Prior to SMartServer 3.5, the alarms and events widget was called alarms.

The SmartServer has built-in alarming that allows you to see alarms in the CMS Alarms and Events widget and to receive alarm emails. Every alarm type only shows up once in the Alarms and Events widget for each target even if the alarm criteria has occurred more than once.

You can define custom datapoint value alarm conditions for datapoint values exceeding high and low limits as described in Editing Datapoint Value Alarm Conditions in Defining Datapoint Properties, and you can specify warning and error levels for the custom datapoint value alarm conditions.

You can also set up e-mail notifications for alarms as described in Setting up Alarm Email Notifications. 

See also Alarm and Event Management.

This section includes of the following tasks:

Viewing Alarm Notifications

Once an alarm occurs it will appear in the Alarms and Events widget for a specific target (device or datapoint) as shown below. You must first clear this alarm in order to see another occurrence in the Alarms and Events widget for this same alarm type for that specific target. Even though only one entry appears in the Alarms and Events widget, you will receive an email each time the alarm criteria is met. Click the Expand button () to see a wider view of the widget. 

For example, a datapoint has up to four alarms types: Low Warning, Low Error, High Warning, and High Error. You will only see one entry for each alarm type in the Alarms and Events widget for a specific datapoint. However, you can see the same alarm type for multiple datapoints. You will receive an email every time an alarm criteria is met, so you can get multiple emails for any alarm type.

Datapoint alarms are defined in the Datapoint Properties widget and may also be defined in a DLA file. To disable an alarm type do not specify an alarm (leave the entry blank) in the DLA file.

Alarms are only supported for scalar datapoints; datapoints with multi-fields are not supported. If you need alarms for multi-field datapoints (e.g., SNVT_switch) then you should consider using a SmartServer internal app.

Exporting Alarm Notifications

To export alarm notifications, perform the following steps:

1. Open the SmartServer CMS.
   
   

2. Open the Alarms and Events widget. Click the Expand button ().

   
   
   

3. Click the Export Alarms button ().
   
   The Export Alarms view appears.
   
   
   
   

4. Set the report parameters:
   
   

   • Active Only – enable slider for active alarms or disable slider for all alarms
   • Period – specify the time period for the alarms report
   • Format – select PDF or CSV file format
     
     
     
     
5. Click EXPORT.
   
   An alarm report in CSV or PDF file format is stored to your computer and is shown in the following PDF example.
   
   

Viewing Active Alarms

You can view active alarms in the Alarms and Events widget. Active refers to alarm conditions that are on-going. For example, if a high-error datapoint value alarm for a temperature datapoint is set for 100 degrees, and the current measured temperature is greater than 100 degrees, then the alarm is active. If the current measured temperature is less than 100 degrees, then the alarm is not active.

To view active alarms, follow these steps:

1. Open the SmartServer CMS.
   
   

2. Open the Alarms and Events widget. Click the Expand button ().
   
   
   
   

3. Click the Set Filters button (). 
   
   The Set Filters view appears.
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Add Filter button ().
   
   The Active Only setting appears.
   
   
   
   
5. Set the Filter value setting to Yes using the pulldown menu.
   
   
   
   
6. Optionally, use the Add Filter button () to add more filter settings.
   
   
7. Click APPLY FILTERS. Only active alarms will appear on the display. 
   
   To clear the Active Only filter setting, click the clear filter button () or the Remove All Filters button ().
   
   
   

Clearing Alarms

You can clear alarms from the Alarms and Events widget as described in the steps below. This process only removes alarms from the CMS; it does not remove alarms from the database. To clear alarms from the database, see Pruning and Deleting Monitoring Event Logs and Data Logs.

This process also does not clear the alarm action. The alarm will remain active without generating new notifications until it is deactivated. In order for the another alarm occurrence to appear in the Alarms and Events widget, a deactivation condition must first be met. A deactivation condition negates the activation condition.

To clear alarms from the Alarms and Events widget, perform the steps below.

1. Open the SmartServer CMS.
   
   

2. Open the Alarms and Events widget. Click the Expand button ().

   
   
   

3. Click the checkmark(s) for the alarms to be cleared, or click the Select All button () to select all alarms.

   The checkmark(s) changes from blue to yellow.
   
   
   
   

4. Click the Clear Selected Active Alarms button for multiple alarms, or Clear Alarm button () for a single alarm.
   
   A confirmation dialog box appears.
   
   
   
   
5. Click OK to clear the selected active alarm(s).
   
   The updated Alarms and Events widget appears.