New Hostmon - service issues

[CountiesPowerAdmin]

We have recently upgraded to Hostmon 8.72 (from version 7)

I followed all of the insturctions in this link: http://www.ks-soft.net/cgi-bin/phpBB/vi ... php?t=1099

We followed the bottom step that stated: Please copy ALL *.HML, *.LST and *.INI files from HostMonitor's folder and subfolders AT ONCE.

However we are still experiencing the following problems:

- Logging out of the server will cause Hostmon to stop, despite having enabled her as a Service

- When we first set up the new Hostmon the Service did keep the web service up, but half of the tests on the board turned yellow with an unknown status until we logged back in.

- Googled cannot be pinged from Hostmon (it CAN be pinged from the server that the machine is on and from all other machines in the corporate network)

- Several server drives cannot be accessed to find details like free space etc.


Can another advise if there as some basic initial configuration steps that we have missed?

[KS-Soft]

Sounds like you moved HostMonitor from one system to another, not just regular update. Am I right?

When we first set up the new Hostmon the Service did keep the web service up, but half of the tests on the board turned yellow with an unknown status until we logged back in

Service works independantly of user session. So I assume you are starting 2nd instance of HostMonitor. Please do not do this.
Also I think you forgot to provide account with necessary rights (admin rights)

Quote from the manual
=====================
How to install HostMonitor as Win32 Interactive service
1) Install Advanced Host Monitor package on your system. If you already have Advanced Host Monitor installed, skip this step.
2) Start HostMonitor (hostmon.exe) with the command line parameter "/InstallService". E.g. "hostmon.exe /InstallService". HostMonitor will install itself as a service and display "Service options" dialog. "Service options" dialog allows you to specify some important parameters and then lauch the service. If you do not plan to start service right away, select "Launch service later" option and click Ok. In such case service will be started at system startup. Also you may start service at any time using standard Windows "Services" applet or command line like "net start hostmonservice".

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Note #1: When HostMonitor starts as a service, it uses the system account (as all interactive services). But this account may not have all the necessary permissions, so some tests will not work correctly (UNC test, "disk free space" test for shared drives, "CPU Usage" test for remote machines, etc). If you need these tests, you will need to assign a special user account on the Service page in the Options dialog. In this case HostMonitor will impersonate the security context of the user. Do not change the account using the system utility "Services". If you do so, HostMonitor may be unable to interact with the desktop.

...

Note #3: In some cases Win32 service is unable to interact with desktop. There are 3 most common reasons:
- You have disabled "Allow service to interact with desktop" option
- Service is running on remote system and you are using Terminal Service to login to that system
- You are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008
It's pretty easy to enable "Allow service to interact with desktop" option but how to manage HostMonitor that is running as service on remote system / on Windows Vista?
There are 2 possible solutions:
1) Use Remote Control Console (RCC) that allows you to manage HostMonitor started on local or remote system in service or application mode.
2) You may create simple BAT file that will stop service, start HostMonitor in application mode and (after you change settings and terminate application) start service again.
E.g.
net stop hostmonservice
"c:\program files\hostmon\hostmon.exe"
net start hostmonservice
=====================

Regards
Alex

[CountiesPowerAdmin]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your help thus far.

We are still experiencing problems however, the most common of which are as follows:

- The committed Bytes field on all tests appears yellow. I am sure that Hostmon has the correct permissions. We are running her as a Service too so we do not have any more "she doesnt work when we log out" issues.

- Email alert dupicates are coming through i.e. we have set Hostmon to alert us ONCE for a negative state and then alert us ONCE when it comes back up, but we might get 3 or 4 alerts to say that "SERVER A is down" for example.

- SMS alerts are not working. When we go into options and send a test it works but sending an SMS alert from the ACTION PROFILE menu, does not work. It says that it has sent but we never recieve anything.

We have configured Hostmon as follows:

The are two services that are running, KS Advance Host and KS WebService. Both are running fine. We access the console via the RCC client. Both the services have been configured to used the OUR_DOMAIN\hostmon + *****(password) under the log tab. This is also what is being used under the Services option within the console itself.

My thoughts are that EITHER the hostmon account does not have permissions (however my domain admin account has the same effect) OR that rebuilding hostmon from scratch would help fix this.

Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!

[KS-Soft]

Merry Christmas

- The committed Bytes field on all tests appears yellow. I am sure that Hostmon has the correct permissions. We are running her as a Service too so we do not have any more "she doesnt work when we log out" issues

"appears yellow" means nothing to me because you could setup color scheme in any way you like.
Could you please be more specific?
- What exactly is test staus? Bad? Unknown? Unknown host?
- What error description do you see in Reply field of the test?

Also, what means "committed Bytes field on all tests"?
HostMonitor test items do not have such field. There "Test name", "status", "reply", "recurrences" fields, etc.
May be you mean "performance counter test method that checks \\host\Memory\% Committed Bytes In Use counter"?

- Email alert dupicates are coming through i.e. we have set Hostmon to alert us ONCE for a negative state and then alert us ONCE when it comes back up, but we might get 3 or 4 alerts to say that "SERVER A is down" for example

What exactly setting do you use for these action?

