• Contents
  • 1 About the chapters of this manual
  • 2 An introduction to IT Monitor Server
  • 3 The IT Monitor server
  • 4 The IT Monitor app
  • 5 Internet remote access
  • 6 Develop own scripts
  • 7 Statistics database
  • 8 Preferences
• <
• 4 The IT Monitor app
  • 4.1 Set up the IT Monitor app
  •  4.1.1 Add server
  •  4.1.2 Remove server from the list
  •  4.1.3 Specify limits
  •  4.1.4 Add service
  •  4.1.5 Set up e-mail list
  • 4.2 Using the IT Monitor app
  •  4.2.1 Server status overview
  •  4.2.2 Charts
  •  4.2.3 Services
  •  4.2.4 Action Scripts
  •  4.2.5 Messages
  • 4.3 IT Monitor observed services
  • 4.4 Server actions
  •  4.4.1 Server process list
  •  4.4.2 Server users list
  •  4.4.3 Server file browser
• >

 

4 The IT Monitor app

4.1 Set up the IT Monitor app

Load the free IT Monitor app from Apple's App Store to your iPhone.

Open the IT Monitor app.

4.1.1 Add server

Initially, the “Server List” window is empty (Fig. 4.1).

Tap on and then on the icon.

In the “Server Info” window (Fig. 4.2), fill in all required server settings.

The Server Filters Messages slider allows the user to define whether the server (“monitorsrv”) should filter the messages before they are transferred to the IT Monitor app. See 3.1.1 “Filter system messages” for more information.

Important:

If you wish to connect to the specified IT Monitor server via a proxy server, Internet Address must be defined from the proxy server's view, e.g. a network internal host name or IP address may be necessary. If the server host name is used, make sure that the proxy server can resolve this host name. Otherwise an error (Error while resolving “<proxy name>: Unknown host”) is issued upon verification! In this case, specify the host's IP address.

In the “SEND NOTIFICATIONS” section select in which manner “monitorsrv” should issue notifications (Fig. 4.3). The default behavior is Always.

Never	No notification is issued upon alarm messages
Once	A notification is issued after the first alarm message. Subsequent alarms will not issue further notifications (until the IT Monitor app is started)
Always	A notification is issued upon each alarm message

Tap on to accept all settings you entered in the “Server Info” window, and back in the “Server List” window tap on .

Now the new server entry is scheduled in the server list. The icon to the right indicates the server platform (see Fig. 4.8).

The complete list of iPhone server configuration settings can easily be transferred to other iPhones. This could be advantageous if e.g. the manager wants to distribute monitoring tasks to their employees, without the need for the employees to set up and configure the server list again on each of their iPhones.

In the “Server List” window, change into the edit mode and tap on in the bottom menu.

Tap on Copy (Fig. 4.4).

Paste the copied information into your iPhone e-mail program (e.g. “Mail”) and send it to the desired iPhone clients.

The recipients only need to copy the mail body from their iPhone, navigate to the “Server List” window, change into the edit mode, tap on in the bottom menu, and then on Paste.

The server list has now successfully been transferred from one iPhone to others.

Important:

For security reasons, the password for each server still needs to be entered in the Password field before using the posted configuration!

4.1.2 Remove server from the list

In the “Server List” window, change into the edit mode and tap on .

Then tap on the icon adjacent to the server that you want to delete from the list, and confirm the deletion by tapping on .

4.1.3 Specify limits

Tap on and then on the desired server entry.

The “SERVER SETTINGS” section allows defining general and file system (volume) limits that build the base for alarms and messages.

Free Disk Space (MB)
Allows defining the minimum free disk space limit below which an alarm is issued after the time span specified in the Time until alarm (seconds) entry. This defines the default value for all mounted file systems. Different values can be specified for individual file systems, by scrolling down to the “File System Limits” screen.

The corresponding “monitorsrv” preference is MinDiskFreeSpace (default is 8 MB). The time until alarm is controlled by the MinDiskFreeSpaceDur preference (default is 1 minute).

