Frequently Asked Questions – AVTECH https://avtech.com/articles Frequently Asked Questions Fri, 05 Apr 2024 20:44:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 How To Save Searches In Room Alert Account https://avtech.com/articles/27259/how-to-save-searches-in-room-alert-account/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 18:26:50 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=27259 Within Room Alert Account, your organization’s devices and alerts are presented in a table, allowing for easy comparison of data. To find a particular device/alert, or to focus on a specific group of devices/alerts, you can apply filters to the list based on criteria such as Tags, Name, and more. Once you’ve defined a group […]

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]]> Within Room Alert Account, your organization’s devices and alerts are presented in a table, allowing for easy comparison of data. To find a particular device/alert, or to focus on a specific group of devices/alerts, you can apply filters to the list based on criteria such as Tags, Name, and more. Once you’ve defined a group of filters, you can save it to quickly apply to your list whenever needed.

Filter Your List

To filter your list, please follow the instructions below. In our example, we’ve filtering our Alerts List; the Devices List is structured similarly, but with different filter options.

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
  2. Select Alerts from the navigation bar to the left.
  3. By default, the page loads all of the alerts saved to your account.
  4. To filter the list, first click into the Search bar.
    • A drop-down menu will appear with a variety of available filters.
      • In our example, we’ll create a filter on Channel Type, which refers to the type of sensor reading associated with each alert.
  5. The options in the filter window vary based on the type of filter.
    • For the Channel Type filter, there are two fields:
      • In the first dropdown menu, you may either select ANY of the following or NONE of the following. (This determines whether you want to include or exclude alerts based on the channel types you choose in the next step.)
      • Then select one or more types of channels from the list.
  6. Once you’ve made your selections, select Add to apply the filter.
  7. You may click into the Search bar again to add additional filters if desired.
    (*The Thresholds filter is coming soon!)
  • When multiple items are added to a single filter, they get applied to the list with OR logic.
    Example: Channel Type is Heat Index OR Temperature.
  • When multiple filters get applied to the list, they use AND logic.
    Example: [Channel Type is Heat Index OR Temperature] AND [Threshold is “Heat Index – Base Levels.”]

Save Your Search

In order to save or edit searches in Room Alert Account, you must sign in as an administrator or operator. For more information, please see the “Types of user roles” section of our FAQ, How To Manage User Access To Your RoomAlert.com Account

To save your search (AKA collection of filters), please follow these instructions:

  1. Select the Save As button above the Search bar.
  2. The Save This Search window will open.
    • In the Name field, give this collection of filters a name that you can use to identify it later.
    • If desired, you may also use the Description field to document any notes.
  3. Select Save. The search name is now displayed above the Search bar.
    • You may find this search later by selecting the downward arrow button beside the “Search” heading.

Manage Saved Searches

A list of your saved searches is available under the Searches tab of the Devices and Alerts pages.

To view your saved searches, please follow these instructions:

  1. Click Searches in the list if items below Alerts in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click the context menu on any saved search to access the following options:
    • Edit (This option is for editing the search Name & Description only.)
    • Clone
    • Delete
    • View
  3. The View window includes information about the search filters.
    • To make changes to these filters, you must load the search in the Alerts list. From there, you may click on filters to edit or remove them.

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]]> How To Apply A PoE Temperature Adjust To Your Room Alert 3S or 12S https://avtech.com/articles/26156/how-to-apply-a-poe-temperature-adjust-to-your-room-alert-3s-or-12s/ Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:49:34 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=26156 Using a Room Alert 3E monitor? Please click here for the appropriate FAQ. Typically, when your Room Alert 3S or 12S runs on PoE (Power over Ethernet), it generates some additional heat, which can be difficult to dissipate in the unit’s small enclosure. The Apply PoE Temperature Adjust option, located in the Room Alert Monitor Sensor Settings, […]

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]]> Using a Room Alert 3E monitor? Please click here for the appropriate FAQ.

