SiteScope User's Guide


The Monitor Group Detail Page

You can create multiple instances of any of the various SiteScope monitor types. The monitors are organized into groups. The monitor group detail page lists each of the monitors currently defined within the selected group. From this page you can quickly see the name of the monitor along with the latest status and reading for each monitor. The page is refreshed every 60 seconds so that the displayed information is always current. From the group detail page you can add new monitors, edit existing monitor parameters, view detailed monitor reports, and delete monitors.

This section describes:

Understanding the Monitor Group Table

The Monitor Group Detail page displays detailed information about the systems and services being monitored by SiteSocpe monitors. The information reflects the most recent run of each monitor. The Monitor Group Table also presents a number of links for working with individual monitors.

The following is an example of a Monitor Group Table.

Monitors in the "Example Monitors" Group
Ack Status Name More Edit Refresh Updated Del
good good 0.07 sec Ping main IP address Tools Edit Refresh 10:55 am 5/31/00 X
good good 0.30 sec Home Page URL Monitor Tools Edit Refresh 10:53 am 5/31/00 X
good good 8% used Local CPU Utilization Edit Refresh 10:51 am 5/31/00 X
good good 16% used, 419MB free, 0.05 pages/sec Server Memory Usage Edit Refresh 10:51 am 5/31/00 X
good good 14858 bytes, 0 minutes old SiteScope Log Files Edit Refresh 11:03 am 5/31/00 X
good good 1.1 sec, 5 steps, 32K total Web Page URL Sequence Tools Edit Refresh 11:03 am 5/31/00 X

The Monitor Table provides the following information and tools for each monitor in the group:

State - The Status Icon
The status icon indicates whether the monitor's current reading is OK, a warning, an error condition or if the monitor is currently in progress. The status icons indicate the following status conditions:

Icon

Name

Description

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

Specific information about the OK, warning, and error status conditions are available on the Add/Edit Monitor page for that monitor (see details for the Edit link below). The monitor status icon provides a shortcut to disable a monitor or alerts associated with that monitor. Click the icon and a confirmation page will appear with several options. Choose one of the following:

  1. Disable temporarily for the next n minutes/hours/days is used to immediately disable until a certain period of time. Enter a time period that the monitors should remain disabled. Leaving This item blank will permanently disable the monitors until they are manually re-enabled. Select minutes, hours or days as applicable.
  2. Disable on a one-time schedule from t to t is used to schedule a temporary disable for a time in the future. Enter a start time and an end time in the following format:
    12:00 8/2/2001
  3. Undo one-time schedule is used to undo a temporary disable schedule that has been set. A list of any monitors which are currently scheduled appears just above the Disable button.
  4. In the lower section of the page you can specify a time for the choice of Disable alerts for the next n minutes/hours/days. This will disable alerting for the selected monitor for the time period you select.

Enter an optional Disable Description in the box indicated. This description will appear as part of the monitor status in the group detail page.

Click the Disable Monitor or Disable Alerts button to complete the action. If you enter a temporary disable period, the monitor or alerts will automatically be re-enabled after that period. A disabled alert icon will be displayed along side the monitor status icon during the time that the alert is disabled. If you do not specify a time period for choice one, you will need to manually re-enable the monitor later.

Ack - The Operator Acknowledgement Feature
The Acknowledgement feature is optional on the Group Detail page and does not appear by default. This optional feature is enabled by clicking the Enable Operator Acknowledgement Functionality check box on the General Preferences page. Click the Preferences link on the SiteScope navigation menu to access the General Preferences page.

The Acknowledgment icon (image means Not Acknowledged and image means Acknowledged) can be used by system administrators and users to acknowledge a change in state for a specific monitor. Clicking on the Acknowledge icon brings up the Acknowledge Monitor page. You use this page to:

  • Enter or edit a comment or note to communicate to other users that you have acknowledged the change in state of the monitor and are taking action as needed.
  • Temporarily disable all alerts associated to this monitor (see Status Icon above).

    Note: Temporarily disabled alerts will be reset when the monitor changes state or the scheduled time limit has been reached.

  • Re-enable temporarily disabled alerts (by deleting the contents of the time box)
  • View the Acknowledge Log by clicking on the link provided. This displays a log of all acknowledgement entries and comments.

