Plugin Actions

NetVigil provides a strong plugin framework which enables you to extend the native capabilities. While NetVigil provides various common notification mechanisms, such as E-mail, pager, trouble ticket interface and SNMP traps, the plugin action framework allows custom notification and action development as needed. These custom plugin actions seamlessly integrate with the NetVigil Action Policy module which allows notification policies controlled by time of day, number of polls before activation, etc.

21.2 Creating New Plugin Actions

Before a plugin action is available to users, you need to create a configuration file defining the location of the script to call, and what parameters need to be passed to this script. The configuration file needs to be created under NETVIGIL_HOME/plugin/actions directory. There are no restrictions on what the configuration file can be named. However, the file must have a .xml extension, as only .xml files are scanned for configuration information.

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<!-- 
	All plugin "script" action configuration should be enclosed in 
an <ActionScriptConfig>.. </ActionScriptConfig> block
--> 
<ActionScriptConfig>
	<!-- 
		This is the name of the script action that will appear in the 
drop-down list within the action profile management page on the 
web application. This name should be unique. It should not 
match the name of any other existing native or custom action.
--> 
	<name>My Custom Script</name> 
	<!--
		This is the script/batch file/application to be executed. Use 
only the name of the script/application, and do not include the 
path. NetVigil looks for this script under the 
NETVIGIL_HOME/plugin/actions directory.
	--> 
	<rootScript>writeToFile.sh</rootScript> 
	<!-- 
		The parameters to pass to the script when executing it. See 
below for a list of variables that you can use as parameters. 
Parameters can be specified in multiple lines. At execution 
time, they are concatenated into a single line.
	--> 
	<parameters>
		-d ${device_name}
		-t ${test_name} 
		-s ${current_user_severity}
	</parameters> 
	<!-- 
		When executed, should NetVigil wait for the script it to 
terminate? Possible values:true or false.
	--> 
	<waitForTerminate>true</waitForTerminate> 
	<!-- 
		If waitForTerminate is true, how long (in seconds) should 
NetVigil wait before aborting the script? If set to 0 or a 
negative value, the application will wait indefinitely for the 
script to terminate.
	--> 
	<timeout>10</timeout> 
	<!-- 
		If true, the output from the script will be added to the 
device comment on the web application. Enabling this option 
automatically sets waitForTerminate to true.
--> 
	<addOutputToComment>false</addOutputToComment> 
</ActionScriptConfig>

The following variables can be used in the parameters section of the configuration file:


${result_value}	${timestamp}
${recipient}	${device_name}
${device_serial_number}	${device_address}
${device_model}	${device_vendor}
${device_type}	${device_snmp_cid}
${device_snmp_version}	${device_location}
${test_name}	${test_serial_number}
${test_user_warning_threshold}	${test_user_critical_threshold}
${test_shadow_warning_ threshold}	${test_shadow_critical_ threshold}
${test_sla_threshold}	${test_type}
${test_sub_type}	${test_units}
${current_user_severity}	${current_shadow_severity}
${current_sla_severity}

As a security precaution, the actual script must be in the plugin/actions directory. If the command line tool is in a different directory, you can either create a wrapper script/batch file that calls the real program, or create a symbolic link (Unix only) to the real program into plugin/actions.

Here is a sample script that corresponds to the sample configuration file provided above (writeToFile.sh):

#!/bin/sh
#
time=`date '+%Y%m%d-%H:%M'`
echo "time:$time, device: $2, test: $4, severity: $6" \
>> /tmp/severity.log

The config file, and the script, need to be installed under plugin/actions directory on all hosts that are running NetVigil application. Before the new action is available, the Web Application and DGE components will need to be restarted. Once the configuration file has been loaded, it will show up on the drop-down list in action profile management page within the Web Application. To use the newly added plugin action, you first need to create an action profile that uses this script.

To create an action profile:

Create an action profile via MANAGE | Actions | Create An Action Profile (or update an existing profile)

From the Notify Using drop-down list, you should be able to select the script. The name displayed on the list will correspond the <name>...</name> parameter in the configuration file (My Custom Script)

The Message Recipient field can be left empty and the rest of the parameters set as you see fit

Apply this action profile to various tests as required

For example, if an action profile containing this sample action is assigned to a test called My Test for a device called My Device, when the action profile is triggered for warning severity, the DGE component executes this script as:

	/NETVIGIL_HOME/plugin/actions/writeToFile.sh -d "My Device" -t 
"My Test" -s "warning"

and waits 10 seconds for the process to complete. Upon successful execution /tmp/severity.log should have an entry that looks like this:

time:2002nnnn-hh:mm, device: My Device, test: My Test, 
severity: warning

You can use the same script for multiple actions (for example, with different parameters). In order to accomplish this, you will need to create multiple plugin action configurations that correspond to the same script.

Plugin Actions

21.1 Overview

21.2 Creating New Plugin Actions