Typically, when your Room Alert 3S or 12S runs on PoE (Power over Ethernet), it generates some additional heat, which can be difficult to dissipate in the unit’s small enclosure. The Apply PoE Temperature Adjust option, located in the Room Alert Monitor Sensor Settings, automatically adjusts for this heat difference.

Room Alert 3S only: if you’re updating from firmware v1.6.12 or an earlier version, and your Room Alert 3S is running on PoE at the time of the firmware update, the PoE temperature adjust option will be enabled by default.

Enable PoE Temperature Adjust

If your Room Alert 3S or 12S is running on PoE and reading approximately 5° – 10° Fahrenheit higher than expected, please follow these instructions:

  1. First, open your Room Alert Monitor’s web interface.
  2. Next, navigate to the Settings –> Sensors page.
  3. Then, in the Sensor Settings page, locate the Internal Temperature Sensor’s interface.
  4. Here, you’ll see a checkbox labeled “Apply PoE (Power over Ethernet) Temperature Adjust.”
  5. Click the checkbox to enable the automatic temperature adjust.
  6. Then select Save Settings.
  7. After the unit reboots, navigate to the Room Alert Monitor Status page to view the adjusted sensor reading.
  8. If needed, you may further adjust the reading by following the instructions in our FAQ, How To Adjust A Sensor Reading On A Room Alert Monitor.
  9. Once this is done, no further changes are needed, and you should see the temperatures reported by the Room Alert Monitor track accurately with the outside temperature of the room.

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]]> Getting Started With SMS Notifications In Room Alert Account https://avtech.com/articles/25509/getting-started-with-sms-notifications-in-room-alert-account/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:57:52 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=25509 When environment conditions threaten your facility, timely notifications are critical. Your Room Alert Account can notify you by email, text message, push notification (through the Room Alert mobile app), email-to-SMS message, or HTTP post. Want Room Alert Account to text you when alert events occur? Setup is easy as 1, 2, 3… These Frequently Asked […]

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]]>

When environment conditions threaten your facility, timely notifications are critical. Your Room Alert Account can notify you by email, text message, push notification (through the Room Alert mobile app), email-to-SMS message, or HTTP post.

Want Room Alert Account to text you when alert events occur? Setup is easy as 1, 2, 3…

  1. Opt-in to receiving messages from RoomAlert.com.
  2. Add SMS funds to pay for the text messages sent from your organization’s account.
  3. Add SMS actions to your alerts.

These Frequently Asked Questions show you how:

SMS notifications are a Professional+ level Room Alert Account feature. If your organization has a Base or Personal level account, and wishes to upgrade in order to access this feature, please see How To Upgrade Your RoomAlert.com Account.

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]]> How To Add SMS Funds To Your Room Alert Account https://avtech.com/articles/26045/how-to-add-sms-funds-to-your-room-alert-account/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:56:21 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=26045 If your organization’s Room Alert Account has been upgraded to the Professional level or higher, you may send SMS notifications to members of your team in response to alert conditions. To use this feature, SMS funds must first be added to your account; each time an SMS message is sent, the cost gets deducted from […]

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]]> If your organization’s Room Alert Account has been upgraded to the Professional level or higher, you may send SMS notifications to members of your team in response to alert conditions. To use this feature, SMS funds must first be added to your account; each time an SMS message is sent, the cost gets deducted from these funds. (Room Alert will let you know if funds are low or depleted, so you don’t miss anything.)

This FAQ shows you how to view your account’s SMS balance, check SMS prices, and add SMS funds. Please follow these steps to get started:

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
    In order to access the SMS Balance tab in Room Alert Account, you must sign in as an administrator, operator or billing user. (Operators have a read-only view of this tab.) For more information, please see the “Types of user roles” section of our FAQ, How To Manage User Access To Your RoomAlert.com Account
  2. In the navigation bar to the left, select your organization name and then select Manage Account.
  3. Then navigate to the SMS Balance tab.

The SMS Balance tab includes the following information…

Balance-to-date

Your organization’s total SMS funds are listed in a blue box toward the top of the tab. In our example, our account has $4.71 to spend on SMS messages.

