Making a copy of alarms in external database using adogtw

[Anon Anon]

I'm trying to make a copy of all alarms into an external database (SQL Express for now, eventually MySQL). I have reviewed all the documentation that I can find, but still can't figure out the proper names of all the variables that I can move to my new database.

 

I have most of the columns, but some still come up as "NULL". Where can I find a list of variable names that would work in an adogtw subscribe profile?

 

My datafile looks like this (the columns in red come out as NULL):

 

Table Name	Column Name	Ordinal	Col Def	Nulls OK?	Data Type	Max chars
NewAlarms	rowid	1	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	event_type	2	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	nimid	3	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	nimts	4	NULL	YES	datetime	NULL
NewAlarms	arrival	5	NULL	YES	datetime	NULL
NewAlarms	prevlevel	6	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	level	7	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	subsys	8	NULL	YES	nchar	10
NewAlarms	message	9	NULL	YES	nchar	50
NewAlarms	source	10	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	hostname	11	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	sid	12	NULL	YES	nchar	10
NewAlarms	domain	13	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	hub	14	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	nas	15	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	robot	16	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	origin	17	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	prid	18	NULL	YES	nchar	10
NewAlarms	supp_key	19	NULL	YES	nchar	30
NewAlarms	suppcount	20	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	tz_offset	21	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	visible	22	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	i18n_dsize	23	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	assigned_to	24	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	assigned_by	25	NULL	YES	nchar	20
NewAlarms	assigned_at	26	NULL	YES	datetime	NULL
NewAlarms	count	27	NULL	YES	int	NULL
NewAlarms	user_tag1	28	NULL	YES	varchar	50
NewAlarms	user_tag2	29	NULL	YES	varchar	50
NewAlarms	i18n_data	30	NULL	YES	varchar	500
NewAlarms	supptime	31	NULL	YES	datetime	NULL
NewAlarms	aots	32	NULL	YES	datetime	NULL
NewAlarms	i18n_token	33	NULL	YES	varchar	50

[Anon Anon]

What do you mean they "come out as NULL"? Do you mean the data contains NULL values in those columns? That is normal for many columns.

 

If you are using SQL (Express or otherwise) anyway, you should be able to just use the same column properties as the NIS database (assuming you have the NIS bridge enabled, which I believe is default when you install the UMP).

[Anon Anon]

Thanks for your comment. I appreciate the help, but I'm still missing something.

 

I've built a second table and modeled it on the NAS_ALARMS table in the NimsoftSLM database.  I am subscribing to all "alarm" messages and am getting data. Some of the columns have correct data compared to the NAS_ALARMS table for the row with the same nimid) but many columns contain "NULL" - time_origin, time_arrival, hostname, nas, etc.

I think I'm getting close, since there are some columns with correct data, but I'd like to get everything that I can. I believe that the $variables in the adogtw profile are based on column names, and I suspect that some of them don't match up.

 

I'm really looking for a list of the $variables available in adogtw profiles so I can do some more testing and comparison.

 

 

[Anon Anon]

I think I have a better understanding of your issue now. Some of the values in the database are determined by the NAS and do not come from the alarm messages on the bus. The only way to get them will be to request them from the NAS or query from the NAS_ALARMS table in the database.

 

If you build your table from alarm messages on the bus, there are lots of things that will be different from the entries in the NAS_ALARMS table. Some that come to mind include:

 

• Missing values for fields calculated by the NAS (which you have already experienced)
• Alarm message suppression logic
• Updates to alarms that do not come from messages (assignment, acknowledgement, etc.)

Depending on what you are trying to do, some of these differences may be very big deals. Maybe we need to take a step back. What are you trying to accomplish? What is the purpose of having this information in another table or database?

[Anon Anon]

Let me get a better definition of what we're trying to accomplish (in this case I'm just the messenger).

 

Thanks for your explanation. Is there anywhere that I can find out what's available on the bus?

[Anon Anon]

The best way to see what is in the messages is to go directly to the bus and check yourself.  The DrNimBUS (or DrNimsoft) utility lets you capture specific messages from the bus and display them in a GUI. Different alarms may contain slightly different fields, but most will have a lot of the same information.

[Anon Anon]

I've tried that, and will review it again.  I will also investigate using the NiS-provided files instead of making an external copy. I believe that most of what we need is there.