Also in regards to false alerts.   In our company I receive every alert.  Other 
admins (including execs) receive filtered alerts.  TO use your example I have 
two alerts one which sends to me after 2 downs.   The second sends to 
management after 2 downs when the alert "should not contain" 1460.   This 
reduces the false positives that get management all excited but lets me know 
that something is awry.  

Jason Passow
Mississippi Welders Supply
http://www.mwsco.com
jas...@mwsco.com
ph: (507) 494-5178
fax: (507) 454-8104



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Chris Mang [mailto:chris.m...@jda.com]
To: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:sal...@woodstone.nu]
Sent: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:00:20 -0600
Subject: RE: [SA-list] Application - False Positives



Anthony, 

 

I’ve had similar situations.  Setting the timeout value to a higher number 
never fixed the issue.  What would happen is that I would get a 1460, but the 
Roundtrip time displayed in the GUI was less than my timeout value.  This led 
me to believe that the process (or machine) I was checking was giving SA that 
response (SA checks the process, and process or server responds with “No way, 
dude.  I’m too busy right now”) because the result happened BEFORE the 
timeout value set in SA. 

 

In every case, restarting the server being checked resolved the issue, at least 
temporarily.  If the problem persisted, we would talk to whoever was 
responsible for the process and let them know there was a problem. 

 

Of course, I could be wrong, but it’s worked for us for years.  We strongly 
resist the urge to change the settings on the check to reduce alerts.  I say 
that because it is an easy trap to fall into.  SA sends out alerts based on the 
results of each check.  If the results don’t meet the criteria of the check, 
SA squawks because that is what it is supposed to do.  You shouldn’t adjust 
SA to reduce DOWN alerts just for the sake of reducing alerts.  You should only 
adjust the checks after evaluating WHAT is being reported.  Is it really a 
problem?  If not, adjust the check.  If it is a problem, fix the problem. 

 

That’s my two cents (maybe a little more than two). 

 

Chris>> 

 

From: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:salive@woodstone.nu 
(mailto:salive@woodstone.nu)] On Behalf Of Laatz, Anthony
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 11:36 AM
To: Servers Alive Discussion List
Subject: RE: [SA-list] Application - False Positives 

 

Right I understand that, I guess I am looking for an acceptable timeout time.. 
30seconds seems like it would be. It becomes an issue with management when all 
day Saturday they are constantly receiving down and up alerts. When the 
application is constantly up. I made sure there wasn’t anything unusual 
running on the servers or network. But when it seems to get into a fritz it 
almost doesn’t stop until there is some manual intervention. It seems like 
when one application comes back it drags down the checks of the other 
applications, causing them to timeout. Maybe there is something to separate the 
processes,  so when one times out it doesn’t cause the rest to time out? 

 

Thank you, 

 

Anthony Laatz
Network Administrator – Answer Center America 

 

From: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:salive@woodstone.nu 
(mailto:salive@woodstone.nu)] On Behalf Of Dirk Bulinckx
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 11:12
To: Servers Alive Discussion List
Subject: RE: [SA-list] Application - False Positives 

 

That's a timeout error. 

It means that the (remote) server didn't respond within the given timeout. 

 

We can't say for sure that the process is running (we're talking about a 
process check), so we can't set an UP on that entry, that's why you get a DOWN. 
 

 

A DOWN should be interpreted as being "NOT sure it's UP". 

 

 

dirk 

 

 

From: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:salive@woodstone.nu 
(mailto:salive@woodstone.nu)] On Behalf Of Laatz, Anthony
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 4:56 PM
To: Servers Alive Discussion List
Subject: RE: [SA-list] Application - False Positives 

 

ERR:  1460 

Enterprise Version 6.2.2279 

 

Thank you, 

 

Anthony Laatz
Network Administrator – Answer Center America 

 

From: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:salive@woodstone.nu 
(mailto:salive@woodstone.nu)] On Behalf Of Dirk Bulinckx
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 09:31
To: Servers Alive Discussion List
Subject: RE: [SA-list] Application - False Positives 

 

And what does SA show as reason for the down? 

And what exact version/build of SA are you using? 

 

 

dirk 

 

From: Servers Alive Discussion List [mailto:salive@woodstone.nu 
(mailto:salive@woodstone.nu)] On Behalf Of Laatz, Anthony
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 3:56 PM
To: Servers Alive Discussion List
Subject: [SA-list] Application - False Positives 

 

I’ve noticed more recently that we are starting to get a lot of false 
positives when SA is checking to see if an application is running. We have SA 
checking every 2 minutes during the day and every 3 overnight and weekend. It 
was checking every minute on off hours but we had 12 hours of false positives 
flood us this past weekend. I have increased the timeout for the application 
check to 30 seconds, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. I also configured SA 
to not report an application down until two checks in a row fail.  Does anyone 
have any ideas on how to reduce or eliminate the number of false positives? 

 

Thank you, 

 

Anthony Laatz | Network Administrator 

Answer Center America, Inc. | Phone: (800) 270-7030 | Private Fax: (866) 
827-8802 

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