Current Alarms

The Current Alarms page shows all current, or open, alarms for this asset, for the filter criteria selected. Current alarms are those alarms in one of the following states: started, escalated, or acknowledged. If no filtering has been applied, the page shows ALL current alarms. Alarms remain "current" until their states are changed to "closed". At that point, they are visible only in the Historical Alarms page.

Notes:

By default the table shows a maximum of 1000 alarms. This value is configurable in the System Properties. See System Configuration for more information.

Current alarms are also visible in the Historical Alarms page.

o Name - of the alarm. If notes exist for the alarm, $image\alarmnotes.gif$ appears after the name. If a single file was uploaded with the alarm, $image\file_alarm_assoc_single.gif$ (single file) appears after the file name; click the icon to download or view the file. If multiple files were uploaded with the alarm, $image\file_alarm_assoc_multiple.gif$ (multiple files) appears after the name; click this icon to display the Uploaded Files page for this asset, where you can view all uploaded files associated with this alarm.

For alarms sent by Axeda® Agents, this field shows the name of the analog or digital data item whose value triggered the alarm. If the Agent sent a custom alarm, this field shows the name assigned to the custom alarm in the Agent configuration. If the Agent forwarded an alarm that was generated by a driver running on the asset (a "dynamic" alarm), this field shows the name of the alarm as sent by the driver.

For alarms sent by Axeda® IDM Agents , the alarm name is "FaultGeneratedByAsset". To view the four components of the alarm, click the name of the alarm. The Alarm Details window appears. The Description field on this page contains the alarm components.

o Description - if provided with the alarm instance, user-defined information about this alarm. If this text is longer than the field can hold, the text is truncated to fit the field and an ellipsis is displayed. You can move the cursor over the ellipsis to view the complete text.

For an Axeda Gateway or Axeda Connector Agent, the information shown in this field depends on the main category of alarm (analog, digital, custom, or dynamic). Click here for details; click again to hide the details.

For an Axeda IDM Agent, this field shows the four components of a fault (alarm): code, abstract, description, and detail. Click here for an example that shows how they would appear; click again to hide the example.

If expression rules have been written for the Axeda IDM Agents to take this alarm information and generate new alarms, using the information, then this field will show only the information provided in the Description component of the fault.

§ ErrorCode=<fault error code>

§ Abstract=<fault abstract>

§ Description=<fault description>

§ Detail=<fault detail>

Analog alarms -- If the alarm is a Value alarm, this field shows the Description entered for the Value Level (LoLo, Low, HiHi, or High) in Axeda® Builder. If this alarm is a Deviation alarm, this field shows the Description entered for the Minor Deviation or Major Deviation in Builder.
Digital alarms -- This field shows the text entered for the Message in the configuration of the Digital Alarm Style in Builder.
Custom alarms -- This field shows the text entered for the Message in the configuration of the Custom Alarm Style in Builder.
Dynamic alarms -- This field shows whatever the driver sent for a message.

o Date - the date that the alarm was created at the Platform. For example, "10/31/10 10:58 AM".

o Severity - a numeric value assigned to this alarm, as configured for this alarm condition; this value can range from 0 to 1000 and provides a means for filtering the list of alarms and for triggering other functionality (for example, rules that trigger based on alarm severity values).

o Type - type of alarm, such as HiHi or LoLo (for example, if the related data item reached a value range defined as HiHi).

Started -- the alarm has been received at the Platform.
Escalated -- a user has changed the state of the alarm to "escalated"; the meaning of "escalated" is up to the individual companies using the Axeda applications.
Acknowledged -- a user has changed the state of the alarm to "acknowledged", which can mean that the user has seen the alarm and is working on it.

o Data Item Name - name of the actual data item whose value met the alarm criteria, thereby triggering this alarm.

Procedures from this page

From this page, you can filter the table of alarms to include only alarms that meet selected search criteria; select to view and edit details for an alarm; view files uploaded with an alarm; acknowledge, escalate, or close selected alarms; display the Alarm Definitions page for the asset, where you can change the initial disposition for future instances of the alarm; and view the Historical Alarms page.

Click the title of a procedure to display it; click the title again to hide the procedure:

To filter the table of alarms

1. Click Filters to show the filter boxes, if not shown.

2. To view all alarms for the asset, click Filter without typing any search values.

3. To perform a simple search of the Platform, do one or more of the following and then click Filter:

§ In the box above the Name column, start typing the name of the alarm(s) to include in the search. This field uses Axeda Smart Suggest, so you can select from a list of matching alarm names after you type a few characters.

§ In the box above the Severity column, type the severity of the alarm(s) to include in the search.

§ In the box above the Type column, enter the type of the alarm to include in the search. For example, High or LoLo.

§ In the box above the Data Item Name column, type all or part of the name of the data item to use for the search. This data item is the one that triggered the alarm.

