Student Course Book - NICE Sentinel Fundamentals R6.12 PDF

NICE Sentinel Fundamentals
NICE Sentinel Platform R6.12
Course Book
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Course Overview
COURSE OVERVIEW
Training Expectations
• Even though this is a vILT training environment, it should

be treated like a classroom environment.
• Setup your email Out of Office and update your voicemail
that you will be unavailable during training.
• Be punctual when returning from the breaks and lunches.
• Active participation is appreciated and contributes to the
learning process.
Introductions
• Tell us a little about yourself…
• What is your current job role?
• What is your experience working on NICE products?
• Where are you located?
• What is your dream vacation?

Navigating the WebEx Session

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Conference
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Lab (Lab)
(HOL)
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Lessons
• Right now, you are in the WebEx conference. You will stay
logged into the WebEx conference throughout the day.
• Later, you will also be logging into your hopper via
LogMeIn/WebEx (green background). From the hopper,
you will “hop” over to another hopper (Hopper NAT -
black background) and from there to your own training
servers (Lab - blue background).
• It is assumed that you have taken the pre-requisite
lessons for this course on NICE Dojo. Should you need to
review the lessons during the course, you may do so at
the end of the day.
Annotations - Participants Actions
While you have permissions to annotate you will be able to:

• Click “Your Name Arrow”
• Write on the whiteboard
• Draw on the whiteboard
Let’s Try:
Certification
practical exam (Lab)

+ theoretical exam
> 80%
(Each)
To receive a certification, you must have a combined score

of 80% or greater on the practical and theoretical exams.
Course
Materials
Course Materials
Let’s take a look!

• Course Description
▪ Course Book
▪ Exercise Book
• Course materials include the Course Description

(Collateral), Course Book and Exercise Book. The course
book is a copy of the presentations used in class and
includes additional notes. The Exercise Book will be used
for the hands-on lab activities.
• Let’s take a look!

NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Sentinel Overview
Sentinel Overview
Lesson By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Objectives • Explain what is Sentinel
• Explain the purpose of Sentinel
• Describe the basic functionality of Sentinel
• List Sentinel Mechanisms

What is Sentinel?
Sentinel is a system monitoring tool that allows to

easily and effectively track the health of NICE environments
NICE Sentinel is a comprehensive system monitoring tool

installed on a dedicated server.
Sentinel allows to easily and effectively track the health of

NICE environments, such as Engage platform.
Sentinel provides critical insight into environment
operation. For example: the Recorder/AIR is down or AIR
has stopped archiving.
It also prevents problems before they happen. For
example: alerting on low storage space.
Why Sentinel?
Monitors NICE Collects the data it displays from
environments regarding: different sources, using different
Recording
communication methods.
1
2 3
Archiving Analytics
Provides an effective alarm

system that immediately identify
and report:
Automatically performs
all of the mandatory
configurations required
System Performance Faults for daily operation.
Availability
Why is the Sentinel application essential?

Why Sentinel? (Cont.)

Monitors NICE Examples
environments regarding:
Recording 1
NICE Engage Nexidia NICE Regional
2 3 Platform Analytics Sentinel
Archiving Analytics
NICE Perform NICE Trading NICE

eXpress Recording Real-Time
(NTR) Solutions
(RTS)
NICE Perform NICE

Interaction
Management
(NIM)
Sentinel monitors NICE environments regarding:

NOTE: Analytics in Alarms Indicators area refers to NICE Interaction Analytics (IA) and not Nexidia Analytics.
• Recording
• Archiving
• Analytics functions.
Examples for those NICE environments are:

• NICE Perform
• NICE Interaction Management (NIM)
• NICE Engage Platform
• NICE Trading Recording (NTR)
• NICE Real-Time Solutions (RTS)
• Nexidia Analytics
• NICE Perform eXpress Servers
• NICE Regional Sentinel.
Provides an effective alarm

system that immediately identify
and report:
System Performance Faults

Availability
Sentinel provides an effective alarm system that

immediately identify and report about:
• System availability
• Performance in real time
• Faults.
Thus, prevents losing functionality or valuable data.


Collects the data it displays from
different sources, using different
communication methods.
Sentinel collects the data it displays from different data

sources, using different communication methods.
Thus, removes the need to look at all of these data sources

individually.
Engage Platform Nexidia Analytics NICE Perform NICE Trading NICE NICE Interaction
Database Server Database Server eXpress Recording Real-Time Management
Database Server (NTR) Core Solutions (NIM)
Server (RTS) Database Database Server
Server
Recording Redundancy
Environment options
Automatically performs
all of the mandatory
Physical System configurations required
Servers Architecture
for daily operation.
Sentinel automatically performs all of the mandatory

configurations required for daily operation.
NICE Sentinel is connected to the NICE environments

administration database from which it can acquire
information regarding:
• Physical servers
• Recording environment
• System architecture
• Redundancy options.
The information is used for the automatic configuration
process and eliminates the need to perform additional
manual configurations.
How does it work?
Applications Server Interactions Server
Database Server Recorder / AIR
Data Mart (DM) Search Server
When connecting to any NICE environment applications

server (for example, NICE Engage platform), the Sentinel
server collects alarm data from all NICE environment
components.
This information is displayed in a local client in the Sentinel

server or through web-based client.
What types of functionality does

NICE Sentinel monitor?
(Select all that apply)
Reporting Recording Question #1
Analytics
Archiving Evaluation
Which of the following NICE

solutions does Sentinel capable of
monitoring? (Select all that apply)
Engage Question #2
NTR
Platform
Nexidia
WFM
Analytics
Sentinel Mechanisms
Alarm Discovery
Forwarding Mechanism
Mechanism
Alarms
Triggering Availability
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
Sentinel uses five mechanisms to monitor NICE

environments:
• Discovery Mechanism
• Availability Check Mechanism
• Reporting Mechanism
• Alarms Triggering Mechanism
• Alarms Forwarding Mechanism
Sentinel Mechanisms (Cont.)

Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Discovery Mechanism
1. An internal job communicates
with NICE environment’s
System Administrator
2. Retrieves and discovers

all servers and components
Alarms
Triggering 3. Adds them to the Availability
Mechanism Inventory List
Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
What is the Discovery Mechanism responsible for?
1. An internal job communicates with NICE environment’s

System Administrator.
NOTE: This internal job is known as the ‘NICE System

Configuration Discovery’.
2. Retrieves and discovers all servers and components. In

addition, retrieves how many data hubs are installed and
how many servers have been configured.
3. Adds them to the Inventory List.

Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Availability Check
Mechanism
The availability of servers

and components is checked
by using: Ping, SNMP and
NICE Components API.
Alarms
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
The availability of servers and components is checked by

using Ping, SNMP and NICE Components API.
NOTE: In the past, we used WMI. Now, we are using

Sentinel SNMP Agent instead, to improve monitoring.
SNMP Agent (part of the Availability Check Mechanism)
For example, in Sentinel services you can see that SNMP

Agent (SNMP Service) runs automatically.
Sentinel Mechanisms
Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Reporting Mechanism
Using Sentinel Reports Capacity

Planning Reports and Health
Check Reports, we can monitor
the health and functionality of
NICE servers.
Alarms
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
Using Alarms and Metrics Reports, Capacity Planning

Reports and Compliance and Health Check Reports (HCR),
we can monitor the health and functionality of NICE
environment.
NOTES:
• Compliance and Health Check Reports (HCR) are only
relevant to NIM and NICE Engage Platform
environments.
• Health Check Reports (HCR) are only relevant to NICE
perform environment.

Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Alarms Triggering
Mechanism
Sentinel triggers alarms when one
of NICE servers or components is
not functioning properly or at risk.
Alarms
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
Sentinel triggers alarms when one of the NICE servers or

components is not functioning properly.
For example: the Recorder/AIR is down or AIR has stopped
archiving or there is low disk space.
In addition, sentinel alarm triggering mechanism also

prevents problems before they happen. For example:
alerting on low storage space.

Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Alarms Forwarding
Mechanism
Sentinel can also be configured to
forward all or specified alarms by
email to one or more recipients.
Alarms
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
The Alarm Forwarding Mechanism is used to forward

alarms.
Sentinel can also be configured to forward all or specified
alarms by email to one or more recipients or by
northbound interface which will be explained later on.
You have noticed that some of the

NICE servers don’t appear in the
Inventory List. Which Mechanism
should you investigate?
Question #3
Alarm Discovery
Mechanism
Alarms
Mechanism Check
Mechanism
Reporting
Mechanism
Several NTR components

were installed on the same server.
Can Sentinel raise alarms on
all components, although they
are on the same server?
Question #4
Yes No
In this lesson we covered:

Summary
• What is Sentinel
• The purpose of Sentinel
• The basic functionality of Sentinel
• The Sentinel Mechanisms
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Post Installation Configurations
Post Installation
Configurations
In this lesson, we will cover post installation configurations.

It is required to perform post installation configurations so
Sentinel will be able to monitor NICE environments.

Objectives • Perform first login
• Perform mandatory configurations
• Perform the Configuration Wizard

Preparations
Sentinel
Customization
Post Installation
Configurations
Sentinel Application
Installation
We are currently
on this step
After NICE Sentinel is installed (not part of this course),

some procedures must be performed (mandatory
configurations) to set up NICE Sentinel for proper operation
and according to the requirements of the organization.
The last step will be to perform Sentinel Customization to
our needs (this will be shown on later lessons).
NOTE: Sentinel application installation was covered in

detail in Engage Installations and/or SRT and NDM for
Support courses.
First Login
LIVE DEMO
First Login
• Performing First Login
When logging into Sentinel for the first time, replace the
current password (nice -> Nicecti1).
Click on the Quick Launch Menu button at the bottom of
the Navigation Panel.
Sentinel Configuration Center and SNMP Configuration are
the relevant windows for performing post installation
configuration.
Admin Login window appears both in Sentinel

Configuration Center and SNMP Configuration.
Enter your credentials. Use the default Sentinel user (nice)
or any other non-Windows (NSDA) user from the Sentinel
Administrators group.
DO IT YOURSELF
First Login
• Performing First Login
Mandatory
Configurations
Mandatory Configurations
1 Sentinel Configuration Center
Perform this first step of setting which environment/s to

monitor at the beginning of the post installation
configurations through Sentinel Configuration Center via
the Quick Launch Menu button.
Mandatory Configurations (Cont.)

2 SNMP Configuration
Perform this second step of installing SNMP agents on all

monitored environment machines (including the Sentinel
itself) through SNMP Configuration via the Quick Launch
Menu button.
Only afterwards additional configurations can be
performed.
Post Mandatory Configuration
After all monitored components have been discovered, in

the Navigation Pane, go to NetworkVUEs tab and right-
click on Custom dVUEs and select Refresh to see NICE
Center Dashboard under this tree.
NOTE: Sentinel application overview (including dashboard

structure) will be shown on next lesson.
LIVE DEMO
• Adding a Monitored System
• Performing SNMP Configuration
• Adding NICE Center Dashboard
Perform the following steps at the beginning of the NICE Sentinel

configuration via Quick Launch Menu button:
1. Add a monitored system via the Sentinel Configuration Center, make

sure to only insert Applications server FQDN.
NOTE: Wait about five minutes for all components to be discovered in the
Inventory ListVUE. You should see green checkbox next to each server
name, under the ‘Availability’ column (five in total).
2. Perform SNMP configuration (SNMP agent installation) on all

monitored environment machines (including the Sentinel itself).
3. Right-click on Custom dVUE and select Refresh.
NICE Center Dashboard should be added under this tree. If it doesn’t
appear, exit Sentinel application and re-login.
Only afterwards, additional configurations can be performed.

It is recommended to start with Configuration Wizard.
DO IT YOURSELF
• Adding a Monitored System
• Performing SNMP Configuration
• Adding NICE Center Dashboard
When will we add a new Monitored

System to NICE Sentinel?
When new exceptions are needed to

be monitored Question #1
When a NICE environment is needed
to be monitored
When Sentinel forwards alarms

or “keep-alive” messages are needed
When configuration of the

Sentinel SNMP Agent is required
What action should be performed to

allow SNMP service to send SNMP
Traps to the NICE Sentinel Server?
Customize Alarm Forwarding Question #2
Configure Remote Client
Add a new Monitored System
Running SNMP Configuration

Configuration
Wizard
Configuration Wizard
• The Configuration Wizard is designed in order to provide a simple way

of configuring Sentinel to suit the customer's needs, based on
monitoring preferences and recording environment (Total Recording,
selective recording).
• The Sentinel Configuration Wizard should be used after all systems to
be monitored have been added, and the initial discovery process has
finished successfully.
• This wizard is useful for multiple systems being monitored, only if all
systems use the same recording environment and preferences (for
example, if all systems use Total Recording and all TRS calls should be
included ).
Currently, the wizard focuses on Recording Alarm thresholds and

Monitoring preferences that will be updated according to your answers.
NOTE: The wizard can be run again, at any time, in order to change the
General Settings (recording environment and optional settings), add a new
monitoring/maintenance schedule or delete/edit existing schedules.
Configuration Wizard - Start
Start screen appears.
To start the Sentinel Configuration Wizard click on Start

button.
Configuration Wizard - Recording
The first step is to select the recording environment (if the monitored system is using
recording environment of course).
Alarms thresholds will be updated automatically, based on your selection.
• The threshold of the following alarms and their corresponding rules will be
changed accordingly:
• Alarm 2100 (Voice Recording Coverage)
• Alarm 2002 (exp005)
• Alarm 2003 (exp007)
• Alarm 2078 (exp009)
• Alarm 2004 (exp012)
• Alarm 2007 (exp035)
For example, Alarm 2004 is for exp012. It means that the voice recording failed in
some of the recent calls:
• When selecting Total Recording or All Calls Recording environments, the
threshold value of Alarm 2004 (exp012) will be changed to ‘1’.
• When selecting a Selective (QM) Recording environment, the threshold value of
Alarm 2004 (exp012) will be changed to ‘200’.
Under Additional options, select whether to raise Alarms on TRS calls or not.
NOTE: Alarms on TRS calls are only available in a Total Recording environment.
Configuration Wizard - General Settings
The next step is to set general configuration settings:

