[Xymon] [xymon] canceling acknowledgements

john.r.rothlisberger at accenture.com john.r.rothlisberger at accenture.com
Mon Mar 10 15:51:08 CET 2014


Oh, this is so old...

There is a simple answer (IMO) as to why you would want to cancel and ack'd alert - a new alert for an ack'd test has been received.

This has been bugging me for years.  Let's assume you ack an alert for the service "W3SVC" for 4 hours for maintenance, which you have stopped on purpose for whatever reason.  Let's assume you also monitor services for SQL, Java, etc.  If one of those also fails during the 4 hours of ack time - you won't get an alert.  There are 3 tests that can have multiple components which I would like to know if new alerts arrive while a test has been ack'd: disk, procs, & svcs.

I have a situation currently where I have to address this exact scenario.  As described I have multiple services and processes that I need to monitor, those are often ack'd but it doesn't change the importance of knowing if a different process/service needs attention.  Thus, I have written the perl script below which (being just written and may not be 100% - YMMV) will monitor tests that have been ack'd and look for changes.  If there is a change that needs to be addressed the ack is canceled by sending a temporary green status to the host.test.  The next update from the client triggers a new alert.

Maybe this will help someone else too...

Steps:
Copy contents to ~bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl
Create directory ~server/tmp/ACKS
Log file created in ~logs
Create the following crontab entry
*/5 * * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Script Name:  watch_ackd_alerts.pl
# Author:       John Rothlisberger
# Created On:   March 10, 2014
# VERSION="1.03102014.09";
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Purpose:      A script to monitor ack'd alerts and watch for changes.
#               Example:  The C: drive fills up and sends out a red alert.  Knowing this will
#               take some time to fix you ack the alert for 60 minutes.  If, during that 60
#               minute window the D: drive fills up you will not be notified as the 'disk' test
#               has been acknowledged.  This script is an attempt to short circuit the ack and
#               allow for the new alert to be sent out.
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Execution:    Run every 5 minutes from xymon crontab:
# */5 * * * * /home/xymon/bin/watch_ackd_alerts.pl > /dev/null 2>&1
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Setup COUNT and directory where to store ack info files.
$COUNT=0;
$ACKSDIR="/home/xymon/server/tmp/ACKS";

# Log file
open(LOGFILE,">> /home/xymon/logs/ack_terminate.log") || die("can't open port_watch.email:  $!");

# input file example
# servername|test|color|flags|lastchange|logtime|validtime|acktime|disabletime|sender|cookie|line1|ackmsg|dismsg|msg

# Open input file
open ALERTS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondboard color=yellow,red' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";

# Parse all active alerts
while (<ALERTS>) {
   chomp;
   @LINE=split(/\|/,$_);
   $SERVERNAME=@LINE[0];
   $TESTTYPE=@LINE[1];
   $COLOR=@LINE[2];
   $ACKTIME=@LINE[7];
   $COOKIE=@LINE[10];
   $LINE1=@LINE[11];
   $ACKMSG=@LINE[12];
   $DISMSG=@LINE[13];
   $MSG=@LINE[14];
# Skip all alerts except disk, procs, and svcs (others are not tested)
   next if ((! $TESTTYPE == "disk") || (! $TESTTYPE == "procs") || (! $TESTTYPE == "svcs"));

# If the alert has been ack'd we want to watch for any changes.
   if ( $ACKTIME > 0) {
      $COUNT+=1;
      $REDS=0;
      $YELLOWS=0;
      $REDS_CMP=0;
      $YELLOWS_CMP=0;
      $NEED_COMP=0;

      print LOGFILE "-------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
      print LOGFILE "SERVERNAME: $SERVERNAME\n";
      print LOGFILE "TESTTYPE: $TESTTYPE\n";
      print LOGFILE "COLOR: $COLOR\n";

# If this is a new ack'd alert we will create a static file that holds current test state.
# We will use this file to decide if there have been changes to what has been ack'd.

      if (! -e "${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" ) {
         open DETAILS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondlog ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE}' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
         open OUTFILE, ">${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
         while (<DETAILS>) {
            chomp;
            if ( $_ =~ /^&/ ) {
               $_ =~ s/\&//;
               @DETLINE=split(/ /,$_);

# Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0

               if ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "red" ) {
                  $COL_VALUE = "2";
               } elsif ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "yellow" ) {
                  $COL_VALUE = "1";
               } else {
                  $COL_VALUE = "0";
               }
# Create the status file which will be used on subsequent runs.

               print OUTFILE "${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}\n";
               print LOGFILE "DATE: ${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}\n";
            }
         }
         close OUTFILE;

# We have already recorded the initial state of the test and saved it to a file.
# Now we will check new status output with that file to see if the alerts have changed.

