SMA Resource Monitor Wizards

Theme: Configure
Who Is It For? System Administrator, Automation Engineer

What Is It?

The SMA Resource Monitor user interface provides wizards within the Add and Edit functions for all monitor types and Action Groups. A step pane on the left side of the screen contains the names of each step in the wizard.

Start an Add Wizard

To start an Add Wizard, complete the following steps:

1. Select the specific tab — File Monitors, Counter Monitors, Service Monitors, Process Monitors, or Action Groups — for the monitor type to add.
2. Select Add.

Start an Edit Wizard

To start an Edit Wizard, complete the following steps:

1. Select the specific tab — File Monitors, Counter Monitors, Service Monitors, Process Monitors, or Action Groups — for the type of item to edit.
2. Select the gray box to the left of the row for the specific monitor type or Action Group item that you want to edit, then select Edit.

When the Add or Edit function is selected, a series of wizard screens guides you through adding or editing parameters and actions for the monitor. Steps not currently in use appear in Blue. The step currently in use appears in Red.

Wizard Navigation

The wizard screens contain the following navigation buttons:

• Back: Go back one step in the wizard (does not appear on the first step since there are no previous steps).
• Next: Go to the next step in the wizard (does not appear on the Finalize step since there are no later steps).
• Cancel: A confirm cancellation message displays asking whether to close the wizard without saving changes. Selecting Yes closes the wizard without saving changes. Selecting No returns you to the same page.
• Finish: Displays only on the Finalize page in place of the Next button. Selecting Finish creates the monitor or action group and closes the wizard.

Monitor Wizard Screens

The information in this section describes the wizard screen details for all monitor types.

First Screen: Enter Monitor Name

• Monitor Name (Required): Defines the name of the Monitor as it will appear on the main screen of the SMA Resource Monitor (maximum characters: 60). The following values are invalid for the monitor name: \ (backslash), / (forward slash), : (colon), * (asterisk), ? (question mark), " (quotes), < (less than), > (greater than), | (pipe)
• Documentation: Provides a place to document monitor information
• Network Share: For File Monitors, determines if the SMA Resource Monitor polls the directory to detect the file. If the option is unselected, SMA Resource Monitor uses Windows alerts to optimize performance. If the option is selected, SMA Resource Monitor polls the directory. Enable this option to monitor files on mapped drives.
  • Poll Interval: Defines the seconds between polling attempts for the Network Share setting.
    • Minimum Value: 1
    • Maximum Value: 86400
    • When setting this value, determine the amount of time within which the file should be acted upon.
    • When one SMA Resource Monitor must monitor high volumes of Network share files, stagger this value and set the highest values tolerated for the environment.
    • Because the SMA Resource Monitor creates one thread for every file it watches, the more often checking is performed, the more resources are required of the machine the SMA Resource Monitor is running on.
• Process Offline Changes: Determines if the SMA Resource Monitor processes file events (e.g., creation, deletion, or modification of files) when the service is down.

Second Screen: Monitor Parameters

Depending on the type of monitor being added or edited, the Monitor Parameters step contains different details.

• Auto-Disable and Auto Re-Enable Behavior
• File Monitor Parameters
• Counter Monitor Parameters
• Service Monitor Parameters
• Process Monitor Parameters

Auto-Disable and Auto Re-Enable Behavior

When SMA Resource Monitor automatically deactivates a Counter, Service, or Process Monitor, it unselects the "Active" option for that monitor on the respective summary tab of the main SMA Resource Monitor screen. To automatically re-enable the monitor, configure one or more of the Auto Re-Enable Trigger settings.

If auto re-enable is configured, when SMA Resource Monitor automatically deactivates a monitor, it disables the trigger, but keeps monitoring for the re-enabling of the trigger and the "Active" option for the monitor in the respective summary tab continues to show selected. To manually enable the trigger again, unselect then select the "Active" option on the respective summary tab of the main SMA Resource Monitor screen.