• Receive alarms on hardware utilization - Sites that use separate
application to retrieve hardware utilization information do not require
this option.
• The threshold of the following alarms and their corresponding Rules
will be changed accordingly:
• Alarm 2023 (storage space used).
• Alarm 2024 (processor load).
• Alarm 2026 (used virtual memory).
• Alarm 2215 (physical memory used).
• Receive alarms from unknown sources - Select to receive alarms for
non-NICE components or servers (from outside sources).
Unknown sources means that there was a problem identifying the
media type.
• Prevent flickering (wobbling) alarms - Select this option in order to
prevent automatic clearing of Alarms that keeps jumping several times
within a predefined time period. This controls alarm occurrences and
reduces email notifications (if it was configured of course).
Configuration Wizard - Monitoring Preferences
• The last step is to set monitoring hours and maintenance

schedule.
• The settings will only be applied to the systems currently
monitored.
NOTE: Any schedules performed manually on the

monitored system, will be overwritten by the configuration
from the wizard.
Configuration Wizard - Select monitoring hours
Set up a monitoring schedule, to allow for system

monitoring to occur only during set days and/or hours.
NOTE: By default, If no schedules are added, monitoring

occurs 24 hours / seven days a week. In some sites, this
may affect Key Performance Indicators (KPI) percentages.
Configuration Wizard - Set up maintenance schedule
The maintenance schedule allows for maintenance to occur

at a site during specific days and times.
During this time period, monitoring of the system will not
occur.
Use this schedule to set repetitions of defined downtime
and avoid False Alarms.
Configuration Wizard - Summary
The Summary displays all settings that will be changed with

the wizard.
After clicking on Apply, all thresholds and schedules are
updated and green check marks appear to indicate that the
configuration has been applied.
LIVE DEMO
• Running the Configuration Wizard
DO IT YOURSELF
• Running the Configuration Wizard
What is the purpose of the

Configuration Wizard?
To update Recording Alarm Thresholds Question #3
To run SNMP Configuration
To set Monitoring preferences
To discover monitored components

Sentinel can be configured to receive

alarms from non-NICE sources.
Question #4
True False
A customer has scheduled a time to

install Microsoft patches and doesn’t
want to receive alarms from NICE
servers during this time. What should
he do to accomplish this?
Setup a Maintenance Schedule Question #5
Disable Wobbling Alarms
Enable a Maintenance Metric
Configure False Alarm Thresholds

In this lesson we covered

Summary
• First Login
• Mandatory Configurations
• Configuration Wizard
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Sentinel Application and Web Client
and Web Client

Objectives • Describe main Dashboards in the
Sentinel application
• Describe Sentinel Web Client

Overview
Sentinel Application Overview - Navigation Pane
The left pane is called

Navigation Pane
• This is the Sentinel application.

• The left pane is called Navigation Pane and it is
constant.
• It enables the user to navigate through the entire NICE
Sentinel application.
Sentinel Application Overview
NICE Center
Dashboard Inventory Groups Hierarchy
Alarm Filters Alarm Grid Inner Windows
We will now explore the Sentinel application.

NICE Center Dashboard
NICE Center
Dashboard
• NICE Center Dashboard is the default view of NICE

Sentinel and it appears in the right-hand pane.
• Use this dashboard to view alarms that may arise in the
systems being monitored and access each NICE server to
investigate.
• Also, perform basic system monitoring of Recording,
Archiving and Analytics Alarm Indicators.
NICE Center Dashboard (Cont.)
Open NICE Center Dashboard

via Quick Launch Menu button
At the bottom of the navigation pane, click on Quick

Launch Menu button and select NICE Center.
NOTE: It is also possible to open NICE Center Dashboard

under NetworkVUEs tab from Custom dVUEs by double-
clicking on NICE Center.
Alarm Indicators
area
• The upper-center area is called the Alarms Indicators.

• It indicates alarms in one or more of the NICE servers or
components that affect Recording, Archiving or
Analytics.
• Click on any bar to drill down and view the alarm details.
NOTE: Analytics Alarm Indicator is displayed even if the

installed NICE system does not include Interaction Analytics
components.
NICE Servers area
• The center area is called the NICE Servers.

• It lists all monitored servers and displays, in descending
order, starting with the servers from which the largest
number of alarm messages have originated.
• Access each NICE server to monitor its performance.
NOTE: This is the only area that appears in an NTR

environment. Click on the NTR server, in order to drill down
to view the server status.
Alarms for All area
• The bottom-center area is called the Alarms for All.

• It is displayed as an Alarm Grid and lists all alarms for
the system.
• Click on any line in the view, in order to drill down to
further component details.
Summary
area
Alarm Severity
Red - Critical Alarm
Orange - Major Alarm
Yellow - Minor Alarm
Purple - Indeterminate/unknown
Green - No Alarm
• The area on the right is called Summary area.

• The Summary displays an alarm summary for all NICE Interaction
Management / NICE Engage platform systems, groups and components.
• The view is sorted according to the alarm severity.
• The severity of the alarms is displayed according to the following color
code:
• No Alarm (In green) - Represents that all is clear; there is no alarm.
• Indeterminate (in purple) - Indicates an alarm originating on a server
that is not part of the NICE system.
• Minor (in yellow) - Indicates the component or server is experiencing
some issues, but the system is still functioning properly. These issues
can cause major and critical problems in the future.
• Major (in orange) - Indicates the component or server is still working,
but experiencing serious issues, which could lead to critical problems
in the near future.
• Critical (in red) - Indicates a problem exists. The specific component
or server is not functioning and therefore an action is required.
• Click any bar to drill down and view the alarm details.
Inventory ListVUE
Inventory ListVUE displays all discovered servers.

Availability - Sentinel has connectivity to this server.
• In the Navigation Pane, navigate to NetworkVUEs tab

and double-click Inventory ListVUE.
• The Inventory ListVUE workspace displays all discovered
servers.
• Green indicates that Sentinel has a connectivity to
this server.
• Double-click on any server to drill-down to the details
window.
Inventory
Inventory list contains all discovered components by type.

Availability - The component has no critical alarms.
• In the Navigation Pane, navigate to Discovery tab and

expand Inventory.
• The Inventory list contains all discovered components by
type.
• Double-click on an inventory object:
• Green - Indicates that the component has no critical
alarms.
• Red - Will appear when at least one critical alarm is
raised for this component.
• Double-click on any component to drill-down to the
details window.
Groups
Groups may include any number of components,

servers and/or sites or a combination of
components, servers and/or sites.
• In the Navigation Pane, navigate to NetworkVUEs tab and expand

Groups.
• Groups may include any number of components, servers and/or sites
or a combination of components, servers and/or sites.
For example, it’s possible to create a group of all NICE database servers
located in the sites, or a group of all archiving components located on
one site.
• NICE Sentinel includes an additional default group called Branches or
Data Hubs (depending on the monitored system type), which lists all
NICE servers by branch or data hub.
• Each branch or data hub group contains sub-groups with
components.
• It’s also possible to create additional sub-groups under the default
branch or data hub group, which can be customized to meet
specific needs.
• When double-clicking on one of the components under a
group/branch, the details of the group/branch work space appear in
the right-hand pane.
Alarm Filters
Alarm Filters
• In the Navigation Pane, navigate to NetworkVUEs tab

and expend Alarm Filters.
• Alarm Filters enable to display only those alarms that
meet the defined criteria.
• There are some pre-defined filters, but additional
criteria can be set as well.
This is especially significant when dealing with a large
number of components and/or sites, or when analyzing
a wide range of data.
Alarm Filters - Alarm Grid
Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Alarm Grid
• The Alarm Grid lists all new alarms, as well as those

alarms that have already been acknowledged.
• The alarms are sorted by alarm type and are displayed
until cleared, whether automatically or manually by the
user.
• The status of an alarm appears in the Status column:
• Acked - Indicates that the alarm has been
acknowledged.
• UnAcked - Indicates that the alarm has not been
acknowledged.
• Double-click on any line in the view, in order to drill
down to further component details.
Inner Windows
Select to view inner windows
The inner windows are as follows:

• Object Hierarchy Window
• Object Details Window
• Alarm Details Window
Inner Windows - Object Hierarchy
Click on view Object Hierarchy…
To view which server has a component associated with,

right-click on the component in the Inventory ListVUE and
select View Object Hierarchy.
NOTE: It is also possible to view Object Hierarchy under

NetworkVUEs tab from Inventory ListVUE or by double-
clicking on a component in Groups.
This is an example for Object Hierarchy inner window.

Inner Windows - Object Details
Click on view Object Details…
To view Object Details, right-click the alarm in the Alarm

Grid and select View Object Details.
NOTE: It’s also possible to view Object Details under

NetworkVUEs tab, by double-clicking on a component in
Groups or an alarm in Alarm Filters.
Inner Windows - Object Details (Cont.)
This is an example of an Object Details inner window.

Inner Windows - Alarm Details
Click on view Alarm Details…
To view Alarm Details, right-click on the alarm in the Alarm

Grid and select View Alarm Details.
NOTE: It is also possible to view Alarm Details under

NetworkVUEs tab by double-clicking on an alarm in Alarm
Filters.
Inner Windows - Alarm Details (Cont.)
Click to view recommended actions
• This is an example of an Alarm Details inner window.

• For the recommended actions, click on Link To Help or
where applicable, click on Additional Info.
Opened Tabs
Click to navigate
between multiple
opened tabs
To navigate between multiple opened tabs, use the small

arrow at the top-right corner.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel application overview

• Exploring Sentinel application
• NICE Center Dashboard
• Inventory (ListVUE and List)
• Groups
• Alarm Filters
• Alarm Grid
• Inner Windows - Object Hierarchy, Object Details and
Alarm Details
What is NOT the purpose of NICE

Center Dashboard?
To provide a real-time
overview of the entire system
Question #1
To run inventory, alarm and
performance reports
To allow basic system monitoring of

Recording, Archiving and Analytics
To allow an easy drill-down to

investigate alarm details
How can you check the local disk

space and capacity of a drive?
Via the Object Hierarchy inner Question #2

window
Via the Object Details inner window
Via the Alarms Details inner window

How can you access Sentinel online

help for troubleshooting alarms?
Via the Object Hierarchy inner Question #3

window
Via the Object Details inner window
Via the Alarms Details inner window

Login to your lab and answer:
• How many critical alarms are reported

on the Applications server?
Treasure Hunt
Questions
• How many Potential Recording Loss
Alarms are displayed?
• How many Database server related

alarms are displayed?
Web Client
Overview
Sentinel Web Client
Allows the user to:

• Monitor availability, performance and alarm
status of network objects.
• View network maps based on discovered
network inventory.
• Run inventory, alarm and performance reports.
• The Sentinel Web Client provides convenient access to

the Sentinel server from any PC supporting Internet
Explorer 9 (IE9) and higher.
• Type http://<Sentinel FQDN>/neuralstar to access the
Sentinel Web Client.
• The Web Client allows the user to:
• Monitor availability, performance and alarm status of
network objects.
• View network maps based on discovered network
inventory.
• Run inventory, alarm and performance reports.
• The information shown in the Sentinel Web Client is
identical to that of the Sentinel application.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Web Client

• Accessing Sentinel Web Client
DO IT YOURSELF
Sentinel Web Client

• Accessing Sentinel Web Client

Summary
• Main Dashboards in Sentinel application.
• Sentinel Web Client.
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Sentinel Alarms
Sentinel Alarms

Objectives • Describe Alarms overview:
• Explain what an Alarm is
• Specify Alarm Types and Severities
• Describe Alarm Lifecycle
• Describe Alarm Details Window
• Describe Alarm Handling steps
• Describe how to configure Alarm Settings

Agenda
Alarms Overview
Alarm Details Window
Alarm Handling
Alarm Settings
Agenda (Cont.)
Alarms Overview
Alarm Handling
Alarm Settings
What is an Alarm?
• Alarms are displayed to indicate that there is a problem.

• They are triggered when one of the NICE servers or
components does not function properly or is at risk.
What is a False Alarm?
NOTES:
• Sentinel will raise alarms even when the source of the alarm is Sentinel
itself and not one of the NICE components.
• When drilling down to the component and reveals no problem, the
alarm is considered “False”.
• Some alarms are raised for no other reason than to notify that Sentinel
is not able to connect properly to the monitored servers. This means
that it is not functioning properly.
Examples of False Alarms:
• Example #1: Alarm X was raised and it is showing that NICE service is
down.
You log in to that server and check the services list.
You see that the service is running - so the alarm is “False”.
• Example #2: Alarm Y was raised and it is showing that NICE service is
down.
You log in to that server and check the services list. You see that the
service has stopped, so you run it.
Then you go back to Sentinel, but the alarm wasn't cleared (up to one
minute for refresh). So the problem was resolved, but the alarm still
exists - so the alarm is “False”.
Alarm Triggers
SNMP Metrics
Traps Threshold
Alarms
Triggers
Sentinel
SQL
Polling
Alarms
Failure
Alarms can be triggered by the following:

• SNMP Traps - Initiated by a NICE component or server and sent to the
Sentinel server by the SNMP Agent. For example: archiving or recording
failure.
• Metrics Threshold - A measureable value used to monitor system
performance. For example: Call Rate, Archiving Backlog and CPU Usage.
An alarm is generated when the measured value of system parameters
is above/below the Metric Threshold.
Sentinel Metrics use different technologies to collect the data, such as
database queries and performance counters.
For example: Call Rate metric is collected using DB Insertion/sec
performance counter. Archiving Backlog metric is collected using SQL
Query.
• SQL Alarms - An alarm is generated when one of the monitored
database jobs had failed or when the job execution time is too long.
• Sentinel Polling Failure - A partial or complete polling job failure. For
example: when a ping had failed, or when some but not all monitoring
information had been collected. Polling jobs are used to collect metrics
from servers according to a set schedule and publish them in Sentinel.
SNMP Flow
SNMP
OID SNMP Trap OID SNMP
Manager Recorder / AIR
Agent
MIB MIB
SNMP
Request SNMP
Trap
OID SNMP
Agent
Sentinel Server Database Server MIB
SNMP
Trap
OID SNMP
Applications Server
Agent
MIB
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application layer

used to exchange management information between network devices.
Basic Components:
• SNMP Manager - An SNMP server (in our case, the Sentinel server),
which queries and receives information from the managed devices. For
Example: CPU usage and disk space usage.
• SNMP Agent - A program installed on each network device to be
monitored (in our lab, all Engage servers).
The SNMP Agent collects information to be monitored from the
managed devices and responds to SNMP Manager queries.
On each server, SNMP Agent monitors the server itself as well as
different NICE components installed on that server (IC, Reporter,
Application, etc.).
• Management Information Base (MIB) tables - Each SNMP Agent
maintains an information DB, which contains managed device
parameters.
MIB also contains a collection of Object IDentifiers (OID).
• OID - Defines which information on a managed device can be
read\queried by the SNMP Manager.
SNMP Trap Flow - Push (Example)
Sentinel Server AIR
Sentinel Monitoring SNMP Manager SNMP Agent

Screen
DB Server
Event Processor
SNMP Trap 1
Trap Saved 2
Alarm Raise 3
Sentinel works in push-poll technology.

