Q: |
In the overview window, MonitorMagic displays a "data error" for several monitors. What does this mean? |
| A: | A data error means that MonitorMagic was unsuccessful in getting the status information for that particular monitor. This could have several reasons, e.g. disks not available anymore or uninstalled performance counters. The actual error message is listed in the application log on the computer running the MonitorMagic service. |
| Q: | Is MonitorMagic able to import compile SNMP MIB (Management Information Base) files? |
| A: | No, MonitorMagic has a universal and more flexible solution to SNMP OID configuration. Using MonitorMagic, you can do a "Get All" for any SNMP supported devices to get all the SNMP information available from that device. You can then easily pick the information you want and continue configuring MonitorMagic. |
| Q: | How do I find the port which the MonitorMagic service is currently using for its TCP/IP based RPC communication? |
| A: | The port number is listed in the service display name in either the service control manager (NT4) or the services MMC-Snapin (W2K/W2003). For instance, "MonitorMagic (1195,48155)" means build number 1195 and port number 48155. |
| Q: | How can I monitor servers which are not visible in the network neighborhood (e.g. browsing service disabled), but are accessible using ping? |
| A: | These servers will not be visible in the network browse tree, but you can manually add these. Right-click on an empty portion below the default tree and either select "New folder...". After the folder has been created, right-click on the folder and choose "Add computer..." and specify either the NETBIOS name or the TCP/IP address for the target computer. Make sure you have the default MonitorMagic port open on the target server for inbound and outbound TCP communication. See the topic above to find the MonitorMagic port number. |
| Q: | When I try to run one of the pre-defined reports in MonitorMagic, I receive lots of error messages on my screen. How do I solve this? |
| A: | MonitorMagic's report generator requires an active database connection. To configure a database connection, navigate to a computer running a MonitorMagic service and access the service configuration. Using the "Advanced" tab, you can create a new database or continue using an existing one. |
| Q: | How often does the MonitorMagic service write information when connected to a database? |
| A: | This depends on the configuration of MonitorMagic. MonitorMagic can store monitor and report data into the database. The monitor data is stored the moment a monitor is evaluated, e.g. every 5 minutes, every hour, once a day etc. You can disable the storage of monitor data into the database as well. The stored monitor data can be used to generate graphs and reports. For report profiles you can configure how frequently the data must be collected and if the collected data must be stored in the database immediately or at a later instance. At this moment the report profiles only collect and store data for event logs. (In the near future, report profiles will also be used to collect and store data for disks, service status information, performance counters, MonitorMagic alarms, system and process uptime etc.) |
| Q: | What kind of bandwidth will the MonitorMagic service need to write monitor information to a connected database?. e.g. the service is configured to monitor 10 services. |
| A: | MonitorMagic is designed to minimize the usage of CPU, memory, disk and bandwidth. To give an example: the console can be configured to be updated automatically every x seconds. To minimize traffic only changes will be transferred instead of all data. The bandwidth usage further depends on the configuration of MonitorMagic. If you install the MonitorMagic service on each computer that must be monitored there is no traffic at all unless an alarm occurs and the service needs to send e-mail for instance. |
| Q: | If the machine that have MonitorMagic console installed goes down, will the MonitorMagic service continue to write information to a connected database? |
| A: | Yes, the storage of data is completely controlled by the MonitorMagic service. The console is only used for configuration and display purposes. |
| Q: | If the machine that have MonitorMagic console installed goes down, what happens to triggered alarm actions? |
| A: | The monitoring and alarm action execution continues since this also controlled by the MonitorMagic service. |
| Q: | We will have a scenario where the MonitorMagic services are located on a DMZ, while the console and database are located on a trusted zone. Can you explain in detail how all communication between these components works, since we don't want to open unnecessary ports on our firewall? |
| A: | MonitorMagic uses the following information streams: 1. Agent - Console: (Windows 2000/NT authenticated RPC communication) used to: - configure and display of MonitorMagic agent by console. - initiate report generation at agent and to view report results at the console 2. Agent - Database: (ODBC connection, can configured using console, supports native Windows 2000/NT or SQL-Server authentication) used to: - store monitor results in database (optional, can be disabled) - report data storage Note: The console never accesses the database directly. 3. Agent - Internet browser (HTTP (not recommended) and/or HTTPS, SSL support using certificates, uses Windows 2000/NT authentication) used to: - show monitor results in browser - manage event log, services, computers etc. from remote internet locations. Note: Requires internet connection (and configured firewall port) |