+ Add Funds

Administrator or billing users can add SMS funds by following these steps:

  1. Select +Add Funds to open the Add Funds form.
  2. Then fill out the following:
    • In Amount, select one of the options, or choose Other to enter a custom amount.
    • In Order Summary, you’ll see the total due, as well as the new balance-to-date.
    • In Payment Method, you may select a credit card that is already on file or enter new credit card information.
      • If you enter new credit card information, you have the option to Replace card on file. Choosing this option will save the credit card to be used for future SMS funds as well as future RoomAlert.com upgrade renewals.
    • You may enter a PO number in Purchase Order # for your record-keeping purposes if you wish.
  3. Select Purchase Now.

    Your newly-added funds will immediately be reflected in your organization’s balance-to-date.

Current SMS Pricing

Click on Current SMS Pricing to check the cost of sending an SMS message. (The price varies by country and is subject to change.)

Payments

When SMS funds get added to the account, an entry is added to the Payments table. (The table does not appear if SMS funds have never been added to the account.)

Balance Details

The Balance Details table lists all transaction that affect your organization’s SMS balance.

  • Use the drop-down menu to load one month of transactions at a time.
  • Use the CSV button to export the information for your records.

This table may contain the following types of entries:

  • SMS Message
    Every time an SMS message gets sent from your account, it gets listed in this table, along with the country, phone number, price, and remaining balance after the message was sent.
  • Blocked
    If a phone number has been opted-out of receiving SMS messages from Room Alert, then messages get blocked. The account is not charged for blocked messages.
  • Deposit
    When SMS funds are added to your account, the table shows a deposit.
  • Zero Balance
    If the account does not have enough funds to cover a message, Room Alert will send (up to 10) Zero Balance messages in place of standard messages.
    • Zero Balance messages look like this:
  • Skip
    After sending 10 Zero Balance messages, further attempts are skipped until funds have been added.

Next Steps

For more information about sending SMS alert messages from Room Alert Account, please see these FAQs:

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]]> How To Opt In & Out Of SMS Messages From Room Alert Account https://avtech.com/articles/26048/how-to-opt-in-out-of-sms-messages-from-roomalert-com/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:55:52 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=26048 In response to alert conditions, Room Alert Account can send SMS messages to phone numbers that have opted-in to receiving them. This FAQ shows you how to opt-in and opt-out of messages from RoomAlert.com. Please follow these steps to opt-in to receiving messages: Please follow these steps to opt-out of receiving messages: Next Steps

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]]> In response to alert conditions, Room Alert Account can send SMS messages to phone numbers that have opted-in to receiving them. This FAQ shows you how to opt-in and opt-out of messages from RoomAlert.com.

Please follow these steps to opt-in to receiving messages:

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
  2. Select the user icon at the top right of the page.
  3. Then select Profile Settings.
  4. In the Profile Settings tab, select the edit (pencil) icon beside the Mobile Number field.
  5. In the Edit Mobile Number dialog box that opens:
    • First select your Country from the drop down menu.
    • In the first Phone Number field, the country code will automatically populate for you.
    • Enter your mobile phone number in the field beside the country code.
    • Then select Send Verification Code.
  6. Your mobile phone will receive an SMS message that says “Your Room Alert Account verification code is: ######.”
  7. Enter the code into the dialog box and select Save Mobile Number.
  8. If the code is accepted, you’ll see your mobile number now saved to your Profile Settings.

Please follow these steps to opt-out of receiving messages:

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
  2. Select the user icon at the top right of the page.
  3. Then select Profile Settings.
  4. In the Profile Settings tab, select the edit (pencil) icon beside your saved mobile number.
  5. In the Edit Mobile Number dialog box that opens, select Delete Mobile Number, and then confirm your selection.
  6. Alternatively—or in addition to deleting your number from your account— you may text STOP to Room Alert Account at +1 (360) 860-5613.