SMS alerts are not working. When we go into options and send a test it works but sending an SMS alert from the ACTION PROFILE menu, does not work. It says that it has sent but we never recieve anything.

ACTION PROFILE menu does not offer such option.
Once again, I do not understand what are you trying to say

Do you mean "Sens SMS (GSM)" action does not work when action is triggered by test status change?
Then please check HostMonitor system log. Any errors there?
Also please read the following article that tells you how to investigate action related problems
http://www.ks-soft.net/cgi-bin/phpBB/vi ... php?t=4804

Regards
Alex

[CountiesPowerAdmin]

Hi Alex,

Happy New Year. Apologies for the delayed response. See below for comments regarding last post:

Committed Bytes issue
Yellow means "Error: The wait operation timed out". It tends to come and go - sometimes the tests succeed, other times the tests don't. Mostly it doesn't

As you suspected, the Committed Bytes test is a Performance Counter test with the following test:
\\host\Memory\% Committed Bytes In Use

Email Alerts Issue

Under the Action profiles menu, we have the following settings for an action to email ksadmins@countiespower.com should a "bad" event occur.

Action Type: Send Email
Action name: Email IT Dept - Bad
Exectue by: Hostmon

Condition to start Action: Standard Mode
Start wehn: 2 consective "Bad" results occur
Repeat: 1 times

Time Restriction (none)

Action Depends on "Email - KS Bad"

Action parameters
From: HostMonitor@countiespower.com
To: ksadmins@countiespower.com
Subject: %Testname% is testing positive
Body: IT Text Good

As mentioned earlier, we tend to get 2 or three email for each event as opposed to 1 only.

SMS alerting
Yes, the action is send SMS (using GSM modem). We have a GSM modem plugged into the back of the server. The SMS action does not work in tests.

[KS-Soft]

Yellow means "Error: The wait operation timed out". It tends to come and go - sometimes the tests succeed, other times the tests don't. Mostly it doesn't

Well, I don't think this problem has anything with HostMonitor service mode or HostMonitor update. It can be network problem, some 3rd party software problem (e.g. antivirus monitor) or target system can be too busy to respond.
What Windows do you have installed on HostMonitor and remote system?
Service Pack?
Any antivirus monitors?

Also Windows Performance Counter implementation is not very reliable, we recommend to use WMI test method instead.
http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/mfra ... ts.htm#wmi

If you need to monitor hosts on another network/domain, you may install Remote Monitoring Agent (RMA) on some host in that network and use this agent to perform tests. This will work more reliable
http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/rma-win/index.htm

Also, if some host does not work reliable, test fails sometimes but you do not want to receive alerts immediately, you may tell HostMonitor to start alerts after 2nd or 3rd consecutive test failure. Also you may use "Repeat test"/"Check host again" action. Another option - ignore Unknown results by disabling "Treat Unknown status as Bad" test option.

Regards
Alex

[KS-Soft]

SMS alerting
Yes, the action is send SMS (using GSM modem). We have a GSM modem plugged into the back of the server. The SMS action does not work in tests.

When HostMonitor cannot perform some action it records error description into system log file (specified on System Log page in the Options dialog).
Plus there is special SMS log log can be specified on SMS:GSM page in the Options dialog.

Also HostMonitor shows action results in Quick Log pane.
http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/mfra ... ickLogPane
Note 1: Quick Log may work in 3 different modes:
- Show test results
- Show actions
- Show test results and actions
Note 2: If you select specific test in Test Details pane, HostMonitor will display latest actions triggered by this test only. If no test is selected, folder item is selected or several test items are selected, HostMonitor will display actions triggered by all test items within current folder, sorting actions by time of execution.
Note 3: you may tell HostMonitor to ignore some actions, i.e. do not store information about action results in Quick Log. The option "Quick Log: store action results" is located in Action Properties dialog.

Could you please check the logs? What error do you see?

Regards
Alex

[KS-Soft]

Email Alerts Issue
Under the Action profiles menu, we have the following settings for an action to email ksadmins@countiespower.com should a "bad" event occur.
Action Type: Send Email
Action name: Email IT Dept - Bad
Exectue by: Hostmon
Condition to start Action: Standard Mode
Start wehn: 2 consective "Bad" results occur
Repeat: 1 times
Time Restriction (none)
Action Depends on "Email - KS Bad"
Subject: %Testname% is testing positive
Body: IT Text Good
As mentioned earlier, we tend to get 2 or three email for each event as opposed to 1 only

These settings look strange. On the one hand you said
Action name: Email IT Dept - Bad
Start wehn: 2 consective "Bad" results occur
So it looks like "bad" action.

On the other hand you said
Action Depends on "Email - KS Bad"
Subject: %Testname% is testing positive
Body: IT Text Good
Bad actions do not offer "action depends on" option so I assume you are talking about "good" action?

May be you configured bad and good actions using the same text descriptions? So probably HostMonitor sends 1 e-mail when test fails and another e-mail when test returns to good state but you think there are 2 "bad" e-mails?

Regards
Alex