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Transactions

Supported Versions Longitude Transactions are tests for the availability of specified protocols. When a test fails, a Critical severity Longitude event will be created, and updated at each collection interval for as long as the problem occurs. When the problem has been resolved, the first interval with a successful test will generate a Cleared severity event.
Data Collected Transaction Data CollectionsDownload PDF
Transaction Types Please see individual protocol descriptions for version restrictions, if they exist. Transactions test the following protocols:

Transaction Description
DNS The DNS transaction enables you to test whether a DNS server can resolve the IP address of a fully qualified host name.
FileContent The FileContent transaction enables you to check a file for undesired content, such as an error message recorded in a log file.
FileExistence The FileExistence transaction enables you to monitor for the existence of a file. The transaction can be configured so that the absence of the file will generate an event or so that the existence of the file will generate an event. The transaction can also be configured to consider only files that have been modified during the current day, or to consider files regardless of the modification date.
FTP The FTP transaction enables you to test whether a user can connect to an FTP server.
HTTPConnect The HttpConnect transaction enables you to test whether Longitude can connect to an HTTP site.
HTTPUrl The HTTPUrl transaction enables you to test whether the text on a web page matches the expected content.
NNTP The NNTP transaction enables you to test whether an NNTP server is accessible and able to reply with a list of newsgroups.
Ping The Ping transaction enables you to test for a response to echo requests.
PingCritical The PingCritical transaction enables you to test for a response to echo requests at a more frequent interval than the default Ping transaction. The PingCritical transaction is tested on a one minute interval, while the Ping transaction is tested on a 5 minute interval. The PingCritical transaction is recommended for monitoring critical servers, so that you are notified more quickly when they become unreachable. For less critical servers the Ping transaction is recommended because it will reduce the amount of unnecessary data that is collected and reduce the workload on the Longitude components.
Port The Port transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a port.
Service The Service transaction enables you to test whether a particular service is running. The Longitude Windows application monitors services that are set to a start mode of ‘Auto’, ‘Boot’ or ‘System’, and the Longitude Exchange, IIS and SQL applications will also monitor application specific services. The Service Transaction may be used to monitor additional services, or to set up alerts that include a Cleared update when the service is back online.
SMTP The SMTP transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to an SMTP server.
SQLConnect The SQLConnect transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a database server.
SQLQuery The SQLQuery transaction enables you to test whether a SQL query completes successfully and evaluate the return from the query.
SSH The SSH transaction enables you to test whether an SSH connection can be made to a server.
Telnet The Telnet transaction enables you to test whether an Telnet connection can be made to a server.
UnixConnect The UnixConnect transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a Unix/Linux server using either SSH or rexec. It also allows the connection to be made using public-key authentication, if desired.
UnixProcess The UnixProcess transaction enables you to test whether a particular process exists on a Unix or Linux computer. A Critical severity event will be generated for each interval the process is not found on the monitored server, followed by one Cleared severity event when the process restarts.
UnixScript The UnixScript transaction enables you to evaluate the output of a script or command on a Unix or Linux server.
WinProcess The WinProcess transaction enables you to test whether a particular process exists on a Windows computer. A Critical severity event will be generated for each interval the process is not found on the monitored server, followed by one Cleared severity event when the process restarts.
WinScript The WinScript transaction enables you to monitor the output of a script run from a Windows Longitude server.
WinShare The WinShare transaction tests whether a Windows share exists.
WMIConnect The WmiConnect transaction enables you to test whether Longitude can connect to WMI on a computer.

 

Regular expressions may be used for transactions which evaluate text. Please note that regular expressions are case-sensitive.The following table contains a brief list of commonly used metacharacters in regular expressions – additional information on regular expression syntax can be found onine.

Metacharacter Description
. Wildcard match for a single character.
.* Wildcard matching any number of characters. For example, .*Heroix.* would be a case-sensitive match for “Heroix” anywhere in the scanned text.
[] Range of characters allowed to match for a single character. For example, [hH]eroix would match “Heroix” or “heroix”.
\ Escape character. The character following \ will be treated literally. For example, .*Longitude\..* would match “Longitude.”, where the \. matches a “.” rather than using the . as a wildcard.
\d Matches any number, 0-9
\D Matches any character that is not a number.
\s Matches any whitespace character.
\S Matches any character that is not whitespace.
\w Matches any number or letter.
\W Matches any character that is not a number or letter (e.g. punctuation).