File Monitor Parameters

• File Name (Required): Defines the full path and file name to be monitored. Wildcards are supported to indicate all files in a path or all files of an extension type. UNC paths are also supported. The following values are invalid for the file name: \ (backslash), / (forward slash), : (colon), * (asterisk), ? (question mark), " (quotes), < (less than), > (greater than), | (pipe).
• File State: Defines the File State values to monitor:
  • Create: File Creation (default)
  • Delete: File Deletion
  • SizeChange: Change in file size (growth/shrink) based on File Size settings.
  • AbsoluteSize: Recognize when the size is exactly the size defined in the File Size field and then take appropriate actions.
  • Modify: File change (creation of new file, modify file size, change in timestamp).
  • EOFMarker: Check for a user-defined EOF marker to ensure the file is complete (allows wildcards in the EOF string).
  • ScanString: Check for a user-defined string in the file (this does not have to be an EOF marker).
  • InUse: Verify if the file is in use.
• TrackScanString: For the ScanString file state, indicates if the SMA Resource Monitor remembers the last ScanString location in a file for which it had previously triggered the rule. If selected, the SMA Resource Monitor does not re-trigger the rule for the same location in the file when it detects the file is modified again. The trigger fires again only if new matches for the ScanString setting appear in the modified file. If the option is clear, the rule triggers for previously detected ScanString entries every time the file is modified.
• Search String: Defines the string to search for in the file when the file state is set to EOFMARKER or SCANSTRING.
  • Minimum Characters: 1
  • Maximum Characters: 512
• File Size (Optional): Defines the File State setting, and specifies the minimum file size that the Resource Monitor is looking for. If AbsoluteSize is the file state, SMA Resource Monitor verifies if the file is exactly the size specified. For any other file state, SMA Resource Monitor verifies if the file is at least the size specified.
• Create TimeStamp: Defines the oldest create date for a file. If the create date/time stamp on the file is older than this date/time, SMAResourceMonitor does not process the file. The default value for the field is the minimum possible date so files with older time stamps are detected. The specific value is 1/1/1753 00:00.
• Wait Verify: Defines the number of seconds the monitor waits and verifies that the required file state still exists, and that the file is still not in use. This setting is disabled for all file states except Create and Modify.

  • Minimum Value: 1

  • Maximum Value: 1800 (30 minutes)

  • If the file is in use after the wait time, the SMAResourceMonitor waits again for the Wait Verify time period and checks again to see if the file is no longer in use. This process repeats until the file is no longer in use — then the action group(s) are triggered.

    tip

    Make sure the file is done arriving before it is created.

    For large file transfers, it takes time for the complete file to arrive. Set the 'Wait Verify' value high enough to make sure that the file should not have changed size in that time. As soon as the size matches the same previous size and the file is no longer in use, the action group(s) are triggered.

• From Time: Defines the start time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• To Time: Defines the end time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• Max Concurrent Files: Defines the maximum number of files to process concurrently if monitoring for a variable file name. This helps throttle processing to avoid overworking the SMA Resource Monitor Service and the Operating System.
  • Minimum Value: 1
  • Maximum Value: 100

note

A high value in this setting can decrease the performance of SMA Resource Monitor.

• Max Concurrent Files Processing Delay: Defines the amount of processing delay involved with the maximum number of files to process concurrently if monitoring for a variable file name.

Counter Monitor Parameters

Performance Object: Defines the name of an object as found in the Windows Performance Monitor.

Counter Name: Defines the counter name for the monitor.

Instance: Defines the name of the instance for the chosen performance counter.

From Time: Defines the start time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.

To Time: Defines the end time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.

Triggers: This frame contains the fields required to set up the triggers for the counter monitor's Action Groups.

Above Max Value: Defines the maximum cutoff value for the counter. If the value goes above this cutoff, the configured action group(s) are triggered.

Below Min Value: Defines the minimum cutoff value for the counter. If the value drops below this cutoff, the configured action group(s) are triggered.

Average: This frame contains the fields required to define an Average trigger.

note

The average value is calculated by taking 1 sample every second and averaging last 'n' samples. Where 'n' is defined above in Samples.

