There are two models for ignoring alarms; the classic per test model and a newer FIDO report based model that has both time of day and holddown actions

Ignoring tested items [classic]

This model of ignore should be used whenever possible.  In the classic ignore mode, the alarm will not be presented in the FIDO gui or logs at all.

Read documentation on each individual test. However, some generic information follows.

fidoUtils.pl has a subroutine called 'process_ignore_files'. This is what excludes exceptions from tests. Some of the arguments it takes include a hash [%testhash] describing items you want to test and a hash [ignorehash] listing items you want to ignore. The API call removes items from [%testhash] if there is an exact key match found in [%ignorehash]. The value of the hash key is not important for the comparison, and, in fact, the value of the hash key in [%ignorehash] is used informatively.

Example from the fido_snmp.pl test.

[from hand maintained ignore file aka %ignorehash]

   
    T1 6/0 =  cisco ios bug?  card is not installed
   


[from autogenerated snmp info file aka %testhash]

   
    Gi0/0 = 
    Gi0/0.1 = 
    Gi0/0.2 = 
    Gi0/0.3 = 
    Gi0/0.881 = 
    Lo0 = 
    Se4/0 = 
    T1 6/0 = 
    T1 6/1 = 
    T1 6/2 = 
    T1 6/3 = 
    T1 6/4 = 
    T1 6/5 = 
    T1 6/6 = 
    T1 6/7 = 
   


result:
#INFO: SNMP: ignoring r-northcentraltc-hub.wiscnet.net T1 6/0 [cisco ios bug?  card is not installed]

How ignore file [exception] testing works Example:

WARN: ICMPv4: ignoring 144.92.170.6 [l4 ite test vip] but it doesn't appear to be down

The fido.diff program can check to see if something in the ignore file [exceptions] should be ignored, based on whether or not it is actually a current alarm. Search for '$run_sanity_tests' in the code.

A brief explanation; the ignore file [exceptions] becomes the actual test file that a given test uses for a single cycle. If any of the items in the ignore file DO NOT come back as a current alarm, a line like the above will be logged.

Fido report mode: Ignoring [time of day] or hold down alarm items

See: FIDO: Impact, Time of Day, Hold Down attributes