Integrate NetQ with Notification Applications

After you have installed the NetQ applications package and the NetQ Agents, you may want to configure some of the additional capabilities that NetQ offers. This topic describes how to integrate NetQ with an event notification application.

Integrate NetQ with an Event Notification Application

To take advantage of the numerous event messages generated and processed by NetQ, you must integrate with third-party event notification applications. You can integrate NetQ with Syslog, PagerDuty and Slack tools. You may integrate with one or more of these applications simultaneously.

Each network protocol and service in the NetQ Platform receives the raw data stream from the NetQ Agents, processes the data and delivers events to the Notification function. Notification then stores, filters and sends messages to any configured notification applications. Filters are based on rules you create. You must have at least one rule per filter. A select set of events can be triggered by a user-configured threshold.

In either case, notifications are generated for the following types of events:

* This type of event can only be viewed in the CLI with this release.

** This type of event is only visible when enabled in the CLI.

Refer to the Events Reference for descriptions and examples of these events.

Event Message Format

Messages have the following structure: <message-type><timestamp><opid><hostname><severity><message>

For example:

To set up the integrations, you must configure NetQ with at least one channel, one rule, and one filter. To refine what messages you want to view and where to send them, you can add additional rules and filters and set thresholds on supported event types. You can also configure a proxy server to receive, process, and forward the messages. This is accomplished using the NetQ CLI in the following order:

Notification Commands Overview

The NetQ Command Line Interface (CLI) is used to filter and send notifications to third-party tools based on severity, service, event-type, and device. You can use TAB completion or the help option to assist when needed.

The command syntax for standard events is:

##Channels
netq add notification channel slack <text-channel-name> webhook <text-webhook-url> [severity info|severity warning|severity error|severity debug] [tag <text-slack-tag>]
netq add notification channel pagerduty <text-channel-name> integration-key <text-integration-key> [severity info|severity warning|severity error|severity debug]
 
##Rules and Filters
netq add notification rule <text-rule-name> key <text-rule-key> value <text-rule-value>
netq add notification filter <text-filter-name> [severity info|severity warning|severity error|severity debug] [rule <text-rule-name-anchor>] [channel <text-channel-name-anchor>] [before <text-filter-name-anchor>|after <text-filter-name-anchor>]
 
##Management
netq del notification channel <text-channel-name-anchor>
netq del notification filter <text-filter-name-anchor>
netq del notification rule <text-rule-name-anchor>
netq show notification [channel|filter|rule] [json]

The command syntax for events with user-configurable thresholds is:

##Rules
netq add tca event_id <event-name> scope <regex-filter> [severity <critical|info>] threshold <value>

##Management
netq add tca tca_id <tca-rule-name> is_active <true|false>
netq add tca tca_id <tca-rule-name> channel drop <channel-name>
netq del tca tca_id <tca-rule-name>
netq show tca [tca_id <tca-rule-name>]

The command syntax for a server proxy is:

##Proxy
netq add notification proxy <text-proxy-hostname> [port <text-proxy-port>]
netq show notification proxy
netq del notification proxy

The various command options are described in the following sections where they are used.

Configure Basic NetQ Event Notification

The simplest configuration you can create is one that sends all events generated by all interfaces to a single notification application. This is described here. For more granular configurations and examples, refer to Configure Advanced NetQ Event Notifications.

A notification configuration must contain one channel, one rule, and one filter. Creation of the configuration follows this same path:

1. Add a channel (slack, pagerduty, syslog)
2. Add a rule that accepts all interface events
3. Add a filter that associates this rule with the newly created channel

Create Your Channel

For Pager Duty:

Configure a channel using the integration key for your Pager Duty setup. Verify the configuration.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel pagerduty pd-netq-events integration-key c6d666e210a8425298ef7abde0d1998
Successfully added/updated channel pd-netq-events

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: c6d666e
                                                210a8425298ef7abde0d1998      

For Slack:

Create an incoming webhook as described in the documentation for your version of Slack. Verify the configuration.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel slack slk-netq-events webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
Successfully added/updated channel slk-netq-events
    
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
slk-netq-events slack            info     webhook:https://hooks.s
                                        lack.com/services/text/
                                        moretext/evenmoretext

For Syslog:

Create the channel using the syslog server hostname (or IP address) and port. Verify the configuration.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel syslog syslog-netq-events hostname syslog-server port 514
Successfully added/updated channel syslog-netq-events
    
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
syslog-netq-eve syslog            info     host:syslog-server
nts                                        port: 514

Create a Rule

Create and verify a rule that accepts all interface events. Verify the configuration.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule all-ifs key ifname value ALL
Successfully added/updated rule all-ifs

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
all-interfaces  ifname           ALL

Create a Filter

Create a filter to tie the rule to the channel. Verify the configuration.

For PagerDuty:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter notify-all-ifs rule all-ifs channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter notify-all-ifs

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
notify-all-ifs  1          info             pd-netq-events   all-ifs

For Slack:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter notify-all-ifs rule all-ifs channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter notify-all-ifs

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
notify-all-ifs  1          info             slk-netq-events   all-ifs

For Syslog:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter notify-all-ifs rule all-ifs channel syslog-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter notify-all-ifs

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
notify-all-ifs  1          info             syslog-netq-events all-ifs

NetQ is now configured to send all interface events to your selected channel.

Configure Advanced NetQ Event Notifications

If you want to create more granular notifications based on such items as selected devices, characteristics of devices, or protocols, or you want to use a proxy server, you need more than the basic notification configuration. Details for creating these more complex notification configurations are included here.

Configure a Proxy Server

To send notification messages through a proxy server instead of directly to a notification channel, you configure NetQ with the hostname and optionally a port of a proxy server. If no port is specified, NetQ defaults to port 80. Only one proxy server is currently supported. To simplify deployment, configure your proxy server before configuring channels, rules, or filters.To configure the proxy server:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification proxy <text-proxy-hostname> [port <text-proxy-port]
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification proxy proxy4
Successfully configured notifier proxy proxy4:80

You can view the proxy server settings by running the netq show notification proxy command.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification proxy
Matching config_notify records:
Proxy URL          Slack Enabled              PagerDuty Enabled
------------------ -------------------------- ----------------------------------
proxy4:80          yes                        yes

You can remove the proxy server by running the netq del notification proxy command. This changes the NetQ behavior to send events directly to the notification channels.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq del notification proxy
Successfully overwrote notifier proxy to null

Create Channels

Create one or more PagerDuty, Slack, or syslog channels to present the notifications.

Configure a PagerDuty Channel

NetQ sends notifications to PagerDuty as PagerDuty events.

For example:

To configure the NetQ notifier to send notifications to PagerDuty:

1. Configure the following options using the netq add notification channel command:

   Option	Description
   CHANNEL_TYPE <text-channel-name>	The third-party notification channel and name; use pagerduty in this case.
   integration-key <text-integration-key>	The integration key is also called the service_key or routing_key. The default is an empty string ("").
   severity	(Optional) The log level to set, which can be one of info, warning, error, critical or debug. The severity defaults to info.

   cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel pagerduty pd-netq-events integration-key c6d666e210a8425298ef7abde0d1998
   Successfully added/updated channel pd-netq-events
   

2. Verify that the channel is configured properly.

   cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
   Matching config_notify records:
   Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
   --------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
   pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: c6d666e
                                                     210a8425298ef7abde0d1998      
   

Configure a Slack Channel

NetQ Notifier sends notifications to Slack as incoming webhooks for a Slack channel you configure. For example:

To configure NetQ to send notifications to Slack:

1. If needed, create one or more Slack channels on which to receive the notifications.

   1. Click + next to Channels.
   2. Enter a name for the channel, and click Create Channel.
   3. Navigate to the new channel.
   4. Click + Add an app link below the channel name to open the application directory.
   5. In the search box, start typing incoming and select ** Incoming WebHooks when it appears.
   6. Click Add Configuration and enter the name of the channel you created (where you want to post notifications).
   7. Click Add Incoming WebHooks integration.
   8. Save WebHook URL in a text file for use in next step.

2. Configure the following options in the netq config add notification channel command:

   Option	Description
   CHANNEL_TYPE <text-channel-name>	The third-party notification channel name; use slack in this case.
   WEBHOOK	Copy the WebHook URL from the text file OR in the desired channel, locate the initial message indicating the addition of the webhook, click incoming-webhook link, click Settings. Example URL: https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
   severity	The log level to set, which can be one of error, warning, info, or debug. The severity defaults to info.
   tag	Optional tag appended to the Slack notification to highlight particular channels or people. The tag value must be preceded by the @ sign. For example, @netq-info.

   cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel slack slk-netq-events webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
   Successfully added/updated channel netq-events
   

3. Verify the channel is configured correctly.
   From the CLI:

   cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
   Matching config_notify records:
   Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
   --------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
   slk-netq-events slack            info     webhook:https://hooks.s
                                             lack.com/services/text/
                                             moretext/evenmoretext
   

   From the Slack Channel:

   

Create Rules

Each rule is comprised of a single key-value pair. The key-value pair indicates what messages to include or drop from event information sent to a notification channel. You can create more than one rule for a single filter. Creating multiple rules for a given filter can provide a very defined filter. For example, you can specify rules around hostnames or interface names, enabling you to filter messages specific to those hosts or interfaces. You should have already defined the PagerDuty or Slack channels (as described earlier).

There is a fixed set of valid rule keys. Values are entered as regular expressions and vary according to your deployment.

Example Rules

Create a BGP Rule Based on Hostname:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule bgpHostname key hostname value spine-01
Successfully added/updated rule bgpHostname 

Create a Rule Based on a Configuration File State Change:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule sysconf key configdiff value updated
Successfully added/updated rule sysconf

Create an EVPN Rule Based on a VNI:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule evpnVni key vni value 42
Successfully added/updated rule evpnVni

Create an Interface Rule Based on FEC Support:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule fecSupport key new_supported_fec value supported
Successfully added/updated rule fecSupport

Create a Service Rule Based on a Status Change:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule svcStatus key new_status value down
Successfully added/updated rule svcStatus

Create a Sensor Rule Based on a Threshold:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule overTemp key new_s_crit value 24
Successfully added/updated rule overTemp

Create an Interface Rule Based on Port:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule swp52 key port value swp52
Successfully added/updated rule swp52 

View the Rule Configurations

Use the netq show notification command to view the rules on your platform.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
 
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
fecSupport      new_supported_fe supported
                c
overTemp        new_s_crit       24
svcStatus       new_status       down
swp52           port             swp52
sysconf         configdiff       updated

Create Filters

You can limit or direct event messages using filters. Filters are created based on rules you define; like those in the previous section. Each filter contains one or more rules. When a message matches the rule, it is sent to the indicated destination. Before you can create filters, you need to have already defined the rules and configured PagerDuty and/or Slack channels (as described earlier).

As filters are created, they are added to the bottom of a filter list. By default, filters are processed in the order they appear in this list (from top to bottom) until a match is found. This means that each event message is first evaluated by the first filter listed, and if it matches then it is processed, ignoring all other filters, and the system moves on to the next event message received. If the event does not match the first filter, it is tested against the second filter, and if it matches then it is processed and the system moves on to the next event received. And so forth. Events that do not match any filter are ignored.

You may need to change the order of filters in the list to ensure you capture the events you want and drop the events you do not want. This is possible using the before or after keywords to ensure one rule is processed before or after another.

This diagram shows an example with four defined filters with sample output results.

Example Filters

Create a filter for BGP Events on a Particular Device:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter bgpSpine rule bgpHostname channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter bgpSpine

Create a Filter for a Given VNI in Your EVPN Overlay:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter vni42 severity warning rule evpnVni channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter vni42

Create a Filter for when a Configuration File has been Updated:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter configChange severity info rule sysconf channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter configChange

Create a Filter to Monitor Ports with FEC Support:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter newFEC rule fecSupport channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter newFEC

Create a Filter to Monitor for Services that Change to a Down State:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter svcDown severity error rule svcStatus channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter svcDown

Create a Filter to Monitor Overheating Platforms:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter critTemp severity error rule overTemp channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter critTemp

Create a Filter to Drop Messages from a Given Interface, and match against this filter before any other filters. To create a drop style filter, do not specify a channel. To put the filter first, use the before option.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter swp52Drop severity error rule swp52 before bgpSpine
Successfully added/updated filter swp52Drop

View the Filter Configurations

Use the netq show notification command to view the filters on your platform.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
swp52Drop       1          error            NetqDefaultChann swp52
                                            el
bgpSpine        2          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           3          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    4          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
newFEC          5          info             slk-netq-events  fecSupport
svcDown         6          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus
critTemp        7          critical         pd-netq-events   overTemp

Reorder Filters

When you look at the results of the netq show notification filter command above, you might notice that although you have the drop-based filter first (no point in looking at something you are going to drop anyway, so that is good), but the critical severity events are processed last, per the current definitions. If you wanted to process those before lesser severity events, you can reorder the list using the before and after options.

For example, to put the two critical severity event filters just below the drop filter:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter critTemp after swp52Drop
Successfully added/updated filter critTemp
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter svcDown before bgpSpine
Successfully added/updated filter svcDown

Run the netq show notification command again to verify the changes:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
swp52Drop       1          error            NetqDefaultChann swp52
                                            el
critTemp        2          critical         pd-netq-events   overTemp
svcDown         3          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus
bgpSpine        4          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           5          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    6          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
newFEC          7          info             slk-netq-events  fecSupport

Examples of Advanced Notification Configurations

Putting all of these channel, rule, and filter definitions together you create a complete notification configuration. The following are example notification configurations are created using the three-step process outlined above. Refer to Integrate NetQ with an Event Notification Application for details and instructions for creating channels, rules, and filters.

Create a Notification for BGP Events from a Selected Switch

In this example, we created a notification integration with a PagerDuty channel called pd-netq-events. We then created a rule bgpHostname and a filter called 4bgpSpine for any notifications from spine-01. The result is that any info severity event messages from Spine-01 are filtered to the pd-netq-events ** channel.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel pagerduty pd-netq-events integration-key 1234567890
Successfully added/updated channel pd-netq-events
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule bgpHostname key node value spine-01
Successfully added/updated rule bgpHostname
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter bgpSpine rule bgpHostname channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter bgpSpine
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: 1234567
                                                  890   

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
bgpSpine        1          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e

Create a Notification for Warnings on a Given EVPN VNI

In this example, we created a notification integration with a PagerDuty channel called pd-netq-events. We then created a rule evpnVni and a filter called 3vni42 for any warnings messages from VNI 42 on the EVPN overlay network. The result is that any warning severity event messages from VNI 42 are filtered to the pd-netq-events channel.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel pagerduty pd-netq-events integration-key 1234567890
Successfully added/updated channel pd-netq-events
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule evpnVni key vni value 42
Successfully added/updated rule evpnVni
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter vni42 rule evpnVni channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter vni42
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: 1234567
                                                  890   

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
bgpSpine        1          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           2          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni

Create a Notification for Configuration File Changes

In this example, we created a notification integration with a Slack channel called slk-netq-events. We then created a rule sysconf and a filter called configChange for any configuration file update messages. The result is that any configuration update messages are filtered to the slk-netq-events channel.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel slack slk-netq-events webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
Successfully added/updated channel slk-netq-events
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule sysconf key configdiff value updated
Successfully added/updated rule sysconf
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter configChange severity info rule sysconf channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter configChange
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
slk-netq-events slack            info     webhook:https://hooks.s
                                          lack.com/services/text/
                                          moretext/evenmoretext     
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
sysconf         configdiff       updated

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
bgpSpine        1          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           2          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    3          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf

Create a Notification for When a Service Goes Down

In this example, we created a notification integration with a Slack channel called slk-netq-events. We then created a rule svcStatus and a filter called svcDown for any services state messages indicating a service is no longer operational. The result is that any service down messages are filtered to the slk-netq-events channel.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel slack slk-netq-events webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
Successfully added/updated channel slk-netq-events
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule svcStatus key new_status value down
Successfully added/updated rule svcStatus
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter svcDown severity error rule svcStatus channel slk-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter svcDown
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
slk-netq-events slack            info     webhook:https://hooks.s
                                          lack.com/services/text/
                                          moretext/evenmoretext     
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
svcStatus       new_status       down
sysconf         configdiff       updated

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
bgpSpine        1          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           2          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    3          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
svcDown         4          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus

Create a Filter to Drop Notifications from a Given Interface

In this example, we created a notification integration with a Slack channel called slk-netq-events. We then created a rule swp52 and a filter called swp52Drop that drops all notifications for events from interface swp52.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel slack slk-netq-events webhook https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext
Successfully added/updated channel slk-netq-events
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule swp52 key port value swp52
Successfully added/updated rule swp52
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter swp52Drop severity error rule swp52 before bgpSpine
Successfully added/updated filter swp52Drop
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- -------- ----------------------
slk-netq-events slack            info     webhook:https://hooks.s
                                          lack.com/services/text/
                                          moretext/evenmoretext     
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
svcStatus       new_status       down
swp52           port             swp52
sysconf         configdiff       updated

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
swp52Drop       1          error            NetqDefaultChann swp52
                                            el
bgpSpine        2          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           3          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    4          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
svcDown         5          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus

Create a Notification for a Given Device that has a Tendency to Overheat (using multiple rules)

In this example, we created a notification when switch leaf04 has passed over the high temperature threshold. Two rules were needed to create this notification, one to identify the specific device and one to identify the temperature trigger. We sent the message to the pd-netq-events channel.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification channel pagerduty pd-netq-events integration-key 1234567890
Successfully added/updated channel pd-netq-events
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule switchLeaf04 key hostname value leaf04
Successfully added/updated rule switchLeaf04
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification rule overTemp key new_s_crit value 24
Successfully added/updated rule overTemp
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter critTemp rule switchLeaf04 channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter critTemp
cumulus@switch:~$ netq add notification filter critTemp severity critical rule overTemp channel pd-netq-events
Successfully added/updated filter critTemp
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: 1234567
                                                  890

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
overTemp        new_s_crit       24
svcStatus       new_status       down
switchLeaf04    hostname         leaf04
swp52           port             swp52
sysconf         configdiff       updated
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
swp52Drop       1          error            NetqDefaultChann swp52
                                            el
bgpSpine        2          info             pd-netq-events   bgpHostnam
                                                             e
vni42           3          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    4          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
svcDown         5          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus
critTemp        6          critical         pd-netq-events   switchLeaf
                                                             04
                                                             overTemp                                                

View Notification Configurations in JSON Format

You can view configured integrations using the netq show notification commands. To view the channels, filters, and rules, run the three flavors of the command. Include the json option to display JSON-formatted output.

For example:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel json
{
    "config_notify":[
        {
            "type":"slack",
            "name":"slk-netq-events",
            "channelInfo":"webhook:https://hooks.slack.com/services/text/moretext/evenmoretext",
            "severity":"info"
        },
        {
            "type":"pagerduty",
            "name":"pd-netq-events",
            "channelInfo":"integration-key: 1234567890",
            "severity":"info"
    }
    ],
    "truncatedResult":false
}
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule json
{
    "config_notify":[
        {
            "ruleKey":"hostname",
            "ruleValue":"spine-01",
            "name":"bgpHostname"
        },
        {
            "ruleKey":"vni",
            "ruleValue":42,
            "name":"evpnVni"
        },
        {
            "ruleKey":"new_supported_fec",
            "ruleValue":"supported",
            "name":"fecSupport"
        },
        {
            "ruleKey":"new_s_crit",
            "ruleValue":24,
            "name":"overTemp"
        },
        {
            "ruleKey":"new_status",
            "ruleValue":"down",
            "name":"svcStatus"
        },
        {
            "ruleKey":"configdiff",
            "ruleValue":"updated",
            "name":"sysconf"
    }
    ],
    "truncatedResult":false
}
 
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter json
{
    "config_notify":[
        {
            "channels":"pd-netq-events",
            "rules":"overTemp",
            "name":"1critTemp",
            "severity":"critical"
        },
        {
            "channels":"pd-netq-events",
            "rules":"evpnVni",
            "name":"3vni42",
            "severity":"warning"
        },
        {
            "channels":"pd-netq-events",
            "rules":"bgpHostname",
            "name":"4bgpSpine",
            "severity":"info"
        },
        {
            "channels":"slk-netq-events",
            "rules":"sysconf",
            "name":"configChange",
            "severity":"info"
        },
        {
            "channels":"slk-netq-events",
            "rules":"fecSupport",
            "name":"newFEC",
            "severity":"info"
        },
        {
            "channels":"slk-netq-events",
            "rules":"svcStatus",
            "name":"svcDown",
            "severity":"critical"
    }
    ],
    "truncatedResult":false
}

Manage NetQ Event Notification Integrations

You might need to modify event notification configurations at some point in the lifecycle of your deployment.

Remove an Event Notification Channel

You can delete an event notification integration using the netq config del notification command. You can verify it has been removed using the related show command.

For example, to remove a Slack integration and verify it is no longer in the configuration:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq del notification channel slk-netq-events
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification channel
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Type             Severity         Channel Info
--------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------------------
pd-netq-events  pagerduty        info             integration-key: 1234567
                                                  890

Delete an Event Notification Rule

To delete a rule, use the following command, then verify it has been removed:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq del notification rule swp52
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification rule
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Rule Key         Rule Value
--------------- ---------------- --------------------
bgpHostname     hostname         spine-01
evpnVni         vni              42
overTemp        new_s_crit       24
svcStatus       new_status       down
switchLeaf04    hostname         leaf04
sysconf         configdiff       updated

Delete an Event Notification Filter

To delete a filter, use the following command, then verify it has been removed:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq del notification filter bgpSpine
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show notification filter
Matching config_notify records:
Name            Order      Severity         Channels         Rules
--------------- ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
swp52Drop       1          error            NetqDefaultChann swp52
                                            el
vni42           2          warning          pd-netq-events   evpnVni
configChange    3          info             slk-netq-events  sysconf
svcDown         4          critical         slk-netq-events  svcStatus
critTemp        5          critical         pd-netq-events   switchLeaf
                                                             04
                                                             overTemp

Configure Threshold-based Event Notifications

NetQ supports a set of events that are triggered by crossing a user-defined threshold, called TCA events. These events allow detection and prevention of network failures for selected interface, utilization, sensor, forwarding, and ACL events.

The simplest configuration you can create is one that sends a TCA event generated by all devices and all interfaces to a single notification application. Use the netq add tca command to configure the event. Its syntax is:

netq add tca [event_id <text-event-id-anchor>]  [scope <text-scope-anchor>] [tca_id <text-tca-id-anchor>]  [severity info | severity critical] [is_active true | is_active false] [suppress_until <text-suppress-ts>] [threshold <text-threshold-value> ] [channel <text-channel-name-anchor> | channel drop <text-drop-channel-name>]

A notification configuration must contain one rule. Each rule must contain a scope and a threshold. Optionally, you can specify an associated channel. Note: If a rule is not associated with a channel, the event information is only reachable from the database. If you want to deliver events to one or more notification channels (syslog, Slack, or PagerDuty), create them by following the instructions in Create Your Channel, and then return here to define your rule.

Supported Events

The following events are supported:

Define a Scope

A scope is used to filter the events generated by a given rule. Scope values are set on a per TCA rule basis. All rules can be filtered on Hostname. Some rules can also be filtered by other parameters, as shown in this table. Note: Scope parameters must be entered in the order defined.

Scopes are defined with regular expressions, as follows. When two paramaters are used, they are separated by a comma, but no space.

Create a TCA Rule

Now that you know which events are supported and how to set the scope, you can create a basic rule to deliver one of the TCA events to a notification channel using the netq add tca command. Note that the event ID is case sensitive and must be in all caps.

For example, this rule tells NetQ to deliver an event notification to the tca_slack_ifstats pre-configured Slack channel when the CPU utilization exceeds 95% of its capacity on any monitored switch:

netq add tca event_id TCA_CPU_UTILIZATION_UPPER scope * channel tca_slack_ifstats threshold 95

This rule tells NetQ to deliver an event notification to the tca_pd_ifstats PagerDuty channel when the number of transmit bytes per second (Bps) on the leaf12 switch exceeds 20,000 Bps on any interface:

netq add tca event_id TCA_TXBYTES_UPPER scope leaf12,* channel tca_pd_ifstats threshold 20000

This rule tells NetQ to deliver an event notification to the syslog-netq syslog channel when the temperature on sensor temp1 on the leaf12 switch exceeds 32 degrees Celcius:

netq add tca event_id TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER scope leaf12,temp1 channel syslog-netq threshold 32

For a Slack channel, the event messages should be similar to this:

Set the Severity of a Threshold-based Event

In addition to defining a scope for TCA rule, you can also set a severity of either info or critical. To add a severity to a rule, use the severity option.

For example, if you want add a critical severity to the CPU utilization rule you created earlier:

netq add tca event_id TCA_CPU_UTILIZATION_UPPER scope * severity critical channel tca_slack_resources threshold 95

Or if an event is important, but not critical. Set the severity to info:

netq add tca event_id TCA_TXBYTES_UPPER scope leaf12,* severity info channel tca_pd_ifstats threshold 20000

Create Multiple Rules for a TCA Event

You are likely to want more than one rule around a particular event. For example, you might want to:

• Monitor the same event but for a different interface, sensor, or device
• Send the event notification to more than one channel
• Change the threshold for a particular device that you are troubleshooting
• etc.

netq add tca event_id TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER scope leaf*,temp1 channel syslog-netq threshold 32

netq add tca event_id TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER scope *,temp1 channel tca_sensors,tca_pd_sensors threshold 32

netq add tca event_id TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER scope leaf03,temp1 channel syslog-netq threshold 29

Now you have four rules created (the original one, plus these three new ones) all based on the TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER event. To identify the various rules, NetQ automatically generates a TCA name for each rule. As each rule is created, an _# is added to the event name. The TCA Name for the first rule created is then TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER_1, the second rule created for this event is TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER_2, and so forth.

Suppress a Rule

During troubleshooting or maintenance of switches you may want to suppress a rule to prevent erroneous event messages. Using the suppress_until option allows you to prevent the rule from being applied for a designated amout of time (in seconds). When this time has passed, the rule is automatically reenabled.

For example, to suppress the disk utilization event for an hour:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add tca tca_id TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1 suppress_until 3600
Successfully added/updated tca TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1

Remove a Channel from a Rule

You can stop sending events to a particular channel using the drop option:

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add tca tca_id TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1 channel drop tca_slack_resources
Successfully added/updated tca TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1

Manage Threshold-based Event Notifications

Once you have created a bunch of rules, you might to manage them; view a list of the rules, disable a rule, delete a rule, and so forth.

Show Threshold-based Event Rules

You can view all TCA rules or a particular rule using the netq show tca command:

