--- title: Working with alarms, alerts, and gauges description: Alarms, alerts, and gauges alert administrators to changes in server conditions that might require attention. component: pingdirectory version: 11.0 page_id: pingdirectory:pingdirectory_server_administration_guide:pd_ds_alarms_alerts_gauges canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.0/pingdirectory_server_administration_guide/pd_ds_alarms_alerts_gauges.html revdate: July 18, 2024 page_aliases: ["pd_ds_view_info_alarms_backend.adoc"] section_ids: alarms: Alarms alerts: Alerts gauges: Gauges viewing-information-in-the-alarms-backend: Viewing information in the Alarms Backend about-this-task: About this task steps: Steps result: Result: --- # Working with alarms, alerts, and gauges Alarms, alerts, and gauges alert administrators to changes in server conditions that might require attention. ## Alarms An alarm represents a stateful condition of the server or a resource that might indicate a problem, such as low disk space or external server unavailability. Alarms have severity, name, and message. Alarms will always have a Condition property, and can have a Specific Problem or Resource property. If surfaced through SNMP, a Probable Cause property and Alarm Type property are also listed. You can configure alarms to generate alerts when the alarm's severity changes. You can configure the Alarm Manager, which governs the actions performed when an alarm state is entered, through the `dsconfig` tool and the admin console. A complete list of system alerts, alarms, and their severity is available in `/docs/admin-alerts-list.csv`. The server complies with the International Telecommunication Union CCITT Recommendation X.733 (1992) standard for generating and clearing alarms. If configured, entering or exiting an alarm state might result in one or more alerts. An alarm state is exited when the condition no longer applies. An `alarm_cleared` alert type is generated by the system when an alarm's severity changes from a non-normal severity to any other severity. An `alarm_cleared` alert will correlate to a previous alarm when the Condition and Resource properties are the same. The Condition corresponds to the Summary column in the `admin-alerts-list.csv` file. Like the Alerts Backend, which stores information in `cn=alerts`, the Alarm Backend stores information within the `cn=alarms` backend. Unlike alerts, alarm thresholds have a state over time that can change in severity and be cleared when a monitored value returns to normal. You can view alarms with the `status` tool. As with other alert types, you can configure alert handlers can to manage the alerts generated by alarms. ## Alerts There are two alert types supported by the server: standard and alarm-specific. The server constantly monitors for conditions that might need administrator attention, such as low disk space. For this condition, the standard alert is `low-disk-space-warning`, and the alarm-specific alert is `alarm-warning`. You can configure the server to generate alarm-specific alerts as well as standard alerts. By default, standard alerts are generated for conditions internally monitored by the server. However, gauges can only generate alarm-alerts. ## Gauges A gauge defines a set of threshold values with a specified severity that, when crossed, cause the server to enter or exit an alarm state. Numeric gauges monitor continuous values like CPU load or free disk space. Indicator gauges monitor enumerated set of values such as `server available` or `server unavailable`. Gauges generate alarms when the gauge's severity changes because of changes in the monitored value. The server installs a set of gauges that are specific to the product and that can be cloned or configured through the `dsconfig` tool. You can tailor existing gauges to fit each environment by adjusting the update interval and threshold values. Configuration of system gauges determines the criteria by which alarms are triggered. Use the Stats Logger to view historical information about the value and severity of all system gauges. For more information, see [Profiling server performance using the Stats Logger](../monitoring_the_pingdirectory_suite_of_products/pd_ds_profile_server_perf_stats_logger.html). ## Viewing information in the Alarms Backend ### About this task Use `ldapsearch` to view alarms. ### Steps * To display the listing for the CPU usage alarm, run the following command. ```shell $ bin/ldapsearch --port 1389 --bindDN "cn=Directory Manager" \ --bindPassword secret --baseDN cn=alarms "(objectclass=ds-admin-alarm)" ``` #### Result: ``` dn: ds-alarm-id=CPU Usage (Percent)-Host System,cn=alarms dn: ds-alarm-id=CPU Usage (Percent)-Host System,cn=alarms objectClass: top objectClass: ds-admin-alarm ds-alarm-id: CPU Usage (Percent)-Host System ds-alarm-condition: CPU Usage (Percent) ds-alarm-specific-resource: Host System ds-alarm-severity: CRITICAL ds-alarm-previous-severity: CRITICAL ds-alarm-details: Gauge CPU Usage (Percent) for Host System has value 99, having had a value of 83.13 in the previous interval. The severity is critical, having assumed this severity Thu Sep 25 10:24:20 CDT 2014 when the value crossed threshold 80 ds-alarm-additional-text: If CPU use is high, check the server's current workload and other processes on this system and make any needed adjustments. Reducing the load on the system will lead to better response times ds-alarm-start-time: 20140925152420.004Z ds-alarm-critical-last-time: 20140925152420.004Z ds-alarm-critical-total-duration-millis: 0 ```