File Directory monitor

The File Directory monitor detects modifications to a directory structure and alerts you when the structure changes beyond a predetermined limit. The monitor tests the directory properties to determine whether the file exists, files were added or removed from a directory, the directory size changed, or changes were applied to the sub-directories.

Use this monitor to:

• Monitor allotted storage space in a user directory
• Detect whether critical files were removed from a directory
• Ensure that all required backups are completed
• Monitor files that could potentially grow large enough to impact disk space
• Monitor directories containing files that are likely to grow and multiple at a rapid rate

The monitor tests the structure and content of a directory at periodic intervals to detect any changes outside your predetermined limits. When a change occurs, the Monitor can trigger a:

• Failure Notification alert
• Information alert
• A Failure Notification and Information alert

Configuring Information alerts is an optional process. You can configure the monitor to send an Information alert but remain in an Up state, even if a change is detected by separating Information alerts from monitoring actions and Failure Notifications. This process gives you maximum flexibility to configure each directory monitor to meet your specific needs for all tested directories.

Create a File Directory monitor

1. Click Devices in the toolbar.
2. Locate and click the targeted device you want to monitor.

3. In the toolbar, click Add > Add New Monitor.

4. In the Select Monitor menu, File Directory.

5. Complete the fields in the Identification section.

   

   1. Under Identification, enter a monitor name using up to 64 characters.

      This name will appear in the Monitors List, Monitor Status, Logs pages, and your reports.

      You can change this name later, if necessary. ipMonitor does not use this field to internally identify this monitor.

   2. Select Enabled to enable the monitor.

      When enabled, the monitor tests the specified resource using the settings you enter under Test Parameters. You can disable the monitor later if required.

   3. (Optional) Select Store Monitor Statistics for Recent Activity and Historical Reports to enable this functionality.

6. Complete the fields in the Test Parameters section.

   

   1. In the Directory field, enter the Local or UNC path to the file.

      An example UNC path would be \\ServerName\ShareName.

      An example of a local path would be C:\\Windows\.

   2. (Optional) Select a credential for monitoring. When selected, ipMonitor uses the credential account and password information to authenticate to the target machine and test the status of the drive or share.

   3. Click the Filter Files drop-down menu and select an option.

      Select All Files to analyze all files in the targeted directory.

      Select Prefix match to enter a number or text string in the adjacent field. ipMonitor matches this string with files with the same base name beginning with the same value.

      Select Suffix match to enter a suffix string in the adjacent field. For example, exe, zip, log, and so on. ipMonitor matches this string to the files using your chosen suffix.

      Select RegEx match to enter a regular expression in the adjacent field. ipMonitor matches the regular expression to files matching this expression.

   4. (Optional) Select the Include subdirectories checkbox to analyze all subdirectory files. Otherwise, ipMonitor ignores all changes that occur in the subdirectories.

7. Complete the fields and options in the Analysis of Test Results section.

   

   1. Click the drop-down menu next to a selection option and choose a boolean operator.
   2. Select the appropriate options for each targeted test result.
   3. (Optional) Click Sample to review a sample test result.

8. Under Timing, configure the fields for the monitor testing states.

   

   1. In the Maximum Test Duration field, enter the maximum test duration rate (in seconds) that the monitor times out before the test is considered a failure.

   2. In the remaining fields, enter the number of second between each test while the monitor is in an OK state (Up), a failed state while alerts are processed (Down), and a failed state and the maximum number of alerts have been processed (Lost).

      In the Lost state, no additional failure alerts are processed. However, a recovery notification is sent if the monitor recovers.

9. Enter the amount of time delay for each monitor testing state. For example, you may choose to intensify testing when a monitor enters a Warn state and reduce testing when the monitor enters a Lost state.

10. Under Notification Control, complete the fields to determine how many test failures must occur before an alert is sent.

    

    1. Enter the number of test failures that occur for each alert before ipMonitor generates an alert for the monitor. The default option is 3.

    2. Enter the maximum number of alerts to send before the monitor enters a Lost state.

       The monitor must be assigned to a notification alert to generate an action.

11. Under Recovery Parameters, complete the fields to indicate the corrective action used to automatically restore a resource using the External Process Recovery, Reboot Server Recovery, or Restart Service Recovery action.

    

    1. Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), NetBIOS, or IP Address of the machine hosting the service that needs a restart or the machine that needs a restart. You can also click Browse to locate and select the machine.
    2. Select the set of credentials used by the recovery alert. You can select a specific credential to execute recovery alerts that require access to restricted resources, such as Reboot Server, Restart Service, or External Process.
    3. Select the list of services to restart on the target machine specified in the FQDN/NetBIOS/IP Address field. This field is only required for the Restart Service alert. If a service has dependencies, select all dependent services.
12. Click OK.