Acknowledgement notes or comments are associated with the monitor until the monitor changes state. For example when the monitor changes from error to good. You can view the comment or note as a hovering tool-tip when you place the mouse cursor over the icon. The comment text is also recorded in a log file for future reference.

The Alert Icon
The Alert column is an optional feature that indicates if alerts are configured for the monitor. The image icon indicates that at least one automated alert is configured for context or element. For the group detail page, it indicates an alert that includes all monitors in the current group. For monitors, it indicates an there is an alert explicitly for the subject monitor. The image icon indicates that the item does not have an alert associated with it explicitly but is associated with an alert at a higher level. For example, if an alert is configured for All Monitors, that alert is implicitly associated with each monitor. The image icon indicates that no automated alert is configured for the context or element shown. This optional feature is enabled or disabled from the General Preferences page

The Report Icon
The Report column is an optional feature that indicates if reports are configured for the monitor. The image icon indicates that at least one automated report is configured for context. A image icon indicates that no automated report is configured for the context shown. For the group detail page, it indicates a report that include all monitors in the current group. For monitors, it indicates reports for the subject monitor. This optional feature is enabled or disabled from the General Preferences page

The Status Column
The status column indicates the value(s) returned by the monitor the last time it ran. This may simply be the retrieval time and file size or it may include specific parameters for a server component. If the monitor is disabled, information about the method and conditions for being disabled is displayed. If a static or rolling baseline is being calculated for the monitor, the status will include either (static baseline, value) or (rolling baseline) to indicate that the status is reported relative to a baseline value.

The Name String
This column shows the name that you specified for the monitor. If you didn't specify a name, SiteScope displays the type of monitor and the address or device being monitored. The monitor name is also a link that allows you to view the default management report for that monitor.

The More Column
Some monitors display a Tools link in the More column. This is a link to the SiteScope diagnostic tools or additional information that may help you to diagnose a problem detected by that particular monitor. Not all monitor types have access to these tools.

The word Summary appears in the More column for Link Check Monitors. This link brings up the Link Check Summary Report which contains details of broken links on the pages being monitored.

The Edit Link
The Edit column provides a link to edit the specifications for that monitor. Clicking on the Edit link will display the Edit monitor page. For more information about editing a monitor, see the documentation for the specific monitor you want to edit.

The Refresh Link
Click the Refresh link to tell SiteScope to run that monitor immediately and update its status, regardless of when it was scheduled to run.

The Updated Column
This column shows the time and date of most recent run for that monitor.

Del
The Del column gives you a short cut to delete a particular monitor. Click the X in Del column along the row of the monitor you want to delete. A confirmation screen will be displayed. Click the Delete Monitor button to complete the action.

Index

Additional Monitor and Group Tools

Below the monitor detail table are links to a number of monitor management tools. Clicking on the link will display the applicable action page. The tools are divided into Add to Group functions, Group Actions, and View options. Each is described below.

Add to Group Actions

Monitor
Click this link to add a new monitor to a group. This takes you to the Add Monitor screen where you select the type of monitor and then define a new monitor. See the help documentation for the type of monitor you want to create for more information about setting up that type of monitor.

Monitor Set
Click this link to add a monitor set to a group. This takes you to the Add Monitor Set screen where you can choose a monitor set template and create the monitors in that template. Use monitor sets to speed deployment of templatized monitoring configurations across multiple servers.

Solution Template
Click this link to add a monitor set to a group. This takes you to the Add Monitor Set screen where you can choose a monitor set template and create the monitors in that template. Use monitor sets to speed deployment of templatized monitoring configurations across multiple servers.

Subgroup
Click this link to add a new subgroup to a group. The Add Group screen appears allowing you to define the name for the new group and define group dependencies. Select the Add button to complete the action.

Group Actions

Edit
Click this link if you want to rename this group or to select a monitor in another group upon which the monitors in this group should be dependent.

