The ipMonitor Monitor can be used to monitor an external installation of ipMonitor on another computer.

The ipMonitor Monitor can be configured for two different purposes:

1. It can be used to perform internal diagnostics of the ipMonitor installation you specify.
2. It can be used to perform redundant monitoring and alerting on behalf of the ipMonitor installation you specify.

The ipMonitor Monitor can be used to test an ipMonitor installation's ability to:

• Accept incoming sessions.
• Conduct transactions via the HTTP or HTTPS protocol.
• Respond within a required number of seconds.

The ipMonitor Monitor may optionally be used to perform redundant monitoring and alerting for the external ipMonitor installation when one of the following options is selected:

• Fail if any Group Member or Dependency Monitor is down
• Fail if any Group Dependency is down
• Fail if any Group Member is down

Top of page

The Test Parameters dialog box is used to specify the location of the external ipMonitor installation you want to monitor and any parameters required to connect to it.

Protocol
The protocol ipMonitor will use to connect to the remote ipMonitor installation. Options are HTTP and HTTPS.

IP Address / Domain Name
Specify the location of the ipMonitor server you want to monitor. Both IP Address and Domain Name are valid entries.

Examples of valid Domain Names are: ipmonitor.xyzcompany.com, ftp.xyzcompany.com, xyzcompany.com
An example of a valid IP address is: 10.200.50.11.

Note: Entering an IP address will eliminate any variables introduced by performing a lookup on the DNS server. If your network uses a DHCP server to dynamically assign IP addresses, enter an IP address only if it is "reserved", otherwise enter a Domain Name.

TCP Port
Specify the Port Number that the external ipMonitor installation responds on. Typical Ports assigned to ipMonitor are HTTP port 8080 and HTTPS port 443.

Credential for Monitoring
You will need to specify a Credential in order to perform redundant Monitoring and Alerting for an external ipMonitor installation.

The ipMonitor Monitor requires a Credential to transmit account and password information used to log in to the external ipMonitor installation. Ensure that the Credential you assign to the ipMonitor Monitor has the following option selected within the Usage Restrictions section of its settings:

• May be used with Digest Authentication Schemes

Note: You will need to provide login information for an ipMonitor Account on the remote ipMonitor installation that has Real-time Statistics (List) access. Refer to Accounts for more information.

To assign a Credential:

• Click the Select... button to pop up the Credentials Available for Monitoring dialog.
• Select an existing Credential from the HTTP category.
• To create a new Credential, click the New Credential button to start the wizard.

Note: For detailed information regarding configuration options for Credentials that are to be used with HTTP-based Monitors, such as the ipMonitor Monitor, refer to Credentials for Monitoring :: HTTP based.

Allow SSL Certificates to Have a Different Common Name than Hostname
If enabled, should ipMonitor detect that the common name of the SSL certificate differs from the ipMonitor server host / IP address, this error will be ignored.

If a Self Signed Certificate was created using ipMonitor's Configuration Program and used by the external ipMonitor installation, by default the Common Name field will be populated with the fully qualified Domain Name of the machine.

Note: If you are unsure of the Common Name of the SSL Certificate used by the ipMonitor web interface, choose this option. Otherwise, the Monitor will fail and report the following error message: "The remote device is using a certificate with a common name not matching the host name used to connect."

Allow SSL certificates to be issued by Untrusted Authorities
If enabled, should ipMonitor detect an SSL certificate issued by a Certificate Authority that is not recognized by the SSL Certificates database, this error will be ignored.

Force communication through an HTTP Proxy Server
This option forces ipMonitor to monitor HTTP resources through your organization's HTTP Proxy Server.

Before you select this option, first ensure ipMonitor's global Client HTTP Settings have been correctly set up to permit communications with your proxy server.

Note: Refer to the Server Settings section for more information.

Top of page

The ipMonitor Monitor can be used to perform a quick diagnostic or to perform redundant Alerting for an external ipMonitor installation.

Group Testing
The following options are used to specify which function the ipMonitor Monitor will perform:

• Do not obtain the status of a Group, just a quick diagnostic
• Fail if any Group Member or Dependency Monitor is down
• Fail if any Group Dependency is down
• Fail if any Group Member is down

Group
Use the Select... button to enter the Group on the remote ipMonitor installation that will be monitored for a Down state.

Select...
Force an immediate connection to the remote ipMonitor installation to obtain a list of Groups that can be monitored. Select a Group from the list of Groups displayed.

