As you gain experience in monitoring your environment, you might find that you want to use a custom property as an override value for a Knowledge Script parameter rather than changing the parameter value for individual jobs. AppManager only overrides the original job parameter value when the job runs on physical computers where you defined the custom property. If the job runs on logical servers where you defined the custom property, AppManager ignores the custom property.
After you add a custom property to a physical computer and a job you configured to use the custom property as a parameter override runs on the computer, AppManager no longer uses the original job parameter value. You can also change the override value by updating the custom property value.
Configuring overrides to a monitoring policy is particularly useful because initially you want to use the same parameter values for all policy-based jobs but over time, you might need to adjust monitoring thresholds for some physical computers in the policy.
You can configure a parameter override for an ad hoc job, but NetIQ Corporation does not recommend this because you can simply change the parameter value of an ad hoc job.
For more information, see the following topics:
To use a parameter override on a policy-based job, configure a Knowledge Script Group member to include a custom property as an override for a parameter value. This allows you to assign a custom property value as an override value for the parameter on each physical computer. AppManager will use the default parameter value until you add a custom property value to one or more physical computers.
In the Servers view, select the physical computers you want and in the Custom Properties tab of the Server Information pane, add a custom property value that corresponds to the custom property. For more information, see Section 4.5, About Custom Properties.
For example, if you want to monitor total CPU usage, you can configure the NT_CPULoaded Knowledge Script with a default value for the Severity - Total system CPU parameter, and add a custom property, CPUEventOverride, as an override. When the policy-based job starts, AppManager will monitor the total CPU usage using the default parameter value. If you notice that the total CPU usage on a particular physical computer tends to exceed the threshold, add the CPUEventOverride custom property to the computer and specify a value you want to use as the override value. If the same policy-based job monitors more than one physical computer, you can add the custom property value to multiple computers at the same time.
If you remove a custom property that is used as a parameter override from a physical computer, AppManager restarts any jobs on the computer that use the custom property to use the default parameter value.
To override a parameter value on a policy-based job, specify a custom property override for the parameter without specifying a value for the override. After you enable the override on the Knowledge Script Group member, you can add a custom property value to a physical computer to override the default parameter value.
To enable an override for a parameter:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select the Knowledge Scripts view containing the Knowledge Script Group with the group member you want to modify.
In the view pane, select the Knowledge Script Group, and then in the Tasks pane click Knowledge Script Group Properties.
In the Knowledge Script Group members list, select the Knowledge Script you want to configure with an override, and then click Properties.
In the Job Properties window, select the Values tab.
On the Values tab, click the override selection (...) button on the value where you want to assign an override.
(Conditional) If you want to use an existing custom property, in the Select Override Value dialog box, click Select and then select the custom property you want from the list. The list of available custom properties corresponds to custom properties with a matching data type. For example, if you want to override a parameter value that uses an integer, AppManager only displays custom properties with a data type of Integer.
Although custom properties you defined for logical servers might appear in the list of available properties, selecting a custom property for a logical server will have no effect on the job. For the purpose of overrides, AppManager ignores custom properties on logical servers.
(Conditional) If you want to create a new custom property, click Create New, and then provide a name for the new custom property.
At this point, the custom property does not have a value and AppManager uses the default parameter value.
Click OK to close the Select Override Value window.
On the Values tab of the Properties window, AppManager updates the Override column to indicate that you configured a custom property override. Note that this indicator does not specify whether you configured an override value.
To override the parameter value, add the custom property with an override value to the physical computer. For more information, see Section 5.5.3, Configuring an Override Value.
(Conditional) If you configured an action for a Knowledge Script and you want to enable an override for a parameter of the action, click the Action tab to configure exceptions for the action Knowledge Script.
On the Action tab, click the action you want and click Properties.
In the Override column, click the override selection (...) button on the value where you want to assign an override.
(Conditional) If you want to use an existing custom property, in the Select Override Value window, click Select and then select the custom property you want from the list. The list of available custom properties corresponds to custom properties with a matching data type. For example, if you want to override a parameter value that uses an integer, AppManager only displays custom properties with a data type of Integer.
Although custom properties you defined for logical servers might appear in the list of available properties, selecting a custom property for a logical server will have no effect on the job. For the purpose of overrides, AppManager ignores custom properties on logical servers.
(Conditional) If you want to create a new custom property, click Create New, and then provide a name for the new custom property.
NOTE:AppManager always uses the custom properties on the physical computer to configure the override value for an action Knowledge Script. If you configured an action to run on the management server, configure the custom property for the action on the physical computer. Action Knowledge Scripts do not use custom property exceptions on the management server.
Click another tab to change its properties or click OK to start the job.
