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Monitoring and Alerts

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Monitoring and Alerts Guide for IssAssist

Introduction

IssAssist provides real-time monitoring of IBM Storage Protect (TSM) backup environments, alerting administrators to potential issues. This guide covers the basics of alerts in IssAssist, including severity levels, common alert types, viewing and filtering alerts, acknowledging and resolving alerts, and configuring thresholds.

Alert Severity Levels

IssAssist uses three alert severity levels:

  • Critical: High-priority alerts that require immediate attention.
  • Warning: Medium-priority alerts that may indicate a problem but do not prevent critical issues.
  • Info: Low-priority alerts that provide useful information or suggest potential improvements.

Severity levels are determined by the following conditions:

Severity Level Trigger
Critical Node is deactivated/unreachable, storage threshold exceeded, and no previous successes.
Warning Schedule compliance drop (more than 10% of nodes meeting their schedule fell below threshold).
Info TSM agent data indicates a potential issue or suggestion for improvement.

Common Alert Types

IssAssist detects the following common alert types:

  1. Missed Backup Schedule:

    • Trigger: Node did not run backup as expected.
    • Description: IssAssist periodically polls IBM SP to ensure backups are running on schedule.

  2. Storage Threshold Exceeded:

    • Trigger: Node occupancy above configured limit.
    • Description: IssAssist monitors TSM agent data to detect storage threshold exceedances.

  3. Node Deactivated/Unreachable:

    • Trigger: Node is not responding or has been deactivated.
    • Description: IssAssist periodically checks nodes for availability and responsiveness.

  4. Schedule Compliance Drop:

    • Trigger: More than 10% of nodes meeting their schedule fell below threshold.
    • Description: IssAssist compares the number of successful backups to scheduled backups.

Viewing and Filtering Alerts

To view alerts in the dashboard, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the IssAssist web interface.
  2. Navigate to the Alerts tab.
  3. Use the filters and sorting options to narrow down alert results.

Acknowledging an Alert (Silencing Slack Notifications)

To acknowledge an alert and silence Slack notifications:

  1. Log in to the IssAssist web interface.
  2. Navigate to the Alerts tab.
  3. Click on the alert you wish to acknowledge.
  4. Select Acknowledge.

Resolving an Alert (Marking it as Handled)

To resolve an alert and mark it as handled:

  1. Log in to the IssAssist web interface.
  2. Navigate to the Alerts tab.
  3. Click on the alert you wish to resolve.
  4. Select Resolve.

Configuring Alert Thresholds (Admin Section)

To configure alert thresholds, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the IssAssist admin interface.
  2. Navigate to the Alerts section.
  3. Configure threshold values for each severity level.

Slack Notification Setup and Format

To set up Slack notifications, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the IssAssist web interface.
  2. Navigate to the Alerts tab.
  3. Click on the Slack Integration button.
  4. Configure your Slack workspace and channel settings.

Slack notification format will be a JSON-formatted string, containing the following elements:

  • alert_name: The name of the alert that triggered the notification.
  • severity: The severity level of the alert (critical, warning, or info).
  • node_name: The name of the node affected by the alert.

Example Slack notification format:

{
    "alert_name": "Storage Threshold Exceeded",
    "severity": "warning",
    "node_name": "Node 1"
}

Health Scores

IssAssist calculates an environment's overall backup health based on the following factors:

  • Number of successful backups
  • Storage threshold exceedances
  • Node availability and responsiveness
  • Schedule compliance drop

A higher health score indicates a more reliable backup environment.

Example calculation: 

Health Score = (Number of Successful Backups / Total Scheduled Backups) x 100 + (1 - Storage Threshold Exceedance Rate) x 50 + (Node Availability x 20) + (Schedule Compliance Drop x 10)
Note: The above example is a simplified calculation and may need to be adjusted based on the specific requirements of your environment.

That's it! By following this guide, you should have a solid understanding of how IssAssist monitors and alerts your IBM Storage Protect backup environment. If you have any questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out.