Author: Argent Admin

Here you can read the common questions and answers customers have about Argent products. After reading, if you’re still unsure please email us or use Argent’s Instant Help. Remember: you can use the Search facility to quickly find the topic or subject of interest.

All releases of Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 are Argent-certified for use with all Argent products Argent has certified SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016 ,SQL Server 2017, SQL Server 2019 and SQL Server 2022 […]

Initial network traffic flows from the INITIATOR toward the LISTENER. If a firewall is present, you should permit inbound traffic to the LISTENER port. Argent AT Argent AT Daughter Engines AND Trusted Agents are always the INITIATOR contacting the Mother Engine or Motors as the LISTENER Daughter Engines connect to the Mother Engine periodically to […]

Argent has a number of optional housekeeping facilities for you. These are: Purge Argent Predictor data Run a batch command file Run a SQL script All three are optional and are independent of each other. As the contents of the batch command file and the SQL script are completely under your control you can do […]

This is one of the coolest features in Argent – you can answer Events through email without having to go into Argent Both MAPI and POP3 email systems are supported MAPI is the natural choice for enterprises with an Exchange environment, while POP3 is the most popular protocol for reading Internet email The first step […]

This depends. Depends on what you want to do. If you simply want to check the network card, then a Ping is fine, as checking the network card is all a Ping does. First, some background. The transport protocol Argent uses is called TCP/IP, as the letters suggest it is actually a combination of two […]

On the surface, the terms “Maintenance“, “Maintenance Schedule“, “Maintenance Mode“, and “Suspend Servers or Devices” seem to mean the same thing However there are important differences This article explains where and how these features are used within the Argent Advanced Technology products and the possible effects they have on reporting Question:   What is a Maintenance […]

The easiest and most effective way to test connectivity between your Argent engines is to use the standard Telnet utility that comes with Windows For example, assume the Argent Console Client is installed at 10.1.1.1, and a main Argent Console server at 192.168.1.10 Use the following command to verify the connectivity telnet 192.168.1.10 3100 If […]

Here is a cookbook of what to do. While this applies to the Argent backend, it is applicable to just about any SQL Server database. There are lots of performance counters you can watch. In Argent’s experience with over 2,000 Customers worldwide, here’s what we suggest. SQLServer : Memory Manager : Total Server Memory SQLServer […]

You can monitor clusters with the Argent Guardian using System Down Rules and SLA Rules, and by Argent Exchange Monitor using Connectivity Rule. There are five types of cluster objects, which are Cluster Node Cluster Group Cluster Resource Cluster Network Cluster Network Interface To monitor a cluster object, you first add the object to Master […]

Sometimes you need to add a variable to a Rule for parameters, such as the name of the server being tested – hard-coding each server name would be a huge amount of needless work For Rules that need variables there is a %VARIABLE% button This help page is a master list of the variables and […]

You can use the Argent Data Consolidator to collect SNMP Trap messages from any number of devices. Even better… all the SNMP Trap messages can be placed in an SQL Server database for centralized storage and reporting purposes. Easy to do. Here’s how: Configure the server used for Argent Data Consolidator Transfer Engine as a […]

When remote monitoring is used, there are a number of factors that determine how many remote servers can be monitored. Some factors are: the capacity of the server, how many Relators are being run, the network speed, etc. The single most significant factor is the amount of monitoring required. Some servers require very modest monitoring, […]

On the Argent server, connect your GSM modem to the serial port. Verify the COM port is working correctly. Click For Full Size Within the Argent Console, right-click and select New SMS Alert Because Argent Alerts are shared by all Argent products, you can select any Argent product, in this case we’re using the Argent […]

Argent Advanced Technology provides two mechanisms for adding servers to CMDB-X Using: Import Network XML Import Computer Text File Import Network XML Click For Full Size If you have a file of your servers and devices, just convert it to XML and import the XML file into the Argent CMDB-X If you need assistance in […]

The main reason you use regional Monitoring Agents is to reduce the workload of administrating your Argent installation – you can have just one Administrator to oversee the monitoring of the complete enterprise worldwide. You can use the command line setup Setup.exe to let you install monitoring agents without the GUI access. But you still […]

That’s an easy one. Yes. That’s the answer. In other words, it depends on your needs. Most Customers are just like you, their servers are on a bell curve: at the left side there are the Nice-To-Know machines, these are the ones where it’s nice to know if the server is offline – perhaps print […]

Actually it’s surprisingly simple – we don’t understand why all monitoring vendors don’t do the same. We’ll break the story up into the main players. Windows Servers And Vista, Etc Microsoft did a good job of providing network-enabled application-level APIs for everything we need to monitor. Here are some examples: For services, the Windows Service […]

Argent can monitor all virtualized servers, from Microsoft Virtual Server to VMware ESX. Argent helps you identify and resolve virtual server performance and availability issues. As virtualized servers become more common in Enterprise IT organization, the need to monitor and manage virtual resources become even more important. Argent Monitor For VMware is a comprehensive and […]

Yes. All Argent data can be encrypted. TCP/IP data between engines can be encrypted using ECB or OFB encryption algorithms. See Also: How Can I Ensure My Argent TCP/IP Connection Is Secure?

