You add a REST plug-in so that you can send vRealize Operations Manager alerts to another REST-enabled application where you built a REST Web service to accept these messages.

The REST Plug-In supports enabling an integration, it does not provide an integration. Depending on your target application, you might need an intermediary REST service or some other mechanism that will correlate the alert and object identifiers included in the REST alert output with the identifiers in your target application.

Determine which content type you are delivering to your target application. If you select application/json, the body of the POST or PUT calls that are sent have the following format. Sample data is included. 
{
   "startDate":1369757346267,
   "criticality":"ALERT_CRITICALITY_LEVEL_WARNING",
   "Risk":4.0,
   "resourceId":"sample-object-uuid",
   "alertId":"sample-alert-uuid",
   "status":"ACTIVE",
   "subType":"ALERT_SUBTYPE_AVAILABILITY_PROBLEM",
   "cancelDate":1369757346267,
   "resourceKind":"sample-object-type",
   "alertName":"Invalid IP Address for connected Leaf Switch",
   "attributeKeyID":5325,
   "Efficiency":1.0,
   "adapterKind":"sample-adapter-type",
   "Health":1.0,
   "type":"ALERT_TYPE_APPLICATION_PROBLEM",
   "resourceName":"sample-object-name",
   "updateDate":1369757346267,
   "info":"sample-info"
}
If you select application/xml, the body of the POST or PUT calls that are sent have the following format: 
<alert>
  <startDate>1369757346267</startDate>
  <criticality>ALERT_CRITICALITY_LEVEL_WARNING</criticality>
  <Risk>4.0</Risk>
  <resourceId>sample-object-uuid</resourceId>
  <alertId>sample-alert-uuid</alertId>
  <status>ACTIVE</status>
  <subType>ALERT_SUBTYPE_AVAILABILITY_PROBLEM</subType>
  <cancelDate>1369757346267</cancelDate>
  <resourceKind>sample-object-type</resourceKind>
  <alertName>Invalid IP Address for connected Leaf Switch</alertName>
  <attributeKeyId>5325</attributeKeyId>
  <Efficiency>1.0</Efficiency>
  <adapterKind>sample-adapter-type</adapterKind>
  <Health>1.0</Health>
  <type>ALERT_TYPE_APPLICATION_PROBLEM</type>
  <resourceName>sample-object-name</resourceName>
  <updateDate>1369757346267</updateDate>
  <info>sample-info</info>
</alert>
Note: If the alert is triggered by a non-metric violation, the attributeKeyID is omitted from the REST output and is not sent.

If the request is processed as POST, for either JSON or XML, the Web service returns an HTTP status code of 201, which indicates the alert was successfully created at the target. If the request is processed as PUT, the HTTP status code of 202, which indicates the alert was successfully accepted at the target.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you know how and where the alerts sent using the REST plug-in are consumed and processed in your environment, and that you have the appropriate connection information available.

Procedure

  1. In the menu, click Administration and then in the left pane, click Management.
  2. Click Outbound Settings and click Add.
  3. From the Plug-In Type drop-down menu, select Rest Notification plug-in.
    The dialog box expands to include your REST settings.
  4. Enter an Instance Name.
    This is the name that identifies this instance that you select when you later configure notification rules.
  5. Configure the Rest options appropriate for your environment.
    Option Description
    URL

    URL to which you are sending the alerts. The URL must support HTTPS. When an alert is sent to the REST Web server, the plug-in appends /{alertID} to the POST or PUT call.

    User Name

    User account on the target REST system.

    Password

    User account password.

    Content Type

    Specify the format for the alert output.

    • application/json. Alert data is transmitted using JavaScript Object Notation as human-readable text.
    • application/xml. Alert data is transmitted using XML that is human-readable and machine-readable content.
    Certificate thumbprint

    Thumbprint for the public certificate for your HTTPS service. Either the SHA1 or SHA256 algorithm can be used.

    Connection count

    Limits the number of simultaneous alerts that are sent to the target REST server. Use this number to ensure that your REST server is not overwhelmed with requests.

  6. Click Save.
  7. To start the outbound alert service for this plug-in, select the instance in the list and click Enable on the toolbar.

Results

This instance of the REST plug-in for outbound alerts is configured and running.

What to do next

Create notification rules that use the REST plug-in to send alerts to a REST-enabled application or service in your environment. See User Scenario: Create a vRealize Operations Manager REST Alert Notification.