Table of Contents

Working with spectrum monitors

A spectrum monitor works as a schedule to run a spectrum script, optionally with any combination of measurement points and/or presets. It can be used to make the spectrum device sweep the input signal at regular intervals to measure particular variables.

Note

Only one spectrum monitor script can be executed on the same element at the same time. If a script is set to run while another script is being executed, DataMiner will wait until the script can obtain exclusive element access.

Tip

See also: Spectrum Analyzer – Setting up continuous background RF measurements Video

Managing spectrum monitors

On a spectrum analyzer card, you can manage the spectrum monitors for one particular element. Managing spectrum monitors across all elements is possible in System Center.

On a spectrum analyzer card

To access spectrum monitors from a spectrum analyzer card:

  • In the monitors tab, click either New monitor or Edit monitor.

    This will open the Edit monitor window, which has two panes:

    • Left pane: Used for monitor management, contains a tree view and buttons at the bottom.

    • Right pane: Used to edit a monitor selected in the pane on the left.

The following actions are possible to manage the spectrum monitors:

  • To add a new spectrum monitor, click the Add monitor button. The monitor will be added with the default name Monitor, which can be edited later.

  • To remove a spectrum monitor, select the monitor in the tree view and click the Delete button.

  • To find a specific monitor, enter the monitor name or part of the monitor name in the Search box at the top of the left pane. The tree view will then be filtered to only show any monitors matching the name you entered.

In System Center

To access spectrum monitors in System Center:

  • In DataMiner Cube, go to Apps > System Center > Tools > configure spectrum monitors.

    The monitor configuration section is very similar to the Edit monitor window described above, with the following differences:

    • In the tree view on the left, the monitors are contained in a separate folder for each spectrum element protocol in the DMS.

    • In the pane on the right, under Elements, the elements are selected that are using this monitor. For each element, you can select what measurement points and input presets should be used.

    • Monitors cannot be directly edited in the pane on the left. Instead, to edit a monitor, click the Edit monitor button at the bottom.

Note

You can only access spectrum monitors in System Center if you have the user permission Spectrum > Configure scripts & monitors and there is at least one spectrum protocol with more than one spectrum element available.

Configuring spectrum monitors

When you create a spectrum monitor, you can configure custom parameters that can be viewed in real time. These parameters are in fact variables from the spectrum scripts, that are given more user-friendly names.

It is possible to generate trend information for these parameters, and to have them trigger alarms.

Note
  • Trace trending is only available when the DMA’s general database is a MySQL database of version 5.0.3 or higher. MSSQL is also supported on DataMiner versions prior to 10.3.0.
  • Trending data for Spectrum Analysis traces is stored in the spectrum_trace table of a DMA’s general database. The data is kept for 12 months (by default) and cleaned up just like average trending data.
  • Settings regarding storage and cleaning of trending data can be configured in the Trending.TimeSpanSpectrumRecords tag of the MaintenanceSettings.xml file. It is also possible to override the setting per element using an <Element><Trending><TimeSpanSpectrumRecords> tag in the file Element.xml.

Below are the basic steps you can follow to configure a spectrum monitor. Depending on the purpose of the monitor you are creating, not all steps may be required, and you may not necessarily need to do the steps in the proposed order. However, these steps are meant to give you an indication of how spectrum monitors are made.

  1. On a spectrum analyzer card, select the spectrum monitor in the tree view on the left. In the pane on the right, the configuration options for the monitor are then displayed.

    Alternatively, in the System Center configure spectrum monitors section, you can select the monitor and click Edit monitor.

    Note

    In System Center, if a protocol does not have at least one active element, it will not be possible to add, edit or delete a monitor for this protocol.

  2. In the Name box, enter a different name for the monitor.

  3. Click Show details, and fill in a description for the monitor in the Description box.

  4. Also in the details section, enter the interval at which the script should be executed. You can do so either by entering the interval directly into the Interval box, or by selecting the interval with the slider control next to the box.

    Note

    If you set the script interval to less than 30 minutes, you may receive a warning when you click Save. When trended traces are run very frequently, huge amounts of trend data get stored in the database, which could eventually cause database problems.

  5. Also in the details section, to create a service matching the monitor, select Create service. The generated service will have the same name as the monitor, and will contain all the monitored parameters.

    Note
    • To remove a service created by a spectrum monitor, you must either disable the Create Service option or remove the monitor itself. Unlike a normal service, it cannot be deleted in the Surveyor.
    • Spectrum monitors for which a service has been created are indicated with a special icon in the Surveyor, instead of the regular service icon: icon

  6. In the script section, select the script that is to be executed by the monitor.

  7. In the Measurement Points section, select the measurement points on which the monitor has to execute the script. It is possible to select several measurement points, so that the monitor is run for a series of switch states.