SNMP Agent proactively sends a notification to Sentinel to
notify of a problem with one of the managed devices.
SNMP Trap Flow: (example)
1. AIR sends an SNMP Trap to the Sentinel DB Server via the
SNMP Agent.
2. Trap is saved in the Sentinel DB server.
3. Sentinel Event Processor service decides whether to raise an
alarm, according to the ignored list.
NOTE: Each NICE Component is responsible for sending its

own Traps to Sentinel.
Metric Alarm Flow - Poll (Example)
Sentinel Server AIR
Sentinel Monitoring Poller SNMP Agent

Screen
DB Server
Event Processor
1 SNMP Query
SNMP Trap 2
Trap Saved 3
Alarm Raise 4
The Sentinel server sends a request to different NICE

servers to query the value of different performance
metrics.
Metric Alarm Flow: (example)
1. Poller sends a request (SNMP query, metrics or SQL
Query).
2. AIR sends back data to the Poller.
3. Poller publishes the metric value to the Sentinel DB
server.
4. Sentinel Event Processor service decides whether to
raise an alarm, according to the ignored list.
Polling Jobs
Metrics are gathered and

executed by Sentinel
using Pollers
• As we have covered, Metrics are gathered and executed

by Sentinel using Pollers.
• They are located under Metrics tab in Polling Jobs tree.
• Each polling job is associated with a specific server.
Polling Jobs (Cont.)
• Polling interval defines the frequency by which NICE

Sentinel executes the performance metric.
• To modify the metric polling interval, double-click on
Polling Jobs and then double-click on the desired
polling job. Enter the desired value (in seconds) in the
Set Polling Interval window.
NOTE: Changes are applied after the next run, according to

the previous (old) interval.
Before adding monitored systems, only three components

are discovered:
• Sentinel server itself (NICE Sentinel).
• Sentinel DB server.
• Sentinel Databases.
Sentinel self default Pollers will collect related metrics.
For Example: Disk space and CPU load are the metrics that
are collected by the default Pollers.
After adding monitored systems, for each discovered

server and component - there are default Pollers.
Those Pollers also define which related metrics should be
collected.
For Example: logged in users, archiving failures, call rate,
etc. are the metrics that are collected by the default
Pollers.
LIVE DEMO
Polling Jobs
• Modify Polling Interval
DO IT YOURSELF
Polling Jobs
• Refer to the Exercise Book - Polling Jobs
Alarm Forwarding
SNMP When Sentinel
Traps creates a new alarm
When the severity or

Northbound
Alarms system effect of the
existing alarm is changed Interfaces
When the alarm has been

resolved and cleared
• NICE Sentinel formats all alarms, including those triggered by

metrics and queries, as SNMP Traps.
• Alarms are forwarded when:
• Sentinel creates a new alarm.
• The severity or system effect of the existing alarm is
changed.
• The alarm has been resolved and cleared.
• Then, Sentinel forwards these SNMP Traps to the northbound
interfaces. Northbound Interfaces allows the receipt of all
consolidated data by using 3rd party monitoring tools.
NOTES:
• NICE Sentinel can be configured to forward alarms by email.
• Specific alarms can be specified per profile.
• A profile can contain any number of recipients.
Alarm Type
Examples:
Potential recording loss: Alarm 2107 - Text Capture Poller
Recording
Loss
(Highest number of text interactions captured per hour over the last day).
High risk of recording loss: Alarm 2166 - Generic SNMP Poller
(Internal bundles Memory Manager usage).
NICE Sentinel alarms are divided into the following types:

• Recording Loss is divided according to severity:
• Potential recording loss - Indicates a problem that
may cause the system to stop recording if the
problem is not corrected. For example: Alarm 2107 -
Text Capture Poller (Highest number of text
interactions captured per hour over the last day).
• High risk of recording loss - Indicates a problem that
is likely to cause the system to stop recording.
For example: Alarm 2166 - Generic SNMP Poller
(Internal bundles Memory Manager usage).
Alarm Type (Cont.)
Potential Archiving Loss
High Risk Of Archiving Loss
Examples:
Potential archiving loss: Alarm 2278 - Nexidia Analytics Poller
Archiving
(Records pending ETL).
Loss
High risk of archiving loss: Alarm 2223 - Capacity Monitoring Poller
(Estimated Days Until Disk Full).

• Archiving Loss is divided according to severity:
• Potential archiving loss - Indicates a problem that
may cause the system to stop archiving if the
problem is not corrected. For example: Alarm 2278 -
Nexidia Analytics Poller (Records pending ETL).
• High risk of archiving loss - Indicates a problem that
is likely to cause the system to stop archiving.
For example: Alarm 2223 - Capacity Monitoring
Poller (Estimated Days Until Disk Full).
Alarm Type (Cont.)
Examples:
Analytics
Alarm 2252 - Capacity Monitoring Poller
Alarms
(Interaction Analytics Inactive).

• Analytics Alarms Issue - Indicates a problem that affects
Interaction Analytics components.
For example: Alarm 2252 - Capacity Monitoring Poller
(Interaction Analytics Inactive).
Alarm Type (Cont.)
Examples:
Local
Alarm 2121 - Agents Center Poller
Functionality
(Online PO Agents [Agents Center component, polling interval - 10 minutes]).
• The source of the alarm is not associated with one of the NICE
servers/components.
• The source of the alarm is an SNMP trap originating in one of the
Unknown
NICE servers related to a 3rd party component and not to the
NICE environment.
• Any Trap not from a monitored server.

• Local Functionality Issue - Indicates a problem that
affects the functioning of one of the NICE servers or
components, but does not prevent recording or
archiving. For example: Alarm 2121 - Agents Center
Poller (Online PO Agents [Agents Center component,
polling interval - 10 minutes]).
• Unknown - Indicates one of the following:
• The source is not associated with one of the NICE
servers/components.
• The source is an SNMP trap originating in one of the
NICE servers related to a 3rd party component and not
to the NICE environment.
• Any Trap not from a monitored server.
Alarm Filters
It only shows the

alarms that you want
to see
• Alarms are displayed to indicate that there are problems.

• Alarm Filters only display the alarms that meet the criteria
defined.
• This is especially significant when dealing with a large number
of components and/or sites, or when analyzing a wide range
of data.
• It is also located under NetworkVUEs menu tab.
• When creating new alarms there are three Alarm Filters
scope:
• User Scope (yellow) - allows only the user who created
this filter to view it.
• Group Scope (green) - allows only the users who belong to
your user group (for example, Basic Users or Administrator
Users) to view this filter.
• Public Scope (purple) - allows all users belonging to all
user groups to view this filter.
Default alarm filters types

All - Displays all alarms.
All - Acknowledged Only - Displays all alarms that have been acknowledged and not
yet cleared.
All - Unacknowledged Only - Displays all alarms that have not been acknowledged.
Recording - Displays all alarms related to recording.
Archiving - Displays all alarms related to archiving.
Analytics - Displays all alarms related to Interaction Analytics.
Critical - Displays all alarms classified as critical.
Major - Displays all alarms classified as major.
Actionable Alarms - Displays all critical and major alarms.
Minor - Displays all alarms classified as minor.
Unknown - Displays all alarms originating from unidentified sources, usually from a
source not associated with a NICE site, server or component.
Let’s go over the meaning of each default Alarm Filter:

• Actionable Alarms - Displays all critical and major alarms.
• All - Displays all alarms.
• All - Acknowledged Only - Displays all alarms that have been
acknowledged and not yet cleared.
• All - Unacknowledged Only - Displays all alarms that have not been
acknowledged.
• Recording - Displays all alarms related to recording.
• Archiving - Displays all alarms related to archiving.
• Analytics - Displays all alarms related to Interaction Analytics.
• Critical - Displays all alarms classified as critical.
• Major - Displays all alarms classified as major.
• Minor - Displays all alarms classified as minor.
• Unknown - Displays all alarms originating from unidentified sources,
usually from a source not associated with a NICE site, server or
component.
Double-click on a filter to reveal the list of relevant alarms.
Alarm Filters (Cont.)
Do you understand
all the columns?
The Alarm Filter workspace lists the following data for each device:
• Display Name - Name of the server or component from which the alarm has originated.
• Description - A description of the alarm.
• Classification Type - Type of server/component from which the alarm was received.
• Alarm Type - Several categories of alarm types. We covered them previously.
• Alarm ID - Identifying number of the alarm.
• Time First - First time this alarm was received.
• Time Last - Most recent time this alarm was received.
• Status - Indicates whether the alarm has been acknowledged.
• Sentinel Server - Name of the server on which NICE Sentinel is installed.
• Time Acked - Time the alarm was acknowledged.
• Acked by - User who acknowledged the alarm.
• Updated by - Name of the user who last updated the alarm.
• Occurrence Count - Total number of times this alarm has been received, including both
before and after the alarm was acknowledged.
• New Occurrence Count - Number of times this alarm has been received after it was
acknowledged.
• Clearing - Indicates the method used for clearing the alarm. We will cover this later on.
• Trouble Ticket - Any comments added by a user.
The rest of the options will be explained later on.
Alarm Lifecycle
Alarm System
sent to Administrator Alarm
Sentinel investigates is dealt with
the alarm
Occurrence Count
New Occurrence Count
Status: Status: Status:
UnAcked Acked Cleared
Unacknowledged Acknowledged Cleared
The primary function of Sentinel is to monitor NICE environments and raise alarms. Our job is
to find them and understand their meaning.
The lifecycle of a Sentinel alarm is as follows:
1. When the alarm is sent to Sentinel, its status is Unacknowledged (or as shown as UnAcked).
The alarm will remain indefinitely until its status is changed OR the cause of the alarm is
resolved.
2. System Administrator investigates this alarm and acknowledges this by changing the alarm's
status to Acknowledged (or as shown as Acked). The alarm remains displayed but is no
longer activated. At this point, the value in the alarm’s New Occurrence Count field is reset
to zero. Two types of alarm counts will now display different values:
• Occurrence Count - Indicates the total number of times the alarm has been raised,
since it was first raised.
• New Occurrence Count - Indicates the total number of times the alarm has been
raised, since it was last acknowledged.
3. When the alarm has been dealt with, System Administrator can progress the alarm's status to
Cleared. This will remove the alarm from the Alarm Grid.
NOTES:
• Most Cleared alarms will be removed from the Sentinel display, but remain visible in the log
files.
• Northbound Alarms are sent when the alarm is created, acknowledged and cleared.
If an appropriate alarm filter was set, these can be sent even if the alarm was acknowledged.
• Emails will also be sent when the severity of the existing alarm is changed.
What are Alarm Indicators?
Database Backup Alarms,

Archiving Alarms
Question #1
Recording Alarms,
Archiving Alarms
and Analytics Alarms
Recording Alarms,
Playback Alarms,
Archiving Alarms
Which of the following, will NOT

be displayed in the Alarm Grid?
Acknowledged Alarms
Question #2
Unacknowledged Alarms
Prominent Alarms
Cleared Alarms
Ignored Alarms

Polling Interval?
Defines the time duration to perform

a sentinel database backup Question #3
Used to generate alarm reports
Defines the frequency by which

NICE Sentinel executes
performance metric
Complete the following sentence:

New Occurrence Count is the total
number of times that alarm has been
raised since the alarm was…
Question #4
Cleared
Raised
Acknowledged
Detected
Agenda
Alarms Overview
Alarm Handling
Alarm Settings
To determine the source and cause of an alarm, right-click

on the alarm and select View Alarm Details…
Alarm Details Window (Cont.)
The Alarm Details window displays all the data relating to

an alarm and provides links that lead us directly to the
recommended actions which will help us resolve it.
Link to Help
• This is an example of what the Link to Help window
looks like.
• Clicking on the link will direct us to this Table of Content
(TOC).

db1.nicetraining.com
2035
Potential Recording Loss
SENT1
db1.nicetraining.com_SQL_Queries Poller
db1.nicetraining.com
10.1.85.14
Database Server
db1.nicetraining.com_SQL_Queries Poller
Engage R6.12 - Master Site

http://SENT1/NeuralStar/GettingStarted/getting_started_CSH.htm#Alarm_ID_2035
http://SENT1/SentinelPortal/AdditionalInfo.aspx?s=1805de99-dd09-e511-8123-00
Additional Info
• This is an example of what the Additional Info window
looks like.
• Clicking on the link will direct us to the recommended
action in table view.

1 Select an alarm
How to access the Alarm Details Window?

Select an alarm from NICE Center in one of the following
ways:
1. Double-click on a filter from Alarm Filters and select an
alarm.
2. In Alarm Indicators area, click on the colored bar in the
bar chart.
3. In NICE Servers area, click on the colored square
corresponding to the alarm.
4. In Alarms for all area, at the bottom of the NICE
Center.

Click on View 3 View Details
2 Alarm Details…
The color of the

exclamation mark
corresponds with
the alarm severity
Right-click on one of the alarms and then click on View Alarm Details…
Let’s understand the meaning of each field in this window:
• Server Name - Name of the server from which the alarm has originated.
• IP - IP address of the server from which the alarm has originated.
• Component - Indicates which component is the source of a Status of Component is down
alarm. This field remains empty for all other alarms.
• Trigger - Indicates whether the alarm was triggered by an SNMP trap alarm, threshold alarm,
Poller or Schedule Job.
• Traps - If the alarm is triggered by an SNMP trap, indicates the number(s) of the SNMP trap(s).
• Value - If the alarm is triggered by a threshold, indicates the value of the metric that triggered
the alarm.
• Boards - If the source of the alarm is one of the boards in a Logger, indicates the number of that
board. If the alarm originates in RAID, the ID of the malfunctioning device may also be indicated.
• Metric - If the alarm is triggered by crossing a metric threshold, indicates the name of the
metric.
• Location - Name and ID of the site from which the alarm has originated.
• Link to Help - Click on the link to display the recommended action for this alarm.
The link connects to the relevant section of the NICE Sentinel online help.
• Severity - Indicates whether the alarm is Minor, Major, Critical, or Indeterminate.
• Additional Info - For some alarms, click on Additional Info link for further details.
• Metric Rule - For metric alarms, this field contains the name of the rule that triggered the alarm.
These fields also appear in the Alarm Grid columns.
Agenda
Alarms Overview
Alarm Handling
Alarm Settings
Alarm Handling - Step #1

Alarm Indicators area
NICE Servers area
Detect
an alarm
There are three basic steps to resolving alarms.

