Deploying MonitorMagic - Popular scenarios
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| Interested on how to make use of MonitorMagic's potential
to protect your network from stability and performance
issues? We've collected a series of popular deployment
strategies based on actual customer cases and feedback. |
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 Popular
applications
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Custom
scenarios |
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Active Directory performance and integrity |
| Outline |
When your network runs Active Directory,
you need to be up to date on any issues affecting
performance or integrity. |
| Critical issues |
Are all system processes and services running OK?
Is my NTDS performance stable or does it decrease?
Are there any errors in the application log I should
be aware of? Are all replication jobs OK? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Active Directory" policy,
MonitorMagic will measure critical performance characteristics,
such as NTDS performance, and also all event log
message indicating performance degredation. |
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ARCServe backup job monitoring |
| Outline |
When you deploy a backup solution,
you want to reach maximum data integrity and be assured
that the backup actually runs, and that the tapes
are correctly written. |
| Critical issues |
Does the backup actually start? Are there any tape/device
errors reported by ARCServe? Did ARCServe encounter
open files during backup? Does ARCServe's own log
file indicate any issues? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "BrightStor ARCServe Backup
Windows 9"
policy, MonitorMagic will scan all vulnerabilities
of the ARCServe application. The policy includes
service monitoring, event log monitoring and log
file analysis. |
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Exchange
performance and stability (5.x and 2000) |
| Outline |
Exchange is a critical component in
many companies. Mail outage has become an unacceptable
issue. You will probably want to keep a close eye
on performance to find out when you might need to
upgrade hardware. |
| Critical issues |
Do all Exchange services still run? What is the
average delivery time? Are there any Exchange related
issues listed in the event log? Are my mail queues
stable or do they increase? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Exchange 5.x" or
"Exchange 2000"
policy, MonitorMagic will scan all
vulnerabilities of Exchange.
All services will be scanned, MonitorMagic will
monitor the event log for any Exchange issues and
both the queue and delivery time will be recorded. |
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Internet Information Server 5.0
- perfomance and stability
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| Outline |
If you make use of Internet Information
Server for website purposes, you want to be updated
of any performance and stability issue |
| Critical issues |
Are ASP requests being handled OK? Is my ASP
request queue stable or does it increase? Are all
services running OK? Is IIS's memory usage stable
or does it vary a lot? How about IIS cache performance? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "IIS 5.0" policy,
MonitorMagic will monitor all critical performance
objects, Object Cache hits/misses, the ASP request
queue and requests/sec. MonitorMagic will also
scan IIS's services and all event log messages.
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ISA Server 2000 - detect possible network attacks |
| Outline |
If you use ISA Server 2000 as proxy/firewall,
it sure is a critical component to the entire company,
since all internet traffic is handled by the proxy.
You obviously want to be notified of any errors. |
| Critical issues |
Is ISA's cache performance stable? Are all services
running OK? Are there any noticable packet filter
events? Did ISA report any global error messages
in the event
log? Did ISA Server pick up any possible network
intrusions? Is the Web Proxy functioning OK? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "ISA Server 2000" policy,
MonitorMagic will monitor all critical performance
objects, such as Cache
failure rates, DNS failed resolutions on the Firewall
service, failed requests rate on the web proxy
service, all major and minor event log messages
and the running state of all critical ISA services. |
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McAfee NetShield - virus detection and definition update
monitoring |
| Outline |
As administrator you are responsible
for maximum uptime and application performance/stability.
When using NetShield as your favourite anti-virus
solution, you want the latest updates on virus detections,
virus definition updates and global application performance. |
| Critical issues |
Did NetShield detect any viruses? Is NetShield
conducting proper file system scans? Were all virus
definition updates successful? Are all NetShield
services running OK? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "McAfee NetShield NT/2000 4.5" policy,
MonitorMagic will continuously monitor for virus
detection and scan operation events reported by NetShield.
All virus definition updates performed by NetShield
will be captured and the running state of all critical
NetShield service is being scanned. |
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Norton AntiVirus - virus detection and definition update
monitoring |
| Outline |
As administrator you are responsible
for maximum uptime and application performance/stability.
When using Norton AntiVirus as your favourite anti-virus
solution, you want the latest updates on virus detections,
virus definition updates and global application performance. |
| Critical issues |
Did Norton AntiVirus detect any viruses? Is Norton
AntiVirus conducting proper file system scans? Were
all virus
definition updates successful? Is the Norton
AntiVirus scan engine running OK? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Norton AntiVirus Corporate
Edition 7.6" policy,
MonitorMagic will continuously monitor for virus
detection and scan operation events reported by Norton
AntiVirus.
All virus definition updates performed by Norton
AntiVirus will be captured
and the running state of all critical Norton
AntiVirus service is being scanned. |
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Printer spooler - performance and stability |
| Outline |
Printing issues can easily identified
by looking at the printer spooler. As administrator
or helpdesk operator, you might want to be notified
in case spooler performance is affected. |
| Critical issues |
Is the printer out of paper? Is the total amount
of jobs waiting to be printed stable or does it increase?
