NAME
hobbitd_alert - hobbitd worker module for sending out alerts
SYNOPSIS
hobbitd_channel --channel=page hobbitd_alert [options]
DESCRIPTION
hobbitd_alert is a worker module for hobbitd, and as such it is
normally run via the hobbitd_channel(8) program. It receives hobbitd
page- and ack-messages from the "page" channel via stdin, and uses
these to send out alerts about failed and recovered hosts and services.
The operation of this module is controlled by the hobbit-alerts.cfg(5)
file. This file holds the definition of rules and recipients, that
determine who gets alerts, how often, for what servers etc.
OPTIONS
--config=FILENAME
Sets the filename for the hobbit-alerts.cfg file. The default
value is "etc/hobbit-alerts.cfg" below the Xymon server
directory.
--dump-config
Dumps the configuration after parsing it. May be useful to track
down problems with configuration file errors.
--checkpoint-file=FILENAME
File where the current state of the hobbitd_alert module is
saved. When starting up, hobbitd_alert will also read this file
to restore the previous state.
--checkpoint-interval=N
Defines how often (in seconds) the checkpoint-file is saved.
--cfid If this option is present, alert messages will include a line
with "cfid:N" where N is the linenumber in the hobbit-alerts.cfg
file that caused this message to be sent. This can be useful to
track down problems with duplicate alerts.
--test HOST SERVICE [options]
Shows which alert rules matches the given HOST/SERVICE
combination. Useful to debug configuration problems, and see
what rules are used for an alert.
The possible options are:
--color=COLORNAME The COLORNAME parameter is the color of the
alert: red, yellow or purple.
--duration=SECONDS The SECONDS parameter is the duration of the
alert in seconds.
--group=GROUPNAME The GROUPNAME paramater is a groupid string
from the hobbit-clients.cfg file.
--time=TIMESTRING The TIMESTRING parameter is the time-of-day
for the alert, expressed as an absolute time in the epoch format
(seconds since Jan 1 1970). This is easily obtained with the GNU
date utility using the "+%s" output format.
--debug
Enable debugging output.
HOW HOBBIT DECIDES WHEN TO SEND ALERTS
The hobbitd_alert module is responsible for sending out all alerts.
When a status first goes to one of the ALERTCOLORS, hobbitd_alert is
notified of this change. It notes that the status is now in an alert
state, and records the timestamp when this event started, and adds the
alert to the list statuses that may potentially trigger one or more
alert messages.
This list is then matched against the hobbit-alerts.cfg configuration.
This happens at least once a minute, but may happen more often. E.g.
when status first goes into an alert state, this will always trigger
the matching to happen.
When scanning the configuration, hobbitd_alert looks at all of the
configuration rules. It also checks the DURATION setting against how
long time has elapsed since the event started - i.e. against the
timestamp logged when hobbitd_alert first heard of this event.
When an alert recipient is found, the alert is sent and it is recorded
when this recipient is due for his next alert message, based on the
REPEAT setting defined for this recipient. The next time hobbitd_alert
scans the configuration for what alerts to send, it will still find
this recipient because all of the configuration rules are fulfilled,
but an alert message will not be generated until the repeat interval
has elapsed.
It can happen that a status first goes yellow and triggers an alert,
and later it goes red - e.g. a disk filling up. In that case,
hobbitd_alert clears the internal timer for when the next (repeat)
alert is due for all recipients. You generally want to be told when
something that has been in a warning state becomes critical, so in that
case the REPEAT setting is ignored and the alert is sent. This only
happens the first time such a change occurs - if the status switches
between yellow and red multiple times, only the first transition from
yellow->red causes this override.
When an status recovers, a recovery message may be sent - depending on
the configuration - and then hobbitd_alert forgets everything about
this status. So the next time it goes into an alert state, the entire
process starts all over again.
ENVIRONMENT
MAIL The first part of a command line used to send out an e-mail with
a subject, typically set to "/usr/bin/mail -s" . hobbitd_alert
will add the subject and the mail recipients to form the command
line used for sending out email alerts.
MAILC The first part of a command line used to send out an e-mail
without a subject. Typically this will be "/usr/bin/mail".
hobbitd_alert will add the mail recipients to form the command
line used for sending out email alerts.
FILES
~xymon/server/etc/hobbit-alerts.cfg
SEE ALSO
hobbit-alerts.cfg(5), hobbitd(8), hobbitd_channel(8), xymon(7)