How to Configure TMon Pager and Email Alarm Notifications

Automatic alarm notifications provide easy 24-7 monitoring

Not everyone has the luxury of a permanently manned 24-hour NOC. But if you've got a TMon/IAM system, you already have a more effective solution for 24-7 monitoring - pager and email alarm notifications.

Paging and email take network alarm monitoring out of the NOC to wherever you are - your car, your remote sites, and even your home. You'll have total assurance that you'll be notified if problems happen at any time. You can keep your field techs out in the field, dramatically reducing windshield time. email notifications even create an automatic alarm history record.

Pager and email support is a standard feature on TMon. You can notify up to 999 users when any alarm sets or clears. Alarms can be acknowledged or tagged by two-way paging or email relay. TMon's automatic escalation ensures that supervisors are notified if a tech doesn't acknowledge a page.

Here's some easy steps for getting 24-hour alarm notifications up and running today:

Step One
Define and Configure Your Ports

Go to Master Menu > Parameters > Remote Ports.

From the Remote Parameters screen you want to find the port that has the 212 modem ( Usually port 4). If you are going to use email paging you want to find two-halted job ports above job 48.

On port 4 Choose E)dit - this will put you in Edit Mode. Set Port usage as Pager. Serial Format default settings are 1200, 7, E, 1. Make sure Multi Alpha Pages is set to Yes. This will prevent the system from hanging up and calling the paging terminal if sending a page to more than one technician.

Note : If your paging terminal connects at 9600 baud, then use an external modem on one of your RS232 ports. Your paging company should have the relevant information regarding your equipment.

For email paging you will have to set up two jobs: one outgoing (SMTP), and one incoming (POP3). (To complete this step you will need to contact your Network Administrator for your account name and password).

• Find a halted job port above job 48. Go to E)dit and set the job port usage as "Mail (outgoing-SMTP)." Set Domain Name to your company's email domain name (for example: dpstele.com). Enter the account name.
  
  
  
  
• Press F6 to assign the data connection to this job. Press F1 to bring up the Ethernet TCP Port Definition screen. Add entry type to TELNET-RAW by pressing the TAB key to make selection. Set the entry's IP address to the IP address of your mail server and TCP port to 25 (this is the standard SMTP port). Add another entry of type to TELNET-RAW. Set the entry's IP address to the IP address of your mail server and TCP port to 110 (this is the standard POP3 port). Press F8 to save changes. This will put you at the Data Connection Assignment screen. Use the TAB key to E)dit choose SMTP (TELNET-RAW Port 25)

• Find the next halted job above 48. Go to E)dit and set the job port usage as "Mail (Incoming-POP3)." Set Account Name and Password to the account name and password that you received from your network administrator. Make sure that Interval is set to the frequency (in minutes) that you want the system to check for new mail. Press F6. This will put you at the Data Connection Assignment screen. Use the TAB key to make your section for Pop3 (TELNET-RAW Port 110)

Exit to the Files menu.

Step Two
Configure Pager Carriers

Choose Pager > Pager Carriers.

• Enter your Initials, Name, Pager TAP number (you can get this from your paging company), and Pin number.
• Press F6 to toggle between pager information to email addresses. Enter your email addresses. You will have to create another entry if you are going to send to both a Pager and email.

For email notification, press the F1 for response options. You can set up a user to acknowledge alarms, site, or tag alarms.

Go to Pager > Weekly Schedules. Enter the operator number that you want assigned to the technician. Fill in the Description (Use technicians' name). Press F3 to go to the   Fill screen and fill in the day of the week and time that the technician should be paged. Type F)ind to find the next operator number (1-999) to assign for the next technician. To change the on-call tech press F4.

Assign operator number for technician

Page on-call 24x7

Press F3 to fill in operator schedule

Press F4 to change on-call schedule

Step Three
Configure Pager Messages

Exit to Pager > Alphanumeric Formats > Format 1. Enter the alarm format that will be displayed on the pager. Use the TAB key to move between fields.

Note : You have 4 formats that can be used, but format 1 is recommended.

Exit to Pager > Profiles. Enter Profile description.

Press F2 to go to the Profile Entries. Use TAB key to edit pager settings.

Step Four
Attaching A Profile Number to Databased Alarm Points

Now that all the profiles have been created, attach the profile number to the alarm points that have been databased in your system.

Example for adding a profile to a NetGuardian.

Go to Exit > Files > LAN-base Remotes

• Choose NetGuardian.
• From the NetGuardian Definition screen press F1=Devices.
• From the Address Definition screen press F1=Points.
• From the Point Definition screen press E)dit.
• Press Enter until you get to the Pager field and enter the profile number.

Shortcut: By pressing the Ctrl+Page Down keys this will take you down to the next point without having to enter through all the fields. Or the F5=Range. (See appendix H in Tmon/Iam manual for shortcuts).

Exit to Master > Initialize > Monitor

To verify that the pager and email are working, at the Alarm Summary screen move your cursor to an empty window. For the Pager, press Alt+F8 to bring up the Protocol Analyzer. For email, press Alt+F5 to bring up the English Analyzer. Use the +/- key to move to the pager port or outgoing (SMTP). For the Protocol Analyzer press the space bar.

Press the letter A to put the protocol in ASCII mode ( Do Not Do This Step For The Alt+F5 command ). Press Enter to get into the Standing Alarm screen. Press the Space Bar and the letter B to expand the protocol window.

Pager: Alt+F8

email: Alt+F5

Run T/Windows software.

• Log on with user ID/Password
• From the Alarm Summary screen press Shift+F3. This will put you in the Pager Status screen. Press F4 to send a page or email.
• Use the down arrow to highlight the name you want to send a test page to.
• Enter the text you want to send on Data 1. If it's a long message continue on Data 2 and Data 3. Press the Enter key when finished.
• In the protocol window you should see the system connecting to a paging terminal or your server. If you get errors, verify the phone number by calling the paging terminal with a regular phone and see if a modem picks up on the other end. For email check with your Network Administrator.
• To put the protocol windows back to normal size, press the space bar and the letter B. Press Esc\F10 to exit to the Alarm Summary.

 

 

---

Secure Your Network with the New IAM-6

If you want to protect your network against the dangers of service outages and equipment loss, check out the new IAM-6. It's 2-6 times faster than the IAM-5 and fully compatible with your existing IAM/TMonXM software and database.

Register now to receive a sneak peek at the new IAM-6 … "The IAM-6: Specifications and Technical Overview."

---

Get a Custom Application Diagram of Your Perfect-Fit Monitoring System

There is no other network on the planet that is exactly like yours. For that reason, you need to build a monitoring system that's the right fit for you.

"Buying more than you need" and "buying less than you need" are real risks. You also have to think about training, tech support, and upgrade availability.

Send me a quick online message about what you're trying to accomplish. I'll work with you to build a custom PDF application diagram that's a perfect fit for your network.

---