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 36 alert methods
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HostMonitor monitors functionality of your servers and networks using a variety of methods:

Test methodPurposeTarget platformTest can be performed by
Host Monitor RMA for Windows RMA for UNIX Active RMA for Linux/BSD
Network related tests
Ping Tests the IP channel between monitoring system and an IP enabled computer or device. ANY* -
Trace Checks the route between monitoring system and an IP enabled computer or device. ANY* -
TCP Tests any TCP based services such as News, WhoIs, FTP, etc. ANY*
UDP Checks UDP based servers such as TFTP, SNTP, Daytime, etc. ANY*
NTP Tests NTP (network time protocol) service's availability and responsiveness. ANY* -
DNS Tests domain name server's ability to accept requests, checks received results. ANY* -
DHCP HostMonitor verifies the DHCP server by sending request for IP address. ANY* -
LDAP Checks directory server's ability to perform search queries. ANY* - -
RADIUSTests both the ability of an authentication server to perform an internal database lookup and to respond on authentication query. ANY* -
DICOMVerifies end-to-end communications with a remote DICOM server.ANY* -
RAS Checks the ability of RAS server to accept incoming connections. Any Supported* - - -
SIP Tests SIP server using Session Initiation Protocol REGISTER and OPTIONS requests. It may work over UDP, TCP, TLS protocols. ANY* - -
SNMP Get
SNMP Table
SNMP Trap
Monitors various parameters of SNMP enabled computer or device. ANY*



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Interfaces statusChecks network interfaces status on hosts and routers ANY* -
Traffic Monitor Monitors traffic or errors on network interfaces. Test method can check total traffic on device or specific interface ANY* -
Mail
SMTP Checks SMTP mail server's ability to accept incoming sessions. ANY* -
POP3 Tests the ability of a POP3 mail server to accept incoming sessions. ANY* - - -
IMAP Checks the ability of an IMAP4 mail server to accept incoming sessions, checks the load of specified mailbox. ANY* - - -
E-Mail This versatile test may check mailbox on target server using POP3 or IMAP protocol searching for specific "bad" and "good" mails. Also it can check for specific counters within XML data. ANY* - -
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. ANY* - - -
Web
Apache HostMonitor may check Apache HTTP Server performance: connections/sec, traffic, busy and idle workers. ANY* - - -
NGINX NGINX is high performance HTTP and reverse proxy server. HostMonitor can monitor various parameters: requests/sec (RPS) or connections/sec (CPS) ratio, check for non-handled (dropped) connections, check HTTP error responses ratio and more. HostMonitor may check open source NGINX and commercial NGINX Plus servers. ANY* - - -
Tomcat Apache Tomcat is one of the most commonly used servers for Java applications. HostMonitor may check memory usage, threads, requests/sec ratio, processing time and more.ANY* - - -
IIS Internet Information Services (IIS) is an extensible web server running on Windows OS. HostMonitor can check various server parameters: requests/sec, cache hit ratio, error responses ratio and much moreWindows - -
URL Checks availability and responsiveness of the HTTP and HTTPS servers. Checks data contents and integrity. ANY* - -
HTTP Tests HTTP server's availability and responsiveness. Checks data contents and integrity.ANY* - - -
SOAP/XML This test method allows performing SOAP requests over HTTP and HTTPS protocols and may check retrieved XML document for various conditions. ANY* - -
Certificate expiration This test allows you to check SSL certificate expiration dateANY* - -
Domain expiration Checks domain expiration date ANY* - - -
WebDAV Free Space WebDAV servers are frequently deployed with quota (size) limitations. This test checks amount (or percentage) of free space on specific resource.ANY* - -
Windows and UNIX
Drive Free Space Checks free disk space on local or remote systems. Single test may check several drives on target system and find the drive with minimum free space or the drive with minimal percentage of free space. Windows
UNIX
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UNC Tests availability of the network resource or checks the amount of free space.Any Supported*
CPU Usage Checks CPU load Windows
Netware
UNIX




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Memory test Memory test can check amount of free physical and virtual memory, size of unused swap space (page file) on local or remote Windows, Linux, BSD systems, CISCO routers and some other network devices. ANY* -
Process Communicates with a host to determine how many instances of the specified process are running. Windows
UNIX


