dirscan Guide v3.0 series

Nimsoft® Monitor™

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Contents 5

Contents

Chapter 1: General Overview 7

Installation Notes ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: Probe Deployment 11

Prerequisites and System Requirements ................................................................................................................... 11

Prerequisites ....................................................................................................................................................... 11

Supported Platforms ........................................................................................................................................... 11

System Requirements ......................................................................................................................................... 11

Software Requirements ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Monitoring System Requirements ...................................................................................................................... 12

Probe Deployment Information ................................................................................................................................. 12

Chapter 3: Configuration 13

Probe Configuration Interface .................................................................................................................................... 13

Probe GUI ................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Probe Configuration ................................................................................................................................................... 16

General Setup ..................................................................................................................................................... 16

Creating a Profile ................................................................................................................................................. 22

Creating an Integrity Profile ................................................................................................................................ 30

Launching the Message Pool Manager ............................................................................................................... 33

Chapter 4: Example 35

Chapter 5: QoS Threshold Metrics 41

dirscan QoS Metrics ................................................................................................................................................... 41

dirscan Alert Metrics Default Settings ........................................................................................................................ 41

Chapter 1: General Overview 7

Chapter 1: General Overview

This description applies to dirscan probe version 3.0.

The dirscan probe monitors files in specific directories. Alarms can be sent on number of files, age of files, and space used by files.

The probe is configured by defining one or more profiles. Each of these profiles can monitor a particular directory,

■ checking that the directory exists,

■ checking that particular files or file types are located in the directory, and

■ checking that the size and age of the files do not exceed expected values

The probe can also check if one or more specific files have changed. Alarm messages are generated when the files found are not as expected. (When conditions specified under dirscan Configuration (see page 16) are not met).

Some search properties may also be transmitted as quality of service messages.

This section contains the following topics:

Documentation Changes (see page 8) Installation Notes (see page 9)

Installation Notes

8 dirscan Guide

Documentation Changes

This table describes the version history for this document.

Version Date What's New?

3.0 August 2012 ■ Updated a description of the Automatic Action section of the Alarms Messages Tab topic for fixing a customer reported defect.

■ Added QoS information and Alert metrics for the probe.

■ Added a scheduler functionality; ability to monitor the probe that is based on current time stamping for windows.

■ Added information for Debian and Ubuntu support for the probe.

Related Documentation

Documentation for other versions of the dirscan probe

The Release Notes for the dirscan probe

Monitor Metrics Reference Information for CA Nimsoft Probes (http://docs.nimsoft.com/prodhelp/en_US/Probes/ProbeReference/index.htm)

Installation Notes

Documentation Changes 9

Installation Notes

Version 2.22 implemented a new layout of the message pool. If upgrading from a version prior to 2.22 you need to modify the dirscan.cfx file in the package. The steps to modify the file are as follows:

1. Get the latest version of the probe from the Internet Archive

2. Double-click the dirscan package in the Archive node of the Infrastructure Manager.

3. Select the tab for your platform and click on dirscan.cfx

4. Right-click and select Edit file.

5. Locate the <messages> section and add the 'clear' keyword after the closing bracket. Click OK.

6. Repeat for each platform you intend to distribute the updated probe to

7. Distribute the update to all systems running v2.22 or older.

Please note that all custom messages will be cleared and default messages in the new format will be inserted.

The description of the QoS for file age, QOS_DIR_AGE was previously defined as Age of oldest/newest matching file. In version 2.22 this has been changed to Age of matching file.

Chapter 2: Probe Deployment 11

Chapter 2: Probe Deployment

Successful distribution of the dirscan probe package relies on the Java package installed with the Nimsoft Management Server.

This section contains the following topics:

Prerequisites and System Requirements (see page 11) Probe Deployment Information (see page 12)

Prerequisites and System Requirements

This section contains the prerequisites and system requirements for the dirscan probe.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites to run the dirscan probe are stated below:

■ Infrastructure Manager

■ Nimsoft Robot v3.00 (or higher)

Supported Platforms

The dirscan probe supports the same set of operating systems and databases as supported by the Nimsoft Server solution. Please refer to the Nimsoft Compatibility Support Matrix for the latest information on supported platforms.