Step #1 - Detect an alarm.
• Alarms are displayed in:
• Alarm Indicators area as a bar chart according to the
number of occurrences and severity of the alarm.
• NICE Servers area as a colored square next to each
server name.
• Alarm Indicators area and NICE Servers area appear if
the system has any important issues.
• These issues could potentially cause or are already
causing a Recording or Archiving Loss or Interaction
Analytics components problem.
• The severity of the alarms is displayed according to the
color code.
Alarm Handling - Step #1 (Cont.)
Detect
an alarm
• To see the amount of alarms of a certain severity, hover

over one of the bars in Alarm Indicators area (meaning,
Recording, Archiving and Analytics area) or hover over
one of the servers colored squares in NICE Servers area.
Drilling Down
to Alarm Grid
Detect
an alarm
Step #2 - Drilling down to Alarm Grid.

• After clicking on the colored bar in the bar chart OR the
colored square corresponding to the alarm, drill down
to determine the source and cause of the alarm.
• Alarm Grid will display all the alarms related to the
selected color which are associated with the specific
alarm indicator or server.
Click on the name of the

server to view all alarms
related to this server
(without filtering by severity)
Drilling Down
to Alarm Grid
Detect
an alarm
It is also possible to click on the name of the server to view

all alarms related to this server (without filtering by
severity).
Alarms are displayed until they are cleared

automatically or manually by the user.
• Alarm Grid lists all the alarms that apply to the

displayed window, including those alarms that have
been acknowledged.
• Alarms are displayed until they are cleared
automatically or manually by the user.
Acknowledging
or Clearing alarm
Drilling Down
to Alarm Grid
Detect
an alarm
Step #3 - Acknowledging or Clearing alarm

After the alarm has been resolved, right-click on the alarm
and select to acknowledge or to clear it.

air1.nicetraining.com - Advanced Interaction Recorder
SENT1
air1.nicetraining.com
10.1.85.13
Engage R6.12 - Master Site

http://SENT1/NeuralStar/GettingStarted/getting_started_CSH.htm#Alarm_ID_729
• After alarm acknowledgment, locate the Alarm ID

number and Traps number which triggered the alarm.
Both appear in Alarm Grid and in Alarm Details
window.
• Use these numbers to find the recommended action for
resolving this issue.

air1.nicetraining.com - Advanced Interaction Recorder
SENT1
air1.nicetraining.com
10.1.85.13
Clearing Methods:
• Auto
• Manual Engage R6.12 - Master Site
• Semi-Manual http://SENT1/NeuralStar/GettingStarted/getting_started_CSH.htm#Alarm_ID_729
The Clearing Alarms method indicates whether the alarm

has a clearing condition or should be cleared manually.
The Clearing Method appears both in Alarm Grid and
Alarm Details Window.
An alarm can be cleared using one of three methods:
• Auto - Sentinel will auto clear the alarm (this method is
mainly related to Metric Alarms).
• Manual - Alarm should be cleared manually.
• Semi-Manual - Alarm can be raised by several traps and
only some of these traps have an automatic clearing trap
(this method is related only to Trap Alarms). When this is
the case, open Link to Help window and check the
clearing traps.
Example of
Semi-Manual
Clearing Method
• For example: Alarm 103 - SNMP traps (Interactions

Center failed to update the database) is cleared
automatically when triggered by SNMP traps 1017, 1021
and 1093 and should be cleared manually when
triggered by all other SNMP traps (1023 and 1072).
• View this information and understand how to handle it
by using Link to Help window.
Available on ExtraNICE!
For more information, please see the Sentinel Alarms

Guide available on ExtraNICE. Refer to Chapter 2 - Alarms:
Recommended Actions and find the list of NICE
recommended actions for handling the alarms.
LIVE DEMO
Alarm Handling
• Handling an alarm
Instructions for demo - ask participants to perform with you:

1. Go to the database server (DB1) and stop NICE Reporter Engine service.
2. Return to Sentinel (SENT1) and wait about five minutes and show that an alarm has been
raised with the following details:
• Display Name: db1.nicetraining.com - reporter engine
• Description: some of the component services are down
• Classification Type: Reporter
• Alarm Type: Local Functionality
• Alarm ID: 3003
3. Right-click on the alarm and select View Alarm Details…
4. Show that the trigger is db1.nicetraining.com_Generic SNMP Poller (the first part of the
naming convention is the name of the relevant server).
5. Click on Link to Help and show the following details:
• Alarm Name: Services Down
• Description: Some of the component services are down
• Clearance: Alarm is cleared automatically in certain cases, depending on the source
of the alarm and whether the service is up.
Go over Table details as well.
6. Click on Additional Info and show that NICE Reporter Engine service is in status Stopped.
7. Go to the database server (DB1) again, open Services window and start NICE Reporter
Engine service.
8. Return to Sentinel (SENT1), under NetworkVUEs tab, open Alarm Filter All and show that
the alarm has been cleared automatically.
Agenda
Alarms Overview
Alarm Handling
Alarm Settings
LIVE DEMO
Alarm Settings
• Adding an Alarm to Ignored Alarms list
• Adding an exception to Interaction Exceptions list
• Modifying poll interval and poll exceptions
• Modifying predefined alarm severity of system alarms
• Modifying SQL Jobs Execution Time
• Modifying Trap Rule severity, timespan and occurrences
Ignored Alarms
• By default, NICE Sentinel displays all the alarms it detects.

However, it’s possible to configure NICE Sentinel to ignore
specific alarms. Those alarms are defined as Ignored Alarms.
• For example: Most customers use an external system for
backup instead of NICE system database backup job. In those
cases, the relevant alarms will be added to the ignored list
(Alarm 2035 - Days since last differential DB backup and Alarm
2017 - Days since last full DB backup).
• Any alarm that appears in Alarm Grid and is added to the
ignored list, will not appear again.
• Use Sentinel Configuration Center to specify which alarms are
to be treated as ignored alarms.
• Click on Ignored Alarms under Alarm Settings tab, select
desired alarm and click on the arrow down (↓) icon to add the
desired alarm to the Ignored Alarms list.
Ignored Alarms (Cont.)
The selected alarm was added to the list of Ignored Alarms.
NOTE: The list will be saved automatically.

Metric Alarm Settings - Interaction Exceptions
• Specify which exceptions are to be monitored by NICE

Sentinel and, if necessary, define the polling interval
and backwards time.
• Click on Interaction Exceptions under Alarm Settings
tab and then click on the pencil icon to edit.
Metric Alarm Settings - Interaction Exceptions (Cont.)

2
• Select an exception to add to the Interaction Exceptions

list and click on Apply button.
• For example: exp001 can be added to the exception list
if necessary.
• It is also possible to modify the poll interval and poll
exceptions.
System Alarm Settings - System Alarms Severity
It is possible to change the predefined System Alarms

Severity of system alarms using Sentinel Configuration
Center.
To change System Alarms Severity:
• Click on Alarm Settings tab and then click on System
Alarm Settings.
• In Alarm ID column, modify the severity and click on
Save button.
NOTES:
• Once you modified the severity, a clipboard icon will
show up to notify you that the severity of this Alarm ID
is not default.
• Clicking on rewind arrow resets the configuration for
this Alarm ID back to default setting.
System Alarm Settings - SQL Jobs Execution Time
It is also possible to configure SQL Jobs Execution Time

using Sentinel Configuration Center.
To change SQL Jobs Execution Time:
• Click on Alarm Settings tab and then click on Click on
SQL Jobs Execution Time.
• Click on the pencil icon near the desired database to
edit.
System Alarm Settings - SQL Jobs Execution Time (Cont.)

2
• Select the desired SQL Jobs, edit their required

Thresholds (hours) and click on Apply button.
• For example: NICE DW Population Schedule, 1 hour
threshold.
Trap Rules
Clearing Methods:
• A - Auto
• M - Manual
It is also possible to modify Trap Rules severity, timespan and occurrences using
Sentinel Configuration Center.
• Click on Alarm Settings tab and then click on Click on Trap Rules.
• In Alarm ID column, expand the relevant Alarm ID by clicking on the + sign. The
Traps associated with the alarm appear.
• You can modify the following settings:
• Severity - Modify the predefined alarm severity.
• Timespan - Set the time period for the rule, if required. The alarm is triggered
only if the trap is sent within this time period.
• Occurrences - Set the number of occurrences, if required. The alarm is
triggered only if the number of occurrences defined is reached within the
defined time period.
• Consecutive - Only when selected, the alarm is not raised if a clearing trap is
sent between occurrences, during the defined time period.
• Click on Save button.
• It’s also possible to search by Trap number to locate under which alarm the trap
is located.
NOTES:
• Once you modified any setting, a clipboard icon will show up to notify you that
the settings of this trap is not default.
• Clicking on rewind arrow resets the rules for this trap back to default setting.
DO IT YOURSELF
Alarm Settings
• Refer to the Exercise Book - Ignored Alarms
• Refer to the Exercise Book - Interaction Exceptions
Where can the polling interval and

backward time be defined?
Sentinel Configuration Center -

Interaction Exceptions Question #5

System Alarm Settings

SQL Job Exception Time

Summary
• Alarms Overview
• Handling Alarms
• Alarm Details Window
• Alarm Settings
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Metric Rules
Metric Rules
In this lesson, we will cover the metric rules topic.


Objectives • Create a new Metric Rule
• Modify an existing Metric Rule

Introduction
Metric
Rules
Wizard
Expand
Navigate Select Edit

/ Create
The Metric Rule wizard is used as a step-by-step guide that

walks through the process of creating or editing a Metric
Rule.
First steps:
1. In the Navigation Pane, navigate to Metrics tab and
expand Metric Groups tree.
2. Expand the relevant metric rule.
3. Right-click and select ‘Edit’ or ‘Create’. It’s also possible
to double-click the wizard icon to edit an existing rule.
Creating a new
Metric Rule
Creating a Metric Rule
• To create a new metric rule, right-click on Metric Rules

folder under the relevant rule and select Create Metric
Rule...
• For example, we want to create another version of
Logical Disk-Space Used by monitoring drive D in the
database server when its ‘space used’ is over 20% to
avoid data loss.
LIVE DEMO
Creating a new Metric Rule

• Creating a new Metric Rule
Follow the instructions on the next slides.

Creating a Metric Rule - Performance Metric
Metric Rule Wizard starts and Select a Performance Metric

window appears.
NOTE: The performance metric is automatically selected.

Creating a Metric Rule - Network Elements
Default option which

disables the list Apply to all the
items in the list
Select items to
apply the rule to
Click to apply only Click to remove an
on other folders item from the list
Apply the rule as follows:

1. Select items from the tree on the left side of the window. Select to apply
only to a specific folder.
For example, select only db1.nicetraining.com folder under Logical disk.
2. Apply the rule to selected Items:
• Apply rule to all polled network elements - Default option.
The rule will apply to all relevant components in the tree on the left.
The list on the right will be disabled.
• Use Items on list - The rule will apply to all displayed list on the right. For
example, to all drives.
• Remove Checked Items - When selecting an item on the right (for
example: drive C) and clicking this button, the rule will not apply to the
removed item. It will apply to the current displayed list.
• Do not apply rule to items in list - When selecting this checkbox, the
rule will only apply to the other items on the left.
For example: when selecting db1.nicetraining.com folder and this
checkbox - The rule will only apply to all other folders.
In this example, we will select db1.nicetraining.com folder and click on Move
to the next page (>) button.
Creating a Metric Rule - Criteria Type
Select one of the following criteria types:

• Single Value - The metric rule triggers an action, based on a single
performance metric value and an operator (e.g., greater than or equal
to), a time period and the number of occurrences.
• Range of values - The metric rule triggers an action, based on a range
of performance metric values (upper, lower limit), a time period and
the number of occurrences.
• Set value and reset value (Hysteresis) - The metric rule triggers an
action whenever the performance measurement exceeds the set
performance metric value and subsequently triggers a complementary
action as the performance measure drops below the reset value.
• Escalation levels:
• The metric rule triggers an action, whenever a performance
measure (e.g., utilization, response time) is greater or lower than a
specified value. The levels are defined as low, medium, or high
bands.
• The rule also triggers a complementary alarm, when performance
rises or falls to another band.
In this example, we will select Single Value and click on Move to the next
page (>) button.
Creating a Metric Rule - Define Value
Define value for Metric Rule:

Logical Disk Space Used.
When more than 20% is used,

then alarm is triggered.
Put in a measurement value (threshold).

In this example, we will put 20 as the metric threshold
value and click on Move to the next page (>) button. This
means that when more than / equal to 20% of the logical
disk space is in use, there is a data loss risk.
Creating a Metric Rule - Refine Metric Rule criteria
Add a time period or occurrence count to refine the Metric

Rule:
• Timespan - Defines the time period for the metric; the
alarm is triggered only if the performance value defined
occurs within this time period.
• Occurrences - Defines the number of occurrences; the
alarm is triggered only if the number of occurrences
defined is reached within the defined time period.
In this example, we will put two minutes as the timespan
and click on Move to the next page (>) button.
Creating a Metric Rule - Actions
Under Actions and Complementary Actions, expand

Custom DLL and select correct values according to the
criteria type selected in window #3.
In this example, when the space used is over 20%, a critical
alarm will be raised and if it will be resolved the alarm will
be cleared automatically.
Under Actions column select Sentinel Alarm: Raise Critical.
Next, under Complementary Actions column select
Sentinel Alarm: Clear.
Creating a Metric Rule - Metric Rule naming
Give the Metric Rule a name and then click on Finish

button.
Creating a Metric Rule - Review
To see the new metric rule in the navigation pane, right-

click on Metric Group folder and click on Refresh button.
Expand the relevant metric rule tree and view the new
wizard under Metric Rules folder.
We will now open the Alarm Grid of the Critical Alarms
filter and view the related alarms that have been raised.
Available on ExtraNICE!
For more information, please see the Sentinel User Guide

available on ExtraNICE. Refer to Chapter 5 - Configuration
and Maintenance (Administrator User) and find Managing
Metric Rules part.
DO IT YOURSELF
Creating a new Metric Rule

• Creating a new Metric Rule

‘Metric Rule Wizard’?
The Metric Rule Wizard is used to…
Generate exceptions related to IC

Question #1
Modify the threshold

values for each metric rule
Monitor servers for hardware issues

such as CPU & RAM
A customer wants to raise an alarm if

storage space that is used, reaches
80% of capacity.
Which Criteria Type would you select?
Question #2
Single Value
Range of Values
Escalation Levels
Set value and reset value (Hysteresis)

A Metric Rule Parameter can

only be defined using a Timespan.
Question #3
True False
Modifying a
Metric Rule
Modifying a Metric Rule
To modify a metric rule, expand the relevant metric rule

tree and double-click on the rule. Another option is to
right-click on the relevant rule and select Edit Metric Rule…
LIVE DEMO

• Modifying an existing Metric Rule
Follow the instructions on the next slides.

