Version 2.5
User's Guide

Defining SentriesPrevious | Next
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To monitor an Internet server, you will first need to define a new Sentry. To open the Sentry Configuration dialog box, click "Create New" on the Sentry section of the Object Manager, or choose "Add Sentry..." from the Setup pull-down menu. Select the type of server you want to monitor using the "Sentry Type" pop-up menu on the Sentry Configuration window. You may define up to 10 Sentries in PageSentry, or 100 Sentries in PageSentry Pro. You can have different Sentries monitor a different Internet service running on a single server, one service running on different servers, or any combination of the two. The following section describes the various input fields and configuration options for the different types of Internet servers that PageSentry is capable of monitoring.

Common Elements

Each type of Sentry is configured in three parts. The upper half of the Configuration screen details how each individual Sentry is configured and the bottom half of the screen is used to select and deselect Notifiers to be triggered when a Sentry encounters an error. We will talk about the Notifiers in detail in the section entitled "Defining Notifiers". Each Sentry uses a slightly different combination of input fields in the top half of the Configuration screen, but they all include the following fields:

Sentry Name
This is the name that will be reported in an e-mail message or AppleEvent notification, and this name will also be shown in the Object Manager and Status Window. You can name a Sentry anything you like, since it has no effect on the server check, but each Sentry must have a unique name. Also, you should choose a name that you will be able to easily recognize when the Sentry notifies you of a problem, such as "Primary Web Server" or "E-mail Server".

Log File
The Log File is where a particular Sentry will store a record of its activities. Each Sentry can log to a different file, or any number of Sentries can be configured to use the same log file. To log entries to a new log file, just type the name of the new log file in the Log File field and it will be created automatically. Leaving this field blank prevents PageSentry from logging anything for this Sentry. Log files will always be created in the same folder as the PageSentry application.

Frequency
The Frequency setting, anywhere from one minute to one month, will determine how often PageSentry will test the server (or send a status report, in the case of Pulse Sentries).

Note that a single request does not usually require a great deal of processing by a server, so there is little performance penalty in having PageSentry check your server fairly often. In general, having PageSentry test a server every 3 to 10 minutes will give you timely notification without imposing a noticeable load on your server.

Notification Setup
At the bottom of the Edit Sentry window is the "Notification Setup" area. A list of available Notifiers will be shown on the left of this section. To add a Notifier to a Sentry, simply select it and click "Add". Likewise, select a Sentry from "Notifiers to Execute" and click "Remove" to remove the Notifier from the Sentry. Selecting a Notifier and clicking "Edit" causes the Notifier Editor window to open for the selected Notifier.

Each Sentry type except Pulse also has an "Execute Test" button that lets you immediately run the test defined for the Sentry. The ability to run Sentry tests immediately gives you an easy way to verify that you have created the Sentry correctly.

For FTP Sentries, running the test also automatically fills in the checksum and length fields, saving you from having to compute these manually. Executing the test of a DNS Sentry will automatically populate the IP Address field. The Stream Sentry will also compute the checksum when the "Execute Test" button is pressed.

In addition to these common fields, each Sentry will need more information relating to the type of server being monitored.

Sentry Types

There are nine Sentry types, as listed below:

HTTP SentryFor monitoring Web servers
SMTP SentryFor monitoring E-Mail servers
FTP SentryFor monitoring FTP servers
Telnet SentryFor monitoring any device that supports Telnet connections, such as Unix servers, routers, etc.
DNS SentryFor monitoring Domain Name Service servers
AppleShare SentryFor monitoring AppleShare file servers
TCP Stream SentryFor monitoring any device that supports TCP at the stream level; used to monitor virtually any type of server, such as NNTP
Ping SentryFor sending a simple ping to insure that TCP/IP is active on the target device
PulseFor monitoring PageSentry itself, and periodic status reports


Copyright © 1995-98 Maxum Development Corporation
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http://www.maxum.com/

Rev. 2/18/98

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