EvmEvent(5)EvmEvent(5)NAMEEvmEvent - The structure of an EVM Event
DESCRIPTION
An EVM event is a self-contained data structure, which can be manipu‐
lated and accessed using EVM API functions. Application code can: Cre‐
ate, duplicate and destroy an event Set and retrieve the values of
standard data items contained within the event Add variable data items
to the event, and set and retrieve their values Post the event to the
EVM daemon for distribution to subscribers Read events from an open
file descriptor Write events to an open file descriptor
Command line utilities are provided that allow users access to these
capabilities.
The Contents of an Event
The event structure includes two types of data items: Standard data
items, with predefined names Variable data items, with names and types
defined at the time they are added to the event
When you create an event you can include as many data items as you
like. When you post the event, the API functions automatically add the
standard items which pertain to the current environment, such as the
host name and timestamp.
Standard Data Items
Standard data items are those which are commonly required in an event,
and which are understood and may be acted upon by EVM. The following
table is a list of the standard data items that may be contained in an
event. The identifier is the keyword used to post, display, or format
the item.
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Data item/Id Description
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Event Name
NAME Names the event. Must match a name
in the daemon's template database if
the event is to be posted.
Time Posted
TIMESTAMP UNIX system time when the first
occurrence of this event was gener‐
ated.
Repeat Count
REPEAT_COUNT Number of instances of the same
event that have been combined into a
single stored event. The Time
Posted and Last Timestamp items
indicate when the first and last
instances of the event were posted.
Last Timestamp
LAST_TIMESTAMP If Repeat Count is present and non-
zero, the system time when the lat‐
est occurrence of this event was
generated.
Event Identifier
EVENT_ID Identifies the event. See the
description following this table.
Host Name
HOST_NAME Name of the posting node.
Host IP Address
HOST_IP IP address of the posting node.
Cluster Event
CLUSTER_EVENT In a cluster environment, a value of
EvmTRUE indicates that the event was
posted on behalf of the cluster, not
the individual node, and will be
distributed to every node in the
cluster.
Cluster Name
CLUSTER_NAME In a cluster environment, the name
of the posting cluster.
Cluster IP Address
CLUSTER_IP In a cluster environment, the IP
address of the posting cluster.
Cluster Member ID
MEMBER_ID In a cluster environment, the node's
cluster ID.
Kernel Only
KERNEL_ONLY If present and EvmTRUE for an event
generated in the kernel, the event
will not be propagated from the ker‐
nel to user space.
Process ID
PID PID of the process which posted the
event.
Parent Process ID
PPID PID of the parent of the process
which posted the event.
User name
USER_NAME Name of the owner of the posting
process.
Priority
PRIORITY Indicates the importance of the
event. Does not affect the order of
event distribution. See the
description following this table.
I18N catalog
I18N_CATALOG Name of I18N catalog file for inter‐
nationalized events.
I18N message set id
I18N_SET_ID Identifies the message set within
the I18N message catalog.
I18N message id
I18N_MSG_ID I18N message id for the event.
Format
FORMAT Event format text. See the
EvmEventFormat(3) and evmtemplate(4)
reference pages for a description of
the format string.
Reference
REF Reference to event explanation text.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Event Name
The event name is the primary means of identifying an event. It must
be present for an event to be posted. Although it can be any syntacti‐
cally-valid string, the name should generally identify the posting
facility and indicate what happened.
The event name is an ASCII character string, made up of a dot-separated
series of components, with the left-most component representing the top
of a notational hierarchy. Component substrings may include any combi‐
nation of letters, digits and underbar characters. There is no restric‐
tion on the number of components that can be included in an event name.
An event template must contain at least two components. An event must
contain at least three components to be accepted for posting.
The naming scheme provides an open-ended way to identify events, let‐
ting you provide detail to any level. Careful naming gives the system
administrator an intuitive and precise way to select events for viewing
and monitoring and facilitates the identification of the system compo‐
nents which issue events and the recognition of patterns that warn of
problems. The more detail included in the event name, the more precise
the specification criteria can be.
Event Identifier
The event identifier data item is a numeric quantity, assigned to an
event by the EVM daemon as the event is posted. In combination with
the host and timestamp data items, the value can be used to produce a
unique identity for an event.
The daemon assigns identifiers according to the following rules: Each
posted event receives an unsigned integer event identification number,
with a value greater by one than that of the previous event posted
through the same EVM daemon. The event identifier of the first event
posted after the daemon is started or restarted is zero. The event
identifier wraps back to zero after it has reached its maximum value.
If a daemon receives an event that already contains an identifier, it
does not generate a new identifier for the event. This may happen if
the event is a cluster event posted in another node. New event identi‐
fiers are assigned only to events which the daemon validates and
accepts for distribution. If an event is accepted and does not already
contain an identifier, a new identifier is assigned to it even if there
are no subscribers for the event.
