How to define time periods

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Overview

Time Periods are lists of times during various days that are considered to be valid times for notifications and service checks. They indicate when host and service checks can be performed, when host and service notifications can be sent out to contacts, when notification escalations can be used, and when dependencies are valid. Time Periods which are applied within host, service, contact, and escalation template definitions.

This page describes the time periods definition directives and outlines how to setup time periods using the Configuration application in GroundWork Monitor. For additional information on time periods select http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/timeperiods.html.

Figure: Time periods

Steps

The time period directives consist of time ranges for each day of the week. Different types of exceptions to the normal weekly time are supported, including: specific weekdays, days of generic months, days of specific months, and calendar dates.

1. Select Time Periods from the Configuration page.
2. Select New to create a new time period, or you can Copy or Modify an existing definition.
3. In the Time Period screen, enter a required Name, Alias, and Description, then click Create.
   • Name - [required] This directive is the short name used to identify the time period.
   • Alias - [required] This directive is a longer name or description used to identify the time period.
   • Description [required] - A short description of the time period directive.

     Name Examples: 24x7, none, nonworkhours, workhours

4. Next, enter weekday and/or exception directives. Additionally, enter any definitions whose time ranges should be excluded.
   • Sunday - Saturday - The weekday directives (sunday through saturday) are time ranges that are valid times for a particular day of the week. Each time range is in the form of HH:MM-HH:MM, where hours are specified on a 24 hour clock. Select a day from the drop-down list of options, click Add, and enter specific hours and description. If you wish to exclude an entire day from the time period, simply do not include it in the definition.

     Weekday Examples:
     Sunday 00:00-24:00 Every Sunday of every week
     Monday 00:00-24:00 Every Monday of every week...

   • Exception - You can specify several different types of exceptions to the standard rotating weekday schedule. This is entered in the Day Rule area provided.
     Exceptions can take a number of different forms including single days of a specific or generic month, single weekdays in a month, or single
     calendar dates. You can also specify a range of days/dates and even specify skip intervals to obtain functionality described by "every 3 days between these dates". Weekdays and different types of exceptions all have different levels of precedence, so its important to understand how they can affect each other.

     Exception Examples:
     monday 3 00-24:00 3rd Monday of every month
     day 2 00-24:00 2nd day of every month
     february 10 00-24:00 February 10th of very year

   • Exclude - This directive is used to specify the short names of other time period definitions whose time ranges should be excluded from this time period. Place a check next to each existing time period to exclude from the time period being defined.

     Exclude Examples:
     workhours, nonworkhours

5. Select Save to save the new definition.
6. Time periods are then applied within host, service, contact, and escalation template definitions. The various time period directive names include check_period, notification_period, and escalation_period.