• Above/Below: Select Above or Below from this list to define if the trigger fires when the counter value is above the average value or when the counter value is below the average value.
• Value: Average cutoff value for this counter. If the calculated average value goes above this cutoff, the configured action groups are triggered.
  • Minimum Value: 0 (If 0, this feature is disabled)
  • Maximum Value: 99
• Samples: Number of Samples to be used for calculating the average value. A sample is taken every second by default.
  • Minimum Value: 1
  • Maximum Value: 100
• Frequency: Defines in number of seconds how often samples are taken for the counter monitor.
  • Minimum Value: 1
  • Maximum Value: 300

Disable Trigger After: Select one or more of the following options to have the Counter Monitor automatically deactivate when the notification(s) are triggered.

• Above Max Value: Causes the trigger to disable when the notification is sent for the counter being Above Max Value.
• Below Min Value: Causes the trigger to disable when the notification is sent for the counter being Below Min Value.
• Above/Below Avg Value: Causes the trigger to disable when the notification is sent for the counter being Above or Below the Avg Value (depending on which setting is applied to the Average Trigger).

Re-Enable Trigger After: Select one or more of the following options to have the Counter Monitor automatically re-enable when the condition is met.

• Above Max Value: Causes the trigger to re-enable when the counter goes Above Max Value.
• Below Min Value: Causes the trigger to re-enable when the counter goes Below Min Value.
• Above/Below Avg Value: Causes the trigger to re-enable when the counter goes Above or Below the Avg Value (depending on which setting is applied to the Average Trigger).
• X Minutes: Defines the number of minutes to wait before auto re-enabling the monitor.
  • Minimum Value: 0 (Indicating the trigger will not re-enable based on time)
  • Maximum Value: 300

Service Monitor Parameters

• Service Name: The display name of a Windows Service as found in Windows Services.
• Service State: Contains the service state to monitor for:
  • Started: Trigger notification when service is found in a Started state.
  • Not Started: Trigger notification when service is found in anything but a Started state.
  • Stopped: Trigger notification when the service is found in a Stopped state.
• From Time: The start time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• To Time: The end time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• Frequency: In Seconds, defines how often the SMA Resource Monitor checks the service for the defined state.
  • Minimum Value: 5
  • Maximum Value: 300
• Disable when Triggered: Deactivates the monitor after the action group is triggered for the defined state. The option is unselected by default (indicating that the monitor should not be disabled when the action group is triggered).
• Auto Re-Enable: Auto re-enables the monitor when the service goes into the selected state. If left blank, the monitor will not re-enable based on a status.
• Auto Re-Enable (after X Minutes): Defines the number of minutes to wait before auto re-enabling the monitor.
  • Minimum Value: 0 (Indicating the trigger will not re-enable based on time)
  • Maximum Value: 3600

Process Monitor Parameters

• Process Name (Required): The name of a Windows process that could be found in the Windows Task Manager.
• Process State: Contains the process state to monitor for:
  • Running: Trigger notification when process is found in a Running state.
  • Not Running: Trigger notification when the process is not found in a running state.
• From Time: The start time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• To Time: The end time for monitoring resources. This option provides a way to monitor resources only during a specified time period of the day.
• Frequency: In Seconds, defines how often the SMA Resource Monitor checks the process for the defined state.
  • Minimum Value: 5
  • Maximum Value: 300
• Disable when Triggered: Deactivates the monitor after the action group is triggered for the defined state. The option is unselected by default (indicating that the monitor should not be disabled when the action group is triggered).
• Auto Re-Enable: Auto re-enables the monitor when the process is found in the selected state. If left blank, the monitor will not re-enable based on a status.
• Auto Re-Enable (after X Minutes): Defines the number of minutes to wait before auto re-enabling the monitor.
  • Minimum Value: 0 (Indicating the trigger will not re-enable based on time)
  • Maximum Value: 3600

Third Screen: Define Actions

• running Condition: Appears only for Counter monitors, and contains the running condition that triggers the actions. The conditions include:
  • Above/Below Average: The Action Group is triggered when the value of the counter exceeds or falls below the average value (depending on the setting defined on the previous screen of the wizard).
  • Above Max Value: The Action Group is triggered when the value of the counter exceeds the max value set.
  • Below Min Value: The Action group is triggered when the value of the counter falls below the min value set.
• Action Group Name: Defines the Action Group names. The maximum characters for the Action Group Name is 60.
  • Create: This button opens the Action Group Wizard to add an Action Group Name. When the Action wizard is complete, the new group name is added to the Action Group Name list in the Monitor Wizard.
• Actions Table:
  • Active: Indicates if each action is active or inactive. This setting is only updateable from the Action Groups tab since the status is global for all monitors using the group.
  • Action Details: Contains the external event string to process. This string is only updateable from the Action Groups tab since the actions in a group are global for all monitors using the group.
• Associated Action Groups: The Associated Action Groups list contains the action groups associated with the Monitor.
  • Select the Add button to add the selected Action Group Name to the Associated Action Groups.
  • Select the Remove button to remove a selected Action Group Name from the Associated Action Groups list.

