Efficient management and optimum productivity of databases is one of the cornerstones of VMware Data Services Manager. Availability of prompt and real-time notifications about the databases can help Database Administrators take on-time action to resolve or prevent critical issues.
Alert notifications can be send to an application or endpoint that you configure, for example, Email alert, Slack, ServiceNow, and so on.
Creating Alert Sets
As a Provider Administrator or Organization Administrator, you can create alert sets that can be applied to databases.
As a Provider Administrator, you can create different alert sets for all the organizations, but the alert sets created for a specific organization, can be applied to the databases of that particular organization only. The alert sets created by an Organization Administrator can be applied to the databases of the Organization Administrator's organization. Organization Users cannot create alert sets and they can apply only the alert sets created for their organization to the databases that they create.
Only a Provider Administrator can access all the alert sets across organizations listed in the Alert Set tab of the Alert Rules pane. An Organization Administrator and an Organization User can only access the alert sets created for their organization. You can create, edit, and delete alert sets as required from the Alert Set tab.
The parameters of such alert sets that you can configure are:
- CPU Health
- Data Disk Health
- System Disk Health
- Max Connections
You can configure the threshold values of these parameters for warning alert and critical alert. If any of these parameters cross the threshold values for a period of 10 minutes or more (as configured), a warning alert or critical alert is sent to the Webhooks configured for the database.
You can fetch the Default Alert Set through the following API command and then use the body of the API to create other alert sets:
GET https://{provider-ip}/provider/alert-rule-set
Other parameters of alerts are system defined.
As a Provider Administrator or Organization Administrator, perform the following steps to create an alert set that can be applied to databases:
Select Alert Rules from the left navigation pane.
This action displays the Details tab in the Alert Rules view.
Click the Alert Set tab in the Alert Rules view.
This action displays the Alert Set table that lists the already created alert sets, if any, along with the Default Alert Set that exists by default.
Click CREATE ALERT SET on the top right side of the Alert Set table.
This action displays the Create Alert Set form where you can set the following properties:
Property Description Organization If you are creating the alert set as a Provider Administrator, select the organization from the drop-down list. If you are creating the alert set as a Organization Administrator, you need not select a value for this property because you can create alert sets for your organization only. Therefore, this property is visible only to a Provider Administrator. Alert Set Name Enter a unique name for the alert set that does not match with any other alert set in your organization. Database Status Threshold Select the threshold values (in percentage) and time limit (in minutes) for triggering the warning alerts and critical alerts for the parameters, CPU Health, Data Disk Health, System Disk Health, and Max Connections. Note: You must provide unique threshold values of the parameters in mutiples of 10, ranging from 10 to 90. You must provide the time limit for triggering the warning alerts and critical alerts in mutiples of 10, ranging from 10 to 60. You must provide unique names of alert sets in an organization. Also, you must configure threshold values of warning alerts lesser than that of critical alerts.Click CREATE.
Applying Alert Sets to Databases
As a Provider Administrator or Organization Administrator, you can select the alert set that you want to apply to a database if the namespace used by the database is associated with your organization. You can select the alert set for a database either during database creation or by editing the alert settings of a database.
Perform the following steps to select or change alert set applied to a database:
Select Databases from the left navigation pane.
This action displays the Details tab in the Databases view.
Click the Alert Settings tab in the Databases view.
This action displays the Alert Set and Email/ Webhook Configuration sections in the Alert Settings tab.
Click EDIT in the Alert Set section.
This action displays the Change Alert Set dialog box.
In the Change Alert Set dialog box, select the alert set from the Choose Alert Set drop-down list, and then click CONFIRM. This drop-down lists only the alert set associated with the organization and the Default Alert Set.
Editing Alert Sets
As a Provider Administrator, you can edit all the alert sets irrespective of who has created it. As an Organization Administrator, you can edit an alert set that is part of your organization, to change the threshold values of the alert parameters, CPU Health, Data Disk Health, System Disk Health, and Max Connections.
