The Service Monitor uses RPC or SNMP communication to test whether a specified Service is started (running) on:

• The local machine
• A remote SNMP-enabled computer running Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003
• A remote SNMP-enabled computer running a Unix-Based Operating System (Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, etc.)

Common uses of the Service Monitor:

1. Ensuring that a critical Service is not unexpectedly stopped.
2. Monitoring the state of Dependency Services that must be running for a critical Service to function.
3. Automatically taking Recovery actions to Restart the Service or Reboot the computer in the event that a Service is unexpectedly stopped.

The Service Monitor works with any host machine running:

• Windows NT
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows 2003

The Service Monitor Wizard is designed to help you configure a Service Monitor with the least amount of initial input. There are a number of benefits to this approach:

• Configuration is fast and easy, allowing you to get the Monitor up and running quickly.
• The Service Monitor Wizard allows you to test all the parameters you enter along the way to make sure that the Monitor will work as expected immediately upon being enabled to go live in a production environment.

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The following example illustrates the configuration process for creating a Service Monitor to monitor a Service on a remote computer running Microsoft® Windows® XP.

1. Log in to the ipMonitor Administration web interface.
2. Click the Monitors menu option, then select Add Monitor.
3. Select the Service Monitor from the Windows Based category.

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

An example of a valid Fully Qualified Domain Name is: www.ipmonitor.com
An example of a valid IP address is: 10.200.50.1

Use SNMP
The Simple Network Management Protocol allows the Monitor to perform a lightweight transaction in order to communicate with SNMP-enabled network resources. When using SNMP Communication, a Credential for Monitoring is not required.

Note: An SNMP Agent has to be installed and running on the server being monitored. If the remote system is running Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 2003, you will need to install and configure the SNMP Service manually. The SNMP Service can be installed from the Windows Control Panel by clicking the Add or Remove Programs icon, and then selecting Add / Remove Windows Components. The SNMP component is located under the Management and Monitoring Tools category.

UDP Port
Specify the Port Number that the server or device responds on. By default, the standard Port Number used for SNMP communication (Port 161) is already entered.

Community
SNMP Community strings act like passwords for SNMP information. When ipMonitor issues a SNMP Get-Next command to the SNMP Agent at this IP address, it sends out the SNMP Community string. If the Community string is correct, the SNMP Agent processes the request and returns results for analysis.

SNMP default communities are:

• Private (Read / Write)
• Public (Read Only)

Some SNMP Agents allow you to use non-default Community strings. This is typically done to improve the SNMP security model, often in conjunction with a non-standard SNMP Port.

SNMP Version
Select the SNMP version used by the server to be monitored. Both ipMonitor and the target server must use the same SNMP Version. Available options are: SNMP Version 1 and SNMP Version 2.

Use RPC
The Microsoft Remote Procedure Call is an inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism that enables data exchange between client and server processes. Using RPC, a process running on one machine can communicate with a process running on a different machine on the network.

Note: The RPC call will consume one of the remote computer's allowed connections:

1. Any authenticated connection to a server OS will require a CAL (Client Access License) to be available.
2. Any authenticated connection to a workstation OS will consume one of the 10 available client connections.

Credential for Monitoring
Assigning a Credential for Monitoring is an optional setting that can be used with RPC communication when connecting to a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 based machine. If you wish to take advantage of ipMonitor's security model, you can provide a Credential to have the Service Monitor impersonate an account with the privileges required to access the status of the specified Service on the remote Windows machine. When the Monitor tests the status of the Service, it will use the Credential's account and password information to authenticate to the target machine.

If a Credential is not assigned, ipMonitor will use the current account privileges of the ipMonitor Service on the local machine.

To select a Credential:

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

Note: For specific configuration details regarding configuration of a Credential to be used with the Drive Space Monitor, refer to Credentials for Monitoring :: Service

Note: For more information about Credentials, refer to About Credentials.

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Communication Type
Select the communication process used by ipMonitor to connect to the specified computer or remote device:

RPC (Microsoft Network Calls)
The Microsoft Remote Procedure Call is an inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism that enables data exchange between client and server processes. Using RPC, a process running on one machine can communicate with a process running on a different machine on the network.