Fourth Screen: Finalize

The Finalize screen is a summary, read-only page that displays the information set up by the Add or Edit Wizard. Select the Back button to change a setting, Cancel to exit the wizard, or Finish to store the monitor information. Each monitor is stored in a Rule file (e.g., MonitorName.Rule) in the location configured in the SMAResourceMonitor.ini file.

Action Group Wizard Screens

The information in this section describes the wizard screen details for Action Groups.

First Screen: Enter Action Group Name

• Action Group Name (Required): Defines the Action Group Name. The maximum characters for the Action Group Name is 60. The following values are invalid for the action group name: \ (backslash), / (forward slash), : (colon), * (asterisk), ? (question mark), " (quotes), < (less than), > (greater than), | (pipe).
• Documentation: Provides a place to document the action group.

Second Screen: Define Actions

• Active: Determines if the action is active or inactive for the group. Select inside the option to activate the action; clear the option to deactivate the action.
• Action: Defines the action(s) to take when a rule is triggered. Type a dollar sign ($) to see a list of actions and their syntaxes. Supported actions include:
  • All OpCon events. For more information, refer to Event Types
  • Local commands. Use the following action:

SMA Resource Monitor Variables

The action items sometimes need details from the monitored item to send enough detailed information with the event. The SMA Resource Monitor has several predefined variables that can be used in the OpCon event string. Refer to the list of variables below. Refer to the list of Date and Time Format Examples.

The syntax for all SMA Resource Monitor variables is: [[@VariableName]]

Variables for File Monitor Actions

The following predefined variables are available for File Monitor Actions:

• [[@FileName]] - The name of the file which caused the OpCon event
• [[@FileNameRegEx]] - The name of the file which caused the event, detected by specifying a regular expression to match the file name.
• [[@EventType]] - The type of file event (Create/delete/Modify etc.) which caused the OpCon event
• [[@FullPath]] - The complete path to the file which caused the OpCon event
• [[@FullPathRegEx]] - The complete path to the file which caused this event, detected by specifying a regular expression to match the file name. For information on creating regular expressions, refer to http://www.regular-expressions.info/.
• [[@FullFileName]] - The fully qualified file name including path and extension
• [[@FullFileNameRegEx]] - The fully qualified file name including path and extension which caused the event, detected by specifying a regular expression to match the file name. For information on creating regular expressions, refer to http://www.regular-expressions.info/.
• [[@CreateStamp]] - The creation time stamp for the file
• [[@CreateStampformat]] - The creation time stamp for the file in the defined format. (e.g., [[@CreateStampyyyymmdd]])
• [[@ModStamp]] - The modification time stamp for the file
• [[@ModStampformat]] - The modification time stamp for the file in the defined format. (e.g., [[@ModStampyyyymmdd]])
• [[@FileRoot]] - The file name without the path or extension (leaves the name as is in mixed case)
• [[@FileRootUpper]] - The same as @FileRoot, but forced to all upper case
• [[@DATE]] - Resolves to short date format setting (ccyy/mm/dd)
• [[@Dateformat]] - The date the file was detected in the defined format (YYYYMMDD).
• [[@FileCriteria]] - The string SMA Resource Monitor was checking for when the file was detected (e.g., c:\temp\*.txt)

Variables for Counter Monitor Actions

The following predefined tokens are available for Counter Monitor Actions:

