Notification Configuration Information objects (NCIs) are the configuration objects that instruct VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF to handle incoming unpublished notifications. After VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF completes the ECI processing phase, unpublished notifications are sent to the NCI portion of VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF to process interactions between notifications. NCI processing steps shows the NCI processing steps.

Figure 1. NCI processing steps

As shown in NCI processing steps, when VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF receives an incoming unpublished notification, it looks for a matching NCI object. If a matching NCI object is found for the incoming notification, VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks several configuration parameters that are set in the NCI. If no matching NCI object is found for the incoming unpublished notification, the notification is published without further consideration.

When a matching NCI object is found for an incoming unpublished notification, the NCI processing portion of VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks for the following configuration parameters:

  1. Active property of the NCI object (that is, whether the Active checkbox is selected in the NCI setup VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF Editor as shown in GUID-925378A7-D87F-4FBE-8764-2B78DB6DC24D.html#GUID-925378A7-D87F-4FBE-8764-2B78DB6DC24D___NOTIF_USER_NCI_69301. If the NCI object is Active, VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF continues to process that notification, checking the NCI configuration parameters listed below. If the NCI object is not Active, VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF does not publish the notification.

  2. Clearing behavior on page 50 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see if the incoming notification clears other notifications, or inversely, whether this notification is cleared by other notifications.

  3. Publish delay on page 53 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see if there is a specified delay associated with the notification before further NCI processing continues.

  4. Causality on page 53 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see if this notification causes another notification, or inversely, if this notification is caused by another notification.

  5. Aggregation on page 59 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see if this notification aggregates from other notifications, or inversely, if this notification aggregates to another notification.

  6. NCI hook script on page 60 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see whether there is an ASL hook script that the NCI should call just before the notification is published (after all other NCI processing has been completed).

  7. Calculated Values on page 61 ” VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF checks to see if there are any calculated values associated with the notification.

    These NCI configuration values are used to process the notification. The NCI process of VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF is an independent thread that receives information from other servers for the creation, deletion, and change of notifications through the ICS_NOTIFICATION hook script. It is not directly associated with ECI processing as shown in GUID-925378A7-D87F-4FBE-8764-2B78DB6DC24D.html#GUID-925378A7-D87F-4FBE-8764-2B78DB6DC24D___NOTIF_USER_INTRO_79106.

    There are two reasons NCI objects exist within VMware Smart Assurance NOTIF. They are either used to match incoming notifications, or they are used to create new notifications. In general, new notifications are those created because of aggregation.