Note: The RPC call will consume one of the remote computer's allowed connections:

1. Any authenticated connection to a server OS will require a CAL (Client Access License) to be available.
2. Any authenticated connection to a workstation OS will consume one of the 10 available client connections.

SNMP - The Simple Network Management Protocol allows the Monitor to perform a lightweight transaction in order to communicate with SNMP-enabled network devices. Select the Management Information Base (MIB) ipMonitor will use to connect to the specified computer or remote device. Three options are available:

• Host Resources MIB - The Host Resources MIB is loaded by default with the SNMP component.

Note: An SNMP Agent has to be installed and running on the server being monitored. If the remote system is running Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 2003, you will need to install and configure the SNMP Service manually. The SNMP Service can be installed from the Windows Control Panel by clicking the Add or Remove Programs icon, and then selecting Add / Remove Windows Components. The SNMP component is located under the Management and Monitoring Tools category.

WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) - The WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) communication method is recommended to administrators who wish to monitor a service on a Windows operating system. When this method is selected, the Monitor connects to the WMI namespace hosting the WMI class corresponding to the service being monitored.

Note: WMI is preinstalled in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.

Service Name
Select the Service to monitor from the list provided.

Note: When using SNMP communication, only Services that are currently Started (running) will be listed. The All Stopped Services item will contain all Services that cannot be selected.

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Monitor Name
Enter a concise, descriptive name for the new Monitor. The Monitor Name will be displayed in the Monitors List, Monitor Status, Reports and Logs pages. Names may not be greater than 64 characters. Since ipMonitor does not use the name field to identify the Monitor internally, Monitor Names can be changed at any time without data loss.

Selected Group
From the drop-down list, select one of the existing Groups to which the new Monitor will automatically be added upon creation.

Create Monitor Enabled
Once the Monitor is created, it will immediately start testing the selected Service, using the configured settings. This option is enabled by default.

Store Monitor Statistics for Recent Activity and Historical Reports
ipMonitor will immediately begin to record test results, which are then used to generate Recent Activity and Historical Reports. This option is disabled by default.

Create
Click the Create button to exit the wizard and access the new Monitor in edit mode. You can make any final modifications to the Monitor in this mode, including setting Timing and Notification parameters.

Once you're satisfied with the configuration settings, click the OK button at the bottom of the page. The new Monitor will be displayed within the Monitors List, and can be accessed for further configuration adjustments at any time.

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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.

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The Windows Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services / Recovery dialog can be used to set recovery options that will automatically Restart the Service, Run a File or Reboot the Computer.

The purpose of the Windows recovery options for Services is very similar to ipMonitor's Recovery Alerts. There are some differences to consider:

• ipMonitor can Alert you by email or phone if the Service stops, and escalate to automatic Recovery Actions if prior Alerts are not handled.
• ipMonitor can Alert you if the Recovery Actions fail.
• ipMonitor's flexible Alert scheduling allows you to be notified by email or phone during certain hours of the day or days of the week. At other times, Recovery Alerts could be scheduled to automatically take recovery actions.
• ipMonitor's Profiles can be configured to process any number of notification, integration and recovery Alerts concurrently.

If you are using the Windows Recovery options for Services, you can:

• Use ipMonitor's Alert Recovery Messages to be informed when Windows has taken a recovery action (based on the Windows Recovery timing parameters you specify).
• Use ipMonitor's Event Log Monitor to be notified when Windows takes recovery actions on behalf of a Service.

For information on settings common to all Monitor types, such as Identification, Timing, Notification Control and Recovery Parameters, refer to General Monitor Settings.

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The following error codes are generated by the Service 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 for Monitor connectivity or testing was not supplied to ipMonitor.
Access rights are insufficient	ipMonitor was unable to process the request because of insufficient permissions.
Unable to connect to the remote device	The specified address to the connection-based Service is unavailable.
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 specified resource was not running	The specified Windows NT machine indicates the Service being monitored is not running.

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