An alert is triggered whenever Netoscope is unable to connect to the corresponding Internet service and the number of failures reaches the number of attempts set in the item's properties dialog box.
This section allows you to define the tasks that will be carried out when alerts occur. Netoscope can be configured to perform either the same global alert sequence for all items, or a different local sequence for each item.
COMMANDS
Mode:
- Use the same global settings for all items: Use global settings.
When this option is selected, global settings are displayed.
- Use different local settings for each item: Use local setting.
When this option is selected, the settings of the currently selected item are displayed.
Visual Notification:
- Show the application window: Check this box to show the application window.
- Show a message box: Check this box to display a message box.
The message is dismissed automatically when all the connections are restored.
Audio Notification:
- Play this sound file: Play the specified sound file.
- Repeatedly: Repeat the sound indefinitely.
- <text field>: Specify a sound file to play, such as tada.wav.
- <open icon>: Browse for a sound file.
Several sound files can be found in the "Media" subdirectory of the Windows directory.
- Test: Play the selected sound.
Before performing this operation, the sound file name is scanned for placeholders.
Please refer to the related paragraph below for more information on this powerful feature.
Batch Notification:
- Open this file / Execute this command: Targeted command or file.
- Repeatedly: Repeat the command after each connection failure following an alert.
If you wish to execute several files, create a batch file containing all of the files
you want to execute.
- <text field>: Specify the file to open or command to execute.
- <open icon>: Browse for a program file.
- Test: Open the file.
Before performing this operation, the command or file name is scanned for placeholders.
Please refer to the related paragraph below for more information on this powerful feature.
E-mail Notification:
- Send when an alert begins: Send an e-mail message indicating that an alert has occurred.
- Send when an alert ends: Send an e-mail message indicating that an alert is over.
The e-mail feature can be configured and tested in the E-mail section.
PLACEHOLDERS
There are several notification events in Netoscope that are text based such as the batch file name, sound file name, and e-mail components. For these events, you can use placeholders to specify where you want certain context-based pieces of information to be placed within the text. Before the text is used, it is scanned and placeholders are replaced by the appropriate information pertaining to the failed service.
The format of a placeholder is the percent symbol (%) followed by one of the letters listed below.
c: Local computer name.
d: Local date.
D: UTC date.
e: Error number.
E: Error description.
h: Host name.
H: Host description.
p: Port number.
P: Port description.
t: Local time.
T: UTC time.
s: Status yielding "0" if the service is down or "1" otherwise.
S: Status yielding "KO" if the service is down or "OK" otherwise.
If a string includes "%" characters for other purposes, you must duplicate them.
For example, "%h is 100%% down" is translated into "mycompany.com is 100% down".
The use of placeholders is illustrated in the examples found in this and the e-mail sections.
TIPS
- In addition to the aforementioned notifications, the application icon located in the system tray will also reflect specific states.
- Set the master and the wave output volumes of your computer to the highest setting in order to hear the sound alerts when you are not near your computer.
- The sound alert is automatically interrupted when all failures have been resolved.
EXAMPLES
(A) An obscure condition is causing your NT web service to stop from time to time, and you want Netoscope to monitor this service and restart it whenever it goes down. Note that the following instructions apply when Netoscope is installed on the server running the service.
1- Select the targeted service.
2- Select local settings alert mode.
3- Check the "Execute this command" control in the batch section.
4- Enter the following text in the text box:
net start "World Wide Web Publishing Service"
OR
net start "w3svc"
The "net" command is used to start and stop NT services. You can look up service names in the NT Services Control Panel applet. See Windows help for more information about the "net" command.
(B) This example illustrates the use of field codes for the purpose of passing the server name as a parameter to the batch process. The following settings instruct Netoscope to ping services that trigger an alert.
1- Select global settings alert mode.
2- Check the "Execute this command" control in the batch section.
