Status Filter Rules
The
second way to globally affect how status messages are reported is by
using status filter rules. SMS creates 15 status filter rules of its
own to control how status messages are reported and viewed, as shown in
Figure 2.
In the SMS Administrator Console, expand the Site Settings node, then
select the Status Filter Rules node to display these status filter
rules. These default filter rules are used to control how many, and
which, status messages are reported and displayed in the Status Message
Viewer.
When
an SMS component generates a status message, the SMS Status Manager
tests the message against these status filter rules to determine how
that message should be handled. The SMS Status Manager then performs
one or more of the following actions.
Writes the message to the SMS database
Writes the message to the Windows Event Log
Replicates the message to the parent site
Sends the message to a status summarizer
Executes a program
Most
of the default status filter rules generate a system message that’s
displayed on the site server using a NET SEND command. You should not
modify any of these default status filter rules. Each has been created
for a reason, and they’re all significantly useful. But you might find
that you want to create additional filter rules. You can customize
status filter rules to discard certain types of messages that you don’t
want or don’t need to see, to replicate certain types of messages to a
parent site at a higher priority than others or not replicate certain
messages at all, and to execute a program based on a message type.
Begin
by deciding just what messages you need to see and what messages you
don’t need to see. For example, if your site participates in a
parent-child relationship but is fully administered within the
site—that is, no administration occurs at the parent site—it might be
unnecessary to replicate any status messages to the parent site.
Eliminating this replication would certainly decrease the amount of
network traffic generated between the parent site and your site.
Caution
Do
not modify existing status filters or define any new filter rules until
you’re fully comfortable with and knowledgeable about the status
message system. If you make a change without knowing its full effect,
you could render the status message system useless to you as a
troubleshooting tool. |
Follow these steps to create a new status filter rule:
1. | In the SMS Administrator Console, expand the Site Settings node.
|
2. | Right-click
Status Filter Rules, choose New from the context menu, and then choose
Status Filter Rule to display the Status Filter Rule Properties dialog
box, as shown in Figure 3.
|
3. | In the General tab, enter a descriptive name for your filter.
Tip The
status filter name should adequately explain the function and purpose
of the status filter rule you’re creating. Use the default filter names
as a guideline for creating your own. |
You can narrow your filter criteria further by selecting any
combination of options available in the General tab. These options are
described below in Table 1.
Table 1. Status filter rule options| Filter Option | Description |
|---|
| Source | The source of the status message: SMS Server, SMS Client, or SMS Provider | | Site Code | The site code corresponding to the source of the status message | | System | The name of the SMS client or server that generates the status message | | Component | The name of the SMS component that generates the status message | | Message Type | The status message type: Milestone, Detail, or Audit | | Message Severity | The message severity: Informational, Warning, or Error | | Message ID | The specific status message ID you’re reporting on—for example, an ID of 500 generally relates to a component starting up | | Property | The
name of a specific property, such as Advertisement ID, Collection ID,
Package ID, Policy Assignment ID, or Policy ID, that might be present
in some status messages you want to report on | | Property Value | A
specific property attribute for the property name you specified, such
as Advertisement ID, Collection ID, Package ID, Policy Assignment ID,
or Policy ID, that might be present in some status messages you want to
report on |
|
4. | Select the Actions tab, as shown in Figure 4, and specify what Status Manager should do when the message criteria defined in the General tab are met.
In this example, Status Manager has been instructed to write the
message to the SMS database as well as to the Windows Event Log. By
default, the message will also be forwarded to the appropriate status
summarizer to be included in the Status Message Viewer. Other actions
available to you are described below in Table 2.
Table 2. Status filter action options| Action Option | Description |
|---|
| Write To The SMS Database | Includes
the status message as a record in the SMS database. By default,
messages are kept in the database for seven days and then deleted,
unless this value is modified. | | Report To The Event Log | Writes the status message to the Windows Event Viewer application log. | | Replicate To The Parent Site | Sends a copy of the status message to the site’s parent. | | Run A Program | Directs SMS to execute the command entered in the Program text box when the status message is generated. | | Do Not Forward To Status Summarizers | Prevents
the status message from being handled by any status summarizer. This
means that it might not be included in determining warning or error
thresholds in the status viewer. | | Do Not Process Lower-Priority Status Filter Rules | Effectively
ends any further processing of this status message. This means that it
won’t be evaluated by any additional filter rules. |
|
5. | Choose OK to save the new filter rule.
|
The
new status filter rule will be added at the end of the list of existing
rules. However, the actual order in which the rules are listed is
determined by their relative priority. Status messages will be passed
through all the filters if you don’t select the Do Not Process
Lower-Priority Status Filter Rules check box for a filter in the
Actions tab. If you do select this option for a filter, the message
won’t pass through any filters below this one in the filter list. You
can change the order of filter processing by right-clicking a filter,
choosing All Tasks from the context menu, and then choosing Increment
Priority to move the filter up in the list or Decrement Priority to
move the filter down in the list.
Tip
The
Run A Program option in the Actions tab can be a useful alert tool if
you’re using a Windows-compatible paging application or some other
notification tool that can be executed through a command line. For
example, you can enter the command-line sequence for executing a page
to notify you when a specific status message is generated. |
Chapter 14 of the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Operations Guide, available from the Microsoft SMS Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/smserver),
contains several useful example filter rules in the section titled
“Sample Status Filter Rules.” The filter rule on how to discard status
messages from a component that’s flooding the system is particularly
useful. After you’ve become comfortable with the status message system
and the way in which the various SMS components work and interact, you
might want to filter out simple informational messages, such as
messages generated when a component starts or wakes up. Follow the
steps outlined earlier to define this simple filter. In the General
tab, specify a name in the form “Discard message xyz from component abc on server 123.” Fill in the System, Component, and Message ID fields, as shown in Figure 5. For this example, we’re excluding startup messages for Site Control Manager that are generated on the system SQL1.
In
the Actions tab, select the Do Not Forward To Status Summarizers check
box. This setting ensures that the message is disregarded and that it
won’t be displayed in the Status Message Viewer. Depending on where
this new rule sits in relation to the other rules, you might also want
to select the Do Not Process Lower-Priority Status Filter Rules check
box to prevent any subsequent filters from picking this message up and
possibly writing it to the database or displaying it in the Status
Message Viewer. |
