Getting Started with SiteScope

SiteScope is a flexible and versatile monitoring environment for automatically testing, alerting, and reporting on system availability and operation from within your firewall. SiteScope is a client-server based application for agentless system monitoring. This speeds the installation and set up as well as eases administration and scaling. SiteScope's flexible alerting features, reporting formats, and diagnostic tools also help you stay on top of the work involved in maintaining a business-critical Web site.

This section introduces you to the SiteScope interface and navigation. This is to help you understand several key concepts that will enable you to quickly set up and start getting results with SiteScope.

For a listing of topics covered by the SiteScope User Guide, see the Table of Contents. For instructions on installing SiteScope see the README.htm file.

This section describes:

SiteScope Features
An Overview of Setting Up a Monitoring Environment
SiteScope Navigation
The Navigation Bar
The SiteScope Panel
SiteScope Security and Access Control

SiteScope Features

The following is an overview of the features and benefits of SiteScope.

Feature	Description
Agentless architecture	SiteScope application design speeds deployment by eliminating the need to install agent software on the servers and systems you want to monitor
Common file formats	Monitoring data and templates are stored in text file formats allowing you to export a wide range of third party applications

Content matching on results	Extend the versatility of monitoring by checking for specific content on Web pages, in system logs, in databases, and other systems using the flexibility of regular expressions
Database interoperability	Log monitoring data to a JDBC compliant database for efficient storage and extended reporting with third party analysis tools. SiteScope's Dynamic Update feature can regularly query a database table and automatically create sets of monitors whenever new IP addresses are detected in the database.
Database monitoring	Simulate client interactions with JDBC compliant databases and also monitor database server performance parameters
E-mail monitoring	Verify that business-critical e-mail communications are operating by sending and receiving e-mail messages
End-to-end Web based sequence monitoring	Confirm that a complete sequence of Web-based, back-end, and e-mail actions are executed correctly and in the proper order using the eBusiness Chain Monitor.
Monitor templates	Speed deployment of your monitoring by creating monitor templates that can rapidly configure common monitors over multiple servers

Application Server performance monitoring	Monitor performance metrics for many popularly used application servers
SiteScope - Topaz Managed Services integration	Integrate SiteScope availability monitoring with Mercury Interactive's remote Topaz Managed Services (TMS) by configuring SiteScope to be an TMS agent
SiteScope - SiteSeer integration	Integrate remote monitoring data from SiteSeer accounts directly to the SiteScope Main Panel
SiteScope - Topaz integration	Integrate SiteScope availability monitoring with Mercury Interactive's Topaz Console by configuring SiteScope to be a Topaz agent
SNMP integration and support	Configure SiteScope to be an SNMP agent reporting to other SNMP management consoles. Conversely, use SiteScope's built in SNMP support to monitor other SNMP enabled devices
System level monitoring	Increase the depth of your monitoring and speed troubleshooting with system resource and log monitoring

URL monitoring

Monitor URL availability and content with versatile URL monitoring options

An Overview of Setting Up a Monitoring Environment

SiteScope is designed for ease of use and administration. The goal is to allow you to easily set up and begin monitoring important performance parameters in your Web and network environment. The following outlines a series of steps that you can follow in setting up a monitoring environment with SiteScope. The specifics of setting up individual monitors, alerts, and reports are discussed in other parts of the help documentation.

Review your Web environment and identify the critical elements. SiteScope includes tools for monitoring Web systems from the end users perspective and we recommend that you plan to monitor the business critical transactions and functions and their supporting infrastructure that directly impact availability and operation.
Configure your servers for the monitoring environment. SiteScope is designed as a centralized monitoring solution that can monitor a large number of other servers from a single monitoring server. Transaction monitoring is done using standard Internet and network protocols. For some system level monitoring, it will be necessary to set up remote access between the production servers and the monitoring server to enable monitoring of server resource parameters. For some monitor types, SiteScope will need to be running under an account with certain administrative privileges to allow access to performance counter data within a domain. The servers you want to monitor may also need to have accounts set up that SiteScope can log into to retrieve performance data. Your organization's network security policies will impact this level of monitoring. Be aware also that the monitoring function has process and storage requirements that merit having the application installed on a dedicated server.
Set up and organize your SiteScope monitors. Choose the monitor types that will enable you to watch the key elements of your Web environment. You can create multiple instances of each type of monitor. Plan to organize the monitors logically into groups depending on your preferences for organizing the monitoring. For example, group monitors according to geography, customer, function, or application. The monitor run frequency and error thresholds to represent the importance of the element being monitored. At the same time, remember that monitoring too frequently may impact performance of the monitored systems as well as the monitoring application.
Determine alerting expectations and media. Consider what conditions you want to be alerted for and how you want to be alerted. Identify who needs to receive alerts and if there different schedules that alerts should be active.
Set up SiteScope alerts. Select the type, media, and monitors that will be the subject of each alert. Remember that one alert can be used for a group of monitors to be triggered when any one of the monitors reports an error. The combination of alert media and trigger conditions allows you to create alerts of differing priority and visibility. Create schedules to control when alerts are active.
Identify your reporting requirements. Identify the key performance factors that you want to document and the audiences that should receive reports.
Set up SiteScope reports. Create scheduled Management Reports for the monitors that document key performance metrics such as uptime, availability, transaction accuracy, and links. Choose the report format and content to best convey the data to the intended audience. The Quick Management Reports are generated manually and can be an important tool in diagnosing system problems.
Review setup of the monitoring environment and adjust as needed. This includes a review of the monitor error thresholds and run rates, alert thresholds, triggering, and schedules, as well as report content, scheduling, and format.