^ Anchors expression to front of line.
$ Anchors expression to end of line.
{} Specifies number of occurrences to expect, for example, \w{8} matches 8 letters or numbers.

 

The SQLQuery, UnixScript and WinScript transactions are evaluated as successful when they return data that satisfies a comparison condition. The comparison operators are:

Operator Data Type Description
>
>=
<
<=
Numeric Numeric comparison
= Numeric or Text Exact Match
!= Numeric or Text Not an Exact Match
between[a,b]
between(a,b]
between[a,b)
between(a,b)
Numeric Between numbers a and b, with [ indicating the number is included, and ( indicating the number is not included. For example, between [1,6) means >= 1 and <6.
like Text Comparisons with regular expressions using wildcards
likein Text Comma separated list of “like” comparisons
not like Text String returned does not match a comparison with regular expressions using wildcards
in Text Comma separated list of exact text matches. Extra whitespace is not removed before comparison, and should not be part of the entered list.
not in Text Comma separated list of text that should not be matched. Extra whitespace is not removed before comparison, and should not be part of the entered list.

 

DNS Transaction
The DNS transaction enables you to test whether a DNS server can resolve the IP address of a fully qualified host name.
Collection Methods NSLookup
Requirements None
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select DNS.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of one or more DNS servers to be queried in the Computers field. Multiple server names should be separated by a comma.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different DNS Transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter in a name to resolve via the specified DNS server. Please note that the DNS transaction will resolve one name for each transaction.
  8. Click on the Monitor button.
  9. Repeat configuration to monitor additional DNS server or names.
FileContent Transaction
The FileContent transaction enables you to check a file for undesired content, such as an error message recorded in a log file.
Collection Methods WMI or SSH
Requirements
  • The file being monitored is accessed from a Longitude agent through a shared filesystem.
    Longitude Agent OS OS for server with monitored file File accessed through
    Windows Windows Windows Share
    Windows Unix/Linux Samba Share
    Linux Unix/Linux NFS Share
  • For Windows and Samba shares on Windows Longitude agents, the Statistics Server account must have permission to access the share.
  • For Linux Longitude agents monitoring files through NFS shares, the NFS share must be mounted, and the Longitude User account must have permission to read files on the mountpoint.
  • During the initial registration, all matching files will be parsed for the requested UndesiredContent value. After the initial registration, only new lines in matching files will be checked.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select FileContent.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the computer hosting the file in the Computers field. This will be used as part of the path constructed to find the file.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different FileContent transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the ShareName needed to access the file. If the file is in a directory under the share, include any directories in the path to the file. The ShareName should not have a trailing \ or /. For example, to specify a “logs” directory under the d$ admin share, you would use: d$\logs
  8. Enter the FileName to be monitored. Wildcards may be used for files with variable names. For example, the regular expression for 20130101_error_log.txt may be specified as \d{8}_error_log.txt, where \d specifies that a number is expected, and {8} specifies 8 total digits are expected.
  9. The UndesiredContent field should contain a regular expression for the text for which you would like to receive alerts. For example .*[eE]rror.* or ^CRITICAL
  10. Click on the Monitor button.
  11. Repeat configuration to monitor additional files or patterns.
Troubleshooting
  • FileContent transactions takes too long to register:
    After the FileContent transaction has been registered, it will only collect data that has been created since the
    last collection. However, during the initial collection the file content transaction will examine all data that
    matches the specified file name. If there is a large amount of data in the initial collection, it is possible the
    the registration will timeout. In this case, try a more specific file name, or move older files out of the log
    directory.
  • Undesired content does not produce alerts:
    Verify that the regular expression used to match the pattern is not too strict. In most cases, the match should start
    and end with a .*, allowing the content to be anywhere in the file.
FileExistence Transaction
The FileExistence transaction enables you to monitor for the existence of a file. The transaction can be configured so that the absence of the file will generate an event or so that the existence of the file will generate an event. The transaction can also be configured to consider only files that have been modified during the current day, or to consider files regardless of the modification date.
Collection Methods WMI or SSH
Requirements
  • The file being monitored is accessed from a Longitude agent through a shared filesystem.
    Longitude Agent OS OS for server with monitored file File accessed through
    Windows Windows Windows Share
    Windows Unix/Linux Samba Share
    Linux Unix/Linux NFS Share
  • For Windows and Samba shares on Windows Longitude agents, the Statistics Server account must have permission to access the share.
