The Event Manager
About Event Rules
Available in Cerberus FTP Server 5.0 Enterprise edition, the Event Manager allows an administrator to configure email notification, perform file operation or batch file actions, and carry out certain server operations based off of server events.
Event rules are based on the simple premise that an event occurs that triggers an action. There are several different rule types and for each rule type there is a corresponding event that can trigger that rule. For example, a File Transfer Event rule has a file upload or download event as an event trigger. You can further control if that even triggers the rule by specifying additional conditions that must exist before the rule's actions are taken.
For example, suppose you have a folder in which customers can drop files. You can set up an event rule that monitors that folder, and when someone uploads a file into that folder, moves it into another folder and then sends an e-mail to anyone you specify informing them that a file has been moved.
You can also set up a rule that only moves particular files. For example, you can configure the rule to move only the files that end in .zip, or you can route particular files to different folders.
An event rule consists of a triggering event, any optional conditions affecting that event, and the resulting actions that are carried out. You can modify your rules any time in the event manager.
The Rules page
The Rules page provides an overview of all of the rules you have added. From this page you can Add, Delete, Clone, or Enable and Disable a rule.
You can enable or disable a rule from this page. Whenever a rule is disabled, that rule is no longer checked whenever the system generates an event that would normally trigger the rule.
When you select a rule from the Rules list you see a summary of the rule's conditions and actions in the summary edit box.
The Targets page
The Rule Targets page allows an administrator to add email servers and executable files as event targets. Before an email server or executable file can be selected as an action in an event rule, the SMTP server or file path has to first be added to the targets list.
Rules can be associated with the SMTP and executable files and when an SMTP server or executable file path is updated here, all rules that use that target will automatically be updated to reflect the new settings.
SMTP Server Targets
You can add SMTP servers using the SMTP Server Target box. Cerberus currently supports the SMTP protocol, including SMTP with SSL encryption and STARTTLS. If your server requires it, SMTP server credentials can be configured by selecting the SMTP Authentication checkbox.
Executable Targets
Cerberus can be configured to launch an .exe, .bat, or .com file as an action for any event. Just select a file path and press the "Add" button to make an executable target available for selection when adding and editing rules. Command line options for the executable are specified on a per action basis from the rule editing page.
The Edit Rule page
Rule creation and editing is done using the Edit Rule page.
Adding New Rule or Editting an Existing Rule
To add a new rule:
- Open the Rule Name combo box
- Select the New Rule option. The Event Type combo box should become enabled
- From the Event Type combo box, select the event type you wish to trigger this rule
To add edit an existing rule:
- Open the Rule Name combo box
- Select the existing rule you wish to edit. The Event Conditions and Actions sections should become enabled
Adding Rule Conditions
A rule's actions are carried out whenever that rule's event trigger happens. For example, a Login Event rule will be triggered whenever a user logs into the server. Conditions (also called filters) can be placed on rules to further modify if an event matches a rule. For example, a Login Event rule can have a filter placed on it that requires the username of the user logging in to match a specific name or be in a list of names before the rule's actions are invoked. There are three modes that influence how conditions or filters are applied.
Rule Matching Modes
The three rule matching modes are:
| Match All Events | This rule will always be triggered whenever the rule's event occurs. |
| Match If Any Filters Match | This rule will be triggered whenever the rule's event occurs and if any of the conditions listed are fulfilled |
| Match If All Filters Match | This rule will only be triggered whenever the rule's event occurs and if all of the conditions listed are fulfilled |
Rule Variables
Each event type has specific variables that can be used as part of a condition or action. A rule condition consists of a variable, a comparison operation to perform on that variable, and a set of values to compare the variable to. For example, an IP Blocked event has an {{IP}} variable associated with it that contains the IP address that was blocked. You can use the variable in a condition to help decide if the event should trigger the rule.
You can determine what rule variables are available for each event type by looking in the Rule Variables combo box.
Condition Operations
A condition is basically a comparison operation of an event variable to a set of values. The comparison operations you can perform are detailed below:
- > (Greater than or Equal To)
- ≥ (Greater than)
- < (Less than)
- ≤ (Less than or Equal To)
- = (Equal To)
- != (Not Equal To)
- Contains
- Starts with
- Ends with
- Regular Express match
Once a comparison operation is selected, you can enter the values to compare to in the edit box to the right of the comparison combo box. Multiple values can be entered by separating the values with a comma. Each value is checked and if any are a match then the condition is considered fulfilled (or true).
Adding Rule Actions
When an event matches all of the conditions of a rule then the rule actions are carried out. The current rule actions allow an administrator to:
- Send an email message
- Launch an external process
- Perform a file copy, move, delete or directory create or delete operation
Each action can have optional parameters such as the email name and address to send a message to, or the path from and path to for a file move or copy operation. In addition, rule variables can be specified as parameters for the external processes command line or file operation parameters. You can use a rule variable as a parameter and when the rule is actually triggered, the variable's value will be substituted for the variable. You specify variables by enclosing the variable in double brackets, i.e. {{U}}.