Modifying a Metric Rule - Changing Severity
Modify all the required values in the windows that we

covered in the previous slides.
Modifying a Metric Rule - Changing Severity (Cont.)

1 Edit
Editthe Metric
Metric Rule
Rule…
To modify Metric Rule severity (example):

1. In Navigation Pane, navigate to Metrics tab.
Expand Metric Groups, right-click on the desired
metric rule and select Edit Metric Rule…

2 Verify Metric Rule
2. Verify that this is the correct performance metric rule.


3 Change Severity
3. Navigate to Actions screen in the wizard (window #6)

and in Actions column, expand Custom DLL. Clear the
selected severity checkbox and select the new
required severity instead.
After modifying the rule, restart Kratos Networks

NeuralStar Event Processor service and clear all alarms
that were raised for the rules that were reconfigured.
To see the new metric rule in the navigation pane, right-

click on Metric Group folder and click on Refresh button.
Expand the relevant metric rule tree and view the new
wizard under Metric Rules folder.
We will now open the Alarm Grid of the Major Alarms
filter and view the related alarms that have been raised.
DO IT YOURSELF

• Modifying an existing Metric Rule
Which service do you need to restart

after modifying the metric rule?
Kratos NeuralStar…
Complex Event Processor

Question #4
Configuration Manager
Job Scheduler
Event Processor
Monitoring Service
The severity of a Metric Rule may

not be changed after it is created.
Question #5
True False

Summary
• How to create a new Metric Rule
• How to modify an existing Metric Rule

NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Troubleshooting and Case Studies
Troubleshooting
and Case Studies

Objectives • Describe Sentinel Architecture
• Explain Sentinel services’ responsibilities
Troubleshooting
• Describe location of log files
Case Studies
• Explain how to resolve issues

Sentinel Architecture
Application Services
NineFive NICE Sentinel
Databases
• Sentinel integrates with a 3rd party software interface

called ‘NeuralStar’, created by Kratos.
• Sentinel also uses Kratos’ services.
• Sentinel application uses two databases:
• NineFive
• NICE Sentinel.
• Services read and write information from/into the
databases.
Sentinel Services - Responsibilities

Data Manager Performance Manager
Runs polling Jobs.
Communicates with the When the service is down,
Sentinel and NineFive database no polling monitoring
will be available
Event Processor Job Scheduler

Runs discovery of
Contains the logic to servers and components,
create or clear alarms checks for failover and
re-runs polling jobs after failure
License Manager SNMP Trap

Checks Licensing. When this
Receives SNMP traps from the
service is down, the user receives a
monitored servers and saves
license error message and
them in the database
no monitoring will be available
As we have covered, these are the Kratos NeuralStar services.

We will now review each of those services:
• Data Manager service - Responsible for the communication with the Sentinel
NineFive database (for example, managing the database, running store
procedures, etc.).
• Event Processor service - Contains logic to create or clear alarms.
It is also responsible for Northbound Alarm Forwarding and Email Alarm
Forwarding.
• License Manager service - Responsible for the licensing. When this service is
down, the user receives a license error message and no monitoring will be
available.
• Performance service - Responsible for running polling jobs according to
schedule. When this service is down, no polling monitoring will be available.
Any polling failure alarms should be investigated in the performance service
log.
• Job Scheduler service - Responsible for running the discovery of servers and
components, checking for failover, and re-running polling jobs after failure.
• SNMP Trap service - Responsible for receiving SNMP traps from the
monitored servers and saving them in the database.
Troubleshooting
Sentinel Services - Log Files Locations

Event Processor
D:\Program files\NICE Systems\
NICE Sentinel\Log\NICE logs\
NMS.EventServiceLog.txt
Performance Manager
NMS.PerformanceServiceLog.txt
Job Scheduler
SchedulerServiceLog.txt
The locations of the services’ log files are as follows:

• Event Processor Service - Log file
D:\Program files\NICE Systems\NICE Sentinel\Log\NICE
logs\NMS.EventServiceLog.txt
• Performance Manager Service - Log file
logs\NMS.PerformanceServiceLog.txt
• Job Scheduler Service - Log file
logs\SchedulerServiceLog.txt
Sentinel SNMP Agent Log
• On each NICE server, there’s an SNMP Agent log

containing information about the collected
performance metrics. Verify there are no errors here.
• Each component also has its own log, which contains
SNMP traps’ information. Verify there are no errors
here.
SNMP MIB Browser
SNMP MIB Browser

• A complete tool for monitoring SNMP enabled devices
and servers.
• It allows an engineer to query a remote device for
software and hardware configurations via SNMP.
SNMP MIB Browser (Cont.)
SNMP Agent IP
OID of Managed device
Available
parameters
queried by
SNMP Manager
SNMP MIB Browser (Cont.)

• It works in a Get method, which queries a device for
values.
• This tool can troubleshoot missing system performance
values between Sentinel and the monitored
components.
• Agent IP will be shown in the SNMP Agent field.
• Each NICE Monitored component receives its own OID,
which is displayed in parentheses.
• After performing the Get method on a specific NICE
Monitored component/OID, the list of the monitored
components’ parameters will be shown in the results
section.
• These parameters are queried by SNMP Manager.
Alarm Handling Steps 1

Review Alarm Grid
3 2
Open Alarm Acknowledge
Details Window Alarm
4 5
Check ‘Link to Help’ Perform
and ‘Additional Info’ recommended actions
7 6
Clear Alarm Check
if necessary Clearance Method
Let’s review the Alarm Handling Steps:

1. Review Alarm Grid.
2. Acknowledge Alarm.
3. Open Alarm Details Window.
4. Check ‘Link to Help’ and ‘Additional Info’.
5. Perform recommended actions.
6. Check Clearance Method.
7. Clear Alarm if necessary.
Case Studies
LIVE DEMO
Troubleshooting and Case Studies

• Resolving Alarm 3105 with MIB Browser
Now let’s resolve an Alarm using different logs and SNMP

MIB Browser tool.
Resolving Alarm 3105
• Let’s investigate Alarm 3105 which appears in our Alarm

Grid.
• We will begin by acknowledging the Alarm.
• Later on, after resolving the issue, we need to clear the
alarm if the clearing method is manual.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Alarm Details Window
Click on Link to Help to view the recommended actions.

Resolving Alarm 3105 - Alarm Details Window (Cont.)
Link to help refers us to Additional Info.

Resolving Alarm 3105 - Additional Info
• In Metric Name column, we can see that there is an

issue with component db.
• Additional Info refers us to SNMP MIB Browser tool.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Opening SNMP MIB Browser
• Go to the Inventory ListVUE, right-click on the relevant

server.
• In this example, right-click on db1.nicetraining.com
server.
• Select SNMP MIB and then MIB Browser.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - SNMP MIB Browser
10.1.85.11
In Find search box write nice.

Resolving Alarm 3105 - SNMP MIB Browser (Cont.)

10.1.85.11
nice tree [1.3.6.1.4.1.3167] opens.

Expand nice tree and then expand niceGenericSNMP tree
[1.3.6.1.4.1.3167.4].
10.1.85.11
Expand niceGenericSNMPComponent tree

[1.3.6.1.4.1.3167.4.1].
Right-click on physicalDb [1.3.6.1.4.1.3167.4.1.13] and

then click on Get.
• Available parameters that was quired by the SNMP

Manager will show on the lower inner window.
• Notice that the following metric names don’t exist:
• Batch Requests/sec
• Buffer cache hit ratio
• Page life expectancy
• Page reads/sec
• Page writes/sec.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Log Files
• Since we are investigating a polling failure alarm, we

should investigate it in Performance Manager service
log file (see slide 6).
• Search by Metric name.
• There’s an error regarding ‘Failed to find info about
metric…’
• The investigation continues.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Log Files (Cont.)
• We will go to the SNMP Agent and see if the Metric

values exist.
• Go to the Sentinel machine (SENT1) and open the
following location:
D:\Program files\NICE Systems\Logs\Sentinel SNMP
Agent
• Open SNMP Agent log file.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Log Files (Cont.)
• We see that the values don’t exist in Sentinel SNMP

Agent log file either.
• We need to understand whether the issue originates
from an SNMP failure or the performance counter is
missing.
• Open Performance Counter and see if those values
exist, Administrative Tools > Performance Monitor >
Add Counters.
Resolving Alarm 3105 - Performance Monitor
• In performance counter, the values don’t exist either.

• In our lab, the issue is due to a Microsoft bug that was
fixed in service pack 1. Therefore we won’t add those
values.
• Generally, whenever performance counters are missing,
it’s possible to add them manually.
• For assistance regarding rebuilding performance
counters go to:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300956/en-us
Hands On
DO IT YOURSELF

• Refer to the Exercise Book - Troubleshooting and Case
Studies, Resolving Alarms - Hands On (Question #1)
LIVE DEMO

• Resolving Alarm 3003
Let’s see how you have resolved Alarm 3003.

DO IT YOURSELF

LIVE DEMO


DO IT YOURSELF

LIVE DEMO


DO IT YOURSELF

LIVE DEMO



Summary
• Sentinel Architecture
• Sentinel Services Responsibilities
Troubleshooting
• Location of sentinel log files
Case Study
• Resolving Issues
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Reports
Reports

Objectives • Create Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports
(Customized Reports)
• Create Capacity Planning Reports
• Describe what is a Site Profile Report (SPR)
• Customize Reports Generation and Delivery

via Email
Introduction
Sentinel Alarms and Capacity Health Check Reports

Metrics Reports Planning (HCR)
(Customized Reports) Reports OR
Compliance &
Health Check Reports
(HCR)
These are the three types of Sentinel reports.
For Compliance and Health Check Reports (HCR) please
NOTES:
• Compliance and Health Check Reports (HCR) are only
relevant to NIM and NICE Engage Platform
environments.
• Health Check Reports (HCR) are only relevant to NICE
perform environment.
• For more details about Compliance and Health Check
Reports (HCR), see Appendix B and Sentinel User Guide.
Sentinel Alarms and

Metrics Reports
Sentinel Reports
Sentinel Alarms and Capacity

Metrics Reports Planning
(Customized Reports) Reports
We will now review Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports

(Customized Reports).
Overview - Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports
Why should
we use these reports?
NICE Sentinel enables to create Sentinel Alarms and

Metrics Reports (Customized Reports).
These reports contain alarms, gathered metrics, received

SNMP traps and configured metric rules.
They are located under Alarms and Metrics tree under the
Reports menu tab and are divided by type.
Double-click on desired report.

LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports

• Creating Alarms Report
• Creating Metrics Aggregates Report
• Creating Metrics Detailed Report
Alarms Report
1 Set report parameters 2 Generate report
3 Export/Print
Displays acknowledged,
unacknowledged and
cleared alarms
• Customize a report by filtering the data.

• By default, all options under the parameter filters are selected.
• Alarms Report displays all alarms received by NICE Sentinel: Acknowledged,
Unacknowledged and Cleared (meaning, deleted) from NICE Sentinel.
• To create a report, perform the following (in all reports):
1. Set the Report Parameters.
Let’s review the parameter filters:
• Acked By - Lists all users who have acknowledged alarms.
To include all unacknowledged alarms, select ‘Not Acknowledged’.
• Deleted By - Filters alarms that have been deleted by NICE
Sentinel System/Specific User or filters alarms that have not been
deleted.
• From (First Occurrence) / Until (Last Occurrence) - Select the time
of the first and last occurrences of the alarm to be included in the
report.
2. Generate the report by clicking on View Report.
3. Export or Print the report. Exporting enables to save it in several
formats, forward it to another recipient, etc.
Alarms Report (Cont.)
Click on the relevant section of the pie chart to drill-down

and view detailed data in table format.
Alarms Report (Cont.)
To navigate back to the

Alarms Report,
right-click and select
Back
Use horizontal scroll

bar to access
the parts of the report
that are off-screen
Alarms Report table displays.
NOTE:
For more information regarding Alarms Report, see
Sentinel User Guide.
Metrics Aggregates Report

Displays aggregate metric measurements
for the components that are relevant for
each metrics type, enabling to compare
the results for each metric.
• Metrics Aggregates Report displays aggregate metric

measurements for the components that are relevant for
each metrics type.
• This enables to easily compare the results for each
metric across all components.
• With Metrics Aggregates Report, view recent metrics
values stored about 24 hours or Metrics over a longer
period of time.
NOTES:
• Use Document Map to navigate in the report.
• This is relevant for the other reports as well.
Metrics Detailed Report
Displays detailed metric

measurements for the past 24 hours.
The metrics measurements are
retrieved by Sentinel Pollers.
• Metrics Detailed Report displays detailed metric

measurements for the past 24 hours.
• The metrics measurements are retrieved by Sentinel
Pollers, which run automatically according to
predefined intervals.
Metrics Detailed Report (Cont.)
Let’s review parameter filters:

• Scope - Allows selecting a smaller range of servers to
display.
• Group - Available groups will correspond with selected
field in the Scope filter.
• Component - Type of server or component from which
the alarm was received.
• From / To - The starting and ending time for this report.
• Machine Name - Lists all NICE servers for selection.
• Metric Name - Lists all metrics for selection.
• Group by - Machine or Metric.
NOTE: If Metric is selected in Group by filter, drill-down to

the Detailed Table is not be available.
Metrics Detailed Report (Cont.)
• It is also possible to view the metrics collected under

Metrics menu tab.
• For example: To view the collected metrics on space of
logical disk used, double-click on Space Used under
Logical Disk branch in Metric Groups tree.
NOTE: For more Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports

(Customized Reports), see Appendix A and Sentinel User
Guide.
DO IT YOURSELF

• Refer to the Exercise Book - Sentinel Alarms and
Metrics Reports (Customized Reports)
Metric Detailed Report displays

metric measurements for the past
24 hours.
Question #1
True False
Capacity
Planning Reports
Sentinel Reports

(Customized Reports) Reports
We will now review Capacity Planning Reports.

Overview - Capacity Planning Reports
Why should
• Capacity Planning Reports assist in:

• Ensuring compliance with the design considerations of the
system.
• Allowing real-time alarming when reaching system
thresholds.
• Enabling planning of required expansions / upgrades.
• Case handling.
• Capacity Planning Reports are also located under Reports
menu tab and are divided by type.
• Double-click on the report that should run.
NOTES:
• For Capacity Planning Reports to appear in the navigation pane,
at least one Data Hub must exist in the system.
• Capacity Planning Reports are available starting from NICE
Interaction Management (NIM) Release 4.1.46.
Overview - Capacity Planning Reports (Cont.)
• Most of these reports have the same parameter filters.

