Step One: Monitoring free space in a file system
Let’s assume your key corporate documents are all stored on a file system that is on a disk in the corporate SAN. A process is in place to monitor the free space on the file system at regular intervals. When the monitoring process recognises that there is less than 10% (of space) available, it posts an event (to RiverMuse).

If you read my previous blog, using the bird table analogy, this would be the event generated by the web cam creating a video file.

RiverMuse then processes this alert for you, triggering a series of commands causing the disk on the SAN to be enlarged and subsequently, the file system grown to take advantage of this newly allocated space. Once this process is complete the system generates an event to mark the completion.

In the bird table analogy, this relates to the file conversion activity

Step Two: Reporting and recording of events
The completion message causes the following to happen:
1) The space low message is closed.
2) A message notifies the CMDB system that SAN resources have been reallocated.
3) A ticket is created in the helpdesk system, to prompt review of what triggered the expansion.

Relate to bird table story again

If the space warning alert has a count of 2 or more then the external trigger is not fired, as an expansion process has already been initiated.

Our real world example has other business logic, including:
· If free space is OK, we still generate an even, but this time it’s a positive event, RiverMuse uses this to reset the clock on its silent failure protection rules. In the previous bird table example this could be an event based on the absence of a video upload, with the time frame based on the time of year (to account for the hours of darkness).

· Likewise if the space low message has a count that exceeds a predetermined amount, an alarm is triggered to check the file system expand process, against its silent failure. Again the analogy on the bird table is that the video conversion process has failed.

· Finally if the space drops to below 5%, before the expansion is complete, then a further external action is triggered to obtain human interaction as the file system is growing at a potentially unmanageable rate.

All of this can be bundled into a package, using RiverMuse’s transportable business logic, and applied to all the individual file systems and disks across the network. As business logic is updated, or new file systems are added, the changes will be seamlessly propagated through the system, giving you the peace of mind that routine events are managed by the system, leaving you to get on with managing the exceptions.