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Windows specific tests
HDD SMARTChecks hard disk health, temperature and other parameters using S.M.A.R.T. data; it can be effectively used to prevent HDD data loss Windows - -
Service Communicates with a Windows machine to determine if a specified NT Service is running and responding. Windows - -
Dominant Process Allows you to check what process exactly uses the most of system resources. HostMonitor may find out which process uses the most of CPU, Handles, Threads, Memory, Virtual memory or Address space.Windows - -
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. Windows - -
NT Events Log Monitors local or remote NT Event Log for specified messages. Windows - -
WMI Allows to monitor local and remote systems using Windows Management Instrumentation technology. Windows - -
RegistryThis test can retrieve specified Registry counter from local or remote Windows system and compare counter value with specified string, number or date. Windows - -
DHCP Pool This test checks percentage of available IP addresses (IP addresses available for the allocation by Windows DHCP server) and alerts when it falls below specified limit. Windows - -
Antivirus status Checks built-in or 3rd party antivirus and antispyware software running on local or remote Windows 7, Windows 10 or Windows Server systems. Windows - -
Windows update Check system updates on local or remote Windows hosts. Windows - -
UNIX specific tests
SYSTEM: number of processes (runnable) Checks current number of runnable processes on the system. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: number of processes (total) Checks how many processes (in total) exist on the system. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: number of processes (zombie) Checks how many zombie processes exist on the system. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: number of user sessions Checks how many user sessions are opened on the system. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: Average Load for the last 1, 5 or 15 min Checks an average load of the system during the last 1, 5, or 15 minutes. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: Mem Free Checks the amount of free memory on the system. UNIX* - -
SYSTEM: Swap Free Checks the amount of free swap on the system. UNIX* - -
Process: number of instances Checks the number of instances of the specified process.UNIX* - -
Process: %CPU usage (average) Checks an average (percentage for the last minute) CPU usage for the specified process. UNIX* - -
Process: %CPU usage (raw) Checks current (raw) CPU usage in percents by the specified process. UNIX* - -
Process: Memory usage Checks memory usage for the specified process. UNIX* - -
Process: Virtual Memory usage Checks virtual memory usage for the specified process. UNIX* - -
USER: number of processes Checks the number of processes started by specified user.UNIX* - -
USER: number of sessions Checks the number of sessions opened by specified user. UNIX* - -
File related tests
Compare Files Compares two files or searches for a text string in a file Any Supported*
Folder/File Size Checks the size of a folder (or file) on local or shared drives Any Supported*
Count Files Returns the number of files meeting specified criteria parameters (age, size, etc.)Any Supported*
Folder/File Availability Checks whether a file (or folder) exists. Checks the age of a file/folder. Checks local and remote files, various protocols supported, including FTPS, SFTPAny Supported*
File Integrity Checks file integrity using CRC, MD5 or SHA digest Any Supported*
Text Log Monitors log files created by 3rd party application Any Supported*
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. Any Supported* - -
Interbase Checks the ability of Interbase SQL server to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
MS SQL Checks MS SQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
MySQL Checks MySQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
Oracle Checks the ability of Oracle SQL server to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
Postgree Checks Postgree server's ability to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
Sybase Checks a Sybase SQL server's ability to accept incoming sessions. Any Supported* - -
VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V
VM host status Checks config and overall status of VMware ESXi host or Microsoft Hyper-V systems health state. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM host CPU usage Checks hypervisor CPU load. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM host free memory Checks free memory percentage on VMware ESXi host or Microsoft Hyper-V system. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM host free datastore space Checks data storage(s) on VMware ESXi system, finds storage with minimum free space ratio. ESXi - -
VM guest status Checks all virtual systems (guests), alerts when guest heartbeat status (health state) indicates failure, provides name of such guest system. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM guest CPU usage Checks all virtual systems (guests) running on VMware ESXi host or Microsoft Hyper-V system and finds guest system with highest CPU usage. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM guest free memory Checks all virtual systems (guests) running on VMware ESXi host or Microsoft Hyper-V system and finds guest system with lowest percentage of free memory. Hyper-V
ESXi
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VM guest free disk space Checks all virtual systems (guests) running on VMware ESXi host and finds system and disk with minimum free/total space ratio. ESXi - -
Hewlett-Packard
HP iLO Health This test checks BIOS status, fans, temperature sensors, power supplies status, memory, network, storage status, etc HPE iLO - -
HP iLO Temperature Checks all installed temperature sensors; if no problem detected may display unit with temperature closest to critical. Also may show temperature of specific unit or location, e.g. hottest memory unit or unit named "07-P2 DIMM 7-12" HPE iLO - -
HP iLO Fans Checks status of all installed fans; if no problem detected may show fan speed HPE iLO - -
HP iLO Power Checks power supplies status, redundancy; may display present power consumption, average or maximum (if HPE iLO advanced license installed) HPE iLO - -
HP iLO Disks Checks controller status, physical and logical disks status HPE iLO - -
Cisco
Cisco Health For Cisco devices with environmental monitor this test checks fans, temperature sensors, power supplies status. Also test can check UCS faults and find all faults with specified severity (and above, e.g. minor, major and critical events) Cisco -
