Object Rules

Object Rules List

Rules are applied in the sequence in which they appear in the list from top to bottom. The rule list stops (i.e. short-circuits) when a rule is matched.

Click and in the Actions column to change the rule sequence. The list displays the following information.

• Device Group - Displays the device group/device type to which the rule applies.

• Plugin - Displays the name of the plugin to which the rule applies.

• Object Type - Displays the name of the object type to which the rule applies and displays the rule conditions.

• Subtype - Displays the name of the object subtype to which the rule applies.

• Name Expression - Displays the Perl Regular Expressions applied to the object name used to define the rule.

• Description Expression - Displays the Perl Regular Expressions applied to the object type description used to define the rule.

• Case Sensitive - Displays Yes if the rule is case sensitive or displays No if the rule is not case sensitive.

• Notes - Displays notes you enter for the rule to explain the purpose of the rule.

• Status - Displays whether discovery should include, exclude, or block objects to which the rule applies.

  • Exclude means that the object will be disabled by the rule. However, the object will be stored in the database.

  • Include means that the object will be included by the rule.

  • Block means that the object goes through the discovery process however, no information of the object discovered will be stored in the database.

  Important considerations

  • The advantage of Exclude over Block is that it allows you to enable the object without re-discovery. For example, for troubleshooting purposes.

  • The disadvantage of Exclude over Block is that it requires (minimal) additional storage for objects. As a rule of thumb, you can have approximately 3x your object license limit of disabled objects. For example, PAS200k can have up to 600k disabled objects.

• Enabled - Displays the status of the rule. Rules can be enabled or disabled at your discretion.

Manage Object Rules

You create object rules to define exceptions to the normal object discovery. The global rule to include the All Device Groups, appears at the bottom of the list and you cannot edit, delete, or move the global rule.

The rules you define on the Object Rules page override the interface synchronization settings you define on the Cluster Manager > Cluster Settings tab and in the SNMP plugin definition on the Edit Device page. For details, please refer to section Edit Device in SevOne NMS User Guide.

1. Click Add Rule or click to display the Add/Edit Rule pop-up.

   Object rules can exclude, include, or block the polling of objects.

2. Click the Device Group or Type drop-down and select the device group/device type to which to apply the rule.

3. Click the Plugin drop-down and select the plugin that polls the object type to report on.

4. Click the Object Type drop-down and select an object type.

5. Click the Subtype drop-down and select an object subtype, when applicable.

6. Click the Match the object name with this expression drop-down

   • Select Match to define the rule to apply when the object name expression matches the expression you enter in the text field.

   • Select Do Not Match to define the rule to apply when the object name expression does not match the expression you enter in the text field.

7. In the text field enter the Perl Regular Expressions to either match or not match. Leave this field blank to not use the object name expression in the rule.

8. Click the Match the object description with this expression drop-down.

   • Select Match to define the rule to apply when the object description expression matches the expression you enter in the text field.

   • Select Do Not Match to define the rule to apply when the object description expression does not match the expression you enter in the text field.

9. In the text field enter the Perl Regular Expressions to either match or not match. Leave this field blank to not use the object name expression in the rule.

10. Select the Case Sensitive check box to apply the rule only when the Perl regular expression matches/does not match including upper and lower case of the letters you enter.

11. Click the Enabled check box to enable the rule.

12. Click the Status drop-down and select Include, Exclude, or Block.

13. In the Notes field, enter a note to associate with the rule.

14. Click Save.