See also the Support Matrix for Nimsoft Probes, for additional specific information on the dirscan probe.

System Requirements

The dirscan probe should be installed on systems with the following minimum resources:

■ Memory: 2-4 GB of RAM. Probe's OOB configuration requires 256 MB of RAM.

■ CPU: 3GHz dual-core processor, 32-bit or 64-bit.

Probe Deployment Information

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Software Requirements

The dirscan probe requires the following software environment:

■ Nimsoft Monitor Server 5.1.1 or later

■ Nimsoft Robot 3.00 or later

■ Java Virtual Machine 1.6 or later (typically installed with NMS 5.0 or above)

Note: For SOC functionality, NM server 5.6 or later and UMP 2.5.2 or later is required.

Monitoring System Requirements

The dirscan probe supports targeting the following environments:

■ It monitors number of files, age of files, space used by files, size of file, and response time for files and checks for directory age and its existence for directories.

Probe Deployment Information

There are three ways to distribute archive packages. You can distribute the package within the web-based Admin Console (for supported probes), from within Infrastructure Manager, or use the standalone Nimsoft Distribution application.See Probe Deployment for more information on deploying probes.

Chapter 3: Configuration 13

Chapter 3: Configuration

This section describes the configuration concepts and procedures for setting up the dirscan probe. This probe is configured to monitor a particular directory,

■ Checking that the directory exists,

■ Checking that particular files or file types are located in the directory, and

■ Checking that the size and age of the files do not exceed expected values

This section contains the following topics:

Probe Configuration Interface (see page 13) Probe GUI (see page 14) Probe Configuration (see page 16)

Probe Configuration Interface

The dirscan probe configuration interface is installed when the dirscan probe is deployed.

Probe GUI

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Probe GUI

The GUI consists of four tool buttons located at the top and a list of profiles. All defined monitoring profiles appear in the list.

The Profile List

The probe GUI contains a list of profiles. The default configuration contains two example profiles, and as soon as you define a new monitoring profile, it will appear in the list. Right-clicking the window makes the following menu options available:

■ New Profile

Create a new directory scan profile.

■ New Integrity Profile

Create a new file integrity profile.

■ Edit

Edit the currently selected profile.

■ Delete

Remove the currently selected profile.

■ Copy

Makes a copy of the selected profile. This is convenient when you want to create a profile with almost the same properties as an existing one.

Probe GUI

Chapter 3: Configuration 15

The Tool Buttons

The configuration tool also contains four tool buttons:

■ General Setup

Clicking this button opens the Setup dialog for the probe, allowing you to modify the general probe parameters. See General Setup (see page 16) for details.

■ Create a New Profile

Click this button to create a profile defining a destination folder and file(s) to be monitored. See Schedule Tab (see page 18) for details.

■ Create a New Integrity Profile

Click this button to create a profile for checking the integrity of particular files. See Creating an Integrity Profile (see page 30) for details. Profiles of this type will appear in the profile list with a different icon.

■ Message Pool Manager

This option lets you customize the alarm text, and you may also create your own messages. See Launching the Message Pool Manager (see page 33) for details.

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Probe Configuration

This section contains specific configuration information for the dirscan probe.

The dirscan probe is configured by defining one or more profiles, each identifying a particular directory and the file(s) to search for. There are seven different parameters that can be checked, which all can generate alarm messages if the specified threshold is breached:

■ Number of files

The number of files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Age of file

The age of the files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Space used by files

The space used by all files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Size of files

The size of the files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Read response time

The time taken to read the specified file.

■ Directory check

Checks if the specified directory is present.

■ Directory age

Checks for directory changes.

A file integrity profile can be created with the following check:

■ File integrity

Checks if one or more of the files specified under the File Integrity tab on the profile properties dialog has changed.

