Help Admin Server Monitor Resource Check Profile

Resource Check Profiles

Site24x7 Server Monitoring includes monitoring of internal resources like files, event logs, syslogs, and directories on a server by creating them as Resource Checks. To start monitoring these resources, first create a resource check profile by grouping different resource checks together. A single resource check profile can be associated to multiple number of server monitors.

Video

Create a Resource Check Profile

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile.
  2. Select the type of check to be added - URL check, Port check, File checks, Directory checks, Windows Event Logs, and Linux Syslogs.
  3. Provide a Profile Name for identification purposes.
  4. Associate the Server Monitor(s) to which you would like to add these checks. 
  5. Depending on the type of check, fill in the required details. For example, to add a file access check, specify the file name and absolute path of the directory. 
  6. Save your changes.

Edit a Resource Check Profile

  1.  Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile.
  2.  Click on an existing profile and the configured check(s) to make the required changes. Save your profile.

Delete a Resource Check Profile

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile.
  2. Click on an existing profile. Under Configured Checks, select the check(s) to be deleted. Click Delete and Save your profile.
A profile that is associated with a server monitor cannot be deleted, it can only be edited. Being an irreversible action, caution must be taken before deleting the profile.

Supported Resource Checks based on the OS Platform

OS Platform  URL Checks Port Checks File Checks Directory Checks Event Logs Syslog
Windows Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Linux Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
FreeBSD Yes Yes No No No Yes
OS X Yes  Yes No No No No
Licensing Tip: Know the number of resource checks that can be added to a resource check profile.

URL Check

Create a URL check to monitor the availability of local URLs on a server. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > URL Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Enter the URL to be monitored. Examples include http://I27.0.0.1:8080; http://localhost; http://localhost/sample; http://$$HOSTNAME$$:8080; http://$$IP$$
  4. Save your changes.
  • The URL value must begin with either http:// or https://. This can be followed by the host name and optionally, the port [https://host:8080]. The host name can be given as localhost or the machine name can be specified.
  • Both root and non-root URLs are supported.
  • The hostname can be denoted as $$HOSTNAME$$ and the IP address can be denoted as $$IP$$ to apply the same profile to multiple server monitors. Accordingly, the server hostname and IP address will be replaced.
  • Duplicate URLs [https://$$IP$$:8444] cannot be added to the same resource check profile.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the configured URL goes DOWN, the resource check will be marked as DOWN and the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Port Check

Create a port check to monitor the ports in a server. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Port Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Port Number to be monitored. The ports can range from 0 to 65535. Duplicate ports cannot be added to the same resource check profile.
  4. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the configured port goes DOWN, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the port connection becomes active again. 

File Checks

These include a set of checks to know who has accessed specific files, if permissions to files have been modified, if the size of a file has increased or reached a set threshold and more. 

Access Check

Create a file access check to monitor a specific file(s) and receive an alert whenever the file is accessed. If file access check is applied to a file/directory that is already being monitored with a Content Check or Size Check, you will be notified based on your poll interval setting (either one minute or five minutes) once they are accessed.

To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > File Checks > Access Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.  
  4. Provide the File Name. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having names with a similar pattern.
  5. Save your changes.
While configuring the file access check for Windows servers, ensure the Last Access Time Stamp is enabled. To enable it, update the key value to zero and then restart the server. Learn more. 

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the configured file is accessed, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Permissions Check

Create a file permissions check to know when the permissions to a file are modified. To configure this check, please follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > File Checks > Permissions Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.  
  4. Provide the File Name. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having names with a similar pattern.
  5. Save your changes. 

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the permissions to a file are modified, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Size Check

Create a file size check to monitor the size of a file and be alerted when it exceeds the given threshold value. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > File Checks > Size Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes.
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux. 
  4. Provide the File Name. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having names with a similar pattern.
  5. Enter the threshold value for the file size as a whole number and select the appropriate unit (KB, MB, or GB). 
  6. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the file size exceeds the given threshold value, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection. 

