Today I have been testing override overrides, when we have two overrides overriding the same setting with different thresholds, for the same target machine.

First I created a monitor to check for event ID 1 in the Application log. With default settings there should be an alert generated with medium alert priority.

I then create a override for “For a specific object of type: Windows Server 2003 Computer”, my DC1 machine. I changed the alert priority to high. I validated my override by generating an alert, and I could see that alert priority now was high.

I then created a second cverride for “For a group…”, a group including my DC1 machine. I changed the alert priority to low. I now I had one override for the DC1 computer and one override for a group including the DC1 computer. The new alert comes with high priority. So far, the newest override is the one Ops Mgr use.

If I do this the other way around, first configure a override for the group and then a override for my DC1 computer object I get the same result, the newest override is the one Ops Mgr use.

When you look at the override properties for a monitor you can see a column named “Enforced”. If I check enforced on my first override (low priority) and then generate an alert I get alert with low priority, in other words if you use the enforced function you can force a override to be applyid.

But what if both overrides has the enforced function enable? When you have enforced a override and you open the overrides summary window you can see two different “Changed value”, in my scenario I can see “Low” and “High”. If I now want to enforce the override with high alert priority, I select it and click Edit, but in the Override Properties window, I see that “Effective Value” is set as a enforced value and in the “Effective Value” column I now see Low.  

Summary. The newest override is the override that Ops Mgr will use. If you enforce a override it will overrite all other overrides and be the one that Ops Mgr use. You cant enforce two overrides for the same target and monitor.