General Setup

Clicking the General Setup button opens the Setup dialog, allowing you to modify the general probe parameters. In this screen, you will also find Schedules tab in which you can schedule the profile execution as per you requirement.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 17

General Tab

The General tab allows you to modify the general probe parameters.

The fields in the above dialog are explained below:

Check interval (seconds)

Indicates the time interval at which the defined directories are scanned.

Default message level

Indicates the default message level for alarm messages. This value can be overridden in each alarm condition.

Log Level

Set the level of details written to the log file. Log as little as possible during normal operation to minimize disk consumption, and increase the amount of detail when debugging.

Run as user

Certain directories and files require a valid user name and password to allow access. Note that the user name also must include the Windows domain name (<domain name>/<user name>).

Log Size

Set the size of the probe’s log file to which probe-internal log messages are written. The default size is 100 KB. When this size is reached, the contents of the file are cleared.

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Schedule Tab

The Schedules tab enables you to specify the time duration in which alarms and QoS for the monitored process should be generated.

Adding a Schedule

This functionality allows you to add a schedule.

Follow these steps:

1. In the Setup dialog, click the Schedules tab.

2. Right-click in the empty portion and select Add option from context-menu.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 19

The New Schedule dialog opens.

The fields in the above dialog are explained below:

Name

Enter a name for the schedule.

Range

Specify the time duration for which the alarms/QoS should be generated. To start alarm generation immediately, select option Start Now. To start alarm generation at a specific date-time in future, select the option Start at and then choose the required date-time. To continue alarm generation indefinitely, select the option No End. To stop the alarm generation after specific number of occurrences, select End after_ occurrences and enter the number of occurrences. If the processes probe restarts, the count for number of occurrences will be reset. To stop the alarm generation at a specific date-time in future, select the option End by and then choose the required date-time.

Pattern

Specify the pattern in which the alarms/QoS will be generated. Choose a pattern (Secondly, Minutely, Hourly, Daily…) and then specify the value at which the pattern. should be repeated.

Probe Configuration

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Restrict To

Specify if you wish to generate alarms/QoS only on a particular day or within a particular time frame on specific days.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 21

The above figure shows a schedule that will only generate alarms/QoS between 3:00 AM to 4:59 AM on Monday.

The following points need to be taken into consideration while choosing the appropriate time range for the alarms/QoS:

■ If you choose Start Now option and set Restrict To settings to a later day/time, the alarms/QoS will only be generated on the day/time specified in Restrict To field.

■ If you set Restrict To option to, say 3:00 AM to 4:59 AM, and set Start at option to a later time (say 4:00 PM for same day), then the alarms/QoS will be generated from 4:00 PM.

■ If you choose End at option at, say 11:00 AM and set Restrict To settings to an earlier time (say, 10:30 AM), then alarms/QoS will not be generated after 10:30 AM.

■ If you choose End at option at, say 5:30 PM, and set Restrict To settings to a later time (say, 6:30 PM), then alarms/QoS will not be generated after 5:30 PM.

■ In short, the shortest time frame, based on the combination of all the filters applied, will be taken into consideration for generating alarms/QoS messages.

3. After configuring the schedule, click OK.

Editing a Schedule

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click in Schedules tab and select the Edit option from context menu.

The Edit Schedule dialog opens.

2. Make the necessary changes and click OK to save the modifications.

Deleting a Schedule

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click in Schedules tab and select the Remove option from context menu.

A message appears asking for confirmation to delete the schedule.

2. Click Yes to delete the schedule.

Note: If a schedule is attached to at least one profile, it cannot be deleted.

Probe Configuration

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Creating a Profile

This functionality allows you to create a new profile. Clicking the Create a new Profile button opens the New Profile dialog.

The dialog contains some general properties and three main tabs - Scan Directory, Alarm Messages, Quality of Service messages.

The Profile Properties

When creating or editing a profile, the following values must be specified:

■ Name

The profile name.