You can use these steps to set up a small section or portion of your monitoring and then go back later as you adjust settings to cover more of your Web environment. This should allow you to get the monitoring environment up and working is a matter of a hours rather than days.

Index

SiteScope Navigation

As a Web-based application using the client-server model, SiteScope is accessed through Web pages served to a standard Web browser. The SiteScope main panel is the default page to the SiteScope product. This gives you a top level view of the operational availability and function of your systems based on the monitors or tests that have been configured. It also includes hyperlinks to other product features and functions described further below.

Navigation through the SiteScope product is relatively simple. The Navigation Bar displayed at the top of most pages includes both image maps and text hyperlinks. This gives you high level and quick access to the main functional areas as described below. The SiteScope Panel on the main page and underlying Monitor Detail tables present status icons and other text hyperlinks to open a detail view of monitor groups. Other text hyperlinks and form buttons appear throughout the product to provide access to product features and functions as described in the help documents for that feature or page.

SiteScope main page navigation menu

The Navigation Bar

The navigation bar above the SiteScope Panel presents links to the features described below. This navigation bar is available at the top of most other pages within SiteScope and can be used to navigate between the key features and views. The navigation bar includes a row of graphic buttons which provide the following links:

SiteScope: Choose this button to return to the SiteScope Panel from other pages within SiteScope . You can use the Back button on your browser menu bar to return to a previous screen without returning to the SiteScope panel
Alerts: Choose the Alerts button to go to the alerts detail page. An alert is a set of instructions that tell SiteScope how and when to notify you of an error or warning status being reported by one or more SiteScope monitors. From the alert detail page you can view the currently defined alerts. You can also add, edit, or delete alerts, see recently generated alerts, and access e-mail, pager, and SNMP preferences.
Reports: Choose the Reports button to go to the SiteScope Management Reports page. Here you will see a list of the currently defined reports. You may add, edit and delete scheduled reports from this page. You may also generate ad hoc, quick management reports, view the monitor run Progress page, and view a listing of current monitors that you have defined.
Health: The Health button is a link to the SiteScope Health page. It also includes a status icon which gives a summary of the monitors checking on SiteScope performance indicators.
Preferences: Choose the Preferences link to go to the SiteScope General Preferences page. This page contains a place to enter your SiteScope license number. The preferences pages also let you set the access controls for SiteScope, including user name and password settings. Other links let you can set preferences for e-mail, SiteScope log files, monitor run schedules, and integration with third party applications.
Help: Choose the Help button to open the help text for the current page from the SiteScope User Guide. The help page opens in a separate browser window from the SiteScope product.

A second row of text hyperlinks on the navigation bar provides access to to several views and functions. The specific links that are presented vary depending on which screen or view is currently being displayed. For the SiteScope Panel, the following options are presented:

Multi-view: Choose this button to open the SiteScope Multi-view panel. If you are running SiteScope on more than one server, you may want to use the SiteScope Multi-view panel to display the status of all of your SiteScope installations from a central location. The SiteScope Multi-view panel provides an overview of the status of each monitor defined in each SiteScope installation, and provides links back to the originating SiteScope for administration.
Main View: Click this link to return to the SiteScope Panel from other pages within SiteScope . This is the same as clicking the SiteScope button in the upper navigation bar.
Manage Monitors/Groups: The Manage Monitors and Groups page is a global SiteScope feature for moving, copying, disabling, or deleting individual monitors or groups of monitors. The Manage Monitors and Groups page gives you a tree-based overview of the organization of your groups, subgroups, and monitors.
Browse: Choose the Browse link to go to the SiteScope Monitor Browser page. Use the Monitor Browser to view all or a selected set of monitors based on filtering criteria that you choose regardless of which group a monitor belongs in.
Remote UX: Click this link to bring up the Remote Unix server page. Use this page to specify connection settings for remote servers running UNIX (including Linux) that you want SiteScope to be able to monitor. This is central to SiteScope's agentless monitoring architecture.
Remote NT: Click this link to bring up the Remote NT server page. Use this page to specify connection settings for remote servers running Microsoft Windows NT/2000 that you want SiteScope to be able to monitor. This is central to SiteScope's agentless monitoring architecture.
Tools: Click this link to access a list of tools useful for testing system connectivity, function, and parameters needed for monitoring. The functions available via the Tools page mimic manyh of the actions performed by a number of SiteScope monitors and can be useful for troublehshooting.
Progress: Click this link to view the SiteScope Progress Report which provides a view of the current monitor run queue and monitor load on the SiteScope server. The Progress Report page also provides an overview of the monitors SiteScope has run most recently and the status returned by those monitors.
Monitor Summary: Click this link to create a Monitor Description Report summary. This report provides you with a way to review all current monitor configuration settings.