  • For Linux Longitude agents monitoring files through NFS shares, the NFS share must be mounted, and the Longitude User account must have permission to read files on the mountpoint.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select FileExistence.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the computer hosting the file in the Computers field. This will be used as part of the path constructed to find the file.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different FileExistence transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the ShareName needed to access the file. If the file is in a directory under the share, include any directories in the path to the file. The ShareName should not have a trailing \ or /. For example, to specify a “logs” directory under the d$ admin share, you would use: d$\logs
  8. Enter the FileName to be monitored. Wildcards may be used for files with variable names. For example, the regular expression for 20130101_error_log.txt may be specified as \d{8}_error_log.txt, where \d specifies that a number is expected, and {8} specifies 8 total digits are expected.
  9. Set FileShouldExist to yes if you want to be alerted when the file is not found. Set this field to no if you want an alert when the file is found.
  10. Set TodaysDate to yes if you only want to look at files modified within the last day. Set this field to no if you want to consider all matching files in the directory.
  11. Click on the Monitor button.
  12. Repeat configuration to monitor additional files.
FTP Transaction
The FTP transaction enables you to test whether a user can connect to an FTP server.
Collection Methods FTP
Requirements None
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select FTP.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the FTP Server in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different FTP transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the Username needed to connect to the FTP server.
  8. Enter the Password for the FTP Username.
  9. Enter the Port for the FTP server. The default FTP port is 21.
  10. Click on the Monitor button.
  11. Repeat configuration to monitor additional FTP servers.
HttpConnect Transaction
The HttpConnect transaction enables you to test whether Longitude can connect to an HTTP site.
Collection Methods Port check
Requirements None
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select HttpConnect.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Web Server in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different HttpConnect transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the Port the Web Server is listening on. If left blank, port 80 will be used for http, and port 443 will be used for https.
  8. Click on the Monitor button.
  9. Repeat configuration to monitor additional Web Servers.
HttpUrl Transaction
The HTTPUrl transaction enables you to test whether the text on a web page matches the expected content.
Collection Methods HTTP or HTTPS download.
Requirements The HttpUrl transaction registers an associated HttpConnect transaction. If the HttpConnect transaction fails during registration, the HttpUrl transaction will not be registered. It is possible for this transaction to fail if host headers are used by the Web Server. Contact Longitude support at [email protected] for assitance in registering the HttpUrl transaction without an HttpConnect transaction.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select HttpUrl.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the URL to be monitored into the URL field. The Computers, Path, Port and Protocol values will be extracted from the URL and copied to the appropriate fields.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different HttpUrl transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter a regular expression for the ExpectedContentPattern. This expression should match a pattern in the source code for the page.
  8. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the page. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions.
  9. Click on the Monitor button.
  10. Repeat configuration to monitor additional URLs.
Troubleshooting
  • Registration fails with the url is unavailable: Http access error 404:
    Longitude could not open the requested page. Check the URL and verify that it is available from the Longitude server being used as the agent.
  • Registration fails with Url content did not match error:
    Verify the string described in the regular expression is on the web page. In most cases you will need to place a .* before and after the regular expression to specify that the string can be found anywhere on the page.
  • Registration fails with Error registering Transaction HttpConnect:
    Try to register an HttpConnect Transaction for the web server specified in the URL. If this registration fails, contact Longitude Support at [email protected] for assitance in registering the HttpUrl transaction without an HttpConnect transaction.
NNTP Transaction
The NNTP transaction enables you to test whether an NNTP server is accessible and able to reply with a list of newsgroups.
Collection Methods NNTP
Requirements The NNTP transaction also registers a Port Transaction for the specified NNTP port. If the NNTP transaction fails to retrieve a list of newsgroups from the server, but the Port transaction determines that it cannot connect to the NNTP port, an event will be created that the NNTP port on the server is unreachable, rather than that the NNTP server is failing to reply with a list of newsgroups.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select NNTP.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the NNTP Server in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different FTP transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the Port used by the NNTP Server. The default port is 119.
  8. Click on the Monitor button.
  9. Repeat configuration to monitor additional FTP servers.
Ping Transaction
The Ping transaction enables you to test for a response to echo requests.
Collection Methods ICMP Ping, TCP Port Echo
Requirements
  • Ping packets must be allowed through any firewall between the Longitude server and the server or device being pinged.
  • Longitude uses ICMP packets for ping tests.
  • Ping transactions have a 5 minute interval.