Cisco Temperature Checks all installed temperature sensors; if no problem detected may display unit with temperature closest to critical. Also may show temperature of specific unit, e.g. hottest intake or CPU unit with highest temperatureCisco -
Cisco Fans Checks status of all installed fans on target systemCisco -
Cisco Power Checks all power supplies; if no problem detected may display unit with voltage closest to critical value. Also may show voltage on specific power supply, e.g. "12V" or "3.3V" lineCisco -
Cisco CPU Usage Checks CPU load (one minute exponentially-decayed moving average) Cisco -
Cisco Memory Memory test can check amount of free CPU memory or I/O memory on various Cisco devicesCisco -
Juniper
Juniper Health This test checks overall health status, PIC, FPC, Routing Engine, Flow and CP sessions; sets Bad status when some problem detected, e.g. high number of CP sessionsJuniper -
Juniper Temperature Checks all or specific units (e.g. "Routing engine" or "Routing engine 1"), sets Bad status when temperature exceeds specified limit Juniper -
Juniper Fans Checks status of installed fans Juniper -
Juniper CPU Usage Checks either FPC,RE modules or Packet Forwarding Engine modules (SPU mode), finds CPU with maximum load Juniper -
Juniper Memory Checks percentage of free SPU memory, free buffer pool or free heap Juniper -
F5 Big-IP
Big-IP Health Checks overall health of the device: status of the disks, power supply status, fans status, failover and sync statuses Big-IP -
Big-IP Temperature Checks temperature sensors on F5 Big-IP devices Big-IP -
Big-IP Statistics Allows to check various metrics: SSL connections, Dropped packets ratio, HTTP errors ratio, DNS requests/sec and much more Big-IP -
Big-IP Free Space This test may check several drives on Big-IP device and find drive with minimum free space or drive with minimal percentage of free space Big-IP -
Big-IP CPU Usage Checks the percentage of CPU utilization Big-IP -
Big-IP Memory Checks memory usage on BigIP devices (TTM, Non-TTM memory, SWAP) Big-IP -
Citrix Netscaler
Netscaler Temperature Checks temperature sensors on Netscaler devices (internal temperature, CPU, auxiliary sensor)Netscaler -
Netscaler Statistics Allows to check various metrics: Current connections, HTTP requests/sec rate, SSL cache hit ratio and much more Netscaler -
Netscaler CPU Usage Checks the percentage of CPU utilization; also may check utilization of the hardware crypto chip (N3 chip, if installed) Netscaler -
Netscaler Memory Checks memory usage on Citrix Netscaler devices Netscaler -
NetApp
NetApp Health Checks temperature indicators, failed fans, power supplies, overall file system status, NVRAM status NetApp -
NetApp CPU Usage Checks the percentage of CPU utilization NetApp -
NetApp Temperature Checks temperature sensors in each storage enclosure, sets Bad status if any sensor reading is over critical limit NetApp -
NetApp RAID Checks the number of disks which are currently broken, number of "prefailed" disks, number of available spare disks, the number of disks which are currently being verified and so on. NetApp -
NetApp Free Space This test may check several drives on target system and find drive with minimum free space or drive with minimal percentage of free space. NetApp -
QNAP
QNAP Health HostMonitor may check QNAP NAS storages using SNMP protocol. This test method checks disks status, power status, volumes, pools, fans statusQNAP -
QNAP Temperature Checks system, processor and disks temperature sensors QNAP -
QNAP FansChecks system fans, sets Bad test status and triggers alerts when fan speed is out of specified range QNAP -
QNAP Free Space This test may check several drives on target system and find drive with minimum free space or drive with minimal percentage of free space QNAP -
QNAP CPU Usage Checks the percentage of CPU utilization QNAP -
QNAP Memory This test checks memory usage on QNAP devicesQNAP -
Synology
Synology Health HostMonitor may check Synology NAS storages using SNMP protocol. This test method checks disks status, RAID status, power supply status, fans statusSynology -
Synology Temperature Checks system and disks temperature sensors Synology -
Synology Disk Load Check Synology storage disks load, finds busiest disk, sets Bad test status and triggers actions when load is over specified limitSynology -
Synology Free Space This test may check several drives on target system and find drive with minimum free space or drive with minimal percentage of free space. Synology -
Synology CPU Usage Checks the percentage of CPU utilization Synology -
Synology Memory Memory test can check amount of free physical and virtual memorySynology -
UPS (APC, CyberPower, Eaton, HP and more)
UPS Health Checks battery status and active alarm conditionsAPC, HP, .. -
UPS Load Checks current UPS load and sets Bad test status when output load is out of specified range APC, HP, .. -
UPS Charge level Checks battery charge level and sets Bad test status when charge level falls below specified limit APC, HP, .. -
UPS Input voltage Checks current input voltage on all input lines APC, HP, .. -
UPS Output voltage Checks current output voltageAPC, HP, .. -
UPS Temperature Checks battery and ambient temperature sensors APC, HP, .. -
UPS Remaining time Checks the UPS and sets Bad test status when remaining run time (before battery exhaustion) below the threshold value APC, HP, .. -
Custom test methods
External test Executes external application, checks result code (errorlevel) Unspecified*
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 (ActiveScripting technology). Unspecified* - -
Shell Script Performs custom tests provided by 3rd party or created by you. Unspecified*
SSH test Logs in to specified remote system running the SSH daemon and executes a command or shell script Unspecified* - -
Other
HM Monitor You may install another instance of HostMonitor on different system and use 2nd copy of HostMonitor to check your primary monitor! ANY* - - -
IT Temperature Monitor If you utilize temperature-sensing units from Sensatronics, this test provides you with the ability to monitor temperature. ANY* - -
OPC Performs OPC requests over HTTP and HTTPS protocols, checks whether retrieved data met specified conditionsANY* - -
IPMI
RMCP Ping This test uses RMCP protocol to verify connection to remote servers. Unlike (ICMP)Ping this test method may check powered off serversANY* - -
IPMI Health This test method uses IPMI protocol in order to check target server for power related problems, fans and drives faults, detect chassis intrusionANY* - -
IPMI Analog IPMI Temperature, IPMI Fans, IPMI Voltage and IPMI Current test methods use IPMI protocol in order to monitor analog sensors.ANY* - -
IPMI Discerete Checks set of discrete sensors (processor, memory, drive slots, power supply, etc) and alerts when specific state is assertedANY* - -