CPU Utilization (%)
Allows defining the maximum CPU utilization limit above which an alarm is issued after the time span specified in the Time until alarm (seconds) entry. This value specifies the percentage (1-99 %) of the total amount of available CPU.

The corresponding “monitorsrv” preference is MaxProcessorUsage (default is 99 %). The time until alarm is controlled by the MaxProcessorUsageDur preference (default is 5 minutes).

RAM Utilization (%)
Allows defining the maximum RAM utilization limit above which an alarm is issued after the time span specified in the Time until alarm (seconds) entry.

The corresponding “monitorsrv” preference is MaxMemoryUsage (default is 95 %). The time until alarm is controlled by the MaxProcessorUsageDur preference (default is 10 seconds).

Paging Activity (pages/s)
Allows defining the maximum number of pages limit above which an alarm is issued after the time span specified in the Time until alarm (seconds) entry.

The corresponding “monitorsrv” preference is MaxMemoryPages (default is 2000/s). The time until alarm is controlled by the MaxMemoryPagesDur preference (default is 10 seconds).

Network (packets/s)
Allows defining the maximum number of network packets limit above which an alarm is issued after the time span specified in the Time until alarm (seconds) entry.

The corresponding “monitorsrv” preference is MaxNetworkPackets (default is 30000/s). The time until alarm is controlled by the MaxNetworkPacketsDur preference (default is 1 minute).

Scrolling down, all file system and HELIOS volume limits are displayed (Fig. 4.6).

“File System Limits” shows, for each file system, the minimum free disk space limit defined, and the current free storage space.

Tap on a list entry to change the Min Free Space (MB) setting for the corresponding file system.

In addition, this window lists all shared HELIOS volumes including their Mac and Windows export name.

In the example in Fig. 4.6, the free storage space for each file system on “HELIOS” should not fall short of 100 MB. The currently free disk storage space for the “/” directory is tinted in red because it has fallen below the limit.

4.1.4 Add service

Available services are listed in the chapter 4.3 “IT Monitor observed services”.

Tap on and then on the desired server entry.

Scroll down to the “Server Settings” section and tap on Services.

Tap on to create a new service, or tap on an existing service entry to edit an existing service (Fig. 4.7 left).

Note:

If the service uses a non-default port it is necessary to specify the proper port number in the Host entry field, e.g. helios.de:1234

The Options field allows specifying options for a self-defined script, which are used by that script, e.g. pages=5. However, entries in this field are not used by sample scripts that were automatically installed.

Now the new server entry is scheduled in the “Service List” (see Fig. 4.7 right).

Tap on and then on the desired server entry.

Tap on the service that you wish to remove.

In the “Service Details” window tap on the icon.

The service is immediately removed from the list and the “Service List” overview is displayed (now without the just deleted service).

4.1.5 Set up e-mail list

Each user that is on this list with their e-mail address will receive a notification in case an alarm message is issued by IT Monitor Server.

Tap on and then on the desired server entry.

Scroll down to the “Server Settings” section and tap on Email List to specify one or more e-mail addresses that should be notified in case of an alarm message.

4.2 Using the IT Monitor app

4.2.1 Server status overview

The “Server List” window gives an overview of all servers that have been configured to be handled by the IT Monitor app (Fig. 4.8). The status icon adjacent to the server name can display three different colors:

	(Green)	OK (all services up; no alarms)
	(Yellow)	Cannot connect to host or host is not answering
	(Red)	Failure of the monitored service or other alarms pending

Tap on to refresh the display information.

Tap on a server entry to get a summary of all charts, services, scripts, and messages that are issued by this particular server (Fig. 4.9).

Tap on to return to the “Server List” window.

Note:

By default, all host users with server login credentials are permitted access. However, this might not always be desired. The Users preference (see 8 “Preferences”) allows creating a list of users who are permitted to monitor the server. All other users are not allowed even if they know the correct server password. There is an exception from this rule: “root” and members of the “SysAdm” and “ITMAdm” groups can always log in and can also do administration via their iPhones, i.e. change server settings that affect all users. For example, specifying the CPU load limit from which an alarm should be set.