  • By default, any server or network device monitored by the Unix, Windows, or NetworkDevice application will also
    have a Ping transaction registered to it.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select Ping.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server or Network Device in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different Ping transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Click on the Monitor button.
Ping Critical Transaction
The PingCritical transaction enables you to test for a response to echo requests at a more frequent interval than the default Ping transaction. The PingCritical transaction is tested on a one minute interval, while the Ping transaction is tested on a 5 minute interval. The PingCritical transaction is recommended for monitoring critical servers, so that you are notified more quickly when they become unreachable. For less critical servers the Ping transaction is recommended because it will reduce the amount of unnecessary data that is collected and reduce the workload on the Longitude components.
Collection Methods ICMP Ping, TCP Port Echo
Requirements
  • If there is a firewall between the statistics server and the target, incoming echo requests must not be blocked.
  • Longitude uses ICMP packets for ping tests.
  • By default, any server or network device monitored by the Unix, Windows, or NetworkDevice application will also
    have a Ping transaction registered to it. It is recommended that Ping and PingCritical are not used for the same
    computer or network device.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select PingCritical.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server or Network Device in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different PingCritical transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Click on the Monitor button.
Port Transaction
The Port transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a port.
Collection Methods Port Check
Requirements None
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select Port.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server or Network Device in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different Port transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Enter the Port to be monitored.
  8. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the port. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions.
  9. Click on the Monitor button.
Service Transaction
The Service transaction enables you to test whether a particular service is running. The Longitude Windows application monitors services that are set to a start mode of ‘Auto’, ‘Boot’ or ‘System’, and the Longitude Exchange, IIS and SQL applications will also monitor application specific services. The Service Transaction may be used to monitor additional services, or to set up alerts that include a Cleared update when the service is back online.
Collection Methods WMI
Requirements
  • Longitude Statistics Server account must have local administrator privileges on the server being monitored.
  • The Windows Management Instrumentation service must be running on the server being monitored.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select Service.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different Service transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Select the ColumnName used to specify the service. The DisplayName is the user friendly name for the service, and the Name is the service name as specified for the service in the registry. Both DisplayName and Name can be found in the Services applet in the General tab for the service properties.
  8. Enter the Name for the service.
  9. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the Service transaction. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions. If a net start action will be used to restart the service, it is recommended that the MeasuredObject be set to the service Name.
  10. Click on the Monitor button.
SMTP Transaction
The SMTP transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to an SMTP server.
Collection Methods SMTP
Requirements None
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select SMTP.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different SMTP transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration.
  7. Select the Port used by the SMTP server. The default value is 25.
  8. Click on the Monitor button.
SQL Connect Transaction
The SQLConnect transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a database server.
Collection Methods JDBC
Requirements
  • Longitude includes JDBC drivers for the following databases:
    • MySQL
    • Oracle
    • MS SQL 2000 and higher
  • DB2 and Sybase are listed as options under Vendor in SQLConnect’s Application Properties. Selecting these options will configure the DatabaseURL in the correct format, but the drivers for DB2 and Sybase are not installed by default.
  • You may install additional drivers using the following steps:
    1. Obtain a JDBC driver from the database vendor
    2. Copy the driver to the Longitude\lib\ext directory on any Longitude server using the driver for collections
    3. Restart the Longitude Statistics Server Service
  • Longitude will configure the JDBC connection to use the database’s default port. If the database is using a nonstandard port, configure the Port in the Application Properties appropriately.
  • If you are monitoring MS SQL databases using integrated authentication, the Longitude Statistics Server Service account must have permission to connect to the database. If the account is a local administrator account on the SQL server, or a domain administrator account, it will have permission to connect to the database by default.
  • For MS SQL not using integrated authentication and other database servers, you will need a database user account and password.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select SQLConnect.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Database Server in the Computers field.
  6. Select the Vendor – this will populate the Instance, DatabaseDriver, DatabaseURL, and Port fields. If Generic is selected, all configuration information will need to be entered manually.
  7. Enter the DatabaseInstance. This will update the Instance and DatabaseURL. If monitoring a default MS SQL instance, this may be left blank.
  8. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different SQLConnect transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  9. Enter the DatabaseUser and DatabasePassword. If monitoring an MS SQL server using integrated authentication, these fields may be left blank. If using a SQL account for MS SQL, update the database URL from integratedSecurity=true to integratedSecurity=false
  10. Check the configuration settings and verify that any values that were automatically populated are correct.
  11. Click on the Monitor button.
SQL Query Transaction
The SQLQuery transaction enables you to test whether a SQL query completes successfully and evaluate the return from the query.