Next Steps

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]]> How To Configure An SMS Alert Action In Room Alert Account https://avtech.com/articles/26053/how-to-configure-an-sms-alert-action-in-roomalert-com/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:55:21 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=26053 If your organization’s Room Alert Account has been upgraded to the Professional level or higher, you may add SMS notifications to your alerts. This FAQ shows you how to add an SMS action to an existing alert in RoomAlert.com. For instructions on how to create a new alert from scratch, please see How To Create […]

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]]> If your organization’s Room Alert Account has been upgraded to the Professional level or higher, you may add SMS notifications to your alerts. This FAQ shows you how to add an SMS action to an existing alert in RoomAlert.com. For instructions on how to create a new alert from scratch, please see How To Create Alerts In Your RoomAlert.com Account.

First, follow these steps to open the alert’s interface:

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
    In order to edit parts of an alert, you must log in as an admin-level or operator-level user. For more information, please see the “Types of user roles” section of our FAQ, How To Manage User Access To Your RoomAlert.com Account.
  2. Select Alerts from the navigation bar to the left.
  3. In your Alert List tab, you’ll see a list of all of your configured alerts. Click on an alert to open its interface.
  4. Any configured actions are listed below the alert’s threshold details.

Then follow these steps to add a new SMS action:

  1. Click +Add Action to create a new action.
  2. In the New Action interface, first choose SMS Message from the Type drop-down menu.
  3. Next, select the user you’d like to send messages to.
    • This User drop-down menu includes all users on the account, regardless of their user role and whether they have opted-in to receiving messages from RoomAlert.com.
    • If the user has a mobile number saved to their profile, you will see their country listed in parentheses beside their name.
    • If you select a user without a mobile number saved to their profile, you’ll see a warning message.
  4. If desired, configure the action to repeat, schedule quiet times, or set a delay. For more information, please see How To Configure Advanced Alerting Features In Your RoomAlert.com Account.
  5. Select Save Changes to save your new action.
  6. The action will now appear in the alert interface.
    • If the user has a mobile number saved to their profile, the action will look like this:
    • If the user doesn’t have a mobile number saved to their profile, the action icon will show as orange with an exclamation point, like this:
  7. After you’ve saved your action, it’s a good idea to test it. Note that the cost of any successful test messages will be deducted from your account’s SMS Funds. For more information, please see our FAQ, How To Add SMS Funds To Your Room Alert Account.

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]]> How To Manage Room Alert App Push Notifications https://avtech.com/articles/25913/how-to-manage-room-alert-app-push-notifications/ Mon, 22 May 2023 17:52:20 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=25913 Room Alert App may send push notifications to your device under a couple different conditions. This FAQ details those conditions, and how to turn the push notifications on and off. If you receive a push notification from Room Alert App, it means that one or both of the following is true: 1. In the Room […]

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]]> Room Alert App may send push notifications to your device under a couple different conditions. This FAQ details those conditions, and how to turn the push notifications on and off.

If you receive a push notification from Room Alert App, it means that one or both of the following is true:

1. In the Room Alert app, you are watching the alert conversation.

By default, when you install the Room Alert App, your user profile is set to “watch” all alerts.

This means that you will receive push notifications for any alerts when…

  • Room Alert posts to the conversation in response to the alert triggering, clearing, or getting acknowledged.
  • Another user on the account posts to the alert conversation.
Manage Watch Status

To watch or unwatch an alert…

  1. Log in to the Room Alert App on your mobile device.
  2. Click the ellipsis icon in the navigation bar at the bottom of the app.
  3. Then click on Conversation Settings.
  4. A full list of all of your organization’s alerts appears here.
  5. If you’re currently watching an alert, an eye icon appears beside it.
  6. Click any alert to hide the icon and un-watch the alert’s conversation.
  7. Use the watch all | watch none options at the top of the screen to make bulk changes.

Look for more fine-tune settings—like specifying the type of conversation activity you wish to be notified of, etc.—in a future release of the Room Alert App.