Perform the following steps to edit an alert set:
Select Alert Rules from the left navigation pane.
This action displays the Details tab in the Alert Rules view.
Click the Alert Set tab in the Alert Rules view.
This action displays the Alert Set table that lists the already created alert sets, if any, along with the Default Alert Set that exists by default.
Click the three vertical dots in the Action column of the alert set that you want to edit, and then select Edit from the pop-up menu.
This action displays the form of the alert set for editing. Alternatively, you can also open the form by clicking on any row of the alert set that you want to edit.
In the form of the alert set, edit the threshold values and time limit for triggering the warning alerts and critical alerts for the parameters, CPU Health, Data Disk Health, System Disk Health, and Max Connections.
Click UPDATE.
Deleting Alert Sets
As a Provider Administrator or Organization Administrator, you can delete an alert set that you have created if that alert set is not applied to a database. If you want to delete an alert set that is applied to databases, you can change the alert set applied to those databases, and then delete the alert set.
Perform the following steps to delete an alert set:
Select Alert Rules from the left navigation pane.
This action displays the Details tab in the Alert Rules view.
Click the Alert Set tab in the Alert Rules view.
This action displays the Alert Set table that lists the already created alert sets, if any, along with the Default Alert Set that exists by default.
Click the three vertical dots in the Action column of the alert set that you want to delete, and then select Delete from the pop-up menu.
In the Delete Alert Set dialog box, click CONFIRM to delete the alert set.
Cases of Cloned, Replica, Restored, and PITR Databases
Cloned and Replica databases retain the same configuration of alert notifications as the database which is cloned or replicated. However, you can edit the configurations, as required, after the cloning or replication operation is completed.
Provided that the database being restored is not deleted, restored and PITR databases have the same configuration of alert notifications as the database which is restored. If the database being restored is deleted, Default Alert Set is configured for the restored or PITR database.
While creating databases, a Provider Administrator, an a Organization Administrator, or an Organization User has access to the alert sets that are associated with their respective organization. If the Provider Administrator clones a database, restores a database, or performs PITR on a database that is part of a different organization, then the new database is configured with Default Alert Set. You may later choose to change the alert set applied to the new database post the creation of the new database. However, if a Provider Administrator, an Organization Administrator, or an Organization User performs clone, restore, or PITR operation on a database from the same organization, then the database is configured with the alert set of the source database.
Centralized View and Management of Alert Notifications
If you click the Alert Rules in the left navigation pane, you can see a table in the Details tab of the Alert Rules view.
A Provider Administrator can see, activate, or deactivate alerts for the databases created by the Provider Administrator or for the databases which uses namespace that is associated with the Provider Organization. An Organization Administrator can see and activate or deactivate alerts for the databases that are created in the organization. A Organization User can see and activate or deactivate alerts for the databases that are created by it.
The table provides the list of databases that have alert notifications applied to them along with the following information:
| Notification Information | Description |
|---|---|
| VM Name | Lists the name of the database for which the notification is configured. |
| Alert Definition | Lists if the notification sent is for DB Operation Failure or DB Status Change. |
| Endpoint | Lists the endpoint of the notifications sent, such as, ServiceNow, Slack, Email, and Custom (customised endpoint). |
| Status | Lists if the notification is Enabled or Disabled. |
| Last Modified | Lists the date and time when the notification was last modified. |
| Last Modified By | Lists the email ID of the user who has last modified the notifications for the database. |
You can filter alert sets on the basis of VM Name, Alert Defunition, Endpoint, Status, and User fields. To know more about how to use filters, see the Procedure section in the topic, Filtering Databases.
You can select an alert notification in the table and click ENABLE or DISABLE on the top of the table to change the configuration of notifications for the database. Provided that multiple databases have the same Status of notification configured, you can select all such notifications in the same page of the table and click ENABLE or DISABLE on the top of the table to change the configuration of notifications for all the selected databases at once.
