Using ZENworks for Servers 3 Monitoring Services

In addition to the alarm management services, ZENworks for Servers 3 provides monitoring services to monitor devices on the network. The ZENworks for Servers 3 alarm management system relies on agents either on the device or on the management server to capture events, turn them into alarms, and relay them to the management console.

The ZENworks for Servers 3 monitoring services does the opposite. It enables the management console to check the status of network devices from the point of view of the console itself. This enables you to be immediately notified if connectivity between the console and critical nodes is interrupted.

You should use the monitoring service as another option to monitor the status of the critical services on your network. The following sections describe how to define and configure target services you want to monitor.

Monitoring Services on Target Nodes

ZENworks for Servers 3 uses a ping method to monitor service status on target nodes. A ping packet is sent from a remote server to the target node. The remote server then waits for a specific interval. If a reply is received back from the target node before the interval elapses, the status of the server is up. If a reply is not received back from the target node before the interval elapses, the status of the server is down.

The following sections describe the different utilities and views that ZENworks for Servers 3 provides from the management console to monitor servers on one or more target nodes.

Testing a Single Target Node

ZENworks for Servers 3 provides the ping test as a quick method for you to monitor the status of a specific node. You should use the ping test if you suspect a problem with a specific node in the network.

The ping test provides you with the status up or down of communication from the management console to the node, as well as the round-trip delay for the ping to be received back.

Follow these steps to perform a ping test on a particular node from the management console:

1. Select the node you want to monitor.

2. Select File Actions Ping from the main menu. The Ping dialog box, shown in Figure 11.13, appears.

   Figure 11.13. Ping test results for a monitored server object in ConsoleOne.

   

3. The IP address should be already displayed for you, if it is the default. But you can specify a DNS name or IPX address as well at this point. You can also specify a time in milliseconds to wait before timing out. Click the Apply button.

4. View the status in the Ping Status area. The status continues to be updated at a configured interval.

Monitoring Services on Several Nodes

ZENworks for Servers 3 also enables you to monitor the services of several target nodes, from the management console through the use of a connectivity test utility and Polling view. Each of these options displays the following statistics, which are dynamically updated:

• Target. The name or address of the node for which connectivity to services is being tested.

• Service. The service that is being monitored on the target node.

• Port. The port number of the service on the target node.

• Status. The status, up or down, for the service. Up means that a ping packet is sent to the service and a reply is returned; it doesn't necessarily mean that the service is operating normally.

• Roundtrip Delay. Time interval, in milliseconds, from when the remote ping server sends a ping to the target service and a reply is received back from the target.

• Packets Sent. Number of packets that were sent from the remote ping server to the target node.

• Packets Received. Number of packets received by the remote ping server that were sent from the target node.

• Packets Lost. Number of ping packets and percentage of total packets that were lost during the connectivity testing.

• Interval. Time, in seconds, the remote ping server waits after sending one ping packet before sending the next.

• Timeout. Time, in milliseconds, the remote ping server waits for a reply from the target node before declaring the service in a down state.

The Polling view displays connectivity statistics for all configured services on the managed segment. This view can give you a quick understanding of a segment's current status, which can be extremely useful when trying to understand problems such as network outages or LAN overusage. To view the Polling view for a segment, select the desired segment in ConsoleOne; then select View Polling from the main menu.

The connectivity test utility displays statistics for services from a selective group of nodes. You can tailor the Connectivity view to more closely meet your needs by adding only the most important nodes. Typically, you use the Connectivity view when you are troubleshooting issues on a selective group of servers.

Follow these steps to start the Connectivity view from the management console:

1. Select the segment that contains the nodes in which you want to monitor services.

2. Select the nodes on which you want to monitor services in the right pane of the console.

3. Select File Action Connectivity Test from the main menu. A screen similar to the one in Figure 11.14 appears.

   Figure 11.14. Connectivity test results for a monitored segment object in ConsoleOne.

   

4. Click the Add button, located in the button bar in Figure 11.14, to add services (discussed in the next section) to the view.

Adding Services to the Connectivity Test

After you have the connectivity test utility running, you can add new services to be monitored. This can be useful as you are monitoring connectivity issues on a node because it enables you to check all services on the monitored node to see whether all, some, or only a single service is affected.

ZENworks for Servers 3 enables you to monitor the following services on monitored nodes from the management console:

• IP. Internet Protocol

• IPX. Internet Packet Exchange

• DNS. Domain Name System

• DHCP. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

• ECHO. Echo Protocol

• FTP. File Transfer Protocol

• TFTP. Trivial File Transfer Protocol

• HTTP. Hypertext Transfer Protocol

• HTTPS. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

• SNMP. Simple Network Management Protocol

• SMTP. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

• TIME. Time Services

• WUSER. Windows User

• NNTP. Network News Transfer Protocol

• NFS. Network File System

From the connectivity test utility, follow these steps to add services to the Connectivity Test window:

1. Select the target node from which you want to monitor another service or, if you want to add a server from a node not already listed, select any node.

2. Click the Add button. The Add Ping Targets dialog box, shown in Figure 11.15, appears.

   Figure 11.15. Add Ping Targets dialog box for the connectivity test on a monitored segment object in ConsoleOne.

   

3. If you are adding a service from a node not already listed, type the name, IP address, or IPX address in the Ping Target field.

4. Select the service from the drop-down menu, or click the Plus button next to the Service field and specify a new service and port number.

5. Specify the interval at which you want to ping the service in the Ping Interval field.

6. Specify the amount of time you want to wait for a ping reply before determining that the service is down in the Timeout After field.

7. Click the Close button to add the service to the monitor list and close the Add Ping Targets dialog box, or click the Apply button to add the service to the list but keep the dialog box open to add more services.

Setting Up Monitoring Services on Monitored Nodes

You must configure monitoring services on each node you want to monitor from the Polling view in the management console. The connectivity test utility simply uses a list of targets to test; however, the Polling view must read the node object contained within it and check for nodes with monitoring services enabled on them before they can be added to the view.

Follow these steps from the management console to configure and enable monitoring services on nodes you want to monitor:

1. Select the segment on which you want to monitor nodes.

2. Select a node located in the selected segment for which you want to configure monitor services.

3. Right-click the node and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

4. Select the Monitor Services tab, as shown in Figure 11.16.

   Figure 11.16. Monitor Services tab of managed server node object in ConsoleOne.

   

5. Select the IP or IPX address you want to use for the node. If the node is connected to multiple segments, make certain that you use the address for the segment you want to monitor.

6. Select the services that you want to monitor on the node and click the Add button, or you can also click the Add Service button to specify a new service name and port number.

7. Set the polling interval to ping the server in the Interval field.

8. Set the amount of time to wait for a reply from the service before declaring it down in the Timeout After field.

9. Specify whether to send an alarm if the state changes either from up to down or down to up.

10. Click the Apply button to save the changes.