Disable
Click this link to disable all monitors in this group. A confirmation message will appear with 3 options. Choose only one of the following:
  1. You use option one to immediately disable until a certain period of time. Enter a time period that the monitors should remain disabled. Leaving This item blank will permanently disable the monitors until they are manually re-enabled.
  2. You use option two to schedule a temporary disable for a time in the future. Enter a start time and an end time in the following format:
    12:00 8/2/2001
  3. You use option three to undo a temporary disable schedule that has been set. A list of any monitors which are currently scheduled appears just above the Disable button.
Click the Disable Monitor button to complete the action. If you enter a temporary disable period, the monitors in the group will automatically be re-enabled after that period. If you do not specify a time period for choice one, you can manually re-enable the monitors later. Select the Disable Group button to complete this action or click the Return link to cancel.

Enable
Click this link to enable all monitors in this group if any were previously disabled. A confirmation screen will appear. Select the Enable Group button to complete this action or click the Return to Server link to cancel.

Refresh
Click this link to refresh every monitor in this group. The refresh will run each of the monitors in the group regardless of when they were normally scheduled to run.

Reorder
Click this link to reorder the display order of the monitors in this group. Selecting this link brings up the Reorder Monitors screen. In this screen you can choose to sort the monitors in alphabetical order or create a custom display order by selecting the order number in the drop-down lists in the column to the left of the monitor name. Select the applicable Reorder button to complete this action.

Delete
Click this link to delete all of the monitors defined for this group. This action will remove the monitors and delete the group. A confirmation screen will appear. Select the Delete Group button to complete this action or click the Return link to cancel.

View Actions

Alerts
Click this link to view the Alerts Definition page to view which alerts apply to this group.

1 Hour, Daily Report, or Weekly Report
These links appear if there are hourly, daily, or weekly reports defined for this group. Clicking on the report type link will display the applicable summary report page. If no link appears, there are no reports defined for this group

Manage
Click this link to access a group of monitor management tools. This includes tools for moving monitors and subgroups from one group to another, duplicating monitors and groups, deleting individual monitors and groups, and enabling/disabling monitors. This page can also be accessed from the Manage Monitors/Groups link in the main navigation menu.

Index

Adding a Monitor to a Group

SiteScope monitor instances are always added to groups so the Monitor Group Detail Page is where you add monitors to the system.

To add a monitor to a group:

  1. Select the monitor group to which you want to add a monitor either by clicking on the name of a group on the SiteScope main page or the name of a subgroup on a monitor group detail page.
  2. Click the Monitor link from the Add to Group section below the Monitor Detail Table. A page displaying the a list of monitor types is displayed.
  3. Select the monitor type by clicking on the appropriate link from the alphabetically ordered list at the top of the page or scroll down the list to view monitor types arranged by category. The Add Monitor page for the selected monitor type is displayed.
  4. Complete the fields in the Add Monitor page as indicated. Click the Help button on the main navigation bar to view the help page for that monitor in a separate window.
  5. Click the Add Monitor button to create the monitor. A progress screen is displayed
  6. Click the Return to Group page link near the top of the progress page or wait for the page to automatically redirect back to the monitor group page

Index

Adding Monitors Using a Monitor Set

Monitor Sets allow you to add multiple monitor instances to a group based on a template of monitor types and configuration settings in the monitor set template. This can be very useful to deploy sets of monitors that are very similar across multiple systems.

To add a monitors to a group using a monitor set:

  1. Select the monitor group to which you want to add a monitor either by clicking on the name of a group on the SiteScope main page or the name of a subgroup on a monitor group detail page.
  2. Click the Monitor Set link from the Add to Group section below the Monitor Detail Table. A page displaying the a list of monitor sets available is displayed.
  3. Select the monitor set by selecting the appropriate radio button in the list and then clicking the Configure Monitor Set button. The Monitor Set Properties page for the selected template is displayed.
  4. Complete the fields in the Monitor Set Properties page as indicated. Click the Help button on the main navigation bar to view the help page for Monitor Sets in a separate window.
  5. Click the Add Monitor button to create the monitor. Click the Submit button to continue. The Property and Syntax Check screen is displayed
  6. If there are no errors indicated by the Property and Syntax Check, click the Create Monitor Set button to create the monitors listed. A progress screen is displayed.
  7. Click the Return to Group page link near the top of the progress page or wait for the page to automatically redirect back to the monitor group page

For information on the other group functions on the Monitor Group Detail Page, see Working with Monitor Groups.

Index