4.2.2 Charts

Displays the load of CPU, RAM, Paging, Network, Jobs and Users usage on this server (see Fig. 4.10 left).

Tap on to update the charts.

Zoom into a chart:

Rotate the iPhone by 90 degrees to get into the landscape view. In this view, touch the screen with two fingers and slide them apart to “stretch” the chart.

Move a day/week/month/quarter/year forward or backward:

Tap on to move one day back, or to move one day forward.

See charts in detail:

Tap on in the upper right to display the peak values in the monitored period (see “Max” column in Fig. 4.10 right).

A particular day may also be specified in the “Date” section.

All chart filters:

Now	The past half an hour	CPU	CPU usage chart
Day	Current day	RAM	Amount of RAM used
Week	Current week	Paging	Number of Pages/​sec
Month	Current month	Network	Number of Packets/​sec over the net
Quarter	Current quarter	Users	Number of logged-in users
Year	Current year	Jobs	Number of Jobs/​sec

Tap on the buttons (Now … Year) to filter the charts by the desired timespan.

Set the sliders (CPU … Jobs) in the “Details” column to filter the charts by the desired type. By default, all charts are concurrently displayed (Fig. 4.10).

4.2.3 Services

Displays all defined server services (Fig. 4.11). See 4.3 “IT Monitor observed services” for further details on the IT Monitor server supported services.

4.2.4 Action Scripts

Displays all configured action scripts on the server (Fig. 4.12 left). Section 4.4 “Server actions” gives details on the IT Monitor server supported actions. The example below (Fig. 4.12 right) shows the output of the process list action script, where entries highlighted red and orange indicate different warning levels whose thresholds are defined, and can be adjusted, in the script.

4.2.5 Messages

The IT Monitor app filters all messages by their type or time of issue, and sorts them into “Alarm Messages” or “Today”, “Yesterday”, and “This Week”.

The following figure shows the Alarm Messages for the server “HELIOS” (Fig. 4.13 left). If the list is longer than the screen can display, a tap on the lower toolbar scrolls the list down to its end. Likewise, a tap on the status bar (where the time is displayed) makes the list jump to its beginning. A tap on the server name (in our example ) takes the user back to the messages overview.

Displays all messages of the day, beginning at 12 a.m.

Displays all messages of the past day.

Displays all messages of the current week, beginning with Monday at 12 a.m.

Tapping on opens a menu which allows the user to select the sort order (Fig. 4.13 right). Messages can be sorted by either date or name.

If a message is displayed truncated in the messages list, it is larger than the designated space. The whole message is opened by tapping on the corresponding icon (see Fig. 4.14).

Tapping on allows the user to either delete, resolve, accept, or reset the message. In addition, the message text can also be sent by e-mail, using the Open Mail App entry (see Fig. 4.15).

It may also be searched for particular services (e.g. “monitorsrv”):

Enter your search term into the search field which is located above the first message. (The search field becomes visible when tapping on the status bar.)

Matching results are already displayed as the search term (Fig. 4.16 left) is being entered.

If no matches are found, e.g. because there was a typo in the the search term, the list remains empty (Fig. 4.16 right).

Generally, the search is executed in the message title. If a certain content is searched within the message body, an asterisk character (*) that precedes the search text must be used (see Fig. 4.17). An exclamation mark (!) that precedes the search text negates it, i.e. all entries but the negated search text are returned. Asterisk and exclamation mark can also be combined. For example, the search text !*packet lists all content that does not contain the term “packet”.

Note:

Multiple words are treated as a phrase (no quotes required).

The virtual keyboard can be hidden by tapping on .

Single entries can be selected by tapping on them. Tapping on allows the user to choose whether to delete or accept the selected entries, or decide whether a solution for the problem has already been found (Fig. 4.18). A tap on Open Mail App opens an e-mail client program which allows you to send the content of one or more selected messages.

