Agent monitors are service monitors that require an agent to be installed on the monitored system. An agent is software that collects performance information from the system and transmits that information to the Monitoring Station. Using the information gathered by an agent, Uptime Infrastructure Monitor can alert users to changes in an environment based on defined thresholds.

File System Capacity

The File System Capacity monitor checks the amount of available space on a host's file system, and then compares the data to configured warning and critical thresholds. Thresholds can be based on percent free or used, or space free or used (in Megabytes, Gigabytes, or Terabytes).

By default, the service monitor uses global thresholds, which it applies to all local drives on Windows systems, or all local file systems on UNIX and Linux systems (for example, /var, /export, /usr). However, you can fine-tune how file systems are monitored using the following options:

• Use regular expressions to exclude one or more file systems from the list of default file systems.
• Use regular expressions to create special cases where the global thresholds are replaced with custom thresholds on one or more mount points.
• Exclude all file systems from capacity monitoring except for those locations listed as special cases.
• Disable global thresholds and alert on those defined for each special case.
• Use a combination of exclusions and special cases to augment the list of default file systems.

When using combinations to fine-tune file system monitoring, note that exclusions override the default file systems, and special cases override the default file systems and exclusions: if the same file system is added as a special case, and also matches a pattern to be excluded, it is still monitored for capacity.

Configuring File System Capacity Monitor

Whether you want to set up a basic capacity monitor or create specific usage thresholds for 100 file systems, use the following common steps:

1. Complete the monitor information fields.
   To learn how to configure monitor information fields, see Monitor Identification.
2. Specify values for the Warning and Critical Response Time thresholds.
   For more information, see Response Time.
   To save the data from the thresholds for graphing or reporting, click the Save for Graphing checkbox.
3. Complete the following settings:
   
   • Timing Settings (see Adding Monitor Timing Settings Information for more information)
   • Alert Settings (see Monitor Alert Settings for more information)
   • Monitoring Period (see Monitor Timing Settings for more information)
   • Alert Profile (see Alert Profiles for more information)
   • Action Profile (see Action Profiles for more information)
4. Configure the options in the File System Capacity Settings section. Refer to the section that applies.

To set a common file system capacity check on local file systems, do the following:

1. In the Global Settings section, complete the following fields:
   • Global Warning Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a warning. This threshold can be an actual amount (in MB, GB, or TB), or percentage of disk space that is used or is free.
   • Global Critical Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a critical alert, whether it is an actual amount, or percentage of disk space used or free.
2. Ensure the Exclude None option is selected.
   Using this option ensures global thresholds are used in conjunction with special cases.
3. Click Finish.

To create one or more exclusions from a common capacity check on local file systems, do the following:

1. In the Global Settings section, complete the following fields:
   • Global Warning Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a warning. This threshold can be an actual amount (in MB, GB, or TB), or percentage of disk space that is used or is free.
   • Global Critical Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a critical alert, whether it is an actual amount, or percentage of disk space used or free.
2. Select the Exclude File Systems Matching these Patterns option.
3. In the New Pattern box, use a regular expression to exclude specific mount points on the disk from the capacity calculations.
   For example, enter D: (for Windows) or /usr (for Linux or UNIX) to ignore that drive or directory. Enter ^/u.* to ignore all mount points that begin with /u.
4. Click the icon to add the regular expression to the Selected Patterns list.
5. Optionally continue to add patterns until all file system exclusions are accounted for.
6. Click Finish.

To create custom threshold special cases for a common capacity check on local file systems, do the following:

1. In the Global Settings section, complete the following fields:
   • Global Warning Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a warning. This threshold can be an actual amount (in MB, GB, or TB), or percentage of disk space that is used or is free.
   • Global Critical Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a critical alert, whether it is an actual amount, or percentage of disk space used or free.
2. Ensure the Exclude None option is selected.
   Using this option ensures global thresholds are used in conjunction with special cases.
3. For Special Case File Systems, indicate mount points among the local file systems, then create custom thresholds for them:
   
   • Use a regular expression to indicate the Mount Point among the local file systems. 
   • Create a Warning Level threshold for a Warning Type: a percentage or amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a warning.
   • Create a Critical Level threshold for a Critical Type: a percentage or actual amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a critical alert.
   Any thresholds defined as special cases replace any Global Settings thresholds, should they apply.
4. Optionally click the icon to add mount points until all file systems you wish to add are accounted for.
5. Click Finish.

To monitor only specific file systems for capacity, do the following:

1. Select the Exclude All Except Special Cases option.
   Using this option ignores the default list of local file systems from capacity monitoring.
2. For Special Case File Systems, include specific mount points you would like to monitor:
   • Use a regular expression to indicate the Mount Point among the local file systems.
   • Create a Warning Level threshold for a Warning Type: a percentage or amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a warning.
   • Create a Critical Level threshold for a Critical Type: a percentage or actual amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a critical alert.
3. Optionally click the icon to add mount points until all file systems you wish to add are accounted for.
4. Click Finish.

To monitor local file systems for capacity with some exceptions and special cases, do the following:

1. In the Global Settings section, complete the following fields:
   • Global Warning Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a warning. This threshold can be an actual amount (in MB, GB, or TB), or percentage of disk space that is used or is free.
   • Global Critical Threshold
     Create a threshold that generates a critical alert, whether it is an actual amount, or percentage of disk space used or free.
2. Select the Exclude File Systems Matching these Patterns option.
3. In the New Pattern box, use a regular expression to exclude specific mount points on the disk from the capacity calculations.
   For example, enter D: (for Windows) or /usr (for Linux or UNIX) to ignore that drive or directory. Enter ^/u.* to ignore all mount points that begin with /u.
4. Click the icon to add the regular expression to the Selected Patterns list.
5. Optionally continue to add patterns until all file system exclusions are accounted for.
6. For Special Case File Systems, indicate mount points among the local file systems, then create custom thresholds for them:
   
   • Use a regular expression to indicate the Mount Point among the local file systems. 
   • Create a Warning Level threshold for a Warning Type: a percentage or amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a warning.
   • Create a Critical Level threshold for a Critical Type: a percentage or actual amount of space used or free on the mount point that, when exceeded, generates a critical alert.
   Any thresholds defined as special cases replace any Global Settings thresholds, should they apply.
7. Optionally click the icon to add mount points until all file systems you wish to add are accounted for.
8. Click Finish.

Performance Check

The Performance check monitor provides a wide variety of metrics with which to measure system performance:

• percentage of CPU time used (user, system, waiting for IO, or total)
• number of processes in the run queue, per CPU
• percentage of memory used
• percentage of available swap space

• disk I/O checks including percentage of time in a busy state, number of queued requests, transfers, or bytes per second, for individual disks or averaged across all disks

  When the Disk I/O Check threshold is exceeded, the Performance Check monitor status displays a message such as, "Disk I/O Check: % Busy >= 95 for 0 (100.0)." The "for 0" section of the message refers to the specific disk name or ID that exceeded the threshold and appears only when the Individual Disks option is selected for the Disk I/O Check portion of the monitor. When Average across all disks is selected, the threshold is compared against the average Disk I/O for all disks, and therefore the "for 0" section of the message does not appear.

• network I/O rate checks including send and receive rates, for an individual interface or averaged across all interfaces
• network error counts including the number of collisions, retransmits, and inbound or outbound errors, for any individual interface or averaged across all interfaces
• process-specific CPU usage (reported by the ps utility)
• process-specific memory usage (reported by the ps utility)

Process Count Check

The Process Count monitor measures the number of identical processes that are running on a system. If there is more than one instance of a process running, the check returns an OK status. If the process is not running, the check returns a Critical status.