Ad Hoc Alert Sources
Ad hoc alerts are raised by the System_Alert_Send process definition or by custom script using RedwoodScript. The process definition or code can be placed into chain definitions in order to implement customized alerting.
Tabs & Fields
The following table illustrates the fields of each tab of Ad Hoc Alert Sources editor dialogs.
| Tab | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Partition | The Partition where you wish to store the ad hoc alert source |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Name | The name of the ad hoc alert source can contain any combination of US ASCII letters, digits, and underscores; limited to 80 characters. |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Application | The Application of the ad hoc alert source |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Description | The description of the ad hoc alert source can contain any combination of printable UTF-8 characters, limited to 255 characters. |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Raise alerts only at certain times | Time Window and Time Zone allow you specify that alerts should only be fired when the time window is open or closed, depending on the Time Window Status. |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Raise a custom operator message | Specify a custom Operator Message Expression and Operator Message Reply Expression. The reply expression can use regular expressions to force the user to select a reply. |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Sent to | Specify an Address and a Default Alert Escalation; the alert will be sent to the specified address and escalated, if necessary, using the specified escalation. You may use substitution parameters in the address. If you do not provide a Default Alert Escalation you must specify a dynamic one - see below. |
| Ad Hoc Alert Source | Use a dynamic escalation path | Specify an alert escalation using substitution parameters, if no escalation can be found, the default specified above will be used. |
| Documentation | Documentation | A comment about the object, can be used for documentation purposes. |
| Alert Source Email | Body | The body of the email to send, see Customizing email messages for information on how you can customize it. |
| Alert Source Actions | Type | The type of action, limited to Post Alert on alert sources, they fire after an alert is sent. You must reply to the operator message and delete it if you want to suppress it. |
| Alert Source Actions | Enabled | This checkbox allows you to enable or disable the action; when unchecked, the action will never fire. |
| Alert Source Actions | Library | You can specify a library here containing methods you would like to use. It is recommended to save your code in libraries so you can use it elsewhere. |
| Alert Source Actions | Action Subject | The user under which the code in the action is performed. You must set an action subject if you want to use jcsSession |
| Alert Source Actions | Source | The source of your code. |
| Alert Source Actions | Stub Source | This code shows you where the action will be performed. |
| Security | * | This is where you can specify who can access/change/remove the ad hoc alert source. |
Operator Message and Reply Expressions
The operator message to use is specified as an expression that allows substitution parameters. The message can be specified only at the alert source level. If no message is specified, the default message is Acknowledge.
The reply expression works the same way as the reply expression for the System_OperatorMessage process definition, it can be written as a regular expression. This can be specified at the alert source level. If no reply expression is specified, the default reply expression is Acknowledge.
Substitution Parameters
The substitution parameters that can be used are listed in Scripting Contexts and Implicit Objects.
Substitution parameters can be used in the Email Address, Operator Message Expression, and the Alert Source Email Body fields.
Escalation
Escalations send operator messages and emails (via Email Alert Gateways). When a specific condition does not have an escalation, no operator message is sent and the condition is ignored.
When nobody has resolved the alert in a timely fashion, you can escalate the alert to another operator, this is done with escalations.
Ad hoc alert sources use two rules to determine the alert escalation to use:
- An expression to determine a dynamic escalation name. This expression supports ${variable} substitutions and the REL syntax for expressions.
- A default alert escalation
The expression is always evaluated first. If the escalation returned by the expression exists, then it is used. If it does not exist, then the default is used. This allows the escalation used to be dynamic.
Security
| Privilege | Description |
|---|---|
| AdHocAlertSource.Create | Create ad hoc alert sources |
| AdHocAlertSource.Delete | Delete ad hoc alert sources |
| AdHocAlertSource.Edit | Edit ad hoc alert sources |
| AdHocAlertSource.View | Access ad hoc alert sources |
You can grant privileges on two levels, Access and Admin; a privilege granted on Admin level allows the grantee to grant the privilege to other users. These privileges can be granted system-wide or per partition.
The Security tab allows you to specify which users can access, edit, and delete the ad hoc alert source.
See Also
AdHocAlertSource AlertSource AlertSourceAction