4.3 IT Monitor observed services

The services listed below are supported by the IT Monitor server (the corresponding scripts are stored in “HELIOSDIR/​var/​settings/​IT Monitor/​Services”):

AFP

(User credentials: not required)
Checks if the AFP service is available.

DNS

(User credentials: not required)
Connects to a Domain Name Server and resolves the given fully qualified domain name.

FTP

(User credentials: required)
Performs an FTP login with the given user credentials.

HTTP

(User credentials: not required)
Retrieves the start page from an HTTP server and checks the result status code.

IMAP

(User credentials: optional)
Performs an IMAP login if user credentials are given, otherwise retrieves IMAP capability list.

LDAP

(User credentials: required)
Connects to an LDAP server and performs the “WhoAmI” command.

LPD

(User credentials: not required)
Connects to an LPD server and checks the status of the Hold queue.

MS SQL

(User credentials: not required)
Connects to a Microsoft SQL server and checks its reply.

MySQL

(User credentials: not required)
The check uses the “mysql” command line utility to connect to a MySQL server and retrieves the database overview list.

PING

(User credentials: not required)
Checks if the given host responds to an ICMP ping.

POP3

(User credentials: optional)
Performs a POP3 login if user credentials are given, otherwise checks greeting message.

SMB

(User credentials: not required)
Connects to an SMB/CIFS server, sends a “Negotiate Protocol” request and checks the reply.

SMTP

(User credentials: not required)
Connects to an SMTP server and checks the greeting message.

Note:

“monitorsrv” needs not be installed on the server running the observed services.

Own custom services (see 6.2 “Custom scripts for monitoring services”) can also be set up, which will be available in the “Service Details” window after being copied to the “var/​settings/​IT Monitor/​Services” folder.

4.4 Server actions

A collection of sample action scripts is supplied with IT Monitor Server. Located in “var/​settings/​IT Monitor/​Actions/​Samples”, the scripts are automatically copied to “var/​settings/​IT Monitor/​Actions” during the installation in order to become available in the “Actions” window. Own custom action scripts (see 6.1 “Custom action scripts”) can also be set up, which will be available in the “Actions” window after being copied to “var/​settings/​IT Monitor/​Actions”.

The following server sample actions are included with the HELIOS IT Monitor Server software:

4.4.1 Server process list

Note:

The complete column headers can only be displayed if the iPhone is operated in landscape view mode.

Name

Process List (Fig. 4.19)

Function

Server process listing

Use

The sorting order can be changed by tapping once on the respective column header. A double-tap on the column header zooms and centers the respective column:

PID	Process ID
Command	Process name
CPU%	Processor load
Time	Processing time in seconds since process started
User	Logged-in user who started process
RSS	Resident Set Size; the currently used memory in MB
S	Process status, e.g.:
	S=Sleeping W=Waiting R=Running
	For a complete list see the “ps” manpage of your server OS. The manpage is available by calling man ps in a shell.

Note:

Depending on the limits specified in the “Process List” action script, the CPU% (CPU usage), Time (CPU time), and RSS (amount of used memory) values can appear highlighted in orange (warn level 1) or red (warn level 2). Threshold values can be changed in the “index.pl” file of the action script.

4.4.2 Server users list

Note:

The complete column headers of some scripts can only be displayed if the iPhone is operated in landscape view mode.

Name

Active Users (Fig. 4.20)

Function

Active users and uptime listing

Use

Shows all users that are currently using HELIOS services; also displays the server uptime

User	Logged-in user who started process
Service	HELIOS service the user has logged on to
PID	Process ID
When	Time that the user logged on to the HELIOS service
Address	Address of the host the user has logged on from

4.4.3 Server file browser

Name

File Browser (Fig. 4.21)

Function

Server file listing

Use

Allows listing the server files in a specified folder, and viewing document formats that are supported by iOS

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