The Event Log Message, Pop-up Window Message, and Command for Automatic Action fields in the
Modify Events and Copy Events dialog boxes use special $ variables to present data that was received
with the event. You may enter several special characters to give you control of the formatted output. The
format can include the following standard C printf formats, which will be converted to their ASCII
equivalent.
All nonprintable characters are converted to their octal (\ooo) equivalent for display in the Alarm Browser,
or when passed to the operator initiated (manual) actions. The two exception are that a tab is displayed as
\t in the Alarm Browser and as spaces in pop-up messages. A new line is displayed as \n in the Alarm
Browser and as a new line in pop-up messages.
All nonprintable characters are passed unconverted to automatic actions executed by ovactiond.
Special Characters:
a
b
f
n
r
t
v
\
ooo
xhh
Alert (bell) character
Backspace
Form feed
Newline
Carriage return
Horizontal tab
Vertical tab
Backslash (Use double backslashes to separate elements in a pathname.)
Octal number, first character must be 0 or 1 and second and third numbers must be 0-7
Hex number, both hh characters must be 0-9a-fA-F
Sequential Attribute Variables:
The following $ variables are used to access the sequential attributes that were received with the event.
Each event has (possibly none) attributes associated with it. They are accessed using the $n notation,
where n is the positional attribute, with 1 being the first attribute. The printing format is based on the
ASN.1 type of the attribute These attributes are equivalent to the variable bindings (varBinds) in an SNMP
trap.
$arg
$#
Print the number of attributes in the event.
$*
Print all the attributes as seq name (type): value strings, where seq is the attribute sequence
number.
$n
Print the nth attribute as a value string. Must be in the range of 1 to 99.
$-n
Print the nth attribute as a seq name (type): value string. Must be in the range of 1 to 99.
$+n
Print the nth attribute as a name: value string. Must be in the range of 1 to 99.
$>n
Print all attributes greater than n as value strings, useful for printing a variable number of
arguments. $>0 is equivalent to $* without sequence numbers, names, or types.
$>-n
Print all attributes greater than n as seq name (type): value strings.
$>+n Print all variables greater than n as name: value strings.
Special Information Variables:
You can also include information from the incoming event by using the $arg format specification. The
following $ variables are valid regardless of the type of event (SNMPv1, SNMPv2C, CMIP, GENERIC):
$arg
$x
Print the date the event was received using the local date representation.
$X
Print the time the event was received using the local time representation.
$@
Print the time the event was received as a number of seconds since the Epoch (Jan 1, 1970)
using the time_t representation.
$O
Print the name (object identifier) of the received event.
$o
Print the name (object identifier) of the received event as a string of numbers.
$V
Print the event type, based on the transport the event was received. Currently supported types are
SNMPv1, SNMPv2C, CMIP, and GENERIC.
$r
Print the implied "source" of the event in textual form. This may not be the "true source" of the
event if the "true source" is proxying for another source, such as when a monitoring application running
locally is reporting information about a remote node.
$ar
Same as $r except print the source as an IP address.
$R
Print the "true source" of the event in textual form. This value is inferred by means of the transport
mechanism which delivered the event. If the event was forwarded, this will display the address of the
remote event framework (that is, remote pmd's machine).
$aR
Same as $R except print the source as an IP address.
$c
Print the category the event belongs in.
$s
Print the severity of the event.
$N
Print the name (textual alias) of the event format specification used to format the event, as defined
in trapd.conf.
$F
Print the textual name of the remote event framework's machine (that is, remote pmd's machine) if
this event was forwarded, else local machine's name.
$U
Print the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the current event as a string of numbers.
$$
Print the $ character.
SNMP-specific Variables:
The following variables are meaningful for events created from SNMPv1 or SNMPv2 traps/informs.
$arg
$C
Print the trap community string. Set to public for non-SNMPv1 events.
$E
Print the trap enterprise as a text string if possible, otherwise as in the $e arg below. This option
tries to use the enterprise name as formatted in trapd.conf, as opposed to $O which formats using the MIB
definitions, which is typically a longer string. This number is implied by the event object identifier for nonSNMPv1 events.
$e
Print the trap enterprise as an Object ID string of numbers. This number is implied by the event
object identifier for non-SNMPv1 events.
$A
Print the trap agent address as defined in the trap PDU.
NOTE This may be different from the agent that actually sent the event. If the name server knows about
this node, the node name will be printed, otherwise the address will be printed.
$aA
Same as $A except print the source as an IP address.
$G
Print the trap's generic-trap number. This number is implied by the event object identifier for nonSNMPv1 events.
$S
Print the trap's specific-trap number. This number is implied by the event object identifier for nonSNMPv1 events.
$T
Print the trap's sysUpTime time-stamp. This is the remote machine's time in hundredths of a
second between the last reinitialization of the device and the generation of the trap, it is NOT the time the
event was received (see $x, $X, and $@) instead. For non-SNMPv1 events this value is 0.
Obsoleted/Reserved Variables:
The following variables are obsolete or reserved. Their use may cause unpredictable results, and should
not be used:
$arg
$L
Obsolete, do not use.
$I
$I
$t
$=
Do not use.
Do not use.
Do not use.
Do not use.
HP OpenView Network Node Manager Release B.07.00 Copyright (c) 1990-2003 Hewlett-Packard
Company.