• Report Period (per Trend by) - Defines Report
Period that combines both this field and ‘trend by’
field. For example, 9 days.
• Last Date - Defines the end of the report period,
based on the end of the ‘trend by’ value, and
displays data from this date back.
• Most reports contain both a graphical display (Y-Axis
and X-Axis) and a table view display.
We will now review one of these reports.

LIVE DEMO
Capacity Planning Reports

• Creating AIR Resource Utilization Report
AIR Resource Utilization
In Sentinel 6.4 and above, there’s a report under Capacity

Planning reports: ‘AIR Resource Utilization’.
AIR Resource Utilization
Details resource utilization over time,

per Recording profile and pool.
• This report details resource utilization by the Advanced

Interaction Recording (AIR) Profiles and Pools.
• It can be used for checking trends and planning
purposes.
• Select one or multiple recording Pool(s) and Profile(s)
from the list.
AIR Resource Utilization - Report Summary
• Report summary displays the resource allocation and

utilization status of the Recording Profile(s).
• Data is displayed for the selected Recording Pool and
recording environment used.
AIR Resource Utilization - Comparison
The number of licenses allocated How many of allocated resources are

for use in the recording profile(s) currently being utilized
• Allocated - Displays the number of licenses allocated for

use in the recording profile(s).
• Utilized - Indicates how many of the allocated resources
are currently being utilized.
• The Graph view displays a resource allocation and
utilization comparison for the selected profile,
regardless of the Recording Pools.
AIR Resource Utilization - Summary of All Pools
Expand to see The maximum values

all values per media type for the period selected
(audio, screen or video)
• Summary of All Pools shows all allocated and utilized

resources for all Recording Pools, regardless of the
recording profiles.
• For each Recording Pool, the maximum values are
displayed for the period selected.
• Expand the Recording Pool name to display all values
per media type (audio, screen or video).
DO IT YOURSELF
Capacity Planning Reports

• Refer to the Exercise Book - Sentinel Capacity Planning
Reports
Which of the following is NOT the

purpose of Capacity Planning Reports?
Ensuring compliance with the

design considerations of the system
Question #2
Allowing for real-time alarming
when reaching the system threshold
Enabling planning of required

expansions or upgrades
Assisting in monitoring system’s

recording and archiving behavior
Which report indicates the day

that has the largest number of
interactions?
Treasure Hunt #1
?
The Busiest day Interaction
Rate per Data Hub
Which report displays the maximum

number of logged in users for a
specific date?
Treasure Hunt #2
?
The Number of Logged
in Users per Data Hub
Site Profile Report

(SPR)
Site Profile Report (SPR)
Why should
we use this report?
Site Profile Report (SPR) collects detailed site data.

• The report is comprised of static information that describes
site’s configuration and its components, such as update packs,
component versions, serial keys, etc.
• It also includes essential dynamic information such as the
monthly call count.
• Site Profile Report is generated in an Excel workbook with a
designated sheet for each site.
• The information provided by this report can be used to improve
the overall support process and ensure an up-to-date customer
database.
• The report is automatically collected by Site Profile Report
Collector job, as in other scheduled Jobs within Sentinel and is
scheduled to run once a day.
• The output files are located under: <Sentinel Installation
Folder>\Tools\SPR
Site Profile Report (SPR) (Cont.)
Collect the following information and more:

• Component list per site
• Connectivity details such as IP address, versions
• Last installed hot fixes with installation date
• Component configuration
• DB details
• Servers list with details: CPU, disk size and free space
• General desktop analytics data
Use this report when there’s a need for general information

about monitored systems, such as:
• Component list per site
• Connectivity details such as IP address, versions
• Last installed hot fixes with installation date
• Component configuration
• DB details
• Servers list with details: CPU, disk size and free space
• General desktop analytics data
Report Generation
and Delivery via
Email
Report Generation and Delivery via Email
Configure Sentinel Reports to be

sent to an email address, according
to a schedule that you define.
• Configure Sentinel Reports to be sent to an email

address according to a schedule defined.
• To do this, use Reporting Services Configuration
Manager and Sentinel Reporting Services.
Report Generation and Delivery via Email #1
via Reporting Services Configuration Manager

(rsconfigtool)
1. Enter details of Report Server Instance

(MSSQKSERVER) and click on Connect.
Report Generation and Delivery via Email #1 (Cont.)
via Reporting Services Configuration Manager

(rsconfigtool)
2. Select E-mail Settings.

3. Under SMTP Settings, enter the details for an existing
SMTP server and an email account that can send
emails from the specified SMTP server.
4. Click on Apply.
The SMTP email settings have been defined by using the

Reporting Services Configuration Manager.
Report Generation and Delivery via Email #2

1
via Sentinel Reporting Services
1. Select Sentinel Reporting Services from Quick Launch

Menu.
2. Select Health Check Reports or Nice Sentinel Reports.
NOTE: If multiple systems are being monitored, select the

relevant system.
3. Select Reports.

4
4. Right-click on desired report and select Subscribe.


5
6
9
7
5. In Description field, give a name for the Subscription.

6. To create Report-specific schedule click on Edit
schedule.
7. In Delivered the report to:, verify that E-Mail is
selected.
8. Select Report Parameter values to be used when the
report is generated.
9. When all is done, click on Create subscription.
Subscription to a specific report was successful by using the

Sentinel Reporting Services.

6
6. Define how often the report should be delivered and

then click on Apply.

Summary
• Sentinel Alarms and Metrics Reports
• Capacity Planning Reports
• Site Profile Report (SPR)
• Reports Generation and Delivery via Email

APPENDIX A -
MORE SENTINEL ALARMS
AND METRICS REPORTS
(CUSTOMIZED REPORTS)
LIVE DEMO

• Creating Agents Center Report
• Creating Channel Utilization Report
• Creating Metrics Summarized Report
• Creating SNMP Traps Report
Agents Center Report
Displays details on the status

and configurations of agents
in the NICE environment.
Agents Center Report displays details on status and

configurations of agents in NICE environment.
Channel Utilization Report
Displays details on channel usage by

Voice Loggers in the NICE system.
Channel Utilization Report displays details on channel usage by Voice

Loggers in NICE environment, on both local and remote sites.
NOTES:
• You can only create Channel Utilization reports for Voice and VoIP
Loggers.
• If a customer has NICE Engage 6.3 with AIR as the capture
platform, this report will not show anything, but on NICE
Engage 6.4 and above it will.
• If a customer has NICE Engage 6.3 with VoIP Logger or TDM
Logger as the capture platform, this report will show results as
expected.
• Channel Utilization reports cannot be generated in PDF format.
• The default minimum utilization threshold is less than 1% in the
last 72 hours; the default maximum utilization threshold is more
than 99% in the last 1 hour. The status is based on an average
amount of activity, so as not to reflect temporary fluctuations
above or below the threshold.
Metrics Summarized Report
Displays the summary of metric

measurements older than 24 hours.
• Summarized Metrics Report displays the summary of

metric measurements older than 24 hours.
• In Trend by parameter filter, select a time period (Daily,
Weekly, etc).
SNMP Traps Report
Displays SNMP traps that have

been received by NICE Sentinel,
based on trap description.
• SNMP Traps Report displays SNMP traps that have been

received by NICE Sentinel.
NOTE: You can only generate this report based on the

description of the traps, not by trap number.
• When the report is more than one page long, click on

the arrows to navigate between pages.
A customer wants to run a report

showing all Acknowledged alarms.
Which report Should they run?
Alarms Report Question #3
User Action Report
Sentinel Maintenance Report
Interactions Investigator Report

APPENDIX B -
COMPLIANCE &
HEALTH CHECK
REPORTS (HCR)
Reports
Compliance &
Health Check
(Customized Reports) Reports Reports (HCR)
Archiving Coverage
Archiving Investigator
Content Analysis Performance
Voice Recording Coverage
Voice Recording Investigator
Now we will go through Compliance & Compliance &

Health Check Reports (HCR).
These reports include the following:

• Archiving Coverage
• Archiving Investigator
• Content Analysis Performance
• Voice Recording Coverage
• Voice Recording Investigator
Overview - Compliance & Health Check Reports (HCR)
Why should
They can be scheduled to run

at the appropriate time periods
• Compliance & Health Check Reports (HCR) are used for

monitoring system recording and archiving behavior.
• Use these reports to differentiate between normal behavior
and system behavior that requires attention.
• Also use these reports to analyze system operation and
identify potential problems within critical system workflows.
• After the reports are set properly, they can be scheduled to
run at the appropriate time periods.
NOTES:
• To access the Compliance & Health Check Reports (HCR), the
Data Mart must be installed at the site. The date format in the
reports corresponds with the date format in the database.
• Before running these reports for the first time, the HCR cube
must run at least once. If the data in the reports is not updated
or missing, check that HCR cube is functioning properly.
Capabilities
Snapshots Linked Report
Drillthrough Export Results
Capabilities:
• Creating Report Snapshots - A snapshot is a saved image
of report results. Saving a snapshot of a report can be
especially useful when a specific report contains
significant results.
• Drillthrough Reports - Allows linking and viewing of the
secondary (more detailed) report, with the filters
automatically set as they were in the primary report.
• Creating a Linked Report - Enables creating a new
instance of an existing report and customize the report’s
default parameters without trampling the defaults in the
original reports.
• Export Report Results - Reports can be exported in the
following formats: XML, CSV, PDF, MHTML, Excel, TIFF,
Word.
General Guidelines
General Guidelines:
• In every report, by default, all options under parameter
filters are selected.
• Use Document Map and arrows to navigate in the report
where possible.
NOTES:
• It is recommended to start with either Voice Recording
Coverage or Archiving Coverage reports before
proceeding to investigator reports.
• In all reports, when exporting to formats other than excel,
set Expand All filter to Yes, in order to view all data.
LIVE DEMO
Compliance & Health Check Reports (HCR)

• Creating Archiving Coverage Report
• Creating Archiving Investigator Report
• Creating Content Analysis Performance Report
• Creating Voice Recording Coverage Report
• Creating Voice Recording Investigator Report
Archiving Coverage Report
Enables comparing and analyzing

of this report against Voice
Recording Coverage report
• You have learned that the Voice Recording Coverage Report

provides information about the interactions’ recording flow.
• Archiving Coverage Report provides information about
archiving process, using recordings as its point of reference.
It provides information about voice, screen and chat
archiving.
NOTE: Display Only Voice Recording filter will be shown in

Sentinel 6.4 and above. This filter removes non-voice data to
enable compare and analyze of only voice recording data
between this report and the Voice Recording Coverage report.
Non-voice data means all other interaction types: screen, chat,
video, etc.
• Select ‘True’ in this filter to enable this feature.

Archiving Coverage Report (Cont.)
• The table shows all the information displayed in the

graph plus the percentage of recordings that were sent
to archive and the percentage of recordings that were
successfully archived.
• These columns can be compared with the data in Voice
Recording Coverage report in Sentinel 6.4 and above.
Archiving Investigator Report
• Archiving Investigator Report provides detailed information about

archiving behavior at the site.
• The Table lists the number of recordings for each archiving status. It
displays detailed information taken directly from the Data Mart.
• To view interaction details, click a category link.
LIVE DEMO
Compliance & Health Check Reports (HCR)

• Compare Archiving Coverage Report data and Voice
Recording Coverage Report data.
Comparing & Analyzing Data
This is how the two tables are displayed when selecting to

compare only the voice recording data.
Content Analysis Performance Report
• Content Analysis Performance report provides

information about analysis that has been conducted on
voice recording interactions.
• Analysis Type - Determines the types of content
analysis for which results are displayed.
Voice Recording Coverage Report
Compares all voice

recording interactions.
Voice Recording Coverage Report compares total number of interactions,

interactions initiated for recording and interactions actually recorded. It
provides information about voice recording interactions only.
Let’s review the parameter filters:
• Last Day of Report (Inclusive) - Define the last day of the report.
• Report Period (in Days) - Define the total number of days to include in
report results.
• Recording Requirements % - Base your definition on expectations.
• Exclude Internal Interactions - Yes/No. Relevant to environments that
are not interested in internal calls.
• Groups - These are the user groups defined in Users Administrator
application.
• Short Interaction Duration - Define threshold in seconds for interactions
that will be categorized as short interactions.
• Expand All - Determines whether the tables display expanded/collapsed
information.
NOTE: It’s very important that the Recording Requirements match sites’
configuration and recording coverage requirements.
Voice Recording Coverage Report (Cont.)