Collection Methods JDBC
Requirements
  • The SQLQuery transaction will also register a SQLConnect transaction. The SQLConnect transaction will run before SQLQuery, and if it fails an event will be created for SQLConnect instead of SQLQuery. The SQLQuery transaction will not run if SQLConnect fails.
  • Longitude includes JDBC drivers for the following databases:
    • MySQL
    • Oracle
    • MS SQL 2000 and higher
  • DB2 and Sybase are listed as options under Vendor in SQLConnect’s Application Properties. Selecting these options will configure the DatabaseURL in the correct format, but the drivers for DB2 and Sybase are not installed by default.
  • You may install additional drivers using the following steps:
    1. Obtain a JDBC driver from the database vendor
    2. Copy the driver to the Longitude\lib\ext directory on any Longitude server using the driver for collections
    3. Restart the Longitude Statistics Server Service
  • Longitude will configure the JDBC connection to use the database’s default port. If the database is using a nonstandard port, configure the Port in the Application Properties appropriately.
  • If you are monitoring MS SQL databases using integrated authentication, the Longitude Statistics Server Service account must have permission to connect to the database. If the account is a local administrator account on the SQL server, or a domain administrator account, it will have permission to connect to the database by default.
  • For MS SQL not using integrated authentication and other database servers, you will need a database user account and password.
  • When entering a ComparisonOperator and ComparisonValue, define the values expected for a successful return.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select SQLQuery.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Database Server in the Computers field.
  6. Select the Vendor – this will populate the Instance, DatabaseDriver, DatabaseURL, and Port fields. If Generic is selected, all configuration information will need to be entered manually.
  7. Enter the DatabaseInstance. This will update the Instance and DatabaseURL. If monitoring a default MS SQL instance, this may be left blank.
  8. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different SQLConnect transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  9. Enter the DatabaseUser and DatabasePassword. If monitoring an MS SQL server using integrated authentication, these fields may be left blank. If using a SQL account for MS SQL, update the database URL from integratedSecurity=true to integratedSecurity=false
  10. Check the configuration settings and verify that any values that were automatically populated are correct.
  11. Enter the query to be run against the database. The query should return one or more rows of data, and the first column in the first row must not be NULL.
  12. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the SQLQuery transaction. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions.
  13. Select a ComparisonOperator and enter a ComparisonValue to evaluate the return from the query. See the regular expression and comparison operator notes for details on configuring the comparison. If the configured match succeeds, the transaction will succeed. If the configured match fails, the transaction will fail, and an Critical event will be generated.
  14. Click on the Monitor button.
SSH Transaction
The SSH transaction enables you to test whether an SSH connection can be made to a server.
Collection Methods SSH
Requirements Username and password with permission to log in via SSH.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select SSH.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter a Username with permission to make an SSH connection.
  7. Enter the Password for the Username.
  8. The Port is set to the SSH default port of 22. Change this if necessary.
  9. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different SSH transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  10. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting
  • If the SSH connection is using a port other than 22 and fails to register, restart the Longitude Statistics Server Service and try to register the collection again.
  • If SSH is using port 22 and fails to register, test the SSH connection from the Longitude Server directly using the specified account. Verify that the account can log on and open an interactive shell.
  • On some systems, the root account is blocked from making an SSH connection for security reasons. The SSH Transaction does not require root permission – specify a different user account in the configuration.
Telnet Transaction
The Telnet transaction enables you to test whether an Telnet connection can be made to a server.
Collection Methods Telnet
Requirements
  • Username and password with permission to log in via Telnet.
  • If monitoring Telnet on Windows, the Longitude Server must be on Windows, and the Longitude Statistics Server account must have local administrator privileges on the Telnet Server.
  • Telnet monitoring is only supported for Windows and Unix/Linux servers.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select Telnet.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Select either Unix or Windows as the Telnet server Platform. If the Telnet server is Linux, select Unix.
  7. Enter a Username with permission to make a Telnet connection.
  8. Enter the Password for the Username.
  9. The Port is set to the Telnet default port of 23. Change this if necessary.
  10. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different Telnet transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  11. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting On some systems, the root account is blocked from making a Telnet connection for security reasons. The Telnet Transaction does not require root permission – specify a different user account in the configuration.
