Working with Templates

Foglight supports the following operations against templates:

Creating a new template

Foglight supports two methods for creating new templates:

The primary difference between the two methods is that duplicating an existing template copies any custom configurations in that template, while creating a new template uses the domain defaults.

When creating a new template, the default alarm configuration for the selected domains will be populated. Any changes to the default configuration will be applied to targets of this template. Future changes to the default alarms will not be applied to the new template.

To create a new template:

  1. In the templates panel, click to open the Create Alarm Template dialog.
  2. Enter a template name and description.
  3. From the Domains drop-down list, select the domains to apply to the template.
  4. Click Create. The new template will be displayed.
  5. Make any desired changes to the template. For more information refer to Viewing template information and Attaching Targets to Templates.

Duplicating a template

To duplicate a template:

  1. In the templates panel, hover over the template you want to duplicate. The more actions icon will appear. Click on the icon to view the available actions.
  2. Click Duplicate. The Duplicate Alarm Template dialog box appears.
  3. In the Alarm Template Name field, enter the new name of the template.
  4. In the Description field, enter the appropriate description.
  5. From the Domains drop-down list select the domains to which the new template should apply. When duplicating a template, the list of available domains is restricted to those included in the original template. If you are duplicating the factory template, you can select from the full list of domains. If you are duplicating a different template, then only the domains included in that template will be available.
  6. Click Create.
  7. [Optional] Set the new template as the default template. For more information refer to Setting Default Templates.

Setting Default Templates

Any alarm template can be set as the default template for the domains associated with that template. Domains can have only one default template. Any object in that domain that is not associated with another alarm template has the default template.

To set a template as default:

  1. In the templates panel, hover over the template to be used as the new default. The more actions icon will appear. Click on the icon to view the available actions.
  2. Click Set as Default.
  3. Click OK to confirm.

Additionally, you can view the current domain default templates in one dialog, and make changes as required.

To view and set domain defaults, perform one of the options mentioned below:

  • Set multiple domain defaults from the template panel:
    1. In the templates panel, click to open the Set Defaults dialog.
    2. [Optional] Toggle Don’t Show empty domains to either view all domains, or only those with targets.
    3. View the default template for each domain. Use the dropdown to assign a new default template.
    4. Click Set Defaults when finished.
  • Set one or more domain defaults from the template:
    1. In the templates panel, click a template to view it. The domains menu displays each domain to which the template applies.
    2. Next to the desired domain, click the down-arrow and click Set as Default.
    3. Click OK.

Viewing template information

Use the Info option to view a summary card containing key data points about a template. The information card displays:

  • The template name and descrition
  • The time and date the template was last modified
  • The number of assigned targets
  • The number of enabled rules.

To view template information:

  1. In the templates panel, hover over the chosen template. The more actions icon will appear. Click to view the available actions.
  2. Click Info. The template information card is displayed.

Editing templates

Alarm templates consist of a set of domain-specific rules that trigger alarms when the configured conditions are met. While editing alarm templates, you can either edit the template details (name, description, applied domains) or edit the alarms and alarm parameters.

To edit alarm template details:

  1. In the templates panel, hover over the template to be used as the new default. The more actions icon will appear. Click on the icon to view the available actions.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Modify the Alarm Template Name and Description field as required.
  4. To change domains to which the template should apply, click the Domains dropdown. Select or clear domains as required.
  5. Click Save.

To edit alarms and alarm parameters:

  1. In the template panel, click on the template you wish to edit. The template will be displayed, with the alarms grouped by domain.

  2. Click the tab for the domain you want to edit.

  3. Edit the alarms by enabling or disabling them as mentioned below:

    • Use the search function if necessary, and find the required alarm in the alarm table.
    • Toggle the On/Off setting.
      OR
    • Select the alarms using the checkbox. Use the search function if necessary. You may combine results from multiple searches.
    • A banner will display the number of selected alarms, and offer the options
      • Enable All
      • Disable All
      • Unselect All

    Click the desired option.

To edit threshold values:

  1. Using the search function if necessary, find the alarm you wish to edit in the alarm table.
  2. Hover over the alarm to view the edit icon. Click on the icon.
  3. The threshold options displayed vary based on the domain and alarm.
  4. For each threshold, you can toggle that value on or off, or change the value that will trigger the alarm.
  5. Click Apply to save changes.

Attaching Targets to Templates

Alarm template targets are infrastructure objects monitored by Foglight. By default, every target is monitored by the factory template. To change the alarm rules monitoring a target or set of targets, you can attach those targets to a different alarm template.

To attach a target to a template:

  1. In the template panel, click on the template you want to add targets to. The template is displayed, with the alarms grouped by domain.
  2. Click the desired domain. Click Targets.
  3. Click Add Target. A list of available targets for that domain is displayed.
  4. For larger environments, the list of available targets will be quite large. Use the options below to find your desired targets more easily:
    • Filter by type- Some domains offer the ability to filter targets by type. While the specific target types available differ by domain, the method to select a target type is the same. To filter by target type, click the Type dropdown and select the desired target type. Only targets of that type will be displayed.
    • Search- You may use the search function to filter targets to show only targets matching the search string. When searching for targets, Foglight will display matches for the search term in any field (Target, Current alarm template, Type, and Host).
  5. Select the desired targets. Click Add Selected Target(s). For database targets, adding a target to a template also assigns that template to the selected agent in Databases > Alarms> Alarm Template Settings.

Removing Targets from a template

Targets can only be attached to one template. To delete a template or assign a target to a new template, you must first remove it from its current template.

The system will monitor a removed target based on the rules of the domain default template once it is taken out of a template. If the removed target has a parent object assigned to a template, the monitoring will follow the template of the parent object.

To remove a target from a template:

  1. In the template panel, click on the template you wish to add targets to. The template is displayed, with the alarms grouped by domain.
  2. Click the desired domain. Click Targets.
  3. Select the target(s) to be removed.
  4. Click Remove All to remove all selected targets, or click the trash can icon to remove one target at a time.

Deleting a template

Before deleting a template, make sure that all assigned targets have been removed. For more information, refer to Removing Targets from a template.

To delete a template:

  1. In the templates panel, hover over the template you want to delete. The more actions icon appears. Click on the icon to view the available actions.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. A confirmation dialog is displayed. Click Delete. If targets are assigned to the template, an error will be displayed. If no targets are assigned, the template will be deleted