Comments:

"Monitoring system" means either:
  • system where HostMonitor is running when test is performed by HostMonitor directly;
  • system where Remote Monitoring Agent is running when test is performed by the agent.

Target platform:
  • "ANY" means that test can be performed against ANY system: it could be Windows, Linux, AIX or any other operational system; it could be PC, mainframe, router or any other hardware accessible by TCP/IP protocol. Of course the result of the test may depend on target system's settings. For example, HTTP test against a router that does not support web interface will return "No answer" status, but there are no additional requirements for monitoring system (system where HostMonitor or RMA is installed).

  • "Any Supported" means that theoretically you may check any target system HOWEVER some additional requirements might be applied to monitoring system. E.g. to perform the Interbase test you must have Interbase client installed. To check the available disk free space on Novell Netware server using UNC test, you must have client service for Netware installed and running. And so on.

  • "UNIX" means any UNIX-like system but only if the proper version of Remote Monitoring Agent is available for it. For now RMA is available for FreeBSD, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, macOS, AIX.

  • "Unspecified" means that the test modules could be provided by 3rd party developers or the test module can be created/modified by customer. Different modules may have various requirements and abilities to monitor lots of target systems.

SNMP Trap:
This test can be performed by HostMonitor, Active RMA for Windows and Active RMA for Linux/BSD. Passive RMA agents cannot forward SNMP Trap messages from remote networks to HostMonitor

As you see the software can monitor thousands of network services. But what is of no less importance is how you can manage monitoring tasks ("test items" in our terminology). 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.
For example. you can set up a folder representing your company, define a set of report profiles (for the administrator, IT manager, technical support crew, etc.), then create several subfolders, one for each of the company's offices, and you are done! HostMonitor will be automatically generating uniform reports for all company offices (each report will contain test results specific to the office).

Tests can be performed on regular intervals (e.g. every 5 min) or on schedule (e.g. every Monday and Friday at 22:00); tests can be performed directly by HostMonitor or they can be performed by Remote Monitoring Agents installed on remote network. Some tests may depend on another, e.g. you may easily configure HostMonitor to check 10 web servers when your primary router is up, and check another (backup) server when your primary router is down.

Manual All about tests..