To avoid receiving duplicate notifications, we recommend un-watching any alerts that have been configured with a push notification action for your user profile.

2. In RoomAlert.com, the alert has a push notification action tied to your user profile.

You may configure a push notification action on any alert in RoomAlert.com to send to any user on the account. (The user will only receive the notification if they are signed in to the mobile app.)

  • This alert action sends push notifications when an alert triggers, clears, or gets acknowledged.
  • It does not send notifications when team members post to the alert conversation.
Manage Alert Actions

To configure a push notification action…

  1. Log in to your account at RoomAlert.com.
  2. Select Alerts from the navigation bar to the left.
  3. Then click on your alert to open its interface.
  4. Select +Add Action.
  5. Choose Push Notification from the Type drop-down list.
  6. Then choose the user to send notifications to.
  7. (Optional) Configure repeats, quiet times, and delay as desired.
  8. Select Save Changes to save your action.

You may wish to configure a push notification action through RoomAlert.com—instead of watching the alert conversation through the app—if you need repeat notifications, quiet times, or delays.

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]]> An Overview Of The Room Alert Mobile App https://avtech.com/articles/25815/overview-of-the-room-alert-mobile-app/ Thu, 18 May 2023 13:50:07 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=25815 App features The latest version of the Room Alert mobile app supports some, but not all, of the features available in your Room Alert Account. Support for additional features will continuously be added to future releases of the mobile app. Access to mobile app features is based on your user role. For more information, please […]

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]]>

With the Room Alert mobile app, you can bring your sensor data & alerts with you wherever you go; check on the readings in your environment at anytime, and coordinate alert responses with your team members from anywhere.

Installing the app

The Room Alert mobile app is available to download for free from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

App features

The latest version of the Room Alert mobile app supports some, but not all, of the features available in your Room Alert Account. Support for additional features will continuously be added to future releases of the mobile app.

Access to mobile app features is based on your user role. For more information, please see the “Types of user roles” section of our FAQ, How To Manage User Access To Your RoomAlert.com Account.

Alerts

Current features…

  • Get notified as soon as environment conditions exceed thresholds.
  • Check how long alerts have been triggered, and acknowledge ongoing alerts.
  • Review thresholds & configured actions, and check which team members are watching any alert conversation.
  • View all your historic alert events in one simple list.

Coming later…

  • Configuring & editing alerts through the mobile app.

Conversations

Current features…

  • Talk to your team members in real-time to coordinate a response to alert events.
  • Document troubleshooting steps to avoid repeated efforts.
  • Log the alert’s root cause and resolution for reference later.
  • Receive optional push notifications when new messages get posted.

Coming later…

  • Added chat interface features, such as image & file sharing, tagging team members, responding with emojis, and more.

Data Groups

Current features…

  • Check the latest readings of sensors and other types of data points that you grouped together.

Coming later…

  • Configuring & editing data groups through the mobile app.
  • Graphing historical data.
  • Downloading historic data.
  • Configuring & editing Monitor360 sensors.

Devices

Current features…

  • View a list of your registered Room Alert Monitors, and see when they last pushed sensor data to your account.
  • View device details, including firmware version, Link connection status, location and more.
  • Scroll through the current readings of all sensors connected to the device.
  • Register new devices that aren’t automatically populated in your account.

Coming later…

  • Configuring Room Alert Link and performing instant firmware updates.
  • Plotting the location of Room Alert Monitors.

Settings & More

Current features…

  • Toggle between multiple accounts.
  • Configure conversation notifications.
  • Log in via your organization’s SAML Single-Sign On portal.
  • Use MFA for added account security.

Coming later…

  • Editing your user profile through the mobile app.
  • Managing other users on the account.
  • Upgrading/renewing the account and configuring other account-level settings.

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]]> How To Troubleshoot Server Actions In Room Alert Manager https://avtech.com/articles/24732/how-to-troubleshoot-server-actions-in-room-alert-manager/ Tue, 22 Nov 2022 14:26:09 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=24732 This FAQ walks you through various troubleshooting steps that you may take if Room Alert Manager is unable to connect and send a command to a target server. It’s best to begin troubleshooting with a manual test through Windows Command Prompt. If the SSH connection cannot be established, we recommend the following: If Room Alert […]

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]]> This FAQ walks you through various troubleshooting steps that you may take if Room Alert Manager is unable to connect and send a command to a target server.

It’s best to begin troubleshooting with a manual test through Windows Command Prompt.

Perform a manual test

Follow these steps to manually test the SSH connection:

  1. On Room Alert Manager’s host system, open a command prompt window as an administrator. You may find it at the following path: Start–> All Programs–> Windows System (or Accessories)–> Command Prompt
  2. Then, in the command prompt window, run this command: ssh [username@target IP or hostname]
  3. You should be able to connect to the target system without needing to enter the user’s password. (If the key has a passphrase associated with it, you will be prompted to enter that.)
    • If the SSH connection fails for any reason (including if you get prompted for your user password) please skip step 4 and go straight to the troubleshooting recommendations below.
  4. If you are able to successfully establish an SSH connection to the target server, you can try manually sending the shutdown/reboot command next.
    • To do so, enter either the shutdown or reboot command below that corresponds to the target server’s Operating System.
      • Windows System – Shutdown: shutdown -s
      • Windows System – Reboot: shutdown -r
      • Linux System – Shutdown: sudo shutdown -h -t 5
      • Linux System – Reboot: sudo shutdown -r -t 5
      • Mac System – Shutdown: sudo shutdown -h now
      • Mac System – Reboot: sudo shutdown -r now
    • After a few moments, you should get feedback that indicates whether or not the command was successful. (In our example, we successfully rebooted the target server.)

If the SSH connection cannot be established, we recommend the following:

Check Your File Permissions

Your “authorized keys” file must be stored in the correct location with the proper file name & permissions.

  • The file name & location depends on whether the user account is a member of the local administrators group or a standard user account.
    • For a standard user, the authorized_keys file is located in the .ssh folder of the user’s directory.
      On Windows systems, the path is C:\Users\UserName\.ssh\authorized_keys
    • For an admin user, the administrators_authorized_keys file is located in the system’s main ssh directory.
      On Windows systems, the path is C:\ProgramData\ssh\administrators_authorized_keys
  • Only the local system and administrators security group should have permissions to access the administrators_authorized_keys file.
    • The example below shows the permissions of the file on our Windows system.
Check Your SSH Configuration Settings
  1. Open the sshd configuration file in a text editor, such as Notepad.
    • For our example, we’re opening the file located at C:\ProgramData\ssh\sshd_config in a text editor.
  2. Locate the Authentication settings, and make sure public key authentication is enabled.
    • In our example, we needed to uncomment the line “PubkeyAuthentication” and set it to yes.
  3. Restart the SSH Server daemon to apply the change.
Check Your Firewall Rules
  • Ensure that local anti-spyware and anti-virus programs on both the target computer and Room Alert Manager’s host system allow SSH connections.
  • Ensure that the firewall on the target system allows incoming remote SSH connections via TCP Port 22 (or whatever custom port you may be using).
Review Your SSH Logs

OpenSSH includes log files that may offer additional clues—or even specific suggestions—for troubleshooting. Debugging can be enabled at multiple levels in order to print additional information to the log files. For more information, please see this Wikibooks entry: OpenSSH/Logging and Troubleshooting.

For example, this debug line in our log shows that we need to adjust the user permissions on our administrators_authorized_keys file.

To get the debugging lines to print in our log, we simply adjusted the #Logging settings within our sshd_config file.

If Room Alert Manager can only sometimes connect to the target server, we recommend the following:

Check Your OpenSSH Server Startup Setting

On the target system, the sshd service should be set to startup automatically. These instructions show you how to do that on Windows.

  1. Open Windows Services.  You may find it at the following path: Start–> Control Panel–> Administrative Tools–> Services.
  2. Right-click on OpenSSH SSH Server in the list of programs, and then select Properties.
  3. In the service properties window, make sure Startup type is set to Automatic.

If Room Alert Manager is able to connect to the target system, but shutdown/reboot commands fail, we recommend the following:

Check Your User Permissions

Use an administrator user on the target server. If the target server is a Mac or Linux, you’ll need to enable sudo without a password.

You can do this by editing the admin group permissions within the ‘/etc/sudoers’ file so that the user permissions are: ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL. If you don’t wish to grant the user full-access, you may configure limited access to only execute certain commands without a password. There are tutorials available online that walk you through this process.

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]]> How To Configure Server Command Actions In Room Alert Manager https://avtech.com/articles/24711/how-to-configure-server-command-actions-in-room-alert-manager/ Thu, 10 Nov 2022 19:50:49 +0000 https://avtech.com/articles/?p=24711 Room Alert Manager can automatically send a server command in response to an alert. This feature is advantageous for powering down a system or group of systems when environment conditions—such as high temperatures, power loss, flooding, etc.—could potentially lead to catastrophic system damage. Before you begin: Room Alert Manager connects to servers via SSH keys. […]

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]]> Room Alert Manager can automatically send a server command in response to an alert. This feature is advantageous for powering down a system or group of systems when environment conditions—such as high temperatures, power loss, flooding, etc.—could potentially lead to catastrophic system damage.

Before you begin:

Room Alert Manager connects to servers via SSH keys. In order for Room Alert Manager to perform server commands, you must generate your own SSH key pair(s) and store the keys securely on your systems. For more information, please see How To Configure Room Alert Manager To Use An SSH Key.

Step 1: Configure the target server in Room Alert Manager

  1. Open Room Alert Manager in your web browser.
  2. In order to configure server actions in Room Alert Manager, you must log in as an admin-level or manager-level user.
  3. Select Actions –> Servers in the navigation bar to the left to open the Servers page.
  4. Then select the New Server button.
  5. The Server Form will open.
    • First, give your server a unique name.
      • The default name is “New Server X” but we’re renaming ours “Example Server.”
    • In Target System, enter the server’s IP address or hostname.
    • In Username, enter the username of a user on the server that can access the system with the private key.
    • In the SSH Key drop-down menu, select the saved SSH Key configuration that this server uses for authentication.
    • In Port Number, you may leave the default, 22, or enter a custom port.
  6. Then select Save Changes.
  7. The server will now appear in the Servers List, as shown below.
    • The new server appears in red because it has not yet been tested.
    • Expanding the server details in the list shows “Last connection attempt: never.”
  8. To test the server connection, either click the “test connection” link in the expanded server details, or select Test from the server’s context menu.
  9. You may see a message stating that this is the first time connecting to the server. If so, select Yes and Trust & Test Again.
  10. If the test is successful, you’ll see a confirmation message, and the server will no longer be highlighted in red within the list.

    If the test fails, please see this FAQ for troubleshooting information: How To Troubleshoot Server Command Actions In Room Alert Manager.
  11. Once the server connection has been successfully tested, you can start adding server actions to alerts—see the next section for instructions.

If you edit the server configuration in the future, you should re-test the connection.

Step 2: Configure a Server Command Action

  1. Begin configuring your alert in Room Alert Manager. This FAQ shows you how: How To Create Alerts In Room Alert Manager.
    • Stop when you reach “Step 3: Add actions to your alert.”
  2. In the Then… section of your new alert, select Server Command to add a Server Command action.
  3. In the Server Command Action form, first select a command from the drop-down menu.
    • You may choose to shutdown or reboot a Windows, Linux, or Mac system. The command to be sent to the server is displayed beside the drop-down menu.
  4. Then select one or more servers to send the command to.
  5. (Optional) You may configure the action to repeat and/or associate the action with a Quiet Time schedule.
    • In most cases, server shutdown and reboot command actions should not be configured to repeat.
  6. When you’re done configuring your alert, select Save Changes.

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