Short: 0-5, 0-10, 0-20 seconds
Long: 210 minutes and longer
• Interaction duration will be categorized as follows:

• Short: 0-5 seconds ,0-10 seconds, 0-20 seconds
• Long: 210 minutes and longer
• This is hard coded and cannot be changed.
• Normal Calls are all calls lasting more than the defined
Short Calls Period and less than the defined Long Calls
period.
• Short Interaction < Normal Interaction < Long
Interaction.
Voice Recording Coverage Report (Cont.)
The results in the tables are color coded:

• Green - Percentage of recorded interactions equal to or
exceeding expectations.
• Red - Percentage of recorded interactions that are below
expectations.
• Yellow - Percentage of initiated recordings that are below
expectations.
• Black - Actual number of recordings.
This color code is also relevant to other Health Check

Reports (HCR).
Voice Recording Investigator Report
• While the Voice Recording Coverage Report provides

information about recordings, Voice Recording
Investigator Report investigates negative behavior, like
interactions that were not initiated for recording, failed
recordings and exceptions.
• It is a good investigative tool to understand why voice
recordings may have failed.
Select Top - Select number of top results that will be shown

in the table.
Voice Recording Investigator Report (Cont.)
The Interaction Status Table lists the number of problematic

interactions.
To view interaction details, click a category link:
• Recording not Initiated - Provides details for interactions that were
not sent to recording. The results are based on the difference
between the number of All Interactions and Recording Initiated
interactions.
• Recording Failed - Provides details about failed recordings for each
interaction. The results are based on the difference between the
number of Recording Initiated and Recorded interactions.
• Interactions with Exceptions - Allows analyzing exceptions, which
can facilitate troubleshooting specific recurring issues.
NOTE:
Most of these sub-reports display a lot of data. It is recommended to
export to Excel to filter the report by column headers and find
relevant information more easily.
Which of the following need to be

checked before running
Compliance & HCR?
If Data Mart is installed at the site

Question #4
If at least one Data Hub

exists in the system
If the HCR cube had run at least once
If the site includes

massive storage (ESM)
A customer wants to compare the total

number of interactions initiated for
recording and interactions actually
recorded. Which report would they run?
Recordings Initiated Question #5
Voice Recording Coverage
Voice Recording Investigator
Interaction Alarms
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Global Sentinel
Global Sentinel

Objectives • Explain what Global Sentinel is
• Explain which information will be shared

between Global and Regional Sentinels
• Describe how to add Regional Sentinel

as a child
Global Sentinel - Overview
Global Sentinel is used to track

and display alarms for all
Regional Sentinel machines.
Global Sentinel
Regional Regional
Sentinel #1 Sentinel #2
Nexidia Analytics NTR Engage

System #1 System #2 System #3
• In some environments there may be multiple Sentinel

machines.
• For example: there may be one Sentinel machine in the
United Kingdom, one in India and another in the United
States.
• In such cases, NICE Sentinel uses Global and Regional
configurations.
• Global Sentinel is used to track and display alarms for all of
the Regional Sentinel machines by pulling information
from all Regional Sentinels using Windows Communication
Foundation (WCF) protocol.
NOTES:
• Global Sentinel will not monitor its own systems.
• All monitored systems should be added to Regional
Sentinel(s).
New Global/Regional (Parent-Child)
Do not clear
the selection!
Each Regional Sentinel should be added as a Child Node under Global Sentinel.
This will enable syncing certain data between the parent and its children and
having all configurations apply to both sides.
To add a Child Node:

1. Right-Click on ‘System Management’ and then select Add Child Node…
2. Insert the following details:
• Select a predefined credential for the Regional Sentinel from ‘Credential
to Access Child’ dropdown list. If required, add the credentials manually.
• Select a predefined credential for the Global Sentinel from ‘Credential
to Access Me’ drop down list. If required, add the credentials manually.
3. Click on ‘Add’.
NOTES:
• In Domain environments, Sentinel can only be used as a Child. The Parent
should be used in Workgroup environments. You need to create a local user
to sync between them.
• All Regional Sentinels should be of the same version (6.4 and above).
Global Sentinel - View
Monitored
Systems
Regional
Sentinel Global Sentinel (self)
This is how it appears from the Global Sentinel’s Point of

View (POV), after adding a child node:
• Next to each Monitored System’s name, the name of the
Regional Sentinel will be displayed in parentheses.
• Next to the Global Sentinel name’s, ‘Global’ will be
displayed in parentheses.
Regional Sentinel - View
Monitored
Systems
Regional Sentinel (self)
This is how it appears from the Regional Sentinel’s Point of

View (POV), after adding a child node:
• Next to each Monitored System’s name, the name of
the Regional Sentinel will be displayed in parentheses.
Parent-Child (Shared Information)
NICE
Predefined
Center Alarms
Alarm Filters
Dashboards
Inventory Metric
Users
Objects Rules
Information shared between the Global and Regional

Sentinels:
• NICE Center Dashboards
• Inventory Objects
• Predefined Alarm Filters
• Metric Rules
• Alarms
• Users.
Let’s review each of the shared information items.

NICE Center Dashboard (Shared Information)
Alarms for Regional Alarms for Regional

Sentinel 1 Sentinel 2
Alarms per system
NICE Center Dashboard will appear on the Global Sentinel

for each monitored system from the Regional Sentinels.
Inventory Objects (Shared Information)

Monitored System Regional Sentinel
• Inventory objects from all Regional Sentinels will

appear on the Global Sentinel under ‘Groups’ tree.
• They will not be shared between Regional Sentinels.
Predefined Alarm Filters (Shared Information)
• Alarm Filters are automatically created (predefined) on

the Global Sentinel for each monitored system from the
Regional Sentinels.
• Alarm Filters that are shared are the following
predefined:
• All
• Archiving
• Analytics
• Recording.
• Alarm Filters that are created by the customer, are not
shared.
Metrics (Shared Information)
Metrics are collected per

Regional Sentinel
Metric rule configuration can be

shared from the Global Sentinel,
to the Regional Sentinels
• Metrics are collected per Regional Sentinel.

• Metric thresholds can also be set globally.
• Metric Rule configuration in Global Sentinel can be
shared with Regional Sentinels by selecting the relevant
nodes on the last page of the Metric Rule Wizard.
• A copy of the metric rule appears on each selected
Regional Sentinel.
NOTE: Edit of metric rule configuration can be done on the

Global Sentinel only.
Alarms (Shared Information)
Regional Sentinel
• Alarms from all Regional Sentinels appear on Global

Sentinel.
• They are not shared between Regional Sentinels.
• Open Alarm Details Window to see which Regional
Sentinel the alarm relates to.
Users (Shared Information)
• Users from all Regional Sentinels appear on Global

Sentinel and are shared with each Regional Sentinel.
• There is no indication as to which user came from which
node.
• New users can only be created on the Global Sentinel.
• Existing users can only be managed on the Global
Sentinel.
Configurations in Regional Sentinel
Local Configurations
SNMP Alarms
Ignored Non-default
Occurrence
Alarms Alarm Severity
Count
Perform the following configurations in the Regional

Sentinel Configuration Center:
• Ignored Alarms
• Non-default Alarm Severity
• SNMP Alarms Occurrence Count.
SNMP Configuration
Global Sentinel
Regional Sentinel
Update SNMP Agent of

each Regional Sentinel
Update SNMP Agent of

Update SNMP Agent of the Regional Sentinel
the Global Sentinel
• To update SNMP Agent of the Global Sentinel, go to the

Global Sentinel and select SNMP Configuration.
• To update SNMP Agent of the Regional Sentinel and its
monitored systems, go to the Global Sentinel and select
SNMP Configuration of the Regional (NICEVM-X-X).
• Another way is to go directly to the Regional Sentinel
and select SNMP Configuration.
DO IT YOURSELF
Adding a Child Node to a Global Sentinel

• Perform the relevant learning byte - adding a child node
Go to NICE Dojo.
What is the purpose of Global Sentinel?
To share information between

users with different privileges Question #1
To add multiple monitored systems

on one Sentinel machine
To track and display alarms for

all Regional Sentinel machines
Which information will NOT be shared

between Global Sentinel and its
Regional Sentinels?
Metric rules Question #2
Customized Alarms Filters
Predefined Alarms Filters
Inventory Objects
When adding a Regional Sentinel in a

Domain environment, which type of
host should be selected?
Child Question #3
Parent
Peer
Regional
Global Sentinel will monitor its

own system.
Question #4
True False

Summary
• What Global Sentinel is
• Which information will be shared between

Global and Regional Sentinels
• How to add Regional Sentinel as a child

NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Sentinel Customization
Sentinel Customization

Objectives • Customize Sentinel application to your needs
Preparation
Sentinel
Customization
Post Installation
Configuration
Sentinel Application We are currently
Installation on this step
After Sentinel is configured, the final step is to customize

Sentinel application to our needs.
NetworkVUEs
Discovery
NetOps
Preferences
We will now go through the menu tabs in navigation pane.

NetworkVUEs
Inventory ListVUE
Groups
Discovery Custom dVUEs
Alarm Filters
NetOps
Preferences
We will now focus on the following main subjects of

NetworkVUEs menu tab.
Let’s start with Inventory ListVUE.

Inventory ListVUE
Introduction
Do I understand
all the columns?
Inventory ListVUE displays all discovered servers.

To view Inventory ListVUE, click on NetworkVUEs menu tab in the
Navigation Pane.
Let’s understand the meaning of each column:

• Classification - Indicates type of NICE server.
• Display Name - Displays name of server as defined in NICE System
Administrator.
• IP Address (for servers only) - Displays IP address of server.
• DNS Name (for servers only) - Displays Domain Name of server.
• Metric - Displays value of metric defined in Metrics field.
• Availability - Indicates Sentinel connectivity to this server, by using
Ping, SNMP and API.
• Total Alarms - Displays number of alarms received from this server.
• Managed - Indicates whether this server is being monitored by NICE
Sentinel.
Server Details Window
A closer look into one of the

servers in Inventory ListVUE
After double-clicking on a server, server details window

opens.
Server Details Window (Cont.)
Discovered by
The job retrieves the The job adds
NICE System
list of servers and them to Inventory
Configuration
discovers all list
Discovery job
The color beside the server name indicates Sentinel

connectivity to this server, by using Ping, SNMP and API:
• Green - Indicates that the server is being monitored
and ping is available, even if alarms have been triggered
on this server.
• Red - Indicates that the server is not being monitored
due to a malfunction and ping to the server has failed.
How is discovery process performed?
• An internal job, known as NICE System Configuration
Discovery, communicates with NICE environment’s
System Administrator.
• The job retrieves list of servers and clusters and
“discovers” all servers and components.
• The job adds them to Inventory List.
• Colored squares on the right, indicate the number of

alarms received from this server and their severity.
• We will now cover the terms in this window:
• CPU utilization.
• IP address.
• Domain Name Service (DNS) name.
• Classification - Indicates the type of NICE component.
• Managed - Notifies us if this server is being monitored
by NICE Sentinel.
At the bottom of Server Details window we see:

• Utilization (Memory, Space Used and Processor Load).
• Logical Disk Capacity.
• Processor Utilization.
• Related Alarms.
DO IT YOURSELF
Sentinel Customization - Inventory ListVUE

• Refer to the Exercise Book - NetworkVUEs
NetworkVUEs - Question 1
NetworkVUEs
Inventory ListVUE
Groups
Alarm Filters
NetOps
Preferences
Next, Groups
Groups
Introduction
Default Groups: all NICE servers

by branch or Data Hub
Customized Groups: may include

components, servers and sites
• NICE Sentinel includes default groups within Groups tree, in

NetworkVUEs menu tab.
• Default groups are called Branches or Data Hubs (depending
on monitored system type) and list all NICE servers by
branch/data hub.
• Each branch or data hub group contains sub-groups with
components.
• In addition to default groups, it’s also possible to create a new
customized group.
• A customized group can include any number and combination
of components, servers, and/or sites for easier monitoring and
tracking.
• Double-click on a group to view component inventory list.
NOTE: If to the right of the group, a zero number (0) appears, the
inventory list will be empty.
Creating a new Group
1 Create Group 2 Enter Details
User View
Group View
Public View
• To create a new customized group, right-click on Groups

and select Create Group…
• Add the following details:
• Name (Test Group)
• Scope, select one of the following:
• User (yellow) - Allows only to user who created the
group to view this group.
• Group (green) - Allows only to users who belong to
your user group (such as Basic Users or
Administrator Users) to view this group.
• Public (purple) - Allows all users belonging to all
user groups to view this group.
• Icon, Icon color will change according to selected
scope.
Adding a component to a customized group
• Dragging servers from Component Inventory to a

customized group is also possible.
• For example, drag the server within CTI to the new
customized group (Test Group).
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Customization - Groups

• Creating a new Group
• Adding a server to a group
DO IT YOURSELF
Sentinel Customization - Groups

NetworkVUEs
Inventory ListVUE
Groups
Alarm Filters
NetOps
Preferences
Next, Custom dVUEs

Custom dVUEs
Introduction
• Custom dVUEs provides a visual representation of

system’s data, enabling to quickly and easily keep track
of system’s performance.
• NICE Center is the default dVUE. It displays alarms in
real time of the system being monitored.
Examples
Apps1.nicetraining.com Apps1.nicetraining.com
• In addition to default dVUE, it’s also possible to create

any number of dVUEs to suit specific needs within a
Custom dVUE.
• In the image above, you can see some examples of
created dVUEs.
NOTE: Report is not an item that can be added to a Custom

dVUE. When creating a report, it already contains charts,
gauges and tables.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Customization - Custom dVUEs

• Creating a new Custom dVUE
Follow instructions on next slides.

Creating Custom dVUEs

1 Create dVUE by scope
3 Change name
2 Select dVUE Template
• Custom dVUEs are also located under NetworkVUEs menu tab.

• To create a new Custom dVUE, right-click on Custom dVUEs and select
Create.
• Perform the following:
• Select one of the scopes: User/Group/Public (color representation is the
same as in Groups).
• dVUE Template window appears for selection:
• Blank Canvas - Creates a blank dVUE.
• Groups/Vitals/Alarms/Gauges - Creates a dVUE based on standard
NICE Sentinel template, but displays alarms instead of the Map.
• Groups/Vitals/Maps/Gauges - Creates a dVUE based on standard
NICE Sentinel template (identical to NICE Center template).
• Groups/Alarms/Gauges - Creates a dVUE based on standard NICE
Sentinel template, but displays alarms instead of the most alarmed
servers.
• Line Chart/Gauges - Creates a dVUE based on standard NICE
Sentinel template, but displays alarms instead of the most alarmed
servers and map.
• On left-hand pane, a new Custom dVUE field appears. Put in a name,
press Enter and double-click on it.
Creating Custom dVUEs (Cont.)

4 Select dVUE type
Right-click on any open space in Workspace, select Add dVUE Item and then select
one of the following:
• Pie Chart - Displays the data in a pie chart.
• Single Bar Chart - Displays the data in a horizontal format.
• Bar Chart - Displays the data in a vertical format.
• Line Chart (line graph) - Displays the data in a vertical format using x and y axes.
• Stacked Bar Chart - Displays NetFlow data in a horizontal format.
• Alarm Duration Chart - Displays alarms in a horizontal format.
• Circular Gauge - Displays data in a speedometer-like format.
• Linear Gauge - Displays data in a horizontal band format.
• Digital Gauge - Displays data in a numeric format.
• Group Summary - Displays a summary of the group data in a list format.
• Custom Logo - Enables to add a background logo or graphics to the dVUE.
NOTES:
• Most options are possible with Blank Canvas template.
• Bandwidth Utilization Chart option appears, but it is not supported.
• Choosing one of the above options only prepares the Workspace to display dVUE
item(s); the item itself is displayed only after you populate the Workspace.

5 Drag items
• Depending on selection, categories of data that can be

added to this window will be indicated in parentheses.
• Drag the correct dVUE items from Navigation Pane to
any place within the borders of the window (the
Workspace).
NOTE: It’s only possible to drag an item to the workspace

when a small icon appears (as shown above).
• Data is displayed according to selected dVUE type.

• To edit parameters of dVUE, click on the icon in the top-
left hand side of screen.
• The following view will appear.