How many jobs are being spooled at the moment? Are
there any unusual errors regarding the printer spooler? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Printer spooler" policy,
MonitorMagic will continuously measure all critical
printer spooler performance characteristics such
as the print queue and total number of jobs being
spooled. |
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Network security - failed
logons |
| Outline |
As administrator of a 2003-XP-2000-NT
network, you probably want to know all instances
and details of failed user logons, for whatever reason. |
| Critical issues |
Did a user try to guess a password? Do you need
to reset a password? Are people with expired/disabled
accounts trying to log in? Are people trying to ignore
workstation logon times? Any locked user accounts?
Any unusual NETLOGON errors? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Security - User Logon
Failures" policy,
MonitorMagic will continuously scan the event log
for any issues regarding user accounts failing
to log on to a domain. This includes disabled/locked/expired
user accounts, unknown user accounts, NETLOGON
errors and workstation restrictions. |
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SQL Server 7.0/2000 - performance and stability |
| Outline |
SQL Server is usually a critical component
of your database driven website or application. Any
possible downtime must be avoided. |
| Critical issues |
Are all services like the SQL agent and the DTS
agent still running OK? Are there any unusual SQL
server event log entries? Are my databases not using
too much log space? How many users are currently
connected to my database? How much lock memory is
being used? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "SQL Server 7.0" or
"SQL Server 2000" policy, MonitorMagic
will continuously scan the event log
for any SQL alerts. This policy will also check the
availability of all critical services and performance
characteristics like cache ratio, lock memory and
user connections. |
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Veritas Backup Exec -
job/device monitoring, performance and stability |
| Outline |
When you deploy a backup solution,
you want to reach maximum data integrity and be assured
that the backup actually runs, and that the tapes
are correctly written. |
| Critical issues |
Does the backup actually start? Are there any tape/device
errors reported by Backup Exec? Did Backup Exec encounter
open files during backup? How many objects were skipped
during backup? How long did the backup operation
take? Are there any aborted/active jobs? Do my SQL
and Exchange agents behave OK? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Veritas Backup Exec 8.x/9" policy,
MonitorMagic will scan all vulnerabilities of the
Backup Exec application.
The policy includes service monitoring, event log
monitoring and extensive performance and error
characteristics. |
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WTS and Citrix MetaFrame - performance
and session monitoring |
| Outline |
Terminal Services or Citrix as additional
layer are critical when deployed, since any downtime
will prevent end users from using the network. |
| Critical issues |
Are all critical services running OK? How many
active sessions does WTS host at the moment? Is the
total number of inactive sessions stable or does
it increase? How much CPU time does a TS session
consume? Are there any frame or output errors? How
much memory does a TS session consume? Any timeouts
or transport errors? |
| MonitorMagic |
Using the "Windows 2000 Terminal Services" policy,
MonitorMagic will continuously monitor critical WTS
and Citrix services, while keeping a close eye in
all vital performance characteristics such as CPU
time and memory per session, total number of inactive
session and any type of session error. |
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Website integrity checking |
| Goal |
Look for website URL header errors
such as a 404 document not found. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's t4ewebping plugin,
also available as a free download, can take any URL
as input and measure the response code. Whenever
a page responds a different code than the usual 200
(OK), you can set MonitorMagic to send out an alert. |
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Website performance checking |
| Goal |
Accurately measure your webserver and
connection performance by getting response times,
storing the values in a database and compose a monthly
graph on the results. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's t4ewebping plugin,
also available as a free download, can take any URL
as input and measure the response time. When you
instruct MonitorMagic to store the response times
in a database, you can compose a 2D or 3D trend graph
for any period of time. |
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Website parametrized script execution checking |
| Goal |
See if your scripts (PHP/ASP/CFM) are
running OK and how they respond to different parameters.
See how long it takes for scripts to execute and
trend this information for a month's period. Detect
any 500 ASP script errors. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's t4ewebping plugin,
also available as a free download, can take any
URL as input and measure the response time. When
dealing with scripts, you can compose the parameters
as you would with a regular URL. When
you instruct MonitorMagic to store the response
times in a database, you can compose a 2D or 3D
trend graph
for any period of time.
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Log file sequential checking |
| Goal |
My custom application writes a log
file every day into a specified directory. The name
of the log file is random. I want to check if the
log file is being written every day, otherwise the
application may be having issues. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's file monitor can monitor an entire
directory by using the *.* wildcard. When you use
the criteria "age most recent file (sec)",
and use a reference value of 86400 seconds (1 day
in seconds), MonitorMagic will trigger the alert
whever the newest file is older than a single day.
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Log file content analysis |
| Goal |
My custom application writes a log
file into a specified directory. The name for the
log file is like log0001.mon, log0001.tue to log0001.fri.
I want to check for occurances of strings like "error",
"timeout", etc. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's file monitor can monitor single
files and analyze its content. For this particular
use, you need to build 5 file monitors, each to
monitor a separate log file ranging from the monday
file to the friday file. When you use the criteria
"content", as operator "contains
(case insensitive)", and as reference value
strings like "error" and "timeout", MonitorMagic
will trigger this rule whenever it finds an occurance
of the specified string.
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ODBC database custom query check |
| Goal |
I want to see if some specific values
have been correctly written into my SQL database. |
| Howto |
MonitorMagic's t4esql plugin,
also available as a free download, can take any ODBC
connection string and query as input and execute
it over a remote ODBC connection. You can capture
the result of the query in a textfile or write it
to the screen. When you construct a monitor using
the "output" criteria, you can scan
for the query result and trigger alarms. |
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