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Setting Alert Actions in Linux Operating Systems
NOTE: Due to the limitations of the VMware® ESXi operating system, the Setting Alert Actions feature is not available with this release of OpenManage Server Administrator.
When you set Alert Actions for an event on systems running a supported Linux operating system, you can specify the action to "display an alert on the server." To perform this action, Server Administrator writes a message to the console. If the Server Administrator system is running an X Window System, you do not see the message by default. To see the alert message on a Red Hat® Enterprise Linux system when the X Window System is running, you must start xconsole or xterm -C before the event occurs. To see the alert message on a SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server system when the X Window System is running, you must start xterm -C before the event occurs.
When you set Alert Actions for an event, you can specify the action to 'broadcast a message'. To perform this action, Server Administrator executes the wall command, which sends the message to everybody logged in with their message permission set to yes. If the system running Server Administrator is running the X Window System, you do not see the message by default. To see the broadcast message when the X Window System is running, you must start a terminal such as xterm or gnome-terminal before the event occurs.
When you set Alert Actions for an event, you can specify the action to 'execute an application'. Limitations are on the applications that Server Administrator can execute. Follow these guidelines to ensure proper execution:
  • Do not specify X Window System-based applications because Server Administrator cannot execute such applications properly.
  • Do not specify applications that require input from the user because Server Administrator cannot execute such applications properly.
  • Redirect the stdout and stderr commands to a file when specifying the application so that you can see any output or error messages.
  • If you want to execute multiple applications (or commands) for an alert, create a script to do that and put the full path to the script in the application to execute box.
    Example 1: ps -ef >/tmp/psout.txt 2>&1
  • The command in Example 1 executes the application ps command, redirects the stdout command to the file /tmp/psout.txt, and redirects the stderr command to the same file as the stdout command.
    Example 2: mail -s "Server Alert" admin </tmp/alertmsg.txt>/tmp/mailout.txt 2>&1
    The command in Example 2 executes the mail application to send the message contained in the file /tmp/alertmsg.txt to the Linux user, the Admin, with the subject "Server Alert." The file /tmp/alertmsg.txt must be created by the user before the event occurs. In addition, the stdout and stderr commands are redirected to the file /tmp/mailout.txt if an error occurs.
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Setting Alert Actions in Microsoft® Windows® 2000, Windows Server™ 2003, and Windows Server 2008
When specifying alert actions, Visual Basic scripts are not automatically interpreted by the Execute Application feature, although you can run a .cmd, .com, .bat, or .exe file by only specifying the file as the alert action.
To resolve this issue, first call the command processor cmd.exe to start your script. For example, the alert action value to execute an application can be set as follows:
c:\winnt\system32\cmd.exe /c d:\example\example1.vbs
where d:\example\example1.vbs is the full path to the script file.
Do not set a path to an interactive application (an application that has a Graphical User Interface or which requires user input) in the Absolute path to the application field. The interactive application may not work as expected on some operating systems.
NOTE: The full path to both the cmd.exe file and your script file should be specified.
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Setting Alert Action Execute Application in Windows Server 2008
For security reasons, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is configured to not allow interactive services. When a service is installed as an interactive service on Microsoft Windows Server 2008, the operating system logs an error message to the Windows System log about the service being marked as an interactive service.
When you use Server Administrator to configure Alert Actions for an event, you can specify the action to "execute an application". In order for interactive applications to execute properly for an Alert Action, the Dell Systems Management Server Administrator (DSM SA) Data Manager service must be configured as an interactive service. Examples of interactive applications are applications with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or that prompt the user for input in some way such as the "pause" command in a batch file.
When Server Administrator is installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2008, the DSM SA Data Manager service is installed as a non-interactive service which means that it is configured to not be allowed to interact with the desktop by default. This means that interactive applications will not execute properly when executed for an Alert Action. If an interactive application is executed for an Alert Action in this situation, the application is suspended and waits for an input. The application interface/prompt is not visible to you and remains invisible even after the Interactive Services Detection service is started. The Processes tab in the Task Manager displays an application process entry for each execution of the interactive application.
If you need to execute an interactive application for an Alert Action on Microsoft Windows Server 2008, you must configure the DSM SA Data Manager service to be allowed to interact with the desktop. To allow interaction with the desktop:
  1. Right-click on the DSM SA Data Manager service in the Services control panel and select Properties.
  2. In the Log On tab, enable "Allow service to interact with desktop" and click OK.
  3. Restart the DSM SA Data Manager service for the change to take effect.
When the DSM SA Data Manager service is restarted with this change, the Service Control Manager logs the following message to the System log: "The DSM SA Data Manager service is marked as an interactive service. However, the system is configured to not allow interactive services. This service may not function properly." This change allows the DSM SA Data Manager service to execute interactive applications properly for an Alert Action. Also ensure that the Interactive Services Detection service is running in order to see the interface/prompt displayed by the interactive application. Once these changes are made, the "Interactive services dialog detection" dialog box will be displayed by the operating system to provide access to the interactive application interface/prompt.