Last Modified Check

Create a last modified check for your files to be alerted when a file is modified/not modified by a user for more than a set period of time. To configure this check, please follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > File Checks > Last Modified Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes.
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux. 
  4. Provide the File Name. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having names with a similar pattern.
  5. Use the toggle to set your alerting preferences - to be alerted when the file is modified or to be alerted when the file is not modified for a particular period of time. If you prefer to be alerted if a file is not modified for a particular period of time, mention the time period in minutes. 

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When there is a change in the file status, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Content Check

Create a content check to search particular pieces of content in a file. In this check, while searching for the defined search patterns in a file, the last scanned position is noted. The subsequent scan starts from the previously scanned position. Only when there is an update to the resource check profile, the scan will start from the very first position.

To configure this check, please follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > File Checks > Content Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique CheckName for identification purposes.
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux. 
  4. Provide the File Name. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having names with a similar pattern.
  5. Mention a maximum of three search patterns for every content check created. Define the search pattern, the maximum number of times the pattern should occur in the content, and set the Case Sensitive parameter. Click on Add String to add more search patterns. This supports regular expressions to help oversee multiple files having similar content.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. Once the defined search string exceeds the maximum occurrence level configured, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Directory Checks

These include a set of checks to monitor files, subdirectories in a directory, to know who has accessed specific files, if the size of a directory has increased or reached a set threshold, and more. 

Size Check

Create a directory size check to monitor the size of directories in a server and be alerted when it exceeds the configured threshold value. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Directory Checks > Size Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.
  4. Enter the threshold value for the directory size as a whole number and select the appropriate unit (KB, MB, or GB). 
  5. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the directory size exceeds the given threshold value, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Subdirectory Added & Subdirectory Deleted 

Create a subdirectory added/deleted check to know when a subdirectory is added/deleted within a directory. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Directory Checks > Subdirectory Added/Subdirectory Deleted.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.
  4. Use the toggle to set your alert preferences: whether to be alerted if any subdirectory is added/deleted, or monitor only a particular subdirectory. If its the latter, then provide the subdirectory name (supports regular expressions).
  5. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When any/a particular subdirectory is added/deleted, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

File Added & File Deleted

Create a file added/deleted check to monitor files within a directory. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Directory Checks > File Added/File Deleted.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.
  4. Use the toggle to set your alert preferences: whether to be alerted if any file is added/deleted, or monitor only a particular file. If its the latter, then provide the file name (supports regular expressions).
  5. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When any/a particular file is added/deleted, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Access Check

Create a directory access check to monitor a directory and be notified when the directory is accessed. If directory access check is applied to a file/directory that is already being monitored with a Content Check or Size Check, you will be notified based on your poll interval setting (either one minute or five minutes) once they are accessed.

To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Directory Checks > Access Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes.
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.
  4. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the specified directory is accessed, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Permissions Check

Create a directory permissions check to know when the permissions to a directory are modified. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Directory Checks > Permissions Check.
  2. In addition to giving a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Specify the Absolute Path of the Directory. When mentioning the absolute path of the directory, use either '\' for Windows or '/' for Linux. Example: D:\folder\subfolder\ for Windows or /usr/lib/myfolder/ for Linux.  
  4. Save your changes. 

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the permissions to the specified directory are modified, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Log Checks - Windows Event Logs & Linux Syslogs

Create log checks for your Windows and Linux servers to filter the server logs and search for any particular event(s). Watch a quick tutorial video to set this up. 

Windows Event Logs

Create Windows event log check to monitor specific events across all Windows servers. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Log Checks > Windows Event Logs.
  2. In addition to providing a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Provide an appropriate Event Log Name. To get the correct event log name, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > double-click on the event > Event Properties > Log Name.
      