• [[@CounterName]] - Name of the counter that was monitored and caused the action to fire
• [[@CurrentValue]] - The current reading of the Counter
• [[@EventType]] - Type of Counter Monitor event (HighValue/LowValue/MeanValue, etc.).
• [[@HighCutOff]] - High water mark
• [[@LowCutOff]] - Low water mark
• [[@MachineName]] - The machine name on which the counter was monitored
• [[@MeanCutOff]] - Mean level cut off (for samples defined in the Rule)
• [[@MeanValue]] - The current MeanValue reading (for the samples defined in the Rule file)
• [[@UniqueID]] - A unique identifying number that is associated with each action fired

Variables for Service Monitor Actions

The following predefined tokens are available for Service Monitor Actions:

• [[@CurrentStatus]] - The current status of the Service
• [[@MACHINENAME]] - The machine name on which the service was monitored
• [[@SERVICENAME]] - The display name of the service that was monitored and caused the action to fire
• [[@UNIQUEID]] - A unique identifying number that is associated with each action fired
• [[@ServiceLogon]] - The name of the user the service is "running as" or "Local System"

Variables for Process Monitor Actions

The following predefined tokens are available for Process Monitor Actions:

• [[@CurrentStatus]] - The current status of the Process
• [[@MACHINENAME]] - The machine name on which the process was monitored
• [[@PROCESSNAME]] - The name of the process that was monitored and caused the action to fire
• [[@UNIQUEID]] - A unique identifying number that is associated with each action fired
• [[@PID]] - The process ID number (PID) for the process that caused the action to fire
• [[@ProcessUser]] - The user that is running the process that caused the action to fire

Third Screen: Finalize

The Finalize screen is a summary, read-only page that displays the information set up by the Add or Edit Wizard. Select the Back button to change a setting, Cancel to exit the wizard, or Finish to store the action group information. Each action group is stored in an Actn file (e.g., GroupName.Actn) in the same location as the Rule files.

Date and Time Format Examples

The format letters and examples below refer to this Long Date example: Monday, August 8, 2011

The example date would be created with the following string for the Long Date Format: EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy

Letter	Date or Time Component	Presentation	Results/Examples
yy	Year	Year	11
yyyy	Year	Year	2011
M	Month	Month number	8 (does not include the leading zero)
MM	Month	Month number	08 (does include the leading zero)
MMM	Month	Month text	Aug (abbreviates the month name)
MMMM	Month	Month text	August (includes the full the month name)
d	Day in Month	Day Number	8 (does not include the leading zero)
dd	Day in Month	Day Number	08 (does include the leading zero)
E	Day in week	Day Text	Wed (abbreviates the day name)
EEEE	Day in week	Day Text	Wednesday (includes the full day name)
a	AM/PM marker	AM or PM text	AM/PM
H	Hour in Day (0-23)	24-hour clock number	16:00
h	Hour in Day (1-12)	Hour in AM/PM	4:00
mm	Minute in hour	Number	30
s	Second in minute	Number	55

FAQs

Q: What wizard functions are available in SMA Resource Monitor?

The Add and Edit functions both use wizards to guide configuration of File Monitors, Counter Monitors, Service Monitors, Process Monitors, and Action Groups.

Q: How do you visually identify the current step in a Resource Monitor wizard?

The current step is highlighted in Red in the step pane on the left side of the screen. Steps not currently in use are displayed in Blue.

Q: What happens if you select Cancel in a Resource Monitor wizard?

A confirmation message appears asking whether to close the wizard without saving changes. Selecting Yes closes the wizard and discards all changes. Selecting No returns you to the wizard.

Glossary

SMA Resource Monitor (SMARM): A Windows service that monitors files, counters, services, and processes on Windows machines. When a monitored condition is met, it sends OpCon events to trigger automation actions.

OpCon Event: A command sent to OpCon that triggers an automated action, such as adding a job to a schedule, updating a property value, sending a notification, or changing a job or schedule status.

Notification: A message sent by the SMA Notify Handler when a Machine, Schedule, or Job changes to a specific status. Notifications can be delivered as emails, text messages, Windows Event Log entries, SNMP traps, or other formats.

Machine: A platform defined in the OpCon database that has an agent installed. OpCon routes job execution requests to machines via SMANetCom, and machines report job completion status back to SAM.

OpCon: Continuous' workflow automation platform. The OpCon server includes the database, SAM and Supporting Services (SAM-SS), and graphical user interfaces. Agents installed on target platforms run jobs and report results.