Hi all,
I’d like to get some clarity on how alarm templates behave between a main element and its DVEs, specifically in a scenario involving baseline monitoring.
Current setup
Across all our customers, we currently only assign alarm templates on the main element (protocol level).
When DVEs are enabled under that element, they automatically use the same alarm template for parameters that is on the main element and the DVE that has an alarm for — so effectively, the alarming “trickles down” from the parent to all DVEs unless explicitly changed.
Scenario
- Main element alarm template:
- Parameters A, B, C use baseline monitoring (e.g. alarm on ~80 drops in traffic)
- DVEs:
- Represent individual customer networks
- Inherit the parent alarm template by default (no template assigned directly)
This works well for the majority of DVEs.
Problem
Some specific DVEs do not have predictable traffic patterns, so baseline monitoring is not suitable for them.
What I would like to achieve:
- Keep baseline monitoring enabled for most DVEs
- Override only specific DVEs so that, for example:
- Parameter A only alarms when value = 0 (instead of baseline)
Question about behavior
If I assign a dedicated alarm template directly to a specific DVE:
- Will that template completely replace the inherited parent template or only the parameter with a specific alarm specified on the Template?
- Or is there any form of merging or parameter-level precedence?
From what I understand so far:
- If no template is assigned on the DVE → it uses the parent template
- If a template is assigned on the DVE → it may fully replace the parent template
I’d like confirmation on whether this is the correct behavior.
Scalability concern
I want to avoid:
- Creating separate alarm templates per customer or per DVE
- Maintaining multiple near-identical templates just to disable baseline on a few instances
What would be the recommended approach?
Is there a best practice to:
- Selectively disable or override baseline monitoring or any other alarm types on specific DVEs
- While keeping a single alarm template for the majority of cases?
Hi Johannes,
Let me start by confirming that your understanding is correct:
- If no template is assigned to the DVE, it inherits the parent template
- If a template is assigned to the DVE, it replaces the parent template
Assigning an alarm template directly to a DVE does indeed fully replace the parent template.
That said, what you are trying to achieve may still be possible with some creativity. For example, adding suitable conditions to the parent template might help meet your requirements. However, please be aware that mixing alarm conditions with baseline calculations is something we have seen before causing issues, particularly in terms of resource consumption and memory usage. This approach would therefore need to be tested very carefully.
I would also recommend asking for input from your TAM and the deploy squad, as they may have alternative ideas or approaches to suggest.
Hope this helps.