  4. Select the Event Severity level(s) from the drop-down.
  5. Enter the Event ID and Source of the application that logs a particular event. To get the right source, click on the (Event Log ID) > Details > System > Provider > [Name].
  6. Under Advanced Configuration, mention the task Category for the log, User name that initiated the source application, Keywords to be searched for in the event log message(s) (supports regular expressions), and the maximum Number of Occurrences allowed for that particular event log(s).
    The maximum number of occurrences allowed is 45 and the maximum time period that can be set is 45 seconds.
  7. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the configured event log occurs, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection.

Linux Syslogs

Create Linux syslogs check to monitor specific logs across Linux servers. To configure this check, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Admin > Server Monitor > Resource Check Profile > Create Resource Check Profile > Log Checks > Syslogs.
  2. In addition to providing a profile name and associating server monitor(s), provide a unique Check Name for identification purposes. 
  3. Select one or more Event Facility and Event Severity levels from the drop-down. 
  4. Mention the Source of the application. The source and name of the application are the same. To get the source, go to /var/log/syslog and copy-paste the source/name of the application that generates the system log.
    For example: kernel, CRON, NetworkManager
  5. Under Advanced Configuration, specify Keywords to be searched for in the log message(s) (supports regular expressions) and the maximum Number of Occurrences of that particular log.
  6. Save your changes.

Alerting Mechanism:

Ensure the option Alert when a resource check fails is set to Yes in the associated server's threshold profile to trigger a TROUBLE alert for the configured check. When the configured log occurs, the status of the associated server monitor(s) will be changed to TROUBLE till the next data collection. To avoid false alerts, the agent will not send alerts if an alert has already been triggered in the past one minute. 

Regular Expressions

A regular expression (RegEx) is a special string of text used to describe a search pattern. In addition to the plain text, regular expressions have special characters with special functions for matching string patterns (names).

Regular expressions are an extension to wildcards. [*] is a popular wildcard used to denote any text. For instance, you can search for all .txt files in a file manager with the wildcard notation *.txt . A RegEx for a similar search would look something like .*\.txt 
where,
the first '.' matches any character
'*' represents that the preceding symbol or group can occur zero or more times
'\.' denotes the character '.' and 
'txt' denotes the string txt

Some common RegEx notations are*:

^ Start of line
$ End of line
. Matches any character
\d Matched digits 0-9
\s Matches whitespace
\S Matches non whitespace
[A-Z] Matches any capital alphabet. [] is used to represent a set.
[a-z] Matches any small alphabet
* Quantifier - Matches the preceeding group 0 to any number of times.
+ Quantifier - Matches the preceeding group 1 to any number of times.
(.*) Capturing group that matches any character 0 to any number of times.
| Or
^([A-Z]*[a-z]*)$ Capturing group to match a string with all capital letters or all small letters
^(www\.site24x7\.com)$ Matches www.site24x7.com. \ is an escape symbol. Anything following it is matched, even if it is a special symbol.

*Includes only basic samples of regular expressions. It is recommended to test the RegEx before using it to configure a resource check.

View History of the Configured Resource Checks

You can view the changes that happened over different time periods for each of your resource checks configured. Follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to Site24x7 and go to Server > Server Monitor > Servers > click on the associated server monitor > Checks.
  2. Click on View History beside the check for which you would like to view the list of changes.
  3. Choose the time period from the drop-down and view changes that have been made for that period of time.

Security

  • Only a Read permission is required to monitor the files, directories, and logs.
  • Only the meta data is accessed to monitor these resources, and not the entire content.* 
  • For event logs and syslogs, data is not stored anywhere, but only taken from the client servers and presented in the web client.

*An exception is Content Check, where the entire content in the file/directory is accessed, with a Read-Only permission.

Read more about agent security.

Licensing

The total number of resource checks that can be added to a single resource check profile is 25. However, any number of resource check profiles can be added to a Site24x7 account.

Troubleshooting Tips

Related Articles

Was this document helpful?
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. We’ll use your feedback to improve our online help resources.

Help Admin Server Monitor Resource Check Profile