If the Group list is not displayed, verify:

• IP address or Domain Name: Ping and/or perform a TraceRoute to the remote ipMonitor installation to verify the connection.
• Port: ipMonitor can be installed on many possible Ports.
• Account information: Log in to the remote ipMonitor installation to verify that the account you provided is valid and has Real-time Statistics (List) access.

Top of page

When the Monitor is in an Up state, test results are reported as shown in the example below:

rtt - Round-Trip Time. This value indicates the time it took the test packet to reach the monitored resource and return a response to ipMonitor. Round-trip time is measured in milliseconds (ms).

When the Monitor is in a Warn, Down, or Lost state, the Last Result field indicates the problem encountered. Different Monitor types generate specific Error Codes in accordance with the technical capabilities of the Monitor. Refer to the Error Codes section of this document for details.

Top of page

Note 1:
Specifying the HTTPS protocol will not work if the remote ipMonitor installation is v6.x.

Note 2:
The test will fail and trigger an Alert when:

• The specified remote ipMonitor installation is unavailable.
• The diagnostic fails to complete within the Maximum Test Duration.
• Depending on the Group Testing option selected in the Analysis of Test Results section, a Member or Dependency Monitor in the selected Group has tried to trigger an Alert.

Note 3:
Credentials for Monitoring are only required if the Group Testing selection is NOT set to Do not obtain the status of a Group, just a quick diagnostic.

Top of page

The following error codes are generated by the ipMonitor Monitor. Error codes are displayed in Real-time and Historical Reports. They can also be added to Alerts using Tokens.

Message	Details
Configuration information for this item is missing some required fields	A required element(s) for Monitor connectivity or testing was not supplied to ipMonitor.
Unable to connect to the remote device	The specified address to the connection-based Service is unavailable.
Invalid protocol format	The resource is either not adhering to the protocol standard or ipMonitor does not understand a proprietary change in the protocol.
The remote device timed out before sending a response	The resource being monitored did not respond within the maximum allowable time.
Unexpected disconnection from the remote device	The server disconnected during the test transaction.
Could not obtain an IP address for the remote device	The supplied address was not a valid IP address OR the Server Domain Name could not be translated into an IP address. The Server Domain Name may refer to a local machine name, or a fully qualified domain name.
The server redirected to an unsupported protocol	The resource is either not adhering to the protocol standard or ipMonitor does not understand a proprietary change in the protocol.
The remote device rejected the request due to an internal error	Upon connecting to the server, an initial message indicating the server is unavailable was received.
The response from the remote device does not adhere to protocol specification	The resource is either not adhering to the protocol standard or ipMonitor does not understand a proprietary change in the protocol.
The remote device rejected the request due to a client error	The server was unable to process the request because of a client-side error.
The remote device sent more data than expected	The server sent more data than expected for this protocol. This is usually due to an error in the software being monitored.
Access rights are insufficient	ipMonitor was unable to process the request because of insufficient permissions.
The remote device rejected the request due to an internal error	Upon connecting to the server, an initial message indicating the server is unavailable was received.
The remote device is using an invalid certificate	The server sent an invalid certificate to ipMonitor.
The remote device is using a revoked certificate	The server sent a certificate that is listed in the Certificate Revocation List.
The remote device is using a certificate with an unknown or invalid certificate authority	The server sent a certificate that lists a Certificate Authority that is unknown or not trusted.
The remote device is using a certificate with a common name not matching the host name used to connect	The server sent a certificate that contains a Common Name (Issued To) value that does not match the host name of the server.
The remote device is using an expired certificate	The server sent a certificate that is not valid (expired).
Unable to check for certificate revocation, the server used to check for revocation might be unreachable	ipMonitor is unable to contact the Certificate Authority server to verify the revocation status of the certificate. This may be due to communications errors.
The remote device requires ipMonitor to provide a client certificate	The server has sent a message indicating that ipMonitor is required to provide a client certificate.
The remote device is not ipMonitor 6.x, 7.x or 8.x	The remote server is not a valid ipMonitor 6.x, 7.x or 8.x installation.
The specified Group has at least one member Down	ipMonitor has detected a failure in the Group specified in the Monitor configuration.
The specified Group has at least one Dependency Monitor Down	ipMonitor has detected a failure in the Dependencies of the Group specified in the Monitor configuration.

Top of page