Aria Operations 8.16 recently dropped with several new features, a comprehensive list can be found in the Release Notes. In this blog, we're going to explore Intelligent Alerts: the unification of Alerts across objects, on a timeline, at a glance. For reference, here's the official What's New in Operations 8.16 blog.
Aria Operations has always been quite rich with Alerts: dozens defined out-of-the-box, dozens more consumed from vCenter, some created using static thresholds, others created using dynamic thresholds, many available for non-vSphere objects via Management Packs, some administrative in nature, and more. The trick has always been to unify those distributed alerts across a timeline at a glance, Intelligent Alerts does that!
As you can see, in Operations 8.16 we've also adjusted the Troubleshoot blade on the left to include three sections: Alerts, Workbench, and Troubleshoot. The Alerts blade then has 3 tabs of its own: Alerts, Administrative Alerts, and Intelligent Alerts. Beyond the introduction of Intelligent Alerts, Administrative Alerts has been put here, hidden a bit from the left pane.
So, what are these new Intelligent Alerts? They are Alert Clusters based on the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm. This algorithm has been configured to run every 15 minutes and relates Alerts based on time occurred and relationships of objects on which those Alerts occurred. The DBSCAN algorithm checks for new Alerts every 15 minutes and creates new or updates existing Alert Clusters.
Let's dig into one of our Intelligent Alerts.
This Intelligent Alert (INTA-F9367) Cluster has source object esxi-3.vcf.sddc.lab with a total of 37 Alerts against 22 different objects. These Alert Clusters at minimum will have at least three objects. Once clicked, you'll see Alerts in the right hand pane.
At the top there is a graph showing Alerts, including Severity, over time. At the bottom, you'll see Alert details. Clicking the Objects slider at the top gives you visibility into the original object, as well as parent and child objects with Alerts.
Clicking HOW IT STARTED gives you insight into all Alerts on all objects over a timeline, including the ability to effectively play things back. This is a powerful way to expose Alerts over time, on all objects!
And of course you always have the option to click the TROUBLESHOOT button top right to be taken to the Troubleshooting Workbench. Kudos to our Operations product team, great new feature!