Metrics and Alerts

[Former Member]

I'm having trouble getting metrics and alerts working in my 11.5 SP3 installation.

My server is running SQL Server 2005 and I have an ActivePortal database created. I've run the table creation script. My QualityPortal database is working OK so I don't think it's a SQL Server 2005 issue.

I've created a category, a metric, a monitor and subscribed to the monitor. I configured the monitor to be sure to generate an alert. I put the metric in the 5 min scan group. The scheduled task runs on the server without error. The ActivePortal tables are populated with the appropriate configuration information.

I get no indication of an error but my AlertLog is empty.

Any ideas?

[Former Member]

I assume that you made both the metric and the monitor Active?

Are you getting values for the Metric?

Have you logged out and back in after you subscribed to the monitor?

Thanks,

Joe Montagna

[Former Member]

Hi Joe,

Both metric and monitor are active. As far as values I'm not sure. When I 'Load Sample Data' in the metric editor, I get a value back which is correct but nothing is being posted in the 'MetricCurrent' or 'MetricHistory' tables. (The other tables have rows corresponding to the metric and monitor configuration but I'm assuming the 'MetricCurrent' and 'MetricHistory' tables store the results.)

I've logged out and back in (which I did after I rebooted the server).

Thanks for the help.

David

[Former Member]

Load Sample data is fine but is your expression set correctly (this is the next step after you load sample data)? I mean the Metric would respond to a column from the query you selected or an expression (involving the columns from the query).

I hope you have done this right.

[Former Member]

Hello Udi!

Yes - Udi is correct - if you are just monitoring the metric value - that is what should appear as the expression.

Joe

[Former Member]

Udayan,

You raise a good point about the expression as I'm not sure if my syntax is correct. My expression is:

CA:IC1550.PV243600/96.5/271/907184.7464*0.95

where CA:IC1550.PV is a point of a PI data historian. I can clean up the math in the expression but I thought I'd do that later.

[Former Member]

Originally I just had the data point in the expression sans the conversion factors. (Not sure why I added the conversion factors. Itf the point by itself didn't work, adding the conversion factiors wouldn't improve the situation!)

[Former Member]

As a test - can you create a query using simulator to return L1Speed. Setup a metric and monitor on that and see if it works.

Joe

[Former Member]

Good idea - I'll try it.

[Former Member]

Hey Joe,

How are you?

David,

I think I know what you may be missing.

Did you schedule this metric.?

Based on the scan group it needs to run as a Windows Scheduled task.

Refer to Running Metrics & Monitors under Metric/Alerts in help.

Another alternative to above is schedule a BL transaction but right now I do not have the details as to what goes in that transaction.

[Former Member]

Udayan,

The metric is in the 5min scan group and I have the 5min scheduled task running. I can RDP to the server console and see a command window open for maybe ten seconds then close. I also have the AlertMail scheduled task running as well.

David

[Former Member]

Joe, I created a query template to retrieve L1Speed. I created a metric, put L1Speed in for the expression and assigned it to the 5min scan group. I created a Monitor assigned to the L1Speed metric that triggers when the value is >= zero. I subscribed to the monitor. Both metric and monitor are marked as 'Active'.

The configuration information for the new metric and monitor are in the appropriate ActivePortal tables and - after the scheduled task ran for the first time - the MetricCurrent table has a record in it (MetricID=5, EventTime=2007-06-26 13:42:21.610, MetricValue=0, Valid=N). Subsequent running of the scheduled task did not add additional rows to the MetricCurrent table. My AlertLog is still blank.

Good news and bad news but I think we're making progress.

[Former Member]

Open "Scheduled Tasks" and tell me what the Status and Last Result were for the 5Min task.

The Metric Current table should have only 1 row per metric. If you are historizing the history table will have multiple rows.

Joe

[Former Member]

When setting up the scheduled task - make sure that you enter the correct password to allow it to run.

You can eneter the password for the task by right-clicking the task from the scheduled tasks window and choosing properties. On the Task tab you should see a "set password" button. click it and enter your password. You will only need to do this one time.

Let me know if that works.

Joe

[Former Member]

Joe,

The Scheduled Task status field is blank, the last result field is 0x0, the last run time is 2:40 pm, the next run time is 2:45pm.

So the MetricCurrent table jives with what you just said about one row per metric but the MetricHistory table is blank (no rows) and I'm historizing both metrics.

David

[Former Member]

Try checking the general log for any messages.

There is a System Alert Log (I am not sure if this is different from the Alert manager/Alert Log ) that lists out any errors corresponding to the Metrics that you configure.

Try checking this log and also let me know if System Alert Log & the Alert log are the same thing.

[Former Member]

I re-rentered the password for the scheduled task and re-ran the task. The AlertLog is still blank and the MetricHistory table is record-less.

I should mention that the account I'm using for the scheduled task is an ActiveDirectory account, not a local server account. The account is in the server's local administrator's group.

David

[Former Member]

Udayan,

There is nothing in the General Log and nothing in the System Alert Log. I'm assuming the System Alert log reports on predefined alerts versus the Alert Log that just reports on user-defined alerts.

David

[Former Member]

Hi David,

Any luck here yet?

[Former Member]

Hi Udayan,

No. I've tried several other things but to no avail. Everything seems to be set up OK for the metric and monitor. Both are Active, both are assigned to the Everyone role. The scheduled tasks run without visible error on the server but nothing shows up in the Alert Log and nothing gets posted in the ActivePortal database.

I'm heading out for a week off. Maybe my mind will be clearer when I return on July 9th. I appreciate your help with this?

Regards, David