Advanced Host Monitor

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Advanced Network Monitor - HostMonitor is a network monitoring and system management tool that continuously monitors servers' availability and performance. In the event of network errors, Advanced Host Monitor will alert the network administrator or even solve the problem.

Advanced Host Monitor was originally developed by KS-Soft for Microsoft Windows platform, however it may monitor Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and SunOS systems as well (see "RMA" section below)

Contents

[edit] Overview

Advanced Network Monitor - HostMonitor
Advanced Network Monitor - HostMonitor

Advanced Host Monitor offers 57 test methods: it can check any TCP service, ping a host, check a route, monitor Web, FTP, Mail, DNS servers. HostMonitor can check the available disk space, monitor size of a file or folder, check integrity of your files and web site, test SQL servers, monitors network traffic and much more. For details see "Test methods" section below.
Test items can be organized into different groups (folders), each folder has its own settings such as color palette, list of reports, different statistic information, etc.

Advanced Host Monitor is a network monitoring and network management software, it provides different ways to respond on failed services. Audio and visual notifications alert people near the machine. E-mail and pager notifications inform a wider range of remote operators. HostMonitor can take actions that are designed to recover from a failure automatically without human intervention (e.g. "restart service", "reboot computer" or "dial-up to the network" actions). For details see "Actions" section below.

[edit] Test methods

Test method Purpose
Network related tests
Ping tests the IP channel between monitoring system and an IP enabled computer or device.
Trace checks the route between monitoring system and an IP enabled computer or device.
TCP tests any TCP based services such as News, WhoIs, FTP, etc.
UDP checks UDP based servers such as TFTP, SNTP, Daytime, etc (UDP - User Datagram Protocol)
NTP tests NTP (network time protocol) service's availability and responsiveness.
SMTP checks SMTP mail server's ability to accept incoming sessions.
POP3 tests the ability of a POP3 mail server to accept incoming sessions.
IMAP checks the ability of an IMAP4 mail server to accept incoming sessions, checks the load of specified mailbox.
Mail Relay examines chain of mail servers. HostMonitor sends an e-mail thru specific mail server and checks when the mail becomes available in target mailbox.
DNS tests domain name server's ability to accept requests, checks received results.
LDAP checks directory server's ability to perform search queries.
RADIUS tests both the ability of an authentication server to perform an internal database lookup and to respond on authentication query.
URL checks availability and responsiveness of the FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and Gopher servers. Checks data contents and integrity.
HTTP tests HTTP server's availability and responsiveness. Checks data contents and integrity.
SNMP Get monitors various parameters of SNMP enabled computer or device.
SNMP Trap receives SNMP Trap messages from various network equipment.
RAS checks the ability of RAS server to accept incoming connections.
Disk/file related tests
UNC tests availability of the network resource or checks the amount of free space.
Drive Free Space checks free disk space on local or shared (over network) drives.
Folder/File Size checks the size of a folder (or file) on local or shared drives.
Count Files returns the number of files meeting specified criteria parameters (age, size, etc.)
Folder/File Availability checks whether a file (or folder) exists. Checks the age of a file/folder.
File Integrity checks file integrity (using CRC) on local or shared drives.
Text Log monitors log files created by another application.
Compare Files compares two files or searches for a text string in a file.
Database related tests
ODBC Query checks the availability of an ODBC data source, runs an SQL query, and analyzes the value of a specified data field in the resulting set being returned.
Interbase checks the ability of InterBase SQL server to accept incoming sessions.
MS SQL checks MS SQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions.
MySQL checks MySQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions.
Oracle checks the ability of Oracle SQL server to accept incoming sessions.
Postgree checks Postgree server's ability to accept incoming sessions.
Sybase checks a Sybase SQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions.
Microsoft Windows specific tests
Process communicates with a host to determine how many instances of the specified process are running.
Service communicates with a Windows machine to determine if a specified NT Service is running and responding.
NT Events Log monitors local or remote NT Event Log for specified messages.
CPU Usage checks CPU load on local or remote system.
Performance Counter allows you to monitor various important parameters of the system such us CPU Usage, Disk Queue, Printer Queue, Network traffic and much more.
WMI allows to monitor local and remote systems using Windows Management Instrumentation technology.
Custom test methods
External test executes external application, checks result code (errorlevel).
Active Script performs custom tests provided by 3rd party or created by you. Tests could be written on Visual Basic Script, Java Script or other languages supported by monitoring system (Active Scripting technology).
Shell Script performs custom tests provided by 3rd party or created by you.
UNIX specific tests
SYSTEM: number of processes (runnable) checks current number of runnable processes on the system.
SYSTEM: number of processes (total) checks how many processes (in total) exist on the system.
SYSTEM: number of processes (zombie) checks how many zombie processes exist on the system.
SYSTEM: number of user sessions checks how many user sessions are opened on the system.
SYSTEM: average load checks an average load of the system during the last 1, 5, or 15 minutes.
SYSTEM: Mem Free checks the amount of free memory on the system.
SYSTEM: Swap Free checks the amount of free swap on the system.
Process: number of instances checks the number of instances of the specified process.
Process: %CPU usage (average) checks an average (percentage for the last minute) CPU usage for the specified process.
Process: %CPU usage (raw) checks current (raw) CPU usage in percents by the specified process.
Process: Memory usage checks memory usage for the specified process.
Process: Virtual Memory usage checks virtual memory usage for the specified process.
USER: number of processes checks the number of processes started by specified user.
USER: number of sessions checks the number of sessions opened by specified user.
Other
IT Temperature Monitor if you utilize temperature-sensing units from Sensatronics, this test provides you with the ability to monitor temperature.
Traffic Monitor allows you to check the traffic on network interfaces of SNMP enabled devices.

