Alerts¶
Schedule checks and automated actions against your BusinessObjects environments, and get an e-mail when they fire.
License and permission
The Alerts tab appears when your license includes the BusinessObjects client features and your MetaMiner role grants Tab: Alerts. This permission applies to all environment types, so it must be granted on every loaded environment; one environment without it hides the tab. Alert actions that change BusinessObjects content also need the matching permission (for example Delete, Purge Report Data, Modify User Aliases). A Basic Edition license allows at most 5 alerts. See Permissions Reference and Editions and Licensing.
How it works¶
An alert is a definition stored on the MetaMiner Server (MMS): an environment (or Global), a type, a schedule and notification settings. The server runs each enabled alert at its scheduled times, records every run in the alert history, and sends e-mail according to the alert's notification settings.
Tab layout¶
Image of the Alerts tab with alerts grouped, showing Type, Last Run, Successful Runs, Next Run and Schedule columns
../../images/client/alerts-tab.png
| Area | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Toolbar | Reload (reload alerts from the server), New Alert..., Import (alert files), export of the alert list. |
| Alerts table | Alerts by group with Name, Type, Modified By, Modified On, Last Run, Successful Runs, Next Run, Schedule and e-mail recipients. |
Alert types¶
| Type | Available for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Script | An environment or Global | Runs a query against the MetaMiner Database (MMDB). Fires when the query returns rows; can run actions on the returned objects (see below). |
| SQL Script (Audit DB) | An environment with an audit database | Runs a query against the environment's CMS audit database. |
| URL | An environment or Global | Calls an http or https URL and checks the response. |
| Report Refresh | An environment | Refreshes one Web Intelligence report without prompts (Choose Webi Report Without Prompts, Timeout: in seconds) and reports failures. |
| Server Availability | An environment | Watches one BusinessObjects server (Choose Server) and notifies when it is unavailable. Cannot be run on demand. |
| Webi Real time Session Clean up | An environment | On a chosen Server:, Clear the orphan sessions and/or clear sessions running longer than Session timeout. |
Info
Tableau alert types appear only for Tableau environments and are described in the Tableau documentation.
Create an alert¶
- Open the Alerts tab and click New Alert.... The Add New Alert dialog opens with the tabs General, Schedule and Notifications.
- On General, enter Name:, choose the Environment: (or Global), the Type: and the Group:.
- Fill in the type-specific fields, for example the SQL (Modify SQL Script), the URL, the report or the server.
- On Schedule, click Modify Schedule and set Repeats (Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Every weekday (Monday to Friday), Weekly, Monthly), Every, Starts on and Ends (Never, after a number of occurrences, or on a date). Next runs previews upcoming runs.
- On Notifications, set the e-mail options (see below). Click Test Notifications to send a test.
- Tick Alert enabled and click OK.
- Right-click the alert and choose Run Now to test it. MetaMiner reports "Alert executed successfully", "Alert executed successfully with No Results!" or "Alert execution failed".
Image of the Add New Alert dialog, General tab, SQL Script type with action checkboxes
../../images/client/alert-new-sql.png
SQL Script actions¶
An SQL Script alert can act on the objects its query returns. Most actions need an OBJECTID column (integer) and a
CMSID column (string) in the result; MetaMiner validates the columns when you save.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Delete object(s), purge Inbox, empty groups/folders | Deletes the objects whose IDs the query returns. Needs Delete on the environment. |
| Purge report data | Purges the saved data of the returned Web Intelligence reports. |
| Add enterprise alias | Adds an Enterprise alias to the returned users; the alert description is used as the password. Options: Password never expires, User must change password on next login, User can not change password. |
| Disable Users | Disables the returned users. |
| Copy user preferences | Copies preferences from a source user (its OBJECTID in the alert description) to the returned users. |
| Modify Owner | Changes the owner of the returned objects. |
| Update Webi properties | Updates properties of the returned Web Intelligence documents. |
| Pause Instance (Schedule) / Re-Run Instance | Pauses or re-runs the returned scheduled instances. Pausing needs Pause/Resume Schedule. |
| Save (ZIP or Archive with folder structure, Folder name:) | Saves the returned documents to disk. Basic Edition: up to 3 files per ZIP. |
| Extract Security Data (role access) | Extracts role access for the returned objects. |
| Write to metrics DB | Writes the query result to the metrics database used by Pulse dashboards. |
Destructive actions
Delete object(s), purge Inbox, empty groups/folders can permanently remove data from the BI platform. Test the query in Meta Query first, run the alert manually, and keep a current backup.
TODO: confirm which actions need which columns and permissions, and describe Use Workflow rules and Update Webi properties
Source to check: alert panel tooltips and the server alert processor.
Notification options¶
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| Enabled? | Sends e-mail for this alert. To: is then required. |
| To:, Cc:, Bcc:, Message | Recipients and message text. |
| Send only on failure | Sends only when the run fails. |
| Include SQL result in a message? | Puts the query result in the e-mail body. |
| Include SQL result as attachment? | Attaches the result, Send as CSV or Send as Excel. |
| Personalize SQL result using EMAIL_ADDRESS? | Sends each recipient only the rows whose EMAIL_ADDRESS column matches them. |
| Include screenshot as attachment? | Attaches a screenshot of the checked page or report, where the alert type supports it. |
Mail goes through the SMTP server set in Email settings.
Manage alerts¶
Right-click an alert:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Modify... | Edits the alert. The type cannot be changed. |
| Clone... | Copies the alert. |
| Delete... | Deletes the alert. |
| Enable... / Disable... | Turns scheduling on or off. |
| Run Now | Runs the alert immediately. |
| Reset Run Count | Resets the successful-run counter (a schedule with a fixed number of occurrences runs again). |
| Reset Status | Clears the last status. |
| View Alert History | Lists runs and changes: Alert Name, Action Type, Action On, Action ended, Duration, Action By, Emails. |
Troubleshooting¶
Your MetaMiner license does not allow you to create more than 5 alerts
Basic Edition limit. Delete or reuse an alert, or upgrade the license.
Audit DB is not configured for the selected environment
Configure the audit database for the environment in the MetaMiner Administrator (MMA). See Audit and CMS Databases.
Alert could be saved but could not be enabled
Set a valid schedule in Modify Schedule and enable the alert again.