alarm to the outbound processor.

• Outbound processor. The outbound processor accepts alarms from the archive processor and then dispatches them to the subscription server and the disposition server.

Understanding the Alarm Manager Database

Now that you understand how traps are picked up and converted to alarms and then handled by the processors, you need to understand the Alarm Manager database. The Alarm Manager database is responsible for storing information about processed alarms as well as alarm templates and dispositions. The following sections discuss the different types of alarm information stored in the database.

Introducing Processed Alarms

The biggest responsibility of the Alarm Manager database is to store data about alarms that have been handled by the alarm processors. This is the data that you can view at the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console via the alarm query server, by using the alarm reporting discussed later.

Information About Alarm Templates

Another key type of alarm information that is stored in the Alarm Manager database is the templates used by the inbound processor to format the alarm so that it can be properly handled by the ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system.

Many SNMP traps, for example, do not have an object ID associated with them. But an object ID is required by the ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system to process the alarm. Therefore, a template is applied to the alarm at processing, which associates an object ID to the device or node that triggered the alarm.

About Alarm Dispositions

The Alarm Manager database also stores any configured alarm dispositions. Alarm dispositions enable you to configure, prior to the alarm occurring, an automated method of handling the alarm. The alarm dispositions enable you to launch applications, send an email alert, and send console alerts in the form of messages or beeps, forwarding the SNMP traps to other ZENworks for Servers 3 management systems or even to other non-ZENworks for Servers 3 management systems.

Information About Database Archivers

Now that you understand what information is stored in the Alarm Manager database, you need to know what components are responsible for putting it there. The following is a list of alarm database archivers and their responsibilities:

• Alarm archiver. The alarm archiver stores the actual data and statistics about alarms that have occurred on the network. You can configure the alarm archiver to store whatever alarms you want to manage. The default for the alarm archiver is to store all alarms.

• Disposition archiver. The disposition archiver receives alarm disposition information from the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console and saves it to the Alarm Manager database to be used by the SNMP trap forwarder.

• Template archiver. The template archiver stores changes made to alarm templates by the MIB compiler in the database. ZENworks for Servers 3 includes basic templates for all SNMP traps and proprietary alarms; however, you can reconfigure them by using the MIB compiler.

Discussing Alarm Viewers

The final component involved in the ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system is the alarm viewers. The alarm viewers are simply different views available at the ZENworks for Servers 3 management console.

The ZENworks for Servers 3 management console uses alarm queries to the Alarm Manager database to provide you with views on currently active alarms, as well as historically archived alarms. You should become familiar with how to view alarm information. The different alarm views are discussed more fully in the next section.