Overview This overview talks about using a 3rd party SMS provider to send text alerts from Orion. I've used Clickatell in the past and really like their API's, ease of use and reliability. The nice part about using Clickatell is that they provide you with your own texting phone number. This means that the text alerts that you receive always come from the same number. Works really well when you add a custom text tone for that contact on your phone. I've created some Powershell scripts that call into Clickatell's API's and pass the necessary info from Orion. Since I only want one text for each alert I need to be mindful of the 160 character limit with texting. My goal with these scripts is to provide simple status (Up, Down, Warning, Critical) and not any numerical value of an alert. By just providing status info I can keep my character limit below 160. Aside from the text alert I also have an email alert action that contains all of the details. So if I'm away from a computer and get a text alert I can pull up my email to get more information. Prerequisites: Need to install Powershell v3 or greater on your Solarwinds Orion server. We specifically use the Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet. You can download that here . Need to create an account with Clickatell . Need to setup an HTTP API Download the scripts at links right below this section Place them in a directory on your Orion server Edit each script and fill out the necessary sections in the beginning. That information is most likely going to be exactly the same for each script. Configuration Below are links that outline different alert types in Orion, each with it's own instructions and custom Powershell script. Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node CPU Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Memory Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Disk Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Response Time Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Interface Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Application Alert Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Component Alert I've setup each script to have a new line for each key variable that I'm passing. This allows the text to be very readable when it comes through. Right now the script has a single hard coded phone number. You can modify the script to accommodate multiple phone numbers if needed. You can also use custom properties in Orion to define the contact number outlined here . Another major part is that the script outputs to a log file which is helpful if you need to troubleshoot. Also, every time that you send a text through Clickatell they provide a Message ID which is required if you need to troubleshoot with them. The logs output to: C:\ProgramData\Solarwinds\Logs and are formatted with all of the necessary info to track down a specific alert/text. Please check back often to see if there have been any improvements or bug fixes to this script. If you find this useful feel free to rate this article.

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Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Alert Overview

chad.every over 8 years ago

Overview

This overview talks about using a 3rd party SMS provider to send text alerts from Orion. I've used Clickatell in the past and really like their API's, ease of use and reliability. The nice part about using Clickatell is that they provide you with your own texting phone number. This means that the text alerts that you receive always come from the same number. Works really well when you add a custom text tone for that contact on your phone.

I've created some Powershell scripts that call into Clickatell's API's and pass the necessary info from Orion.

Since I only want one text for each alert I need to be mindful of the 160 character limit with texting. My goal with these scripts is to provide simple status (Up, Down, Warning, Critical) and not any numerical value of an alert. By just providing status info I can keep my character limit below 160. Aside from the text alert I also have an email alert action that contains all of the details. So if I'm away from a computer and get a text alert I can pull up my email to get more information.

Prerequisites:

Need to install Powershell v3 or greater on your Solarwinds Orion server. We specifically use the Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet. You can download that here.
Need to create an account with Clickatell.
- Need to setup an HTTP API
Download the scripts at links right below this section
- Place them in a directory on your Orion server
- Edit each script and fill out the necessary sections in the beginning. That information is most likely going to be exactly the same for each script.

Configuration

Below are links that outline different alert types in Orion, each with it's own instructions and custom Powershell script.

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node CPU Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Memory Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Disk Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Node Response Time Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Interface Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Application Alert

Clickatell - SMS Gateway - Component Alert

I've setup each script to have a new line for each key variable that I'm passing. This allows the text to be very readable when it comes through.

Right now the script has a single hard coded phone number. You can modify the script to accommodate multiple phone numbers if needed. You can also use custom properties in Orion to define the contact number outlined here.

Another major part is that the script outputs to a log file which is helpful if you need to troubleshoot. Also, every time that you send a text through Clickatell they provide a Message ID which is required if you need to troubleshoot with them.

The logs output to: C:\ProgramData\Solarwinds\Logs and are formatted with all of the necessary info to track down a specific alert/text.

Please check back often to see if there have been any improvements or bug fixes to this script.

If you find this useful feel free to rate this article.

Top Replies

0 ngoc.phan over 8 years ago

I just wanted to let you know that your instructions and tutorials were very easy to follow and I have it seamlessly working with my own network. Thanks!
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0 chad.every over 8 years ago

Glad to hear! I'm working on adding some more scripts tailored to node CPU, Memory and Disk within the next month.
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0 ngoc.phan over 8 years ago

I use these scripts on my alerts in order to get near-instant text messages on when a node has gone down. Super helpful instructions.
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0 ngoc.phan over 8 years ago

Chad, how would you suggest that I modify the script in order to get a text alert to multiple phones instead of just one number? Add another variable in the script?
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0 chad.every over 8 years ago

ngoc.phan, There are probably a few ways you could do this, depending on how you needed it to function. A basic example would be to convert the $ORIONPHONENUMBER variable into an array and the wrap everything in the TRY statement in a foreach loop. In the $SENDSMSMessage line(s) you'd also need to convert your phone number variable into an array variable, $ORIONPHONENUMBER[i].
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