Event Priority
EVM uses an event's priority value solely for filtering, sorting and
presentation purposes - it does not use it to prioritize the distribu‐
tion sequence. The priority is an integer value in the range 0-700,
with zero being the least significant priority. This table indicates
the event priority, the default action taken by evmlogger for that pri‐
ority, and a description of the priority.
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Default
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EVM Priority/Name Notification Description
700
Emergency Log, mail to root A dangerous situation
has been detected and
immediate action either
is required or has been
taken.
600 - 699
Alert Log, mail to root A dangerous situation
is imminent and immedi‐
ate action either is
required or has been
taken.
500 - 599
Critical Log, mail to root A failure has been
detected that renders
some part of the system
inoperable.
400 - 499
Error Log A non-critical failure
has been detected in or
by some component of
the system or applica‐
tion.
300 - 399
Warning Log Some aspect of the sys‐
tem or application
requires attention.
200 - 299
Notice Log Notification of an
expected operational
event that the compo‐
nent is designed to
deal with.
100 - 199
Information None A normal operational
event - for example, an
application has started
or terminated normally.
Events in this range
typically will not be
saved in the system EVM
log file.
1 - 99
Debug None Program debug informa‐
tion. Events in this
range may be monitored
for informational pur‐
poses, but typically
will not be saved in
the system EVM log
file.
0
None Application Priority 0 should be
used for events that
are specifically
intended to be sub‐
scribed to by programs,
and are not expected to
be interesting to
administrators.
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Catalog Name and Message Set Id
If you plan to internationalize your events, you will need to supply an
I18N catalog file containing the format strings for all of the events,
and include the name of the file in the event. You also can break the
file into multiple message sets, and give the message set id in the
event - but note that all messages pertaining to a particular event
must belong to the same set. If all events described in a single tem‐
plate file use messages from the same catalog or message set or both,
you will probably want to supply these items as global values, so that
you need only to specify them once.
Cluster event
You should set the cluster event data item only if your application is
cluster-aware, and is posting the event on behalf of the cluster,
rather than an individual node. Cluster events are distributed to all
nodes in the cluster.
Formatting an Event for Display
Although an event is an opaque binary structure, it can be formatted
into a human-readable string by using the evmshow(1) command or by
calling the EvmEventFormat(3) function. Formatting is essential for
human-oriented output, but may not be necessary for an application pro‐
gram that will simply extract any variable data the event contains, and
take the necessary action.
The starting point for formatting an event is the format data item. A
format is a text string that may contain a simple piece of text, the
names of standard data items, or the names of variables whose values
are to be substituted into the text, or any combination of these.
You include variable names for substitution by preceding them with a $
character - for example $temp. You include standard data items by pre‐
ceding their names with @ - for example, @timestamp.
The EvmEventFormat(3) routine automatically converts data items or
variables into displayable form, regardless of their types.
You can escape the special meaning of a $ or @ characters in the format
text by preceding it with a backslash (\). To include a literal back‐
slash in the text, use a double backslash.
If an event does not include a format data item, formatting it will
result in a default text string that includes the event name and any
variables the event may contain.
If the event includes a repeat count, then the repeat count is
prepended to the output in the form [repeat_counttimes].
Variable Data Items
You can use variable data items in your events to provide data that may
be different each time the event is posted.
You can give the variable any name you like - the name is a string that
is carried with the event, and can be used by a subscriber to extract
the data in its original form. A variable name can be made up of any
combination of upper or lower case alphanumeric characters and the
underscore character. By convention, names beginning with an under‐
score are reserved for system use.
EVM's variable data items have these properties: A name A type A value
A size (implicit for most types) An I18N message id (for string vari‐
ables only)
The following table shows the variable types that EVM supports:
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Type Identification Remarks
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EvmTYPE_BOOLEAN 8-bit integer
EvmTYPE_CHAR 8-bit character
EvmTYPE_INT16 16-bit signed integer
EvmTYPE_INT32 32-bit signed integer
EvmTYPE_INT64 64-bit signed integer
EvmTYPE_UINT8 8-bit unsigned integer
EvmTYPE_UINT16 16-bit unsigned integer
EvmTYPE_UINT32 32-bit unsigned integer
EvmTYPE_UINT64 64-bit unsigned integer
EvmTYPE_FLOAT 32-bit floating point value
EvmTYPE_DOUBLE 64-bit floating point value
EvmTYPE_STRING Null-terminated character string
EvmTYPE_OPAQUE Binary data - cannot be interpreted
directly. The size must be specified
explicitly.
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RESTRICTIONS
Data types EvmTYPE_FLOAT and EvmTYPE_DOUBLE cannot be used for events
posted within the kernel.
SEE ALSO
Commands: evmshow(1)
Routines: EvmEventFormat(3)
Files: evmtemplate(4)
Event Management: EVM(5)EvmEvent(5)