■ Active

Determine if the profile should be active or not.

■ Description

A short description of the profile.

■ Schedule

Select the Schedule when profile is to be executed.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 23

The Scan Directory Tab

Probe Configuration

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■ Directory

The directory that will be scanned.

Note that you may also specify a directory name (or parts of a directory name) using special time-formatting primitives.

The path may be constructed by a combination of text and special primitives used by the system-call strftime.

■ %a - Abbreviated weekday name.

■ %A - Full weekday name.

■ %b - Abbreviated month name.

■ %B - Full month name.

■ %c - Date and time representation appropriate for locale.

■ %d - Day of month as decimal number (01 – 31).

■ %H - Hour in 24-hour format (00 – 23).

■ %I - Hour in 12-hour format (01 – 12).

■ %j - Day of year as decimal number (001 – 366).

■ %m - Month as decimal number (01 – 12).

■ %M - Minute as decimal number (00 – 59).

■ %p - Current locale’s A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock.

■ %S - Second as decimal number (00 – 59).

■ %U - Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 – 53).

■ %w - Weekday as decimal number (0 – 6; Sunday is 0).

■ %W - Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 – 53).

■ %x - Date representation for current locale.

■ %X - Time representation for current locale.

■ %y - Year without century, as decimal number (00 – 99).

■ %Y - Year with century, as decimal number.

■ %z, %Z - Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown.

■ %% - Percent sign.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 25

Examples:

■ %y/%m/%d

■ This entry will locate a directory name such as 05/10/22.

■ %B

■ This entry will locate a directory name such as January.

■ %B %Y

■ This entry will locate a directory name such as January 2005.

If the probe runs on a Windows computer, remote shares can be monitored when the directory is specified with the format //<computer name>/<share name> or //<computer name>/<share name>/<directory>. When this syntax is used, two additional fields appear: User and Password.

The user name is specified as <domain>\<user>. You can use the Fetch current values button in the Alarm messages tab to check that the specified combination of values is valid.

If not specifying anything, the user and password specified under the Setup tab will be used.

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For advanced users, several directories can be specified separated with a ';' sign. Note that:

■ Remote shares should be placed first, to be able to specify user and password.

■ Browse

The Browse button starts the Select Directory dialog where you can select directory and optionally file.

Note: The Browse function will not work when more than one directory is specified.

Selecting a directory and pressing the OK button will fill in the Directory field for you. Selecting a file and pressing OK will fill in both the Directory and Pattern fields.

■ Pattern

A pattern, which is matched with the files found in the specified directory. When checking, only the files matching this pattern are included.

■ Recurse into subdirectories

This option determines if the scanning process also should include files residing in subdirectories of the specified directory.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 27

The Alarm Messages Tab

There are 7 different tabs that can be used to define alarm situations.

Common for all tabs:

■ Fetch current values

Click this button to check the current value of the monitored target. This might be helpful to do before defining the alarm threshold in the Watch field (see below).

■ Watch

Here you can specify the condition you want the measured value to meet. If the specified condition is breached, the alarm message selected (see below) will be issued.

■ Alarm message

For each alarm situation, you can select an alarm message and a clear message from the drop-down lists. These messages are available in the message pool, where you also may create your own messages or edit existing ones.

Probe Configuration

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■ Automatic action

You can specify a command, which the probe executes when the alarm threshold value is breached. You can specify the arguments of the command which can include the following variables:

■ $watcher: Returns the name of the monitoring profile.

■ $description: Returns the description of the monitoring profile.

■ $file: Returns the name of the file or the file name pattern, which the probe is monitoring in the monitoring profile. If there are more than one file, it returns the array of file names and the probe executes the command for that number of times.

■ $size: Returns the size of the file or directory, which the probe is monitoring. If there are more than one file, it returns the array of file size and the probe executes the command for that number of times.

■ $unit: Returns the unit of file size, which is configured in the monitoring profile of the probe. This variable also converts the size of the file or directory in this unit. For example, you are monitoring the file greater than 100 bytes and the probe identifies a file of 1 KB. In this case, the probe returns the file size as 1024 Bytes.