Index

The SiteScope Panel

The SiteScope Panel appears when you start SiteScope and provides a visual overview of the status of your Web server environment. THe following is an example view of the SiteScope Panel with several monitor groups

SiteScope main page view

The SiteScope Panel displays a status icon for each group of monitors.The status icon reflects the highest value or worst monitor status in the group relative to the performance criteria defined for it. A warning status condition is considered to have a higher value than an OK status condition, and an error status condition is considered to have a higher value than a warning status condition. The status icon will reflect the monitor with highest value condition (OK, warning, or error) in that monitor group. The status gauge also reflects the highest value returned by any monitor in the group.

The status icons indicate the following status conditions:

Icon	Name	Description
	Good or OK	For individual monitors, indicates that the results returned are within acceptable limits. For monitor groups, indicates all monitors in group are reporting a good status (none in error).
	Warning	For individual monitors, indicates that the results returned are within the warning threshold for the monitor. For monitor groups, indicates that one or more monitors in group are reporting a warning status but none are reporting an error.
	Error	For individual monitors, indicates that the results returned exceed the error threshold for the monitor. For monitor groups, indicates that one or more monitors in group are reporting an error status while others may be good or in warning.
	Disabled	For individual monitors, indicates that the monitor has been disabled or has no data to report. For monitor groups, indicates that all monitors in the group have been disabled or that no monitors have been created in the group.
	Process in progress	Shown in combination with a status icon. For individual monitors, indicates that the monitor is being run. The status shown is the last know status from the previous monitor run. For monitor groups, indicates that one or more monitors in group is/are being run.

	Alert configured (optional)	Shown on the upper edge of the SiteScope main panel and on group detail pages. Indicates that at least one automated alert is configured for the context shown. For the SiteScope main panel, it indicates an alert is configured that is associated with all monitors in the current installation. This optional feature is enabled or disabled from the the General Preferences page
	No alert configured (optional)	Shown on the upper edge of the SiteScope main panel and on group detail pages. Indicates that no automated alert is configured for the context shown. For the SiteScope main panel, it indicates this is no alert is configured that is associated with all monitors in the current installation.
	Alerts Disabled	Shown in combination with a status icon. For individual monitors, indicates that alerts for the monitor have been temporarily disabled. For monitor groups, indicates that alerts for the group have been temporarily disabled.

To add a new group of monitors, click the Create Group link on the SiteScope Panel. This takes you to the Add Group form where you can define the name and set dependencies for the new group. Once you have created the new group you can add monitors through the group detail page.

To get more information about a monitor group, click the group's name on the SiteScope Panel, located under the group's status gauge. This takes you to the group's detail page. The group detail page provides separate status information for each of the group's monitors. From the detail page you can add, edit, or delete monitors. You can also rename or delete an entire group, as well as create subgroups.

SiteScope can also be used to display monitoring data from a SiteSeer monitoring account. SiteSeer is a real-time, remote monitoring service. SiteSeer provides an important perspective of your Web environment from outside your firewall and across the Internet. Based on the same technology as SiteScope, SiteSeer data is directly compatible with SiteScope data. You can set up a connection between SiteScope and your SiteSeer account by clicking on the Add SiteSeer link. This will also present you with a link to sign up for a free, 10-day SiteSeer trial.

Below these links will also be information concerning your current licensing for this installation of SiteScope. SiteScope includes a free evaluation period. To continue use of the product after the evaluation, you will need to purchase licensing from Mercury Interactive.

Also below the SiteScope panel will normally be the name of the next monitor that SiteScope will be running. Click this link to go to the SiteScope Progress Report page.

Index

Security and Access Control

As installed, SiteScope is accessible to anyone that can access the IP address of the machine where it is installed. SiteScope has a number of options that allow you to control access to the program.

On the General Preferences page you can specify the IP addresses that are allowed to connect to SiteScope . If SiteScope is inside the firewall or within a DMZ, you may also choose to configure the firewall to restrict who is allowed to access the HTTP port of the server where SiteScope is running. It is also on the General Preferences page where you can choose to require a login for other users. This is used in conjunction with the user accounts that you define.

On the User Preferences page in SiteScope , you can configure login/password access to SiteScope for the default "administrator" account (full access) as well as creating "user" (limited access) accounts. You edit the default user account and create additional users that have any combination of permissions and group access privileges that you choose. You can use this to create a "view-only" mode that gives users access to SiteScope without giving them the ability to make changes to the SiteScope monitors, alerts, reports, or configuration.

Index