This Article explains how to post Events with XML Request Files.

For Argent AT, the Argent Console processes each file written to the directory below:

drive:\Argent\ArgentConsole\XML_REQUEST

What is the format of the XML files? To find samples, navigate to:

drive:\Argent\ArgentConsole\XML_REQUEST\Samples

For example, DEMO_REQUEST.XML shows how to send multiple Events to the Argent Console.

Here is a stripped-down version which posts one Event to the Argent Console:

<AAC_XML_Request		request_server	=	“REQUEST_SERVER_1”
		request_account	=	“REQUEST_ACCOUNT_1”
		vendor_product	=	“XML_REQUEST_SAMPLE”>
<AAC_Alert		relator	=	“REL_SUNOS”
		rule	=	“SCP_SUNOS_CPU_OVERLOAD”
		server	=	“FAIRFAX”
		broken_time	=	“now”
		rule_type	=	“SUNOS”
		notify_always	=	“yes”
		raise_event	=	“yes”
		priority	=	“critical”
		application	=	“UNIX”>
<summary>		Alert testing from XML (Summary)		</summary>
<detail>		Alert testing from XML (Detail)		</detail>
<comment>		sample code		</comment>
<compare>		nothing to compare		</compare>
<Alert>
		<name>ALARM_DEMO		</name>
</Alert>
<Escalation>
	<fire wait_minute=”3″>		MSG_DEMO	</fire>
</Escalation>
</AAC_Alert>
</AAC_XML_Request>

When building your XML Files, the following tags are needed:

• Relator:

  The name of the Relator which caused this Event to be posted. This can be any value.

• Rule:

  The name of the Rule which caused this Event to be posted. This can be any value.

• Server:

  The name of the server or device for the Event. This can be any value.

• Broken_time:

  This is a Time/Date string value. Note: using the string “now” will force the Argent Console to use the current server time for this field.

• Rule_type:

  This is the type of rule that broke. For example: Performance, Event Log, Application Error, etc. This can be any value.

• Notify_always:

  This controls whether an alert should be fired even if the same outstanding alert exists. Values can be “yes” or “no”. Default is “yes”.

• Raise_event:

  This controls whether an event should be raised in the Argent Console or not. This is useful for customers who simply want to leverage off Argent’s alerting capabilities for their third-party applications, without generating visible events in the Argent Console. Values can be “yes” or “no”. Default is “yes”.

• Application:

  This is displayed in the Application column of the Alert Console’s Events tab. This can be any value.

• Summary:

  This is a brief description of the Event being posted. It is displayed in the Description column in the Events tab of the Argent Console.

• Detail:

  This string is a more detailed description of the Event being posted. It appears in the Event Details section of the Event.

• Alert/Name:

  This is an existing Argent Alert to be fired when the Event is posted. This needs to be an existing Alert.

• Escalation:

  This field defines one or more escalations to occur if the Event has not been answered. Fire_wait_minute specifies the number of minutes to wait before firing the escalation, and the string inside the tag is the existing Alert to be fired.

Once created, all that is needed to be processed is for the file to be written to the shared directory.

It’s useful to define a share on the Argent server.

Example

If your Argent server is named “FAIRFAX”, the UNC path to the XML Request folder would be:

\\FAIRFAX\ArgentConsole\XML_REQUEST

To test your XML Request file, simply write it to the shared directory.