• Select an item from list to change the data presented in
the chart.
• Click on the same icon again to return to the previous
view.
To view a specific dVUE in full screen, click on the icon in

the top-right hand side of the screen.
DO IT YOURSELF
Sentinel Customization - Custom dVUE

NetworkVUEs
Inventory ListVUE
Groups
Alarm Filters
NetOps
Preferences
Next, Alarm Filters

Alarm Filters
Introduction
They only show me the

Alarms I want to see
• As we have covered, Alarms are displayed to indicate

that there is a problem.
• Using Alarm Filters, only alarms that meet defined
criteria, are displayed.
Creating a new Alarm Filter

2 Enter Details
1 Create Filter by scope
• To create a new alarm filter, right-click on Alarm Filters and select

Create Filter.
• Click on one of the filters: User/Group/Public (color representation is
the same as in Groups).
• Let’s understand the meaning of the fields and columns in this
window:
• Filter Name field - Insert a name for the new filter.
• Attribute column - Select an alarm attribute from drop-down list.
• Parameter Values field - If the corresponding column in Alarm Grid
is populated, those values appear in the white column on the right.
• Criteria column - Select a comparator from drop-down list.
• Value column - Insert a value. If the value appears in Parameter
Values field, select corresponding checkbox.
• Operator column - Select either ‘AND’ or ‘OR’ (optional).
• After clicking on Create, the alarm filter is added to the list of alarms
under Alarm Filters.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Customization - Alarm Filters

• Creating a new Alarm Filter
DO IT YOURSELF
Sentinel Customization - Alarm Filters

What will Unknown Alarm Filter display?
All alarms with exceptions generated Review

by the Interactions Center Question #1
All alarms generated by the

Sentinel Server in relation to the
health check reports
All alarms originating from

unidentified sources, usually from
a source not associated with a
NICE site, server, or component
NetworkVUEs
Discovery
Inventory List
NetOps
Preferences
We will now focus on Inventory list under Discovery menu

tab.
Inventory List
Introduction
• Discovery menu tab displays list of discovered servers

or components, which are categorized by type.
• Each type displays number of servers or components it
includes.
• When double-clicking on a specific inventory object, it is
filtered only to show selected type of component or
server.
• Double-click on any device to drill-down to object
details window.
NOTE: Engage Search is supported and can now be

monitored from Sentinel 6.5 and above.
Discovered Component/Server Details
• The color next to the component’s name indicates that

the object has no critical alarms.
• The following information appears:
• When component was discovered.
• If component is Managed (being monitored) by
verifying that checkbox is selected. To stop
component monitoring, simply uncheck Managed
checkbox.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Customization - Discovery (Inventory List)

• View discovered Component/Server details
What does Discovery menu tab contain?
Review
Question #2
Known devices Discovered Alarms
(servers or (Non
components) Acknowledged)
Different dVUE
A List of Data Hubs
Items
(Single, Multi
(Pie Chart, Bar
and Unlinked)
Chart, Logo, etc)
Network VUEs
NetworkVUEs
Discovery
NetOps
Rules
Preferences
Important information regarding NetOps menu tab.

Metrics Rules
Templates
Metrics Rules Templates
• The relevant folder is Metrics Rules.

• This folder contains templates of rules for all possible
metrics collected for discovered components/servers.
NOTE: Some possible metrics will only be collected for

relevant monitored system versions. It is also possible to
create a metric rule from this tab, but it is more
recommended to do so through Metrics menu tab.
NetworkVUEs
Discovery
NetOps
Preferences
New User
We will now focus on Preferences menu tab.

New User
Creating a New User

1 Double-click on Users 3 Create user
2 Click on + icon
To create a new user:

1. Open preferences menu tab, expand Security and
double-click on Users.
2. Click on + icon.
3. Insert user name and password, select required group
(basic/Administrator) and click on Create.
NOTES:
• Authentication Type ‘NSDA’ stands for users created
internally in Sentinel.
• A basic user will only see NetworkVUEs and Help menu
tabs, whereas a system administrator will be able to
view all tabs.
LIVE DEMO
Sentinel Customization - Preferences (New User)

• Adding a new user
Why can’t we see all menu tabs?
SENT1 – [NICE]
Review
Question #3

Summary
• Customizing Sentinel application to our needs:
• NetworkVUE:
▪ Inventory ListVUE
▪ Groups
▪ Custom dVUEs
▪ Alarm Filters
• Discovery - Inventory List
• NetOps - Rules
• Preferences - New User
In this lesson, we have learned how to customize Sentinel

application to suit our needs:
• NetworkVUE:
• Inventory ListVUE
• Groups
• Custom dVUEs
• Alarm Filters
• Discovery - Inventory List.
• NetOps - Rules.
• Preferences - New User.
NICE Sentinel Fundamentals Additional Configurations
Additional Configurations

Objectives • Explain how to create a Prominent Alarm
• Explain how to create a Maintenance Schedule
• Describe how to create an E-mail Profile
• Describe how to enable Northbound Alarm

Forwarding
• Describe how to configure General Settings

Prominent
Alarms
Prominent Alarms - Display

Click on Show Top Level
Alarms Only icon
• Prominent Alarm:
• To reduce the number of alarms showing on Alarm
Grid, associate multiple low-level alarms with a
single high-level alarm and display only Prominent
Alarms.
• Initially, all alarms are considered prominent.
• It allows to control whether the alarms associated
with the prominent alarms are hidden or displayed.
• To display Prominent Alarms, click on Show Top Level
Alarms Only icon in Alarm Grid toolbar.
LIVE DEMO
• Associating a subordinate alarm with a Prominent Alarm
• Disassociating a subordinate alarm from a Prominent Alarm
Prominent Alarms - Associating an alarm
Click on ‘Show All

1 Alarms icon
Drag Subordinate
2 Alarm
NOTE: You must have experience with Sentinel before associating alarms
with prominent alarms. You need experience to understand when to
perform this, just like you need it when adding an alarm to the ignored
list. Otherwise you won’t see all the alarms.
To associate a subordinate alarm with a prominent alarm, follow these

steps:
1. On alarms grid toolbar, click on Show All Alarms icon. All alarms,
including those associated with prominent alarms, will be displayed.
2. Drag the alarm intended to be the subordinate alarm towards the
prominent alarm.
• When set, the following message appears and the alarm will be hidden
from Alarm Grid.
• Any alarm dragged to (associated with) a prominent alarm will be
removed from grid.
Prominent Alarms - Associating an alarm (Cont.)
• To see which alarm it is associated with, right-click on

associated alarm and select View Alarm Details.
• The following information is also displayed:
• Prominent Alarm ID
• Prominent Alarm type
• Prominent display name.
Prominent Alarms - Disassociating an alarm
Click on Show All

1 Alarms icon
Right-click
2 and Clear
To disassociate a subordinate alarm from a prominent

alarm, follow these steps:
1. On alarm grid, click on Show All Alarms icon.
2. Right-click on relevant subordinate alarm, select Edit,
and then Clear Prominent Alarm.
Alarm will appear as a top level alarm, meaning a

Prominent Alarm.
DO IT YOURSELF
• Refer to the Exercise Book - Additional Configurations
What is the purpose of associating

an alarm with a Prominent Alarm?
To prevent wobbling alarms

from occurring by displaying
only one per component Question #1
To increase the number of high-level

alarms and to increase monitoring
To reduce the number of

alarms showing on the alarm
grid by displaying only
single high-level alarms
Maintenance
Schedule
Maintenance Schedule
For related object:

• Changes state to Unmanaged
• Monitoring will not be performed
• Metrics will not be collected/published
• No alarms will be seen
• A Maintenance Schedule should be set when a

component requires system maintenance. During
maintenance, components will not be monitored.
• A maintenance Schedule can be set for a monitored
system, group or sub-group.
• It automatically changes the Managed state of
component to Unmanaged.
What happens when a maintenance schedule is active?

• Metrics are neither collected nor published, meaning,
respective polling jobs and other monitoring tools are
suspended.
• Alarms for related object are not seen in alarm filters.
Maintenance Schedule (Cont.)
All Maintenance Schedules will appear on list of schedules.
NOTES:
• A Maintenance Schedule cannot be edited. First remove
schedule and then create a new schedule with required
parameters.
• Multiple Maintenance Schedules can be added under the
same system, group or sub-group.
LIVE DEMO
• Viewing a Maintenance Schedule
• Creating a Maintenance Schedule
• Removing a Maintenance Schedule
Viewing a Maintenance Schedule
Right-click on 4 Expand
1 system/group/sub-group
Select View
3 Relationships…
2 Select View
To view an existing maintenance schedule:

1. Expand Groups in NetworkVUEs menu tab and right-
click on relevant monitored system, group, or sub-
group.
2. Select View.
3. Select View Relationships.
4. Expand Maintenance Schedules.
Details for existing maintenance schedules appear.

Creating a Maintenance Schedule
Right-click on
1 system/group/sub-group
Select Set
3 Maintenance
Schedule…
2 Select Edit
To set a maintenance schedule, follow these steps:

1. Expand Groups in NetworkVUEs menu tab. Then,
right-click on a monitored system, group or sub-group
to assign and set a Maintenance Schedule.
2. Select Edit.
3. Select Set Maintenance Schedule.
Creating a Maintenance Schedule (Cont.)

5 Fill Details
Click on Add
4 Maintenance
Schedule
4. Click Add Maintenance Schedule.

5. Fill in the following details:
• From Schedule drop-down list, select Weekly or
Yearly.
• Under Days, select days on which maintenance should
be performed.
• Under Times, select time interval for maintenance
period.
Click on OK. The maintenance schedule is created and
appears in list of schedules.
Removing a Maintenance Schedule
Remove a maintenance schedule by selecting schedule to

be removed and clicking on Remove Selected Row.
DO IT YOURSELF
• Refer to the Exercise Book - Additional Configurations
What is the reason for creating

a Maintenance Schedule?
To receive alarms and ensure

sentinel is functioning during Question #2
maintenance hours
To remove an object from being

monitored to avoid receiving alarms
To extract all alarms from the

database for analysis of alarm data
Email Configuration
Creating an Email Profile
• NICE Sentinel can be configured to forward all or

specified alarms by email to one or more recipients.
• In each email profile, specify which alarms to forward.
LIVE DEMO
• Creating a new Email Profile
DO IT YOURSELF
• Creating a new Email Profile
Northbound
Forwarding
Setting up a new interface
• Sentinel converts raised alarms into traps, to send them

to another external interface via the SNMP service.
• A northbound interface receives all consolidated data
by using additional 3rd party monitoring tools.
LIVE DEMO
• Setting up a new Interface
DO IT YOURSELF
• Setting up a new Interface
General Settings
Configuring General Settings
Under General Settings, it’s possible to:

• Modify log configurations.
• Modify reports configuration.
• Restore settings to default configuration.
• Configure Sentinel backup settings.
LIVE DEMO
• Configuring General Settings
DO IT YOURSELF
• Configuring General Settings
Where can you define that all

alarms or specified alarms be
forwarded by email?
Alarm Forwarding >

Email Forwarding Question #3
Quick Launch Menu >

Sentinel Configuration Center >
Quick Launch Menu >

SNMP Configuration
Complete the following sentence:

A Northbound interface…
Forwards all alarms or

specified alarms by email
Question #4
Receives all consolidated data
by using 3rd party monitoring tools
Specifies which exceptions

are monitored by NICE Sentinel
Sends SNMP Traps

to NICE Sentinel server
Where does Sentinel forward

alarms to, if customer is using a
Centralized Monitoring System?
A Defined Email address

Question #5
Monitored System Logs
Northbound Interfaces
Ignored Alarms
Where can log parameters for polling

jobs be configured?
General Settings >

Logging Configuration >
Performance Service Question #6
Quick Launch Menu >

Sentinel Configuration Center >
Metric Rules > Edit Metric Rule


Summary
• Prominent Alarms
• The Maintenance Schedule
• E-mail Profile
• Northbound Alarm Forwarding
• General Settings
NICE Workforce Management Release 4.6
Contact us: training@nice.com

Visit us: Technical training on ExtraNICE
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document and the information herein is the exclusive property of NICE and its Affiliates and shall not be disclosed, in whole or in part, to any third
party or utilized for any purpose other than the express purpose for which it has been provided.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Subject always to any existing terms and conditions agreed between you and NICE or any Affiliate with respect to the products which are the
subject matter of this document, neither NICE nor any of its Affiliates shall bear any responsibility or liability to a client or to any person or entity
with respect to liability, loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by any product supplied or any reliance placed on the
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damage resulting from the use or operation of any products supplied or the content of this
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All contents of this document are: Copyright © 2019 NICE Systems Ltd. All rights reserved.

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NICE Sentinel Fundamentals

NICE Sentinel Platform R6.12

• Even though this is a vILT training environment, it should

• Tell us a little about yourself…

• What is your current job role?

• What is your experience working on NICE products?

• Where are you located?

• What is your dream vacation?

Navigating the WebEx Session

Slow-down Speed-up Emoticons

LogMeIn / WebEx Hopper Hopper NAT

Annotations - Participants Actions

While you have permissions to annotate you will be able to:

practical exam (Lab)

To receive a certification, you must have a combined score

Let’s take a look!

• Course materials include the Course Description

• Let’s take a look!

Lesson By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Explain the purpose of Sentinel

• Describe the basic functionality of Sentinel

• List Sentinel Mechanisms

Sentinel is a system monitoring tool that allows to

NICE Sentinel is a comprehensive system monitoring tool

Sentinel allows to easily and effectively track the health of

Provides an effective alarm

Why is the Sentinel application essential?

Why Sentinel? (Cont.)

NICE Perform NICE Trading NICE

NICE Perform NICE

Sentinel monitors NICE environments regarding:

Examples for those NICE environments are:

Why Sentinel? (Cont.)

Provides an effective alarm

System Performance Faults

Sentinel provides an effective alarm system that

Thus, prevents losing functionality or valuable data.

Why Sentinel? (Cont.)

Sentinel collects the data it displays from different data

Thus, removes the need to look at all of these data sources

Why Sentinel? (Cont.)

Sentinel automatically performs all of the mandatory

NICE Sentinel is connected to the NICE environments

How does it work?

Applications Server Interactions Server

Database Server Recorder / AIR

Data Mart (DM) Search Server

When connecting to any NICE environment applications

This information is displayed in a local client in the Sentinel

What types of functionality does

Reporting Recording Question #1

Which of the following NICE

Sentinel uses five mechanisms to monitor NICE

Sentinel Mechanisms (Cont.)

2. Retrieves and discovers

What is the Discovery Mechanism responsible for?

1. An internal job communicates with NICE environment’s

NOTE: This internal job is known as the ‘NICE System

2. Retrieves and discovers all servers and components. In

Sentinel Mechanisms (Cont.)

The availability of servers

The availability of servers and components is checked by

NOTE: In the past, we used WMI. Now, we are using