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C1554M-A (4/05) 119
Alarms and Events
Your system administrator has the ability to specify conditions within the system that require some kind of response. Within VMX300(-E), these
conditions and the response they require are called ’alarms and events’, referred to as ’alarms’ or ’events’ for short. For example, the system
administrator might define an alarm that is triggered when communications with a camera are lost.
Depending on the specific role you play as an operator of the VMX300(-E) system, you might be notified of alarms as they occur. Notification is
done through the Session Manager, and optionally through alarm icons placed on maps. The Session Manager provides tools to help you respond
to incoming alarms.
Your system administrator can customize alarms as follows:
• Alarm icons: The system administrator can place icons representing the alarms he has defined on maps. Alarms icons become animated
and change color to visually alert you of the alarm state.
• Color: The system administrator can specify different colors for when an alarm is triggered and when it is acknowledged. Alarm entries in
the Session Manager and alarm icons appear in the selected colors.
• Sound: The system administrator can provide a sound that plays, once or continuously, when an alarm is triggered.
• Recipient groups: The system administrator can define groups of users who are notified of alarms when they are triggered.
• Acknowledgement: The system administrator can require that an operator acknowledge an alarm, optionally with a comment. Depending
on how the system administrator has defined the alarm, acknowledgement is done either using one of the acknowledgement tools provided
by the Session Manager, or by responding to a custom prompt that appears on your workstation.
• Automated actions: The system administrator can write scripts that automatically run when an alarm is triggered, replayed, or
acknowledged.
NOTE: Alarms are highly customizable. Your system administrator should instruct you in what alarms are defined and how you are expected to
respond to them.
HOW ALARMS AND EVENTS WORK
WHEN AN ALARM OR EVENT IS TRIGGERED
If your system administrator has designated you to receive notification of alarms, you will see several things happen when the condition that
triggers an alarm becomes true. Exactly what happens depends on how the system administrator has customized the alarm. Any or all of the
following could happen when an alarm is triggered:
• The alarm icon changes to the alarm color and becomes animated (the bell hammer strikes the bell).
• A script defined by the system administrator runs.
• The Alarms branch of the Current Session tree is automatically selected.
• Operators are notified of the alarm by e-mail.
• An entry recording the alarm appears in the Session Manager. The entry displays in the same color as the alarm icon. If an alarm is
triggered more than once in quick succession, a new entry appears in your Session Manager each time the alarm is triggered.
• If you do not have an active entry highlighted in the Session Manager when the alarm is triggered, then the entry for the new alarm is
automatically highlighted and the replay script runs. An active entry is any entry that does not have status Complete. If you already have an
active entry highlighted in the Session Manager, the new entry will not be highlighted. This ensures that your current selection is not over-
ridden; the system respects your selection by leaving your entry highlighted.
• If acknowledgement is required, Acknowledge, Acknowledge with Comment, and/or Acknowledge All become available on the Session
Manager tool bar and in the alarm icon pop-up menu. If the system administrator wants you to acknowledge the alarm by responding to a
prompt, the prompt will appear on your workstation. Note that prompts can appear, disappear, and reappear on your workstation. The
administrator can define the prompt to be removed from your workstation and displayed on another operator’s workstation if you do not
respond quickly enough. If no other operator has responded in the allotted time, the prompt can reappear on your workstation.
• The alarm sound plays, once or continuously. If the sound plays continuously, you can turn it off by clicking the Silence Alarm button on the
Session Manager tool bar.
• If your system administrator is archiving alarms, the entry is recorded in the archives.
When the condition that triggers an alarm becomes false again, the icon animation stops (the bell hammer stops striking the bell).