A threshold is a setting for a metric that is being collected by a monitor. Threshold commands run automatically on your endpoint system when threshold events occur. Threshold commands are different from any threshold actions you may have set. Threshold actions happen on your PC or central system, while threshold commands run on your endpoint systems.
Use threshold settings to automate any i5/OS™ command you want to run when thresholds are triggered or reset. For example, suppose you are running a job monitor and a certain batch job that is supposed to complete before the first shift begins is still running at 6:00 a.m. To accomplish this, you can set up Threshold 1 to send a page command to a system operator to look at it. You can also set up Threshold 2 to send a command to end the job if it is still running at 7:00 a.m.
In another situation, you might want to notify your operators with a page command when the job monitor detects that the wait time values for the FTP and HTTP servers have reached a median level. If the FTP server jobs end, you can restart the server with a start server command (such as STRTCPSVR *FTP). You can set thresholds and specify commands to automatically handle many different situations. In short, you can use threshold commands in any way that makes sense for your environment.
On the New Monitor-Metrics page, click the Thresholds tab to enable your thresholds. Before you can set any threshold commands, you must turn your thresholds on by selecting the Enable trigger (or similarly named) option. You can then use this window to enter any commands you want to run when the threshold trigger value is reached. Select the Enable reset (or similarly named) option if you want to specify a command to run when the threshold reset value is reached.
Management Central monitors allow you to specify any batch commands to run on the server when the threshold is triggered or reset. You can enter an i5/OS command name and click Prompt (or press F4) for assistance in specifying the parameters for the command. You can even use replacement variables (such as &TIME or &NUMCURRENT) to pass information to the command, such as the time and actual value of the metric.