IPHost Network Monitor supports different methods of automatic reaction to undesirable changes on the resources and systems being monitored. The actions are tied to the monitors and are activated when a monitor transition to one of the undesirable states occurs and to the restoration of the resource performance after problem elimination.
One of the chief tasks of the monitoring system is execution of actions as the monitoring system’s reaction to the appearance of deviations in the operation of resources being watched (origination of problems). Prompt and informative notification of a problem helps to substantially reduce the downtime of important resources, which as a result decreases the loss of user work time and improves the effectiveness of administrator work.
The basic variant of IPHost Network Monitor’s reaction to problem states is sending a message with information on the problem; e-mail notifications, sending a message to another computer, and displaying a message in the dialogue window are supported. Methods of reaction based on program start provide additional possibilities. With the help of such actions one can implement any method of reacting to a problem state: ranging from starting/stopping of a service on a remote machine to rebooting.
Actions
In IPHost Network Monitor all actions are gathered in one common list of actions. All actions are available for work with any monitor. An action has a name, type, and parameters. The types of actions are:
- Sending an e-mail to persons concerned. In the message template variables may be used, such as $MonitorName, $CurrentState, etc., which allows for instance using one template for any changes of state.
- A pop-up message. It is a standard window with a message if Windows UI is running at the moment of action activation, or a balloon connected to the application icon in the system tray with the same message.
- Net Send. It is a similar standard window with a message, a standard dialogue with a message on a remote machine.
- Starting a program. Starting an executable file or executing the code of a script in a language supported by Windows Scripting Host. The path to the file and arguments should be specified.
In the immediate future additional types of actions, such as sending an SMS message using various methods of delivery ranging from e-mail to a GSM modem and sending messages to the users of the messengers ICQ, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger will appear in IPHost Network Monitor.
The full list of actions is available for viewing and editing. You can invoke the form with the list of actions by selecting the menu Tools > Settings (or by pressing the Settings button on the toolbar) then by selecting the bookmark Actions in the open window. It is important that changes in an action affect each action profile that uses the action.
Action Profiles
In an action profile the actions are tied to changes in the monitor’s state.
For a monitor one may use an action profile:
- Assigned for the type of this monitor,
- Assigned for the host of this monitor,
- One of the global profiles,
- A custom profile specific to this monitor.
The use of action profiles assigned for the host or the type of monitor as well as of global profiles simplifies the changing of action profiles. By default, a monitor uses the action profile from its monitor type and, for example, if it is necessary to add a new action to all the monitors of the HTTP type, it can be done in one place without having to change the action profiles in all the monitors of this type.
Creating an action profile implies adding to it actions and tying these actions to monitor transitions to one of the problem states (PerformanceWarning, PerformanceAlert, Down, ExtendedDown) or a return to the OK state.
Global and Custom Action Profiles
Profiles can be global and custom. The global ones have a name and can be used for any monitor, host or monitor type. You can invoke the form with the list of action profiles by selecting the menu Tools > Settings (or by pressing the Settings button on the toolbar), then by selecting the bookmark Action Profiles in the open window.
A custom action profile may be used for only one monitor, host or monitor type. A custom action profile can be created on the basis of a global one by selecting in Action Profile Editor the Custom action profile option in the radio button at the bottom of the window. Likewise, you can create a global action profile on the basis of a custom one.
Description of other features
| Monitoring Features | Here you can find the list of monitor types supported in IPHost Network Monitor and brief description of their parameters. |
| Actions Features | Here you can find the list of action types (ways of reaction to the problems happened during monitoring) available in IPHost Network Monitor, and their brief description. |
| Reporting Features | Here you can find the list of report types available in IPHost Network Monitor with brief descriptions. |
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IPHost Network Monitor interfaces and structure |
Here you can find an overview of IPHost Network Monitor components, Windows and web interfaces. |