      } else {
         open DETAILS, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'xymondlog ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE}' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
         while (<DETAILS>) {
            chomp;
            if ( $_ =~ /^&/ ) {
               $_ =~ s/\&//;
               @DETLINE=split(/ /,$_);

# Change colors to numbers red=2 yellow=1 anything else = 0

               if ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "red" ) {
                  $COL_VALUE = "2";
               } elsif ( "$DETLINE[0]" eq "yellow" ) {
                  $COL_VALUE = "1";
               } else {
                  $COL_VALUE = "0";
               }
               push (@COMP_contents, "${COL_VALUE}:${DETLINE[1]}");
            }
         }

# Get the initial ack file that was created.

         open INITFILE, "<${ACKSDIR}/${SERVERNAME}${TESTTYPE}${COLOR}${ACKTIME}" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
         while (<INITFILE>) {
            chomp;
            push (@INITFILE_contents, "$_");
         }
         close INITFILE;

# Create a hash that contains the initial ack file.

         %INITF = map(($_,1), at INITFILE_contents);
         foreach (@COMP_contents) {
            if ($INITF{$_}) {

# No change to the alert - nothing to do.

               print LOGFILE "Alert hasn't changed: $_\n";

            } else {

# Alert has changed in some form.

               print LOGFILE "Alert has changed: $_\n";
               @CURRENT=split(/:/,$_);
               $CUR_COLOR=$CURRENT[0];
               $CUR_TEST=$CURRENT[1];
               @ACKD_EVENT=grep (/:${CUR_TEST}/, @INITFILE_contents);
               @ACK_EVENT=split(/:/,$ACKD_EVENT[0]);
               $ACK_COLOR=$ACKD_EVENT[0];
               $ACK_TEST=$ACKD_EVENT[1];

# Compare the current alert color with that which was saved initially.

               if ( $CUR_COLOR < $ACK_EVENT[0] ) {

# New color is lower than initial color - leave ack alone.

                  print LOGFILE "NO ACTION NEEDED (new level lower than ack level).\n";

               } elsif ( $CUR_COLOR > $ACK_EVENT[0] ) {

# New color is greater than initial ack color, dump ack so new alerts can be sent.

                  if ( $ACK_COLOR == "" ) {

# New alert not previously detected (different service, process, or disk alerting)

                     print LOGFILE "ACK COLOR $ACK_COLOR\n";
                     print LOGFILE "NEW ALERT - DISABLE ACK AND SEND NEW ALERT.\n";

# Reset the server.test status to green.  Next update will reset the alert condition effectivly
# canceling the acknowledge.

                     open RESET, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'status+10 ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE} green Ack Reset New Alert Rcvd.' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
                     close RESET;

                  } else {

# Level of original alert has upgraded (typically yellow->red)

                     print LOGFILE "ACK COLOR $ACK_COLOR\n";
                     print LOGFILE "OLD ALERT - DISABLE ACK AND SEND NEW ALERT.\n";

# Reset the server.test status to green.  Next update will reset the alert condition effectivly
# canceling the acknowledge.

                     open RESET, "/home/xymon/server/bin/xymon 0 'status+1 ${SERVERNAME}.${TESTTYPE} green Ack Reset Alert Level Changed.' |" or die "Couldn't execute: $!";
                     close RESET;
                  }
               } else {
# Nothing to do here.
                  print LOGFILE "NO ACTION NEEDED (new level equals ack level).\n";
               }
            }
         }
      }
   }
}

# When there are no ack'd alerts clean out the ACK status directory.
if ( $COUNT == 0 ) {
   unlink glob "${ACKSDIR}/*";
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thanks,
John
Upcoming PTO:
(none)

_____________________________________________________________________
John Rothlisberger
IT Strategy, Infrastructure & Security - Technology Growth Platform
TGP for Business Process Outsourcing
Accenture
312.693.3136 office
_____________________________________________________________________

From: Ryan Novosielski [mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu]
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 5:23 PM
To: xymon at xymon.com
Cc: xymon at xymon.com
Subject: Re: [xymon] canceling acknowledgements

I'm guessing, but I don't know, that these two things would work:

1) Remove the file created on the server that contains the ack notice.
2) Ack the same test as the same person for 1 minute or something similar.

I was thinking about this same one the other day. The conclusion I came to was "Why on earth would I want to do that?" The only reason I could think of was a case of ack'd by accident.

----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Barber <lebarber at gmail.com<mailto:lebarber at gmail.com>>
Date: Friday, October 22, 2010 9:21 pm
Subject: [xymon] canceling acknowledgements
To: xymon at xymon.com<mailto:xymon at xymon.com>

> Is there some way to cancel an 'ack' after it has been issued?
>
> Thanks,
> Larry Barber


---- _  _ _  _ ___  _  _  _
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|$&| |__| |  | |__/ | \| _| |novosirj at umdnj.edu<mailto:|novosirj at umdnj.edu> - 973/972.0922 (2-0922)
\__/ Univ. of Med. and Dent.|IST/CST-Academic Svcs. - ADMC 450, Newark

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