■ $limit: Returns the threshold limit of the file or directory size, which is configured in the monitoring profile.

■ $directory: Returns the complete path of the directory, which is configured in the monitoring profile of the probe.

In addition, note that Age of file can be configured to use the age of the newest file, the oldest file or each individual file found when more than one file match the pattern. Note also that for Size of file similarly the smallest file, largest file or each individual file is checked.

For Read response time the shortest, longest or each individual response time is used.

Further, the different tabs are defined below:

■ Number of files

The number of files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Age of file

The age of the files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern. Here, if you select On creation time option, then creation time of the file is used while defining threshold.

■ Space used by files

The space used by all files found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern. You can also generate alarms for any changes made to the file size.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 29

■ Size of individual file

The size of the largest file found in the specified directory matching the specified pattern.

■ Read response time

The time taken to check the specified file.

Note: When specifying read response time, the response time is calculated from reading the first one Mb of the file. If no file specified, the largest file in the directory will be read for the quality of service response time.

■ Directory check

Checks if the specified directory is present.

■ Directory age

Checks if the directory has changed between each scan. Such a change would happen if a file is created or removed from the directory.

Note: This option will only check the specified directory even if the Recurse into subdirectories option is set.

The Quality of Service Messages Tab

Enable the properties for which you want quality of service message to be generated.

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The following values can be checked:

■ Directory exists

■ Number of matching files

■ Age of the matching files (oldest or newest file, depending on your Age of setting in the Age of file tab).

■ Space used by matching files in KiloBytes

■ Read response time of largest file in Bytes per Second

Attaching a Schedule to Profile

This functionality allows you to attach a previously configured schedule to a profile.

Follow these steps:

1. In the New Profile dialog, select the required schedule from the Schedule field. This field contains the list of already configured schedules.

2. Enter / Select the required values in other fields and tabs and click OK.

The selected schedule gets attached to the profile.

Creating an Integrity Profile

This functionality allows you to create a new integrity profile. Clicking the Create a new Integrity Profile button opens the New Integrity Profile dialog.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 3: Configuration 31

The dialog contains some general properties and three main tabs - File Integrity, Alarm message, Quality of Service message:

The File Integrity Tab

This tab lets you specify one or more files to be monitored, checking if any changes have taken place. Right clicking in the list opens a browser enabling you to you add or delete files to be monitored. If one of the files defined here is modified, an alarm message will be sent.

Clicking the Recalculate checksum button calculates and sets the checksum of the file. This value will be used when monitoring the file. If the checksum of the file becomes different from this value, an alarm message will be sent.

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The Alarm Message Tab

Specify the alarm message, in the Message ID field, and action, in the Command field, to be taken when a file change is detected.

The Quality of Service Message Tab

Specify if a Quality of service message should be sent on each check interval.

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Chapter 3: Configuration 33

Launching the Message Pool Manager

The Message Pool can be opened by clicking the Message Pool Manager button in the tool bar.

The Message Pool lists all the available alarm messages. When defining the alarm properties for the profiles, you can select one of the alarm messages in this list to be issued when the defined threshold is breached.

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Using the three tool buttons located in the upper left corner of the Message Pool dialog, or right-clicking in the list, you can select to add, edit or delete alarm messages.

The fields in the above dialog are explained below:

Identification Name

The identification name of the alarm message. This name will appear in the pull-down list when selecting an alarm message on the Alarm Messages tab in the Profiles dialog.

Token

The message token refers to the checkpoint. It is pre-set by the probe and is therefore not modifiable.

Error Alarm text

This is the text of the alarm message.Typing $ in this field, all valid variables will be listed.

Clear Alarm text (OK)

This is the text of the clear message. A Clear message will be issued if Alarm messages on breached thresholds have previously been issued, and the newly measured value is now within the threshold. Typing $ in this field, all valid variables will be listed.

Error Severity

The severity of the alarm (clear, information, warning, minor, major or critical).

Subsystem string/id

The ID of the subsystem being the source of this alarm. This id is managed by the nas.

Chapter 4: Example 35

Chapter 4: Example

Suppose you want to define a profile for the dirscan probe to monitor the directory C:/history and send an alert when detecting files greater than 25 Kb.

1. Double-click the dirscan probe in Infrastructure Manager to bring up the dirscan configuration dialog. You may use the default values in the Setup tab:

■ Check interval is changed to 30 seconds.

■ Message level is left at information.

■ Log Level is set to a middle value.

■ Log Size left at 100 KB.

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2. Click OK and on the below dialog, right-click in the window and select New Profile.

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Chapter 4: Example 37

3. When the New Profile dialog appears on the screen, specify the following:

■ A profile name (e.g. History)

■ A short description of the profile

■ Click the Active option to enable the profile

■ Specify which directory to check (C:\history).

■ Select pattern (* means checking all files in the C:\history directory)

■ Check the option Recurse into subdirectories. The scanning process will also include files residing in subdirectories of the C:\history directory.

4. Select the Alarm messages tab and check the option Check existence of directory.

Alerts will be generated if the directory does not exist or is deleted.

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5. Select the Space used by files tab.

6. Specify:

■ Watch

Since you want to receive an alert when files greater than 25 Kb years are found, you set the threshold value as shown above.

■ Alarm Message

Select the alarm message FileSpaceAlarm from the drop-down list.

■ Used space delta

If you expect a slight change in the file size up to a certain limit over a defined number of cycles, you set the threshold value as shown above.

7. Click OK.

You will return to the dirscan configuration dialog. Ensure that the new watcher is checked and click the Apply button. Click Yes when the following message pops up, and finally click the OK button in the dirscan configuration dialog.

Probe Configuration

Chapter 4: Example 39

You may now check that the profile works by:

■ Ensuring that the folder C:\history exists and contains files greater than 25 Kb.

Or

■ Ensuring that the folder C:\history does not exist.

You will then observe that an alarm like the one shown below will appear in the Alarm Window:

Chapter 5: QoS Threshold Metrics 41

Chapter 5: QoS Threshold Metrics

Many Nimsoft Monitor probes ship with default QoS threshold values set. The default threshold values provide an idea of the type of values to be entered in the fields and are not necessarily recommended best practice values. To aid in tuning thresholds and reducing false-positive alarms, this section describes the QoS metrics and provides the default QoS thresholds.

This section contains the following topics:

dirscan QoS Metrics (see page 41) dirscan Alert Metrics Default Settings (see page 41)

dirscan QoS Metrics

This section contains the QoS metrics for the dirscan probe.

Monitor Name Units Description

QOS_DIR_AGE Seconds Age of oldest matching file

QOS_DIR_EXISTS Boolean Directory exists

QOS_DIR_NUMBER Files Number of matching files

QOS_DIR_RESPONSE_TIME Bytes per second File Response

QOS_DIR_SPACE Kilobytes Space used by matching files

QOS_FILE_INTEGRITY Boolean File Integrity Check

dirscan Alert Metrics Default Settings

This section contains the alert metrics default settings for the dirscan probe.

QoS Metric Warning Threshold

Warning Severity

Error Threshold

Error Severity

Description

FileSizeAlarm None None None Major Alarm for file size

FileNumberAlarm None None None Major Alarm for file number

FileSpaceAlarm None None None Major Alarm for file space

FileDeltaSpaceAlarm None None None Major Alarm for delta change in space used by files

dirscan Alert Metrics Default Settings

42 dirscan Guide

FileAgeAlarm None None None Major Alarm for file age

ResponseTimeAlarm None None None Major Alarm for response time

FileIntegrityAlarm None None None Major Alarm for file integrity

DirectoryCheckAlarm None None None Major Alarm for Directory existence

FileError None None None Major Alarm for File existence

DirAge None None None Major Alarm for File Age