The major differences between Telnet, SSH, Secure Unix Agent, Shell Script Agent on one hand and the Argent Unix Rule Engine on the other hand are the network traffic direction and the authentication requirements In the cases of Telnet, SSH, Secure Unix Agent, Shell Script Agent the Argent Guardian Ultra periodically initiates a TCP/IP connection […]

This is one of the questions that always raises the temperature of the discussion, akin to Local versus Remote monitoring, or Case-Sensitive Filenames versus Case-Insensitive Filenames, or Ginger versus Mary Ann. And the reason is there are benefits to both approaches. The main benefit is having the Argent database on a separate machine is distributed […]

Remember, Argent is the choice of Intelink – Google ‘Intelink’ to see just who these bad boys are. Argent has a Built-in Encryption Algorithm The CRC-64 built in the packet prevents any external data manipulation Using the built-in encryption mechanism further prevents external data peeking Argent provides ECB and OFB algorithms The encryption seed changes […]

This article shows you how to use SQL Server 2005 Express as the Argent backend database. Technical Requirements Operating Systems For SQL Server 2005 Express Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1 […]

This Argent database table contains the information the Argent Data Consolidator gathers from your servers by default. The more you consolidate the larger this table will grow. Depending on your requirements for keeping this data, you can regularly delete records from this table using a SQL script based on the EVENT_TIME column. Alternatively you can […]

No Only the servers being monitored need a license You can have unlimited Monitoring Engines and Consoles without affecting your license usage unless you also want Argent products to monitor these servers as well

Argent AT To use the SSH Relay Agent in Argent AT, visit the License Manager and right-click on the server to configure an SSH Relay Agent for. Note: The SSH Relay Agent should be installed on the Linux/Unix machine, and communication from the Argent Main Engine or Motors to port 3062 on the SSH Relay […]

To move an existing Argent XT installation to a new server, do the following: Backup all Argent Products using the Tools | Backup Database option from within the Argent GUI as shown below: Change the above options as needed for your situation. Repeat the above for EACH Argent product. Stop all Argent services as shown […]

Argent for Compliance has a built-in SYSLOG Server It listens on UDP port 514 by default The port can be re-configured to any number by adjusting the registry for Argent for Compliance HKLM\Software\Argent\ARGENT_FOR_COMPLIANCE\SYSLOG_SERVER_PORT Or For 64 Bit servers, registry setting can be located here HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Argent\ARGENT_FOR_COMPLIANCE\SYSLOG_SERVER_PORT When Argent receives a UDP message, it first checks if […]

Do the following to create a new WMI-Based Argent Report in Argent AT Select “Reports” Click For Full Size Choose WMI Reports, then Right Click and select ‘New Report‘ from the menu Select WMI Report from Report Category and enter a Report Name Now click OK button Click For Full Size A new WMI Report […]

You can select any or all of the following and limit users: Start/Stop Service Backup/Restore Database Apply License View Console And Change Console Settings Answer Pending Events And Purge Events Manually View/Modify Engine Settings Fire Event Through Total Support Interface Maintain Master Catalog Install/Modify Argent SuperMaps View/Modify General Database Information Put Relator To Production Mode […]

Crystal Reports is the industry standard for report generation, and it’s available in Argent. Not only can you generate Crystal Reports, but Argent can automatically email the reports with the Automatic Report Distribution feature You can create reports in the Argent Guardian or using WMI. This help topic discusses the Argent Guardian, to generate reports […]

Short Message Service (SMS) is a global service that sends alphanumeric messages between mobile subscribers and external systems such as email, pagers, and voice-mail systems. A distinguishing characteristic of SMS is that an active mobile handset is able to receive or send an SMS message at any time; independent of whether a voice or data […]

There are some important pre-requisites you need to be aware of. You must upgrade to the most recent version of Argent FIRST. If you try to move to the Oracle back-end before upgrading to the current version, the import of fields and tables into the Oracle database will fail. Be sure the Argent database is […]

Before we start, here’s a summary of the internal work flow between Argent and Remedy: Forward Argent Console Events To Remedy When the Argent Console forwards events to Remedy, Argent spawns a process to run the following command: AAC_HPDScript.exe PCKEY /forward PCKEY is the unique identifier for the event record. Internally, the forwarding script AAC_HPD_Forward.vbs […]

A real pain when doing a network scan at the branch office is the lack of an Argent GUI at the branch office. And… You may have only the telnet or SSH access owing to the slow network link. But the Argent command line utility XTNetworkXML will save you a lot of hassle. The XTNetworkXML […]

The registry hive is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Argent Argent Console Send timeout:ArgentManagementConsole\TCP_SEND_TIMEOUT Receive timeout:ArgentManagementConsole\TCP_RECV_TIMEOUT Affects: Firing Events Replication of shared databases Replