Managing Policies

Contents

Managing Policies

Managing Policies section describes the properties, variables that can be configured and illustrates how to create:

After creating the policies, refer the Managing added policies section to know how to enable/edit/delete added policies.

Backlog Policy

The Backlog Policies monitor the backlog request count and raise notifications based on them. Multiple backlog policies can be created and applied at different levels like the Event Process level, Component Level or Port level. The policy applied to an Event Process will indirectly apply to all the components within that event process and will translate automatically to all monitorable ports of the components.

Monitorable ports are the destinations over which backlog depth monitoring is possible.

Presently, monitoring is possible only in queues. Future versions of the product may extend backlog monitoring support for topics as well.
All the property values described below appears after creating Backlog policy.

Figure 1: Policy Manager screen with Backlog Policy added

Property Name	Description
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert (Applicable only for SMTP alerts).
Policy Type	Name of the policy.
Port Name	The port name on which the policy is applied if the policy is applied at the PORT_LEVEL
Direction	The direction of reaching the specified depth. This could be ANY, UP or DOWN.
Alerts	The list of alert IDs which will be executed when the condition for this policy is satisfied.
Backlog Value	Level of Backlog defined.
Application Version	Version number of the selected Event Process.
Status	The working status of the policy, whether it is in Active or Inactive state.
Policy Level	The level at which the policy is targeted. It could be targeted for the Event Process / Component / Port level. Event Process translates to all components and component-level translates to all ports of the component.
Rule ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Application GUID	The event process on which the policy is applied.
Service Instance Name	The service instance name on which the policy is applied if the policy is applied at SERVICE_LEVEL or PORT_LEVEL.
Message Body	The Message Content to be delivered via mail.
Depth	The integer value indicating the count of pending requests.

Creating a Backlog Policy

To add new policies, click the Add

button. A drop-down menu of policy types is displayed and on choosing the backlog policy, an Add New Policy dialog box is displayed where new backlog policy properties can be configured.

Figure 2: Setting Backlog Policy properties

Property Name	Description
Policy ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Application	The list of event processes.
Application Version	Version number of the selected Event Process.
Service Instance	The service instance name on which the policy is applied if the policy is applied at SERVICE_LEVEL or PORT_LEVEL.
Alert Names	Alerts configured in the Alert Manager tab (refer to the Managing SMTP and JMS Alerts section) in the Dashboard.
Direction	The direction of reaching the specified depth—ANY, UP or DOWN. If notification has to be raised when the pending requests are reducing, then DOWN will be specified otherwise UP will be specified. ANY is for both cases.
Backlog	Level of Backlog defined.
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert (Applicable only for SMTP alerts). A subject can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the subject is left blank, the message gets delivered with the default message.
Message Body	The Message Content to be delivered via mail. The message body can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the Message Body is left blank, the message gets delivered reflecting parameters and corresponding values as configured above.

Variables

BackLog Policy has a set of variables which can be used in the Subject and MessageBody. Variables help build a context sensitive message/alert in contrast to a constant one. Variables are specific to types of policies. If there is a variable defined, which cannot be resolved by a particular kind of policy, it will remain unresolved in the final message. The table below lists the variables specific to backlog Policy.

Variable Name	Description
{policy_id}	The Policy ID for which this Alert is getting executed. Every time this alert is executed, this variable will get resolved.
{depth}	The count of pending requests for which the policy was configured.
{port_name}	The Port Name at which the requests-pending count reached the {depth} level in Direction {direction}. The port name has the following format: EVENT_PROCESS_ID_SERVICE_INSTANCE_NAME_PORT_NAME
{Service_instance_name}	The name of the service instance for which the requests-pending count reaches the {depth} level in Direction {direction}. The Service Instance has the following format: EVENT_PROCESS_ID__SERVICE_INSTANCE_NAME
{application_guid}	The event process within which the pending requests for {service_instance_name} / {port_name} reached the {depth} level in Direction {direction}.
{direction}	The direction in which the backlog depth was reached.
{event_time}	The date and time at which the backlog depth reached the specified {depth}
{alert_id}	This Alert ID can optionally be inserted in the message body and subject with this variable.

Enabling backlog monitoring policy effect the performance on the concerned peer server (the peer on which destinations exist over which backlog monitoring policies are applied). As such, performance has to be empirically observed after turning on Backlog Monitoring.

Low Memory Policy

Low Memory Policies monitor the memory usage of servers and components and raise alerts when the specified threshold is reached. The alerts are raised when memory usage crosses the threshold in any direction.

All the property values described below appears after creating Low Memory policy.

Figure 3: Policy Manager screen with Low MemoryPolicy added

Property Name	Description
Status	The working status of the policy, whether it is in Active or Inactive state.
Threshold	The alert is raised if the memory usage reaches this threshold value.
Rule ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert.(Applicable only for SMTP alerts).
Time Interval	Time interval (in seconds) between two successive same direction alerts.
Policy Type	Name of the policy.
Server Name	The server on which the policy is applied.
Message Body	The Message content delivered via mail.
Alerts	The list of alert IDs which will be executed when the condition for this policy is satisfied.
Application	Name of the application which has the component for which the policy is applied.
Service Instance	Component(Service instance) name on which the policy is applied

Creating a Low Memory Policy

To add new policies, click the Add

button. A drop-down menu of policy types is displayed and upon choosing the low memory policy, a window is displayed where a new policy can be added. To create the server low memory policy, select the Server radio button and to create the component low memory policy, select the Component radio button.

Figure 4: Setting Low Memory Policy properties

Property Name	Description
Policy ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Select	Whether the Server or the Component Low policy need to be added.
Application	The list of event processes. Properties Application, Application Version and Service Instance is displayed when 'Component' is selected in the Select property above.
Application Version	Version number of the selected Event Process.
Service Instance	The service instance name on which the policy is applied if the policy is applied at SERVICE_LEVEL or PORT_LEVEL.
Server	List of servers running. Select from the list. This property is displayed when 'Server' is selected in the Select property above.
Threshold Value	The maximum value of memory usage to be used.
Time Interval	Time interval (in seconds) between two successive same direction alerts.
Alert Names	Alerts configured in the Alert Manager tab (refer to the Managing SMTP and JMS Alerts section) in the Dashboard.
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert (Applicable only for SMTP alerts). A subject can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the subject is left blank, the message gets delivered with the default message "Server Running low on memory".
Message Body	The Message Content to be delivered via mail. The message body can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the Message Body is left blank, the message gets delivered reflecting parameters and corresponding values as configured above.

Variables

Low Memory Policy Type has a set of variables which can be used in the Subject and MessageBody. Variables help build a context sensitive message/alert in contrast to a constant one. Variables are specific to types of policies. If there is a variable defined which cannot be resolved by a particular kind of policy, it will remain unresolved in the final message. The table below lists the variables specific to server Low memory Policy.

Variable Name	Description
{policy_id}	The Policy ID for which this Alert is getting executed. Every time this alert is executed, this variable will get resolved.
{max_memory}	Maximum memory available.
{threshold}	Decimal value
{server_name}	The name of the server.
{time_interval}	The minimum time interval between two successive same direction alerts.
{max_allowed_memory}	The Maximum memory allowed for the server.(max_memory*threshold)
{consumed_memory}	The memory used by the server.
{event_time}	The date and time at which the threshold has been reached.
{alert_id}	This Alert ID can optionally be inserted into the message body and subject with this variable.

The table below lists the variables specific to Component Low memory Policy.

Variable Name	Description
{policy_id}	The Policy ID for which this Alert is getting executed. Every time this alert is executed, this variable will get resolved.
{max_memory}	Maximum memory available.
{threshold}	Decimal value
{application_guid}	The name of the Application which has the component for which the policy is applied.
{service_instance_name}	The name of the component for which the policy is applied.
{time_interval}	The minimum time interval between two successive same direction alerts.
{max_allowed_memory}	The Maximum memory allowed for the server (max_memory*threshold).
{consumed_memory}	The memory used by the server.
{event_time}	The date and time at which the threshold has been reached.

Low Disk Policy

Low Disk Policies monitor the space usage of the system in which a specified server is running and raise alerts when the system space reaches the specified threshold. The alerts are raised when the space usage crosses the threshold in any direction.

All the property values described below appears after creating the Low Disk policy.

Figure 5: Policy Manager screen with Low Disk Policy added

Property Name	Description
Policy Type	Name of the policy.
Status	The working status of the policy, whether it is in Active or Inactive state.
Server Name	The server on which the policy is applied.
Time Interval	Time interval(in seconds) between two successive same direction alerts.
Rule ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Alerts	The list of alert IDs which will be executed when the condition for this policy is satisfied.
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert.(Applicable only for SMTP alerts).
Threshold	The alert is raised if the memory usage reaches this threshold value.
Message Body	The Message Content delivered via mail.

Creating a Low Disk Policy

To add new policies, click the Add

button. A drop-down menu of policy types is displayed and upon choosing the LowDisk policy, a window is displayed where a new policy can be added.

Figure 6: Setting Low Level Disk policy properties

Property Name	Description
Policy ID	User-defined name of the policy.
Server	List of servers running. Select from the list.
Threshold Value	The maximum value of memory usage to be used.
Time Interval	Time interval (in seconds) between two successive same direction alerts.
Alert Names	Alerts configured in the Alert Manager tab (refer to the Managing SMTP and JMS Alerts section) in the Dashboard.
Subject	Short description of the content/subject of the message which is sent along with the alert (Applicable only for SMTP alerts). A subject can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the subject is left blank, the message gets delivered with the default message "Server Running low on disk space".
Message Body	The Message Content to be delivered via mail. The message body can be made sensible by using variables as explained in the next section. However, if the Message Body is left blank, the message gets delivered reflecting parameters and corresponding values as configured above.

Variables

Low Disk policy type has a set of variables which can be used in the Subject and MessageBody. Variables help build a context sensitive message/alert in contrast to a constant one. Variables are specific to types of policies. If there is a variable defined which cannot be resolved by a particular kind of policy, it will remain unresolved in the final message. The table below lists the variables specific to server Low Disk policy.

Variable Name	Description
{policy_id}	The Policy ID for which this Alert is getting executed. Every time this alert is executed, this variable will get resolved.
{max_space}	Maximum space available.
{threshold}	Decimal value
{time_interval}	The minimum time interval between two successive same direction alerts.
{max_allowed_space}	The Maximum space allowed for the server.
{consumed_space}	The space used by the server.
{server_name}	The name of the server.
{event_time}	The date and time at which the threshold has been reached.
{alert_id}	This Alert ID can optionally be inserted into the message body and subject with this variable.

Managing added Policies

Enabling a policy

Once policies are added, the Policy Manager panel lists the policies together with the type and the running status of each policy at a given pont of time (see Figure 1). A policy can be in one of three states as below:

ACTIVE: When a policy is successfully applied, it is in ACTIVE state.
INACTIVE: When the user has suspended the policy execution, the policy becomes INACTIVE.

A policy could be applied to the system by clicking the Apply Policy

button on the top panel. The policy turns to the Active state.
The Active policy can be suspended by clicking the Suspend Policy

button. Suspending the policy execution will result in no alerts being generated and the monitoring for backlog events for this policy from different peer servers will be switched off.

The policy details will be fetched and refreshed with every activated action. Multiple policies can be selected and activated/suspended simultaneously.

The policy details displayed in the Dashboard is a paged data grid where the pages can be navigated by using the next

and previous tool buttons. The Refresh button reloads the policies from the Policy Repository. Clicking on the policyID displays the details of the policy.

Editing a Policy

Policies can be edited by clicking on the edit

icon. The Policy attributes can be edited except for the policyID and the type of the policy. A Policy cannot be edited while it is running (a policy in Active state). It has to be suspended from execution before it can be removed from the system. Once the policy is edited, it will be saved into the repository and will be automatically picked up from the next execution of the alert. PolicyID cannot be modified. We cannot edit the Policy which is in the ACTIVE state. We have to suspend the policy if it is active before editing the policy.

Removing a Policy

Policies can be removed by clicking the remove

icon.
The same ID of a policy can be used for a different type of policy only after the previous one is deleted.