Smarts IP/SAM: Smarts SAM Last Notify attribute is not updated when "Certainty" changes for an event in Smarts IP; Problem active in Smarts IP is not in Smarts SAM console

Products

• VMware Smart Assurance

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:




Smarts SAM Last Notify attribute is not updated when "Certainty" changes for an event in Smarts IP

Smarts IP correlates a problem that remains active within Smarts IP but that does not appear in the Smarts SAM console

Smarts SAM Notification appears within the Smarts SAM console showing a different date than the Smarts IP Certainty growth date

Smarts SAM Last Notify date does not match the Smarts IP Certainty growth date

Environment

VMware Smart Assurance - SMARTS

Cause

This can occur when Smarts IP correlates a problem with a very low Certainty value. The problem can stay active within Smarts IP, but not appear in Smarts SAM console because Smarts SAM has a higher minCertainty value. Consider the following example:

1. Smarts IP correlates a problem a low certainty of 2%.
2. This problem would stay active within Smarts IP, but not appear in Smarts SAM which had a minCertainty of 10%.
3. Should the problem really occur, its Certainty could improve to 80%, for example.
4. A notification would then appear within Smarts SAM console for the problem because the problem had crossed the Smarts SAM minCertainty value threshold.

The end result is that the Smarts SAM "Last Notify" date will not match the Smarts IP Certainty growth date. Instead, the Smarts SAM "Last Notify" date matches the date the problem got correlated in Smarts IP for the first time (for this example, when the problem appeared with Certainty=2%)

Resolution

Smarts is functioning as designed. Smarts SAM does not treat all Certainty changes as Notify events. Smarts SAM takes the Last Notify attribute from Smarts IP, which means that the LastNotify time is taken from the original time of the notification in Smarts IP. For example, this design accounts appropriately for a notification that is already notified in Smarts SAM and changes its certainty from 80% to 100%. In a normal environment, EMC Smarts Engineering does not believe that this certainty change would warrant a change in LastNotify time.

Changing this Smarts behavior to account for low Certainty values would require treating a certainty change that crosses the minimum Certainty threshold in either direction differently than the current way a certainty change is handled. Therefore, this functionality change would be considered an enhancement to the Smarts software. If you require this functionality, you can submit an enhancement request.