network monitoring software: main page Advanced Host Monitor
Version 7.50
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 30 alert methods
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What can HostMonitor monitor?

HostMonitor monitors server functions using a variety of methods (60 methods!):

Test methodPurposeTarget platformTest can be performed by
Host MonitorRMA for WindowsRMA for UNIX
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* -
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* - -
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* - -
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* -
URL Checks availability and responsiveness of the FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and Gopher servers. Checks data contents and integrity. ANY* -
HTTP Tests HTTP server's availability and responsiveness. Checks data contents and integrity.ANY* - -
SNMP Get
SNMP Trap 		Monitors various parameters of SNMP enabled computer or device. ANY*

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RAS Checks the ability of RAS server to accept incoming connections. Any Supported* - -
Disk/file related tests
UNC Tests availability of the network resource or checks the amount of free space. Any Supported*
Drive Free Space Checks free disk space on local or shared (over network) drives. 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. Any Supported*
File Integrity Checks file integrity (using CRC) on local or shared drives. Any Supported*
Text Log Monitors log files created by another application. Any Supported*
Compare Files Compares two files or searches for a text string in a file 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* -
Windows specific tests
Process Communicates with a host to determine how many instances of the specified process are running. Win NT-2008*
UNIX*
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Service Communicates with a Windows machine to determine if a specified NT Service is running and responding. Win NT-2008* -
NT Events Log Monitors local or remote NT Event Log for specified messages. Win NT-2008* -
CPU Usage Checks CPU load Win NT-2008*
Netware
UNIX*

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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. Win NT-2008* -
WMI Allows to monitor local and remote systems using Windows Management Instrumentation technology. Win NT-2008* -
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.Win NT-2008* -
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*
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. Linux - -
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* - -
Other
IT Temperature Monitor If you utilize temperature-sensing units from Sensatronics, this test provides you with the ability to monitor temperature. ANY* -
Traffic Monitor Allows you to check the traffic on network interfaces of SNMP enabled devices. ANY* -

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.

  • "Win NT-2008" means that test can check systems that are running under Windows NT, Windows 2000, XP Professional, Windows Server 2003, Vista or Windows Server 2008.

  • "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 and Solaris.

  • "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 or Active RMA for Windows. Passive RMA 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 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 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..