UnixConnect Transaction
The UnixConnect transaction enables you to test whether a connection can be made to a Unix/Linux server using either SSH or rexec. It also allows the connection to be made using public-key authentication, if desired.
Collection Methods SSH or rexec
Requirements
  • Username and password with permission to log in via either SSH or rexec.
  • Password authentication is attempted first. If password authentication fails, public-key authentication is attempted.
  • If there is a password expiration policy for Unix, it is recommended that the account used to monitor Unix either be exempted from that policy, or that the account use public-key authentication.
  • Instructions on configuring Longitude for public-key authentication can be found in Configuring public-key authentication for SSH based collections.
  • The SSH connection is attempted first. If that fails, an rexec connection is attempted.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select UnixConnect.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter a Username with permission to make an SSH or rexec connection.
  7. Enter the Password for the Username.
  8. The SshPort is set to the SSH default port of 22. Change this if necessary.
  9. If public-key authentication is being used, select the SshPrivateKey configured for the specified account. If password authentication is used, this field will be ignored.
  10. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different UnixConenct transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  11. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting On some systems, the root account is blocked from making an SSH or rexec connection for security reasons. The UnixConnect Transaction does not require root permission – specify a different user account in the configuration.
UnixProcess Transaction
The UnixProcess transaction enables you to test whether a particular process exists on a Unix or Linux computer. A Critical severity event will be generated for each interval the process is not found on the monitored server, followed by one Cleared severity event when the process restarts.
Collection Methods SSH or rexec
Requirements
  • Username and password with permission to log in via either SSH or rexec.
  • Password authentication is attempted first. If password authentication fails, public-key authentication is attempted.
  • If there is a password expiration policy for Unix, it is recommended that the account used to monitor Unix either be exempted from that policy, or that the account use public-key authentication.
  • Instructions on configuring Longitude for public-key authentication can be found in Configuring public-key authentication for SSH based collections.
  • The root account is not needed for this collection. The specified user account should have permission to run the command: ps -eo pid,args
  • The name configured for the process will be checked against the output from ps -eo pid,args. The configured process name should be case sensitive, should be unique enough to select only the desired process, should not use wildcards, and can include spaces.
  • A UnixConnect transaction will be registered in addition to the UnixProcess collection. If the UnixConnect
    transaction fails, an event will be created for that, and the UnixProcess collection will not be exected.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select UnixProcess.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter the Name of a process to be monitored.
  7. Enter a Username.
  8. Enter the Password for the Username. If this field is left blank, public-key authentication will be tried.
  9. The SshPort is set to the SSH default port of 22. Change this if necessary.
  10. If public-key authentication is being used, select the SshPrivateKey configured for the specified account. If password authentication is used, this field will be ignored.
  11. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the UnixProcess transaction. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions.
  12. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different UnixProcess transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  13. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting On some systems, the root account is blocked from making an SSH or rexec connection for security reasons. The UnixProcess Transaction does not require root permission – specify a different user account in the configuration.
UnixScript Transaction
The UnixScript transaction enables you to evaluate the output of a script or command on a Unix or Linux server.
Collection Methods SSH or rexec
Requirements
  • Username and password with permission to log in via either SSH or rexec.
  • Password authentication is attempted first. If password authentication fails, public-key authentication is attempted.
  • If there is a password expiration policy for Unix, it is recommended that the account used to monitor Unix either be exempted from that policy, or that the account use public-key authentication.
  • Instructions on configuring Longitude for public-key authentication can be found in Configuring public-key authentication for SSH based collections.
  • The account specified should have permission to run the command or script specified.
  • If a script is specified, it should already exist on the Unix/Linux server, and should be specified with a
    full path.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select UnixScript.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter a Username.
  7. Enter the Password for the Username. If this field is left blank, public-key authentication will be tried.
  8. The SshPort is set to the SSH default port of 22. Change this if necessary.
  9. If public-key authentication is being used, select the SshPrivateKey configured for the specified account. If password authentication is used, this field will be ignored.
  10. Enter the Command the transaction will run. Use the full path, and verify that the specified Username has permission to run the command.
  11. Select a ComparisonOperator and enter a ComparisonValue to evaluate the return from the Command. See the regular expression and comparison operator notes for details on configuring the comparison. If the configured match succeeds, the transaction will succeed. If the configured match fails, the transaction will fail, and a Critical event will be generated.
