Knowledge Center > Tutorials

ipMonitor 8's enhanced reporting capabilities now allow you to customize the Live Report screens to best suit your needs.

Using the new Live Reports configuration options, you can:

• Display a variety of important Monitor information.
• Identify the current state of a Monitor by its resource color.
• Rename, resize and reorder columns and data fields.
• Launch the appropriate Edit Monitor screen by clicking on the displayed Monitor data.
• Display custom Tags.

This tutorial will focus primarily on using Intrinsic Properties to display a variety of important Monitor information in Live Reports. For additional information on Live Reports and the configuration options they support, refer to the Live Reports section of the Administrator's Guide.

Click the PDF icon to open a printable PDF version of this tutorial. It includes all the information found here, including images from the ipMonitor software, diagrams, and links to additional resources.

To customize a Live Report to display Intrinsic Property data, proceed with the following:

1. Log in to the ipMonitor web interface.
2. Click the Settings menu option and select My Settings.

The Live Reports Details and NOC view modes both support displaying Intrinsic Property data. To access this configuration option:

• Click the Add Column button, and then select the Intrinsic Property Value Kind to add a new Intrinsic Property column to the Details View mode.
• Click the Add Field button, and then select the Intrinsic Property Value Kind to add a new Intrinsic Property field to the NOC View mode.

An Intrinsic Property is a fundamental property that represents an aspect of a Monitor's current status. The following Intrinsic Properties are available for selection:

Note: Intrinsic Properties marked with a red asterisk (*) are included by default in both Details and NOC View modes.

• ID - A unique identification number automatically assigned to each Monitor when it's created. Monitor IDs are sometimes used in Network Operations Center environments to mask Monitor Names, effectively hiding them from personnel who may not have the appropriate security clearance to view them.
  
       Example:
       ID: 69871679851
• Name * - The unique descriptive name assigned to the Monitor by the ipMonitor user or administrator who created it. Because ipMonitor does not use the name field to identify the Monitor internally, Monitor Names can be changed at any time without data loss.
  
  Example:
  Monitor Name: 10.1.2.3 [Bandwidth-Intel(R) PRO/100+ Management Adapter - Pack
• Type * - The Monitor type indicates the kind of monitoring being performed by the Monitor. For example: Bandwidth, Ping, HTTP, QA SNMP, etc.
  
  Example:
  Type: html/asp
• Status - The current state of the Monitor (Up / Listening, Warn, Down, Lost, Suspended / Maintenance, Uninitialized).
  
  Example: Status: up
• Address - The location of the resource being monitored. This can be an IP Address, Primary Server Name or Domain Name.
  
  Example:
  Address: 10.1.2.3:8080
• State Change * - The length of time since the Monitor changed operational states. This includes time elapsed since scheduled maintenance.
  
  Example:
  State Change: 5 hours, 26 mins, 5 secs
• Last Result * - The result of the last test performed by the Monitor. Different Monitor types generate specific Test Results and Error Codes in accordance with the technical capabilities of the Monitor. Refer to the specific Monitor section for a detailed explanation of the Test Results and Error Codes reported.
  
  Example:
  Last Result: rtt: 5000ms; usage: 7.19%; usage-avg: 26.69%
• Availability * - The length of time the Monitor has been available, reported as a percent of its overall Coverage time.
  
  Example:
  Availability: 98.49%
• Coverage * - The total length of time ipMonitor has been monitoring the resource. Coverage specifically excludes any period when the Monitor is suspended, disabled, or in maintenance mode. This value is reset when ipMonitor is restarted.
  
  Example:
  Coverage: 5 hours, 30 mins, 9 secs
• Failures The total number of Monitor failures recorded since the Monitor was enabled. This value is reset when ipMonitor is restarted.
  
  Example:
  Failures: 6
• Critical Failures - The total number of Monitor failures that triggered configured Alerts. For example, if Alerts are being suppressed by configured Dependencies, the Monitor's Failure count will continue to rise, but its Critical Failures count will not.
  
  Example:
  Critical Failures: 4
• Alerts Sent - The total number of Alerts triggered by this Monitor. This value is reset when ipMonitor is restarted.
  
  Example:
  Alerts Sent: 3
• Next Run - The length of time remaining until the Monitor is scheduled to test the monitored resource again.
  
  Example:
  Next Run: 3 mins, 46 secs from now
• Last Run - The length of time that has passed since the Monitor last tested the monitored resource.
  
  Example:
  Last Run: 2 mins, 23 secs ago
• In Progress - This "true" or "false" value indicates whether or not the Monitor is currently testing the monitored resource.
  
  Example:
  In Progress: true

Intrinsic Property data can be used to customize the Live Reports NOC View. Most often displayed in a Network Operations Center Environment, the NOC View provides at a glance status reports for IT personnel and network operations groups who manage the network around the clock.

The ability to customize Live Reports allows you and your team to focus only on the information you require. For example, you may only want to view a Monitor's:

• Name
• Address
• Last Result
• Availability
• Failures
• Alerts Sent
• Next Run

To accomplish this set-up, access the My Settings screen using the instructions outlined at the beginning of this tutorial, then configure the Display Settings: NOC Status View section as shown below.

Intrinsic Property data can also be used to customize the Live Reports Details View. The Details View screen is used to display the state of all Monitors within a specific Group.

For example, when viewing Group details, you may choose to display only a Monitor's:

• Status
• Name
• State Change
• Failures
• Alerts Sent
• Availability

To accomplish this set-up, access the My Settings screen using the instructions outlined at the beginning of this tutorial, then configure the Display Settings: Details View section as shown below.

Note: The column width "em" value determines font size based on the default browser settings. This value can be set manually. Alternatively, you can also enter an asterisk (*) character to instruct ipMonitor to automatically determine the column width based on any remaining space available.

For information on other features and concepts related to those discussed in this article, refer to the following ipMonitor resources:

< Back

Last Updated: October 10, 2006 | What did you think of this topic?