Computer Monitor Properties

The Computer Monitor Properties window contains the settings for a Computer Monitor Trigger.

Property Pages

Target

Target

If the Test Method is "Simple Ping," specify the name or IP address of the computer to ping.

If the Test Method is "HTTP Request," specify the URL that adTempus should request. For example:

http://10.10.10.201/testapp.aspx

The Target may contain Job Variables, which will be expanded to resolve the target address.

Test Method

Select the type of test you want to perform:

• Simple Ping. adTempus will ping the computer at the interval you specify. If a response is received, adTempus considers the computer to be alive. If no response is received, adTempus considers the computer to be dead, and triggers the job. Note that adTempus cannot distinguish between a failed computer and a failed network connection. Use the "HTTP Request" method for a better evaluation tool.
• HTTP Request. adTempus requests a specific page from a Web server, and then evaluates the response it receives to decide whether to trigger the job. See Using adTempus to Monitor Your Web Application for more information.

Response Evaluation

These options apply only when you have selected the "HTTP Request" test method, and determine how adTempus should evaluate the reply it receives from the target computer.

• Trigger if response matches. If the response matches the specified text, the job will be triggered.
• Trigger if response does not match. If the response does not match the specified text, the job will be triggered.
• Use a script to evaluate the response. adTempus will run the script you specify. Information about the response will be passed to the script using the Parameters object and the Job Variables collection. Your script then evaluates the response and returns True if the response represents a failure or False if it represents success.

When you specify text for adTempus to match, adTempus looks for that text anywhere within the response it receives. For example, if you specify that the job should trigger if the response does not match Application Status: OK, adTempus will look for the string Application Status: OK anywhere within the response, and trigger if it does not find it.

Use regular expressions

If this option is checked, the match text you enter is treated as a regular expression. If a match for that regular expression is found anywhere within the event message, the condition is satisfied.

Test Interval

These options determine how often adTempus will test the server:

• Test every X minutes
• Wait for a reply for Y seconds
• Trigger after Z minutes

The options work together as follows:

• Every X minutes, adTempus will send a ping or HTTP request to the target computer
• adTempus will wait up to Y seconds to receive a response from the target.
  
  • If no response is received, it considers the target to be dead.
  • If a response is received, it checks the other criteria to see if the target should be considered alive.
• If the target is dead, adTempus will continue checking every X minutes until Z minutes have elapsed since the first failure. If no valid response has been received after Z minutes, the job will be triggered.

If you want the job to be triggered the first time a failure is detected, set Z to be <= X.

Trigger at test interval until successful response received

If this option is checked, after adTempus first triggers the job it will continue to trigger the job at the test interval until the target is found to be alive.

If this option is not checked, adTempus will trigger the job only once per failure (that is, it will not trigger the job again unless the target is restored and then fails again).

Trigger again when successful response received

If this option is checked, adTempus will trigger the job again when a successful response is received from the target.

This option is useful if you are using the trigger to send a notification message to someone when the target fails. If this option is checked, a message would be sent when the target fails, and another sent when the target is restored.

The trigger sets a Job Variable named "ComputerMonitor.Action" (see below) that indicates whether the job is being triggered because the target failed or because it was restored. You can test this variable using a Script Condition to determine which steps of your job to run depending on the action.

For example, Step 1 could use a Script Condition so that it only executes if the Action variable is ConnectionFailed. Step 1 therefore would be run when the target computer fails.

Step 2 could use a Script Condition so that it only executes if the Action variable is ConnectionRestored. Step 2 therefore would be run when the target computer was restored.

Additional Options

Identity

Specify the credentials that will be used for the connection to the target computer.

• If you are using a simple ping test, or requesting a page from a Web site that does not require authentication, check the The connection can be made without authentication... option.
• If you are requesting a page from a Web site that requires authentication,
  
  • Check the The connection can be made without authentication... option if the Web server accepts Windows authentication and the user whose account is being used to run the job has permission to request the target Web page.
  • Otherwise, you need to specify a user ID and password for adTempus to use when connecting to the target server. Enter the user ID to select an existing Credential Profile or to create a new one.

Job Variables

The Computer Monitor Trigger sets the following Job Variables, which can be used by a selection script or by other scripts or notification messages in the job.

Parameter Name	Description
ComputerMonitor.ConnectionStatusCode	A code indicating the result of the connection attempt.
ComputerMonitor.Action	A string indicating whether the trigger is firing because the connection has been broken or because it has been restored: "ConnectionFailed": No connection could be made to the server, or it returned an invalid response. "ConnectionRestored": The connection has been restored, or the server is now returning a good response.
ComputerMonitor.FailureCount	If ComputerMonitor.Action is ConnectionFailed, FailureCount Indicates the number of consecutive unsuccessful responses that have been received since the last successful response. If ComputerMonitor.Action is ConnectionRestored, FailureCount Indicates the number of consecutive unsuccessful responses that were received before the connection was restored. You can use this parameter to escalate your responses. For example, you could configure your job to send a warning message to certain users after the connection has been down for 5 minutes, and send a more urgent message if the connection is still down after 20 minutes.
ComputerMonitor.Target	The Target that the trigger is trying to connect to.
ComputerMonitor.ErrorMessage	The most recent error message for the connection.
ComputerMonitor.LastSuccessTime	The date/time (in UTC) of the last success response from the server.