The VarAdmMsgsTest reports the count of new CPU and memory errors that have occurred between two test runs. This test works on Solaris 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 platforms only.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed. 

• In the HOST text box, the host name of the server for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• In the PORT text box, port at which the specified HOST listens will have to be specified.

• The full path to the alert file that needs to be monitored will have to be specified in the ALERTFILE text box. By default, /var/adm/messages will be displayed therein.

  Also, instead of a specific log file, the path to the directory containing log files can be provided - eg., /user/logs. This ensures that eG monitors the most recent log files in the specified directory. If while monitoring a log file in a directory a newer log file gets added to that directory, then eG will first finish monitoring the original log file and then start monitoring the new one. Specific log file name patterns can also be specified, so that the log file(s) monitored are restricted to files that match the specified patterns. For example, to monitor the latest log files with names containing the strings 'dblogs' and 'applogs', the parameter specification can be, /tmp/db/*dblogs*,/tmp/app/*applogs*. Here, '*' indicates leading/trailing spaces (as the case may be).

  The eG monitor interface will report one set of measurements for every configured path. You can also configure the path in the following format:Name@logfilepath. Here, Name represents the display name of the path being configured. Accordingly, the parameter specification for the 'dblogs' and 'applogs' example discussed above can be: dblogs@/tmp/db/*dblogs*,applogs@/tmp/app/*applogs*. In this case, the display names 'dblogs' and 'applogs' will alone be displayed as descriptors of the test, and not the individual paths.

• In the SEARCHPATTERN text box, input the error patterns to search for in the specified alert file in the following format: PatternName:ErrorPattern. Here, PatternName refers to the display name of the error pattern. In other words, it is this name that will be displayed as an info (descriptor) of the VarAdmMsgsTest in the eG monitor interface. The ErrorPattern refers to the pattern of errors to search for in the alert file. An error pattern can be expressed in any of the following forms - *expr* or expr or *expr or expr* or *expr1*expr2*... or expr1*expr2, etc. A leading '*' signifies any number of leading characters, while a trailing '*' signifies any number of trailing characters. For example, by providing the entry Kernel_errors:*kern* here, you can instruct the eG system to search for errors containing the text 'kern'. Statistics related to these errors will be displayed in the eG monitor interface when the info Kernel_errors is clicked on. Multiple error patterns can be monitored as a comma-separated list. For example, Kernel_errors:*kern*,Memory_errors:*AFT*.

  A single pattern may also be of the form e1+e2, where + signifies an OR condition. That is, the PatternName is matched if either e1 is true or e2 is true.

• To enable eG to provide additional information about the errors in the detailed diagnosis page, you can specify in the LINES text box the number of lines of text below and above the 'error line' (in the alert file) that the detailed diagnosis page should display. This specification should be in the format: No. of lines above:No. of lines below. By default, this is set to '0:0', which will display only the error line in the detailed diagnosis page. If you set it to 2:3, then besides the error line, 2 lines above and 3 lines below the error line will also be displayed in the detailed diagnosis page.

• Provide a comma-separated list of patterns to be excluded from monitoring in the EXCLUDEPATTERN text box. For example, *critical*,*exception*. By default, this parameter is set to 'none'.

• By default, the UNIQUEMATCH parameter is set to FALSE, indicating that, by default, the test checks every line in the log file for the existence of each of the configured SEARCHPATTERNS. By setting this parameter to TRUE, you can instruct the test to ignore a line and move to the next as soon as a match for one of the configured patterns is found in that line. For example, assume that Pattern1:*fatal*,Pattern2:*error* is the SEARCHPATTERN that has been configured. If UNIQUEMATCH is set to FALSE, then the test will read every line in the log file completely to check for the existence of messages embedding the strings 'fatal' and 'error'. If both the patterns are detected in the same line, then the number of matches will be incremented by 2. On the other hand, if UNIQUEMATCH is set to TRUE, then the test will read a line only until a match for one of the configured patterns is found and not both. This means that even if the strings 'fatal' and 'error' follow one another in the same line, the test will consider only the first match and not the next. The match count in this case will therefore be incremented by only 1.

• By default, the ROTATINGFILE parameter is set to FALSE. To instruct the eG system to monitor newer log files also, set this parameter to TRUE. Otherwise, set it to FALSE.

• To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, eG embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test, by default, for a particular server, choose the On option against DETAILED DIAGNOSIS. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

  The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability

  • Both the bad and normal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of "none" in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.