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Setting up Serial Alarms in Three Easy Steps

 

Overview

Setting up Asentria Data-Link to automatically notify you of events based on buffered serial data is as easy as 1, 2, 3. One - define a part (or parts) of the incoming record as an “event field”. Two - define an equation with the “event field” that constitutes an event. Three - setup an action to take place on the occurrence of an event.


Before we get into the details, let’s look at what a serial data record might look like.


000001 N 018 00 DN1042 T001034 02/25 09:21 00:00:50 A 843481677


This is just a line of ASCII text. It contains information that is sent from your switch through the Data-Link, and eventually to your management computer. Data-Link can read each record that comes in, and create an event based on set conditions. This way you can be notified right away in the event of say, a 911 call. We will now set up Data-Link to detect a 911 call, and immediately send a SNMP trap to your management computer.


Step one

First, you need to set up an “event field”. When you do this you are assigning a portion of the record to a variable name. We will make a variable named “number” and assign it to the phone number portion of the field.


Log into Data-Link , and type SETUP to enter the setup menu. Then navigate to Alarm/Filter Definitions > Data Alarm/Filter Settings > Setup Alarm/Filter Fields. From here select the first Definition field. In “Start Position”, enter the starting position of the dial-out number in your serial data. The first number or column of data begins at 1 and counts up. In “Field Length”, enter the length of the phone numbers, for example 10 is the length of a domestic long distance call. We’ll set this to 3 because we are trying to detect a 911 call and that is three characters long. Then you have to name this field, in the “Field Name” enter “number”.


Data-Link DL150 – Data Event Field Definition Data Field: A

A) Start Position [55]
B) Field Length [3]
C) Field Name [number]

Step two

Navigate up one menu to the “Data Alarm/Filter Settings” menu and select the first “Alarm/Filter”. First, turn on this filter by making sure “enable” is set to “ON”. Then, if you want to send an alarm, as opposed to setting up a filter, make sure “mode” is equal to “ALARM”. Give this alarm a name by entering “911 Call” the “name”.


Now you get to set up your equation. Select equation and enter ‘number=”911”’, and press enter. Notice this equation is made up of the variable you defined in step one, an operator and a value. This is the simplest of equations; they can be made much more intricate if needed. Here you are asking if the portion of the record defined in the number variable field is equal to “911”. You can use any of the operators in the table below. Leave the rest of the menu items at their default settings.


Data-Link DL50 - Settings For Data Alarm/Filter 1

A) Alarm/Filter Enable [ON]
B) Alarm/Filter Mode [ALARM]
C) Alarm/Filter Name [911 Call]
D) Alarm/Filter Equation [number=”911”]
E) Threshold [1]
F) Auto-Clear when Threshold Reached [ON]
G) Alarm Counter Clear Interval [12 HOURS]
H) Alarm Counter Reset Time [00:00]
I) Actions []
J) Class [info]
K) Clear This Alarm Counter Now

 

Operator

Function

>  

Greater Than

<  

Less Than

>=

Greater Than or Equal to

<=

Less Than or Equal to

! or <>

Not Equal to

=

Equal to

*

Single character wildcard (matches any character or space)

()

Parenthesis used to combine operations

OR

Logical OR

AND

Logical AND

@

Positional wildcard (used in place of a field name to match anywhere within an incoming record)


Step three – the action

This step has two parts, first telling your data buffer what action you want to happen when this event is triggered, and second defining that action. In the same “Alarm/Filter” menu you were just setting up, set the action to what you want to happen when a 911 call is received. For example, if you want to send a message to a pager, enter “P” for pager, or if you want a modem callout enter “M” for modem. We’ll set it to “T” for trap; we’re going to send an SNMP trap. Don’t hit enter yet, after the “T” you enter the number for the trap you want to send. You can set up multiple trap, pager and modem callout settings. We’ll set ours to “T1”. You can set Data-Link to send traps to two different SNMP trap management computers. In the action menu item you would define these as “T1” or “T2”. Now we have to define what “T1” is.


I) Actions [T1]

Go back to the main SETUP menu and open the “Network Settings” menu. Pager and modem callout actions are defined in the “Action Definitions” menu, but you tell you buffer where to send an SNMP trap here. Enter the IP address of your SNMP manager in the “SNMP Manager 1” field.


D) SNMP Manager 1 [198.168.101.34]

That’s it, you’re done. Any time a 911 call comes through, Data-Link will notice it and send an SNMP trap to your management computer. Setting Data-Link to notify you of events in serial data is as easy as 1, 2, 3.


The Company

Asentria develops remote site monitoring and telemanagement solutions that enable providers of critical communications infrastructure to more efficiently and reliably run their networks. Asentria’s products help ensure quality of service and lower operational costs, while making it easier to provision, maintain and support remote equipment. Our strategic solutions fit both large and small communication networks and provide high-value, cost-effective and competitive differentiators to our customers.


Asentria helps administrators cost-effectively manage their call reporting data and remote site infrastructure, while extending confidence and security to ensure availability, integrity and performance. Asentria enables administrators to avoid failures from poor performing equipment that threaten end-user service expectations, while providing better control to predict the performance of remote infrastructure. These new levels of protection shield end-users from remote site equipment failure. Our service provider and enterprise customers trust their remote equipment sites to Asentria. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.