§ In the box above the Data Item Value column, type all or part of the data item value (for the alarm) you want to find.

4. To perform an advanced search, click Advanced, do one or more of the following, and then click Filter:

Start Date and Time - (optional) type or use the calendar tool ( $image\calendar_icon.gif$ ) to specify the start date for the search criteria, then type a time for the date shown. If you do not specify a time, a start time of 12:00 am (or 24:00:00) is applied to the start date. If you do not specify a date, the current date is used.

End Date and Time - (optional) type or use the calendar tool ( $image\calendar_icon.gif$ ) to specify the end date for the search criteria, then type a time for the date shown. If you do not specify a time, an end time of 11:59:59 pm (or 23:59:59) is applied to the end date. If you do not specify a date, the current date is used.

From the Alarm State list, select one of the following options to use for the search: All Current Alarms (Started, Escalated, Acknowledged), Acknowledged Alarms, Started Alarms, or Escalated Alarms.

The Platform finds all alarms that contain the search value(s) defined by your criteria (for this asset) and shows them in the table.

To view notes or add notes to alarms

If a note exists for a current alarm, you can view the contents of the note by pointing to the $image\alarmnotes.gif$ next to the alarm name. You can add more notes by following these steps:

1. In the Name column, select the name of the alarm to display the Alarm Details page (in a separate browser window).This page shows the properties for the alarm as well as any previously-defined notes.

2. Type a new alarm note or edit the existing one.

3. When ready, click Update to save your changes or Cancel to discard them. Either way, you return to the Current Alarms page.

To view files uploaded with an alarm

If a single file was uploaded with an alarm, you can view the contents of the file by clicking the $image\file_alarm_assoc_single.gif$ next to the alarm name. In the file dialog box for your Platform, select to open or download the file.

If multiple files were uploaded with an alarm, click the $image\file_alarm_assoc_multiple.gif$ icon next to the alarm name. The Uploaded Files page for this asset is displayed, where all files uploaded with an alarm display the icon, $image\icon_alarm.gif$ . Clicking the name of a file displays the file dialog box for your system. From there, you can open or download the file.

To view and edit details for an alarm (including changing the state and severity)

When you select the name of an alarm, the Alarm Details page appears in a separate window. From this page, you can change the state and severity of the alarm and you can add general notes about the alarm and notes about state changes. You can also view a history of state changes in this page.

To change the state and severity of a single current alarm:

1. Click the name of the alarm.

2. When the Alarm Details page appears (in a separate browser window), select the state change you want to make (Acknowledge, Escalate, or Close - if the state is currently Escalated, then the Escalate option is not available).

3. In the State Change Notes field, type a note about the change.

4. In the Severity field, select the current severity and type a new one. The valid range is 0 to 1000.

5. Click Update to save the change and return to the Current Alarms page. If you selected to change the state to "Closed," the alarm is removed from this page and sent to the Historical Alarms page.

To change the state of more than one current alarm but not all current alarms:

1. Select the check boxes of those alarms in the rightmost column, and then click the Update Checked Alarms button (below the table, on the right side).

2. In the dialog box, select the state change you want to make and type a note about the change.

3. Click Update to save the changes and return to the Current Alarms page. If you selected to change the state to "Closed," the alarms are removed from this page and sent to the Historical Alarms page.

To change the state of all current alarms:

1. Select the check box in the heading for the column of check boxes. This action selects all current alarms.

2. Click Update Checked Alarms.

3. In the dialog box, select the state change you want to make and type a note about the change.

4. Click Update to save the changes and return to the Current Alarms page. If you selected to change the state to "Closed," the alarms are removed from this page and sent to the Historical Alarms page.

To change the initial disposition of alarms for this asset

To change the initial disposition for an alarm definition for this asset, click the Manage Alarms link below the table. From the Alarm Definitions page, you can disable, suppress, enable, or unsuppress future instances of alarms for this asset.

To view the Historical Alarms page

To view the Historical Alarms page, either click Historical Search below the table or select Historical Alarms from the Jump To list above the table. The Historical Alarms page appears.

Tips

o When typing times and dates, apply the format identified per your User Preferences.

o Select an option from the Jump to list to see more information or actions for the asset If the asset is muted, you will be restricted to viewing only those pages that do not contain functionality that will result in communications to the muted asset. If the asset is unmuted, all pages to which you have privileges are available. For example, click Available scripts to see a list of all scripts registered for this asset as well as the names of the script authors and descriptions of each script. The options in this list vary from asset to asset.

o The maximum number of rows supported for returning Platform search results for this type of table is defined in your user preferences, Items Per Page setting (Long table or Short table).

o Use the table navigation tools to view different pages and information in the table.

o Use $image\icon_refresh.gif$ (Refresh link) beside the table navigation tools to refresh the page with the latest Platform results. (Browser Refresh tools do not update the table.)