Key Concepts: Plugins, Device Properties, and Responses
Whenever you add a Device that you want to monitor to Serio IT Service View, you will be asked to configure three key pieces of information about the Device: the Plugin to use, the Device Properties, and the Responses.
Plugins
A Plugin is a module that enables Serio IT Service View to monitor particular performance characteristics of network Devices.
Serio IT Service View comes packaged with a number of Plugins. For example, the 'Windows 2003/2008 Server' Plugin allows you monitor different performance characteristics of Windows 2003/2008 Servers, such as free RAM, disk space, processor utilisation, etc. The 'Ping' Plugin allows you to monitor any Device with an IP address to check that it is active and can respond to Pings.
You can even write your own custom Plugins using the SerioScript Language to define how Serio IT Service View should monitor your preferred performance characteristics for the Devices you are interested in (see Creating Plugins to Monitor New Types of Device).
It's not always necessary to use a Plugin to monitor a Device. For example, if you just want to Serio IT Service View to respond when the Device sends an SNMP Trap, you don't need a Plugin to do that (see Monitoring SNMP Traps).
Device Properties
Device Properties allow you to configure how Serio IT Service View will monitor a Device. The Device Properties available vary depending on the Plugin you are using.
For example, if you are using the 'Windows 2003/2008 Server' Plugin, you have Device Properties to specify acceptable threshold values such as Minimum Free RAM, or Minimum Free Disk Space. You can also use the Device Properties to specify a list of Window Services that you expect to be running at all times.
Other Plugins also offer Device Properties related to the performance characteristics that they monitor. For example, the 'Exchange 2003 Server' Plugin lets you specify the maximum acceptable number of emails queued to send, while the 'Web Site Monitoring' Plugin allows you to specify the maximum acceptable response time for web pages.
You may also be able to control other behaviours through Device Properties, such as whether or not Serio IT Service View should log performance data to file.
Responses
Responses tell Serio IT Service View what to do when it detects a problem.
The Responses available depend on the Plugin you are using and are often related to Device Properties. For example, the 'Windows 2003/2008 Server' Plugin includes such Responses as 'On Low Memory' (triggered when the the available RAM on the Windows Server falls below the threshold specified in the Device Properties) and 'On Service Down' (triggered when one of the Windows Services you are monitoring on the Windows Server is not running).
When a Response is triggered, you can define what action Serio IT Service View should take. Actions can include sending an email, running a program, rebooting a PC or restarting a Windows Service.