Example 1: Display All TCA Rules

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show tca
Matching config_tca records:
TCA Name                     Event Name           Scope                      Severity         Channel/s          Active Threshold          Suppress Until
---------------------------- -------------------- -------------------------- ---------------- ------------------ ------ ------------------ ----------------------------
TCA_CPU_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1  TCA_CPU_UTILIZATION_ {"hostname":"leaf01"}      critical         tca_slack_resource True   1                  Sun Dec  8 14:17:18 2019
                             UPPER                                                            s
TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1 TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION {"hostname":"leaf01"}      info                                False  80                 Mon Dec  9 05:03:46 2019
                             _UPPER
TCA_MEMORY_UTILIZATION_UPPER TCA_MEMORY_UTILIZATI {"hostname":"leaf01"}      info             tca_slack_resource True   1                  Sun Dec  8 11:53:15 2019
_1                           ON_UPPER                                                         s
TCA_RXBYTES_UPPER_1          TCA_RXBYTES_UPPER    {"ifname":"swp3","hostname info             tca-tx-bytes-slack True   100                Sun Dec  8 17:22:52 2019
                                                  ":"leaf01"}
TCA_RXMULTICAST_UPPER_1      TCA_RXMULTICAST_UPPE {"ifname":"swp3","hostname info             tca-tx-bytes-slack True   0                  Sun Dec  8 10:43:57 2019
                             R                    ":"leaf01"}
TCA_SENSOR_FAN_UPPER_1       TCA_SENSOR_FAN_UPPER {"hostname":"leaf01","s_na info             tca_slack_sensors  True   0                  Sun Dec  8 12:30:14 2019
                                                  me":"*"}
TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATURE_UPPER TCA_SENSOR_TEMPERATU {"hostname":"leaf01","s_na critical         tca_slack_sensors  True   10                 Sun Dec  8 14:05:24 2019
_1                           RE_UPPER             me":"*"}
TCA_TXBYTES_UPPER_1          TCA_TXBYTES_UPPER    {"ifname":"swp3","hostname critical         tca-tx-bytes-slack True   100                Sun Dec  8 14:19:46 2019
                                                  ":"leaf01"}
TCA_TXMULTICAST_UPPER_1      TCA_TXMULTICAST_UPPE {"ifname":"swp3","hostname info             tca-tx-bytes-slack True   0                  Sun Dec  8 16:40:14 2269
                             R                    ":"leaf01"}

Example 2: Display a Specific TCA Rule

cumulus@switch:~$ netq show tca tca_id TCA_TXMULTICAST_UPPER_1
Matching config_tca records:
TCA Name                     Event Name           Scope                      Severity         Channel/s          Active Threshold          Suppress Until
---------------------------- -------------------- -------------------------- ---------------- ------------------ ------ ------------------ ----------------------------
TCA_TXMULTICAST_UPPER_1      TCA_TXMULTICAST_UPPE {"ifname":"swp3","hostname info             tca-tx-bytes-slack True   0                  Sun Dec  8 16:40:14 2269
                             R                    ":"leaf01"}

Disable a TCA Rule

Where the suppress option temporarily disables a TCA rule, you can use the is_active option to disable a rule indefinitely. To disable a rule, set the option to false. To reenable it, set the option to true.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq add tca tca_id TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1 is_active false
Successfully added/updated tca TCA_DISK_UTILIZATION_UPPER_1

Delete a TCA Rule

If disabling a rule is not sufficient, and you want to remove a rule altogether, you can do so using the netq del tca command.

cumulus@switch:~$ netq del tca tca_id TCA_RXBYTES_UPPER_1
Successfully deleted TCA TCA_RXBYTES_UPPER_1

Resolve Scope Conflicts

There may be occasions where the scope defined by the multiple rules for a given TCA event may overlap each other. In such cases, the TCA rule with the most specific scope that is still true is used to generate the event.

To clarify this, consider this example. Three events have occurred:

• First event on switch leaf01, interface swp1
• Second event on switch leaf01, interface swp3
• Third event on switch spine01, interface swp1

NetQ attempts to match the TCA event against hostname and interface name with three TCA rules with different scopes:

• Scope 1 send events for the swp1 interface on switch leaf01 (very specific)
• Scope 2 send events for all interfaces on switches that start with leaf (moderately specific)
• Scope 3 send events for all switches and interfaces (very broad)

The result is:

• For the first event, NetQ applies the scope from rule 1 because it matches scope 1 exactly
• For the second event, NetQ applies the scope from rule 2 because it does not match scope 1, but does match scope 2
• For the third event, NetQ applies the scope from rule 3 because it does not match either scope 1 or scope 2

In summary: