3.3.1 Set Hierarchy
Sets are constructed in much the same way as Alarms and Devices within AutoNOC. There is a root object followed by child objects that affect how the parent object works. This parent and child relationship makes it very easy to define sophisticated set relationships. In the case of sets, the child objects are called criteria and they define individual rules for how what objects the set should query.

The following picture shows the pre-defined Processors set that queries the model for a list of processor probes.

As shown above, there are two objects in the set hierarchy which include:

• Set Object
  This object defines the top level logic, display properties, and a results query for the set.
• Criteria
  Each set criteria child object defines rules and logic for selecting object types.

3.3.2 Creating New Sets
Authoring your own custom sets that return Devices, Probes, or perhaps key Interfaces as an example is very easy using the design page.

You must first create a new set object. This is done by clicking on the root Sets object to pull up the root dialog and then clicking on the New Set menu option. When you click on this, AutoNOC will create a new Set object as a child of the current object.

Once your new object is created, use the tree to open up the parent so that you can see the object you created and then click on it. When you click on it, AutoNOC will open up the dialog box for the new object. You can also create a new Set object as a child of any folder under the top-level Sets.

3.3.3 Defining Object Bases
AutoNOC sets are typically designed for a specific purpose, such as retrieving a list of devices, probes, or users. For this reason, the user must choose which objects are contained within the set. By default a set will contain Device objects.

You need to decide what types of objects to include in your set. If you are looking for a specific list of devices, you would add Devices to the object base list. If you want a set that includes a specific set of probes, such as processor probes, for instance, you would configure the set logic to include Probe as one of the returned object types for the Set.

If you want to create a set that includes a certain type of probe, then you would move Probe to the right side of the multi-pick selection box and move Device back to the left. This means that the set will search for and include only the types of objects that are selected to be included.

This is illustrated in the following screen shot from the logic tab of the Processors set:

The set will only return the type or types of object bases defined. So this set will search for and return Probe objects. You could also define a set to return Device objects for instance. Many different object bases are available to be returned including:

• Alarm
• Application
• Cable (Component)
• Category
• Custom Component
• Device
• Environment (Component)
• Log
• Health Report (Report)
• Interface (Component)
• Inventory List (Report)
• Main Memory
• Probe
• Processor (Component)
• Service
• Set
• Storage (Component)
• User

Note that when you create user security sets, all base object types should be specified. The reason for this is that user security sets typically still need access to pretty much all of the object types in order to provide a working user interface. For complete information about user sets see 3.10 - Users.

3.3.4 Specifying Set Logic
The other key consideration in the creation of your new set is what type of logic it will use. The types of logic that are available include:

• Union (OR)
  All objects that meet any of the child criteria are included in the set. As an example, if you have two device criterias that select some specific devices and you configure the logic for this set to union, then AutoNOC will include any device that meets either one of the device criteria.
  
• Intersection (AND)
  Intersection sets take the criteria and perform a logical intersection between objects. If you have two device criteria as children of an intersection set then to be in the set a given device must be included in both device criteria. Additionally, AutoNOC has rules built-in that define relationships between certain object types. So, for instance, if you intersect a Probe criteria with a Device criteria and the set is querying probes, then only the probes for the specified devices will be included. AutoNOC is able to compare disparate criteria and infer logical relationships between the objects so that the user gets what they want.

In most cases you will use Intersection (AND) logic for designing sets but upon occasion the Union (OR) construct is useful. This is especially true when creating many different sets and then using the Set Criteria to link them and bring them all back together as one new dynamically defined set. That is a bit of an advanced feature but warrants mentioning for you to consider the possibilities of the sets.

After you decide upon the types of objects you want in the set and the way you want defined rules to work together than you are ready to define the criteria for the set.

3.3.5 Creating Criteria
The key to designing good sets is to become handy at defining good set criteria. The logic that is chosen for the set is applied to each criteria.

To add new criteria click on the Menu tab of the set dialog, choose the type of criteria to add, and then click on the corresponding new criteria button. The criteria will be added as a child of the set and is now a working part of the set. You can open up the tree and click on the criteria to modify it's properties.

For detailed explanations on setting up and using each of the types of criteria see 3.4 - Criteria.

Add the criteria needed for the set and make changes to each criteria to set it up and then proceed to the next step to test your setup.

3.3.6 Investigate Page Configuration
Sets themselves serve many purposes in AutoNOC. Every set can be configured for display in the major AutoNOC sections. For example, you can make a set appear on the main Investigate tab, the Observe tab, the Visualize tab, or all of them simultaneously. Each set has properties that define how the set will behave when displayed.

Sets displayed in the investigate tab have all objects contained with them analyzed for their service level and state. As shown in the following screenshot, the user can toggle the display of the set on the Investigate Page as well as add an additional filter to the objects in the set.

Choosing what objects are visible in the set is simply an easy way to take a set that is used for many purposes and tweak the final objects displayed. Note that objects of the specified types must be present in the set already for them to appear.

3.3.7 Observe Page Configuration
Sets displayed on the observe tab can be toggled as to whether they are shown and the number of records displayed can be controlled as well. In general, the fewer numbers of records, the faster performance.

The number of records defines how many records AutoNOC will show at a time. The smaller the number the faster the observe screen performance. Most users will keep one screen of events in the ticker shown and that is the default.

3.3.8 Visualize Page Configuration
A set can be shown on the Visualize page by clicking on one or both of the Show On boxes on the visualize tab as shown in this screenshot.

Sets can be defined based on whether or not they are shown at all on any visualization page and specifically if they appear on the world map. This gives the user some flexibility in terms of how a set is shown. For instance, it is possible to create a nested "set of sets" and use that for a top level location view and allow this to be a drill down into different departments in a set, for instance.

3.3.9 Setting a Physical Location
If you have installed the GIS Add-On (available for download in the AutoNOC support area), then AutoNOC will provide lots of Latitude and Longitude settings for many locations in the country. This capability is accessible on the Location tab of the set.

The Abbreviation setting is used on the world map and in other places as a short hand notation for display of the set. Location information does not need to be defined, except for sets that are visualized on the world map.

3.3.10 Viewing Set Query Results
When a set is returning objects, the list of current objects in the set is returned on the Query Results page. This page will not be available if the set object itself is empty. The screenshot below shows an example return query of the Processors set described above.

Each object is listed on a line of it's own. Please consider that this list is dynamic as some criteria allow for certain objects to appear at certain times, or to return objects only of certain levels. Note that the Query Results tab is currently only updated on the creation of the dialog box. To update it the dialog box should be closed and then reopened.