  12. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different UnixProcess transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  13. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting On some systems, the root account is blocked from making an SSH or rexec connection for security reasons. If root permission is required to run the script, configure public key authentication or SSH access for root.
WinProcess Transaction
The WinProcess transaction enables you to test whether a specified process exists on a Windows computer. A Critical severity event will be generated for each interval the process is not found on the monitored server, followed by one Cleared severity event when the process restarts.
Collection Methods WMI
Requirements
  • The account used for the Longitude Statistics Server service should have local administrator permission on the Windows server.
  • The Windows Management Instrumentation service should be running on the monitored server.
  • The process name is not case senstive, and does not allow for wildcards. The process name should match the full name of the process, without a .exe extension. For example, the Print Server would be monitored with process name “spoolsv” instead of “spoolsv.exe”.
  • A WMIConnect transaction will be registered in addition to the WinProcess collection. If the WMIConnect transaction
    fails, an event will be created for that, and the WinProcess collection will not be executed.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select WinProcess.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter the Name of a process to be monitored.
  7. Optionally, enter a MeasuredObject for the WinProcess transaction. The MeasuredObject is a user defined field that can be used for filtering and sorting events and as a variable in Execute actions.
  8. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different WinProcess transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  9. Click on the Monitor button.
WinScript Transaction
The WinScript transaction enables you to monitor the output of a script run from a Windows Longitude server.
Collection Methods WMIC
Requirements
  • The Computer selected for the WinScript transaction does not run the script, but will be listed as the source of any events generated by the WinScript transaction. The Longitude agent assigned to the computer configured for the WinScript transaction will run the script. The name of the computer may be passed to the script using the variable {MANAGEDDEVICE}.
  • The script should exist on the Windows Longitude Server. If the script is in the Longitude directory, it may be called with a path relative to the Longitude root directory, otherwise the script location should be specified by a full path.
  • Interactive scripts (e.g. FTP login scripts) are not supported.
  • Scripts may use any scripting language installed on the Longitude server – e.g. PowerShell, VBScript, Perl, Python, etc.
  • Scripts support UNC paths as arguments. The account assigned to the Statistics Server Service should have permission to access any UNC path specified in the script.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select WinScript.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter the path to the script on the Longitude server in the Command field.
  7. Select a ComparisonOperator and enter a ComparisonValue to evaluate the return from the Command. See the regular expression and comparison operator notes for details on configuring the comparison. If the configured match succeeds, the transaction will succeed. If the configured match fails, the transaction will fail, and an Critical event will be generated.
  8. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different WinScript transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  9. Click on the Monitor button.
Troubleshooting
  • Registration fails with The system cannot find the file specified error:
    The Longitude server assigned to the Computer was not able to find the command specified. Check that the agent used for the Computer has the file in the correct path.
WinShare Transaction
The WinShare transaction tests whether a Windows share exists.
Collection Methods WMI
Requirements
  • The Statistics Server Account on the Longitude server should have administrative privileges on the computer hosting the share.
  • The Windows Management Instrumentation Service should be running on the computer hosting the share.
  • The name of the share should be specified using the share name as it appears in the Sharing tab of the folder’s property sheet.
  • If the share name include a single quote, it should be escaped with a backslash – e.g. admin\’s folder.
  • The share name is not case sensitive
  • The Longitude Statsitics Server account does not need permission to access the share, it uses WMI to test for the existence of the share.
  • A WMIConnect transaction will be registered in addition to the WinShare collection. If the WMIConnect transaction
    fails, an event will be created for that, and the WinShare collection will not be exected.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select WinShare.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. Enter the name of the Server in the Computers field.
  6. Enter the name of the Windows Share in the Name field.
  7. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different WinShare transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  8. Click on the Monitor button.
WMIConnect Transaction
The WmiConnect transaction enables you to test whether Longitude can connect to WMI on a computer.
Collection Methods WMI
Requirements
  • The Statistics Server Account on the Longitude server should have administrative privileges on the computer hosting the share.
  • The Windows Management Instrumentation Service should be running on the computer hosting the share.
Configuration
  1. Use Monitor Devices.
  2. Select Transaction.
  3. Select WMIConnect.
  4. If necessary, select a Longitude Remote Agent.
  5. The Instance value is used by Longitude to distinguish between different WinShare transactions being monitored on the same server. Registering the same Instance twice for the same computer and transaction type will overwrite the details of the previous registration. The field may be changed from the value pre-configured by the application properties values.
  6. Click on the Monitor button.

 


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