10.3  Sending Notifications to Email Addresses

SEA notifys you about events by automatically sending SMTP email copies of problem reports to the addresses you specify. Although there are no restrictions on what addresses you can list, you probably do not want to send problem reports across the open Internet to recipients outside your company firewall. For example, to reach HP Services, use one of the secure service offerings described in Section 10.4 Sending Notifications to HP Services instead of sending problem reports to a service representative's email address.

For email notifications to work, the system must have connectivity to an SMTP server on the TCP/IP network, or it must be an SMTP server itself. Describing how to configure different systems as SMTP servers is beyond the scope of this manual, so see the given operating system documentation if you need help in this area.

10.3.1  Settings

During installation, WEBES asks for an SMTP server address, and for the email addresses that you want to send reports to. Without valid addresses, SEA cannot send email notifications.

After installation, you can change these settings by editing the NotifyCA.txt file in a text editor. The NotifyCA.txt file is stored at the following location, depending on your operating system:

The basic format of the NotifyCA.txt file is as follows:

SERVER=smtp.server.xyzcompany.com
FROM=sendername@xyzcompany.com
TO=username1@mailaddress1.com; username2@mailaddress2.com
CC=username3@mailaddress3.com

For changes to the NotifyCA.txt file to take effect, save the file, and stop and restart the Director (see Sections 3.8 and 3.7).

UNIX Configuration Issue

If your UNIX environment does not allow for SMTP forwarding using the normal protocol, add the following line to the NotifyCA.txt file:

CMD=mailx -s '%s' %t

You are free to substitute a different mail-sending command for mailx, if desired. SEA transparently replaces %s with the subject line of the problem report, and %t with all "TO" addresses, when forming the email message.

10.3.2  Disabling Email Notifications

Caution


Events may continue to occur even though you have chosen not to notify anyone.


Email notifications are enabled by default, and perform correctly provided that you entered valid SMTP server and email addresses during installation (or when editing NotifyCA.txt after installation).

Follow these steps to disable email notifications, if desired:

  1. Start the web interface.
  2. Uncheck the "autoStart" checkbox in the SMTP Notification service configuration attributes.
  3. Stop and restart the Director (see Sections 3.8 and 3.7).

The Notification service does not start when the Director restarts, and SEA does not send problem report emails. See Chapter 9 for details about this configuration setting.

10.3.3  Re-enabling Email Notifications

Email notifications are enabled by default, and perform correctly provided that you entered valid SMTP server and email addresses during installation (or when editing NotifyCA.txt after installation).

Follow these steps to re-enable email notifications, if they were disabled as described in Section 10.3.2 Disabling Email Notifications:

  1. Start the web interface.
  2. Check the "autoStart" checkbox in the SMTP Notification service configuration attributes.
  3. Stop and restart the Director (see Sections 3.8 and 3.7).

The Notification service starts when the Director restarts, and SEA sends problem report emails. See Chapter 9 for details about this configuration setting.

10.3.4  Open Service Event Manager

HP Open Service Event Manager (OSEM) provides another way to send local email copies of SEA problem reports. OSEM emails arrive in addition to those that SEA sends on its own, but the OSEM Viewer can consolidate problem report viewing for several systems at a site.

OSEM local email cannot be used in conjunction with remote reporting to HP Services using ISEE as described in Section 10.4.3 Instant Support Enterprise Edition.

See the OSEM documentation for details.