Network Monitor Overview

Network Monitor is a web-based monitoring solution for monitoring the performance and availability of a wide array of network devices. Network Monitor monitoring is agentless, meaning it does not install any software or files on monitored machines. Network Monitor comes with more than 40 built-in methods of monitoring. These methods can be extended using Lua scripts. Advanced Network Monitor features include multi-level alarm escalations, and the ability to configure alarm dependencies so that service providers only receive the most relevant alarms. All common operating systems are supported, including:

• AIX (4.2 and above)
• CentOS
• Debian
• Fedora
• FreeBSD
• HP-UX
• Generic Linux
• OpenBSD
• OpenSUSE 10.2
• Red Hat Enterprise Server
• Solaris
• Ubuntu
• Windows

Familiarize yourself with the following terms and concepts to help quick start your understanding of Network Monitor.

• Device - A device represents a computer or any other device that can be addressed by an IP number or host name. A device contains settings that are common to all monitors in that device.
• Network - Within Network Monitor the term network refers to user-defined grouping of devices. Member devices of a Network Monitor network do not have to belong to the same physical network. Network Monitor networks can be compared to a folder in a file system. Every device must be a member of a Network Monitor network. You can activate and deactivate an entire network of devices.
• Monitor - A monitor tests a specific function in a device. Most monitors are capable of collecting various statistical data for reporting purposes. If a monitor fails a test it firsts enter a failed state. After a number of consecutive failed tests it then enters an alarm state. When entering an alarm state a monitor executes a specify set of actions specified used by the particular monitor.
• Action list - An action list defines a number of actions to be executed as a monitor enters, or recovers from, an alarm state.
• User - Network Monitor users are called users. A user contains login information, contact information and privileges. A user can be a member of one or more user groups.
• User group - A user group is a collection of users. Each device in Network Monitor is assigned to one user group. Notifications sent as a response to a monitor entering an alarm state are normally sent to the device's user group.
• Account - An account is a set of credentials used by a monitor, action or event to carry out an operation.

Status Icons

A monitor is always in one specific state. This state is visualized in the Network Monitor interface with different colors. A device or network always displays the most important state reported by any single monitor that belongs to it. Icons are listed below, ranked by their importance.

- The monitor is deactivated.

- This icon is used for devices and networks only. All monitors in the device or network are deactivated, but the device or network itself is active.

- The monitor has entered an alarm state.

- The monitor has failed one or more tests, but has not yet entered alarm state.

- The monitor is ok.

Additional guidelines:

• Any state other than deactivated is an activated state.
• An activated monitor tests its device.
• Deactivating any or all monitors of a device does not deactivate the device.
• Deactivating any or all devices of a network does not deactivate their parent network.
• Deactivating a device deactivates all of its member monitors.
• Deactivating a network deactivates all of its member devices.

Other Commonly Used Icons

- This icon displays the properties of an item and allows you to edit them.

- This icon indicates that the device or monitor is inherited from a template. Monitors inherited from a template can not be edited directly.

- This icon indicates that the device or monitor is in maintenance state and is not currently monitored.

- This icon displays a list of items.

• - This icon displays a view of an item.

Note: See System Requirements.