Alarm trees

Whenever there is a change to an alarm after the original alarm record is created, a new alarm record is created that is linked to the previous one. This way, (nearly) every alarm in the DataMiner System will be represented by a series of linked alarm records, also known as an alarm tree, reflecting the entire alarm life cycle.

Initially, when the DataMiner System detects that a parameter no longer has a value that is considered normal, it creates an alarm record with the following properties:

Property	Value
Owner	System
User Status	Not Assigned
Alarm Type	New Alarm
Status	Open

From that moment, every subsequent change to that alarm (severity changes, ownership changes, masking or unmasking, comments added, etc.) will result in the creation of a separate alarm record that will replace the original record.

As long as the parameter in question does not have a value that is considered normal, the Status property of these replacement records will be "Open". The moment the parameter again has a normal value, a final replacement record will be created. The Status property of this last record will be "Cleared" or "Clearable", depending on the value of the "AutoClear" alarm setting.

Note

If an alarm update does not change the severity of the alarm, the alarm record can be combined with the previous records into one consolidated event in the client (also known as "alarm squashing"). This behavior can be enabled in the MaintenanceSettings.xml file. For more information, see AlarmSettings.MustSquashAlarms.

Tip

Alarm trees should be kept from growing too large. When setting up alarm templates and working with alarms, you should therefore keep the best practices in mind.