    Note

    Changing the values of the parameters that are used for a measurement point while the spectrum script is running could lead to unexpected behavior. After it has initially started, the script does not check for changes to the values of these parameters.

  8. If the selected script requires a preset selection in the monitor, in the Input presets section, select a preset.

  9. In the Monitoring and trending section, add parameters:

    1. If you want the parameter configuration to be applied for all measurement points at once, make sure the option Group parameters is selected. If you wish to configure parameters separately for each measurement point, e.g. to configure different alarm thresholds, clear the selection box next to this option.

    2. Click Add and select a script variable to add as a parameter.

    3. Enter a user-friendly name for the parameter next to Parameter description.

    4. To enable alarm monitoring, in the Template editing section, select Monitored, select the Type of alarm template, and enter the necessary alarm thresholds.

      Note
      • For more information on the types of alarm templates, see Configuring dynamic alarm thresholds.
      • Unlike normal parameters, parameters created by a spectrum monitor can only have alarm monitoring configured in the monitor editor. It is not possible to define alarm templates for them in the Protocols & Templates module.

    5. To enable trending for the parameter, select Trended.

    6. To be able to view the parameter in real time, select Displayed on element card. When this option is selected, the parameters will be added on the card at runtime, and updated after every script execution. All parameters calculated by a single monitor will be grouped together on a single data page with the same name as the monitor. In case the monitor is executed on several measurement points, the name of the measurement point will be added to the parameter name in brackets.

    7. To define the range, units and decimals for the real-time display of the parameter, select Using Custom Range and enter the values in question. If these are not defined, no units will be used and other settings will be automatically defined by DataMiner.

    8. Repeat from b. for each parameter you want to add.

    Note

    It is possible to import and export parameters using the buttons at the top of this section:

    • Import/export files should be comma-separated CSV or TXT files.
    • To add new parameters with an import, use the parameter ID “-1”.
    • After an import, the imported parameters will be displayed in this section. You will then still need to click Apply to confirm the import.

  10. In the Alarm Recordings section, customize the number of Earlier traces and Future traces to be stored when an alarm recording is created. When an alarm occurs, these may help operators to analyze the nature of the problem.

    Note

    To view an alarm recording for a spectrum monitor alarm, right-click the alarm in the Alarm Console and select Open > Spectrum recording. However, note that trace recordings are not available for cleared alarms.

Note

To deactivate the monitor, at the top of the pane, clear the selection from Enable this monitor.

Watching spectrum buffers

When you work in real-time interactive mode, this requires part of the limited measuring capacity of the spectrum analyzer. As such, when you are only interested in seeing some of the measurements, which are already executed by scripts for automated performance monitoring, you can watch the so-called spectrum buffers instead.

To watch a single buffer:

  1. In the monitors tab of the ribbon, select View buffer.

  2. Select the monitor, input preset, measurement point and trace, and click Load.

    The buffer will be displayed, with a message in the middle of the display area specifying what buffer is being displayed.

  3. To stop watching the buffer, in the monitors tab, clear the selection from View buffer.

To view all buffers:

  1. In the monitors tab, select View All Buffers.

    In this mode, any trace measured by the spectrum analyzer will be displayed on screen, so the display will show one buffer after another. Result traces of manual script execution and traces retrieved for the interactive sessions of other clients are also displayed. In the middle of the spectrum display, a description is provided of what is being displayed.

  2. To stop watching the buffer, in the monitors tab, clear the selection from View all buffers.

Note
  • Spectrum buffers measured during monitor execution are also available in DMS Reporter, and in Visual Overview. See Element reports and Spectrum Buffers for information on DMS Reporter and Linking a shape to an element parameter for information on spectrum thumbnails in Visio.
  • While you are watching a spectrum buffer, any options that are only applicable for real-time trace viewing, such as taking trace recordings, are disabled.
Tip

See also: Viewing along with another client

Taking priority over a spectrum monitor

When a lengthy script is being executed by a monitor, it is possible that the real-time spectrum display does not receive new trace data. In this case, if you have been granted the permission Spectrum: Take Priority Over Monitors, you can take priority over the spectrum monitor in DataMiner Cube.

To do so:

  1. In the ribbon of the spectrum analyzer card, go to the monitors tab.

  2. Click priority over monitors Take Priority Over Monitors.

  3. In the message box, click OK.

    The active monitor execution will then stop as soon as possible, i.e. after the script run on the current measurement point is completed. In the top-right corner of the spectrum graph, a notice will indicate that you are in prioritized mode.

To go back to normal mode, in the monitors tab, click Take Priority Over Monitors again. The prioritized mode also ends automatically as soon as you enter standby mode.

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