Tests can be performed on regular intervals (e.g. every 5 min) or on specific schedule (e.g. every Friday between 6pm and 9pm); tests can be performed directly by HostMonitor or they can be performed by Remote Monitoring Agents installed on remote network. Some test items may depend on another, e.g. you may configure HostMonitor to check 10 web servers when your primary router is up, and check another (backup) server when your primary router is down.

[edit] Alerts

Each test can be set up with an individual alert profile, and each alert profile may contain a number of alert actions that can be launched in a predefined order depending on the test results.
Here is a list of available actions to kick off in response to a problem:

  • Show popup window
  • Play sound
  • Record HM log
  • Generate reports
  • Execute external program
  • Send e-mail
  • Send message to pager (SNPP)
  • Send message to beeper
  • Send message to ICQ
  • Send message to Jabber
  • Send SMS
  • Stop service
  • Start service
  • Restart service
  • Remote reboot
  • Local reboot
  • Log Event
  • SQL Query
  • HTTP request
  • Send data to TCP/UDP port
  • Syslog
  • SNMP Set
  • SNMP Trap
  • Dial-up to network
  • Disconnect dial-up connection
  • Repeat test
  • Change test interval
  • Execute HMS script

Highly flexible Action Profiles allow you to start actions in predefined order depending on the test results:
E.g.

  • You may start some action only when both primary and backup mail servers do not respond.
  • Action profile can be set up to page both the IT manager and the network administrator during regular office hours, and to page the administrator alone the rest of the time, while doing nothing else but writing to the log on weekends.
  • Another example: when some critical service fails HostMonitor may reboot the server. If that does not help, HostMonitor will send e-mail to the on-call technician. If, however, the server remains silent during the next three probes, the network administrator is to be paged until the server is brought back up.

Various macro macro variables allow you to use the same action profile for hundreds or thousands of monitoring tasks (test items).

[edit] Remote Monitoring Agents

Advanced Network Monitor - HostMonitor can check remote hosts directly or using Remote Monitoring Agents(RMA) installed in another network. Remote Monitoring Agent (RMA) is small application that accepts requests from HostMonitor, performs test and provides information about test result back to Host Monitor.

RMA increases security of the network, decreases network traffic, simplifies network administration, and allows to monitor systems that are impossible to monitor directly from HostMonitor (e.g. using RMA you may check running processes on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS, AIX or Solaris Operating System system).

[edit] Additional tools

In addition to HostMonitor (the core of a whole package) an Advanced Host Monitor package has the following auxiliary components: Remote Control Console, Telnet Service, Web Service, RMA Manager, Log Analyzer, MIB Browser, WMI Explorer, IP-Tools, Replicator.

  • RCC allows you to work with HostMonitor which is running on a remote system just like you work with HostMonitor when it is started on your local system. Via RCC you will be able to modify alert profiles, reports, change any option, edit mail templates, create new or modify existing test items, etc. What is important - several operators may start RCC on different systems and work with the same instance of HostMonitor at the same time.
  • Log Analyzer is a graphical tool that visualizes the log data. It parses the contents of a log file and presents the data as a variety of charts representing different test statistics. Log Analyzer may analyze all types of log files: HTML, Text, and DBF log files. In a second, administrator can get a snap shot of the host performance over a period of days or even months.
  • RMA Manager utility is designed to control and manage the array of Remote Monitoring Agents. It allows you to change settings for hundreds of agents installed on remote systems at one time and from one location.
  • Web Service application works like an HTTP server and provides web interface for HostMonitor. It means you can install Web Service on a local or remote system and check (and control) HostMonitor in real time using a web browser on any computer that is connected to the Internet.
  • MIB Browser allows you to view the hierarchy of SNMP MIB variables in the form of a tree and provides you with additional information about each node. With MIB Browser you can easily load (compile) standard and proprietary MIB files, view and manipulate data that is available in an SNMP agent.
  • WMI Explorer allows you to explore the full set of WMI management classes, objects and their properties; browse through objects and settings on remote machines; execute any WQL query and view the result set.


[edit] External links