Contents
Overview
How custom alert scripts work
Environment Variable Examples
Overview
When a service outage occurs, Uptime Infrastructure Monitor can generate an alert in a number of ways including sending an email, opening a Windows pop-up or initiating a pager message. You can also define your own Script Alert that will be executed on the monitoring station when an outage occurs. You can use the Script Alert option to create custom alerting methods that fit your exact needs. Some examples of custom alerting implementations include:
SMS modem-based alerting
TAPI modem alerting
Internal Problem Ticket creation system alerts
On call team rotation
Customized alert email body formatting
How custom alert scripts work
Please review the online documentation available here - Alerts and Actions
Custom alert scripts are defined with the Script Alert option on the Alert Profile page. The script is a path to a script or executable on the monitoring station system that Uptime Infrastructure Monitor will run when a service outage occurs. You control the actions that the script or executable takes, which provides full control over how Uptime Infrastructure Monitor sends out alert notifications during a service outage.
Note
For Windows alert scripts, the path used must use UNIX-style / instead of \ and must be quoted if your path contains spaces. For example:
"C:/Program Files/uptime software/uptime/scripts/my_custom_alerter.bat"
When Uptime Infrastructure Monitor runs the script or executable, it passes on information about the specific service outage that triggered the alert. This information is passed using the system environment variables that are local to each execution of the recovery script. The script or executable is run once for each Uptime Infrastructure Monitor user that will be notified using this alert.
The environment variables passed to the alert script and their meanings are included below but for the latest documentation please refer to Alert Profile and Action Profile Variables:
Variable |
Description |
Example Contents |
Service Message Fields - These will remain constant for each execution of your script associated with a single service outage. |
|
|
UPTIME_ALERTTYPE |
This is the type of alert message |
One of: Problem, Recovery |
UPTIME_HOSTNAME |
The name of the host that the service outage is associated with. |
oracle_server |
UPTIME_HOSTSTATUS |
The status of the host that the service outage is associated with. |
One of: OK, WARN, CRIT, MAINT, UNKNOWN |
UPTIME_MESSAGE |
The output section of the alert. |
Type: Problem |
UPTIME_SUBJECT |
The subject line that would normally appear in an emailed alert for this alert. |
Uptime Alert - UPTIME-oracle_server -> CRIT |
UPTIME_SVCNAME |
The name of the service monitor generating this alert. |
UPTIME-oracle_server |
UPTIME_SVCOUTPUT |
The output of the service monitor generating this alert. |
processoccurrences: 0 is less than 1 |
UPTIME_SVCSTATUS |
The current status of the service monitor generating this alert. |
One of: OK, WARN, CRIT, MAINT, UNKNOWN. |
UPTIME_DATETIME |
The date and time of the alert. |
Mon May 15 11:12:22 EDT 2006 |
User related fields - these will change for each user that is passed to your script, the script will be executed once for each user that should be notified. |
|
|
UPTIME_CONTACTLOGIN NAME |
The login name of the user who is being notified. |
testuser |
UPTIME_DESKTOPHOST |
The windows desktop hostname setting for the user being notified. |
testuser-pc |
UPTIME_DESKTOPWORK GROUP |
The windows workgroup for the desktop host specified above. |
WORKGROUP |
UPTIME_EMAIL |
The email address associated with the user who is being notified. |
|
UPTIME_MOBILE |
The pager number associated with the user being notified. |
|
General fields |
|
|
UPTIME_SCRIPT |
The name of the current script being executed. |
C:/Program Files/uptime software/uptime4/scripts |
UPTIME_SMTPHELOSTRI NG |
The HELO string used in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
UPTIME_SMTPPASSWORD |
The password used from authentication in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
UPTIME_SMTPPORT |
The server port used in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
UPTIME_SMTPSENDER |
The sender address string used in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
UPTIME_SMTPSERVER |
The server hostname used in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
UPTIME_SMTPUSER |
The user name used for authentication in your SMTP server configuration. |
|
Environment Variable Examples
How the script or executable uses environment variables will vary depending on the language you have used to write your script or executable. The following examples illustrate how environment variables are accessed in several common languages:
Language |
Common methods of accessing environment variables. |
Perl |
Use of the ENV array to access environment variables with Perl. For example: |
PHP |
When run from the command line, use the getenv() function to access environment variables within PHP. For example: |
Bash and Ksh |
Bash and Ksh enable you to access local environment variables just like any other local variable. For example: #!/bin/bash |
Batch File |
Add the % symbol around the names of environment variables in Windows batch files. For example: |
VB Script |
Use the the oShell.Environment lookup function to access environment variables with VB Script. For example: |
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