Once you configure a Knowledge Script Group member to use a custom property as a parameter override, you can configure an override value for that parameter on one or more physical computers. For more information about configuring a Knowledge Script parameter to use a custom property override, see Section 5.5.2, Enabling an Override for a Parameter.
To specify an override value for a parameter:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select the physical computer where you want to assign a custom property value to use as a Knowledge Script parameter override.
In the Server Information pane, select the Custom Properties tab.
In the Tasks pane, click Create New Custom Property.
In the Name field, select the custom property you want.
In the Type field, select the data type for the custom property. The data type must match the data type defined for the custom property assigned as an override.
In the Value field, specify the value you want to use as an override to the default parameter value.
Click OK.
Use the Values tab of the Job Properties window to view the override value for a parameter. Keep in mind:
The Value column always displays the parameter value. If you configure a custom property override, you also need to configure an override value. If the override is enabled but does not have a value, AppManager uses the parameter value from the Values tab. If you configured an override value, AppManager uses the value of the override, not the parameter value from the Values tab.
The Override column indicates whether you configured an override value, but does not display the actual override value. Keep in mind that you can configure a parameter override without an override value. In this case, AppManager uses the parameter value from the Values tab.
To view the override value for a parameter:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select the Jobs view of the management group with the job you want.
In the view pane, select the job you want.
In the Tasks pane, click Job Properties.
Select the Values tab.
Click the override selection (...) button.
In the Select Override Value window, the Current Value field displays the value for the override on the physical computer where the job is running.
(Optional) If you want to see the value of the same custom property on other physical computers and logical servers, click Values On All Computers. The All Values of Custom Property window displays the server name and value for every occurrence of this custom property on other objects. The list is empty if the custom property is not used on any other objects.
You can remove a job override by:
Removing the override from the monitoring policy. After you remove the override from the monitoring policy, the policy-based jobs will automatically use the default parameter value.
Removing the custom property from the physical computers where you do not want to override the default parameter value. Note that if you restore the custom property to the computer and you configured the job with an override, the job automatically updates to use the custom property value. After you remove an override, AppManager uses the default parameter value.
To update a monitoring policy to remove an override, remove the custom property from the Knowledge Script Group member. After you update the Knowledge Script Group member, AppManager updates the corresponding policy-based jobs to use the default parameter value, and the custom property value remains on the corresponding physical computers.
To remove an override from a monitoring policy:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select the Knowledge Scripts view containing the Knowledge Script Group with the group member where you want to remove an override.
In the view pane, select the Knowledge Script Group, and then in the Tasks pane click Knowledge Script Group Properties.
In the Knowledge Script Group members list, select the Knowledge Script where you want to remove an override, and then click Properties.
In the Job Properties window, select the Values tab.
Click the override selection (...) button for the parameter where you want to remove the override.
In the Select Override Value window, click Remove.
Click OK to save your changes.
Click OK again to close the Knowledge Script Group Properties window. AppManager restarts the associated policy-based jobs with the default parameter value.
If you want to use the default value for a parameter on a particular physical computer without removing the override for that parameter on the Knowledge Script Group member, you can remove the corresponding custom property value from the computer. When removing a custom property from a physical computer, keep in mind that other jobs on the same computer might be using the custom property value.
To remove a custom property from a physical computer:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select the Servers view with the computer where you want to remove the custom property value.
In the Servers view, select the computer where you want to remove the custom property value.
In the Custom Properties tab of the Server Information pane, select the custom property you want to remove, and then click Delete Custom Property Value.
AppManager automatically restarts any jobs on the physical computer that used the custom property value as an override to use the default parameter value.
NOTE:You have the option to remove the custom property definition by clicking Delete Custom Property Definition. Deleting the custom property definition removes the custom property from the QDB and from every physical computer and logical server where you configured it. AppManager restarts any jobs using the custom property to run with default values. If the custom property is part of a filter for any Servers views, AppManager removes that filter from the view.
If you are not sure which custom property value you need to remove, or if you are not sure whether a custom property is used more than once, you can use the Select Override Value window to determine where you configured the custom property and which jobs are using it.
To determine what jobs and physical computers are using a custom property:
In the Enterprise Layout view of the Navigation pane, select a Servers view containing a physical computer where a job that is using the custom property you are investigating is running.
In the Server Information pane, select the Jobs tab.
On the Jobs tab, select a job using the custom property you are investigating.
In the Tasks pane, click Job Properties.
In the Job Properties window, select the Values tab.
Click the override selection (...) button for the parameter where you are using the custom property as an override.
In the Select Override Value window, click Jobs/Knowledge Scripts Using Same Override.
The All Jobs/Knowledge Scripts Using Same Custom Property Override window shows all jobs and Knowledge Scripts using the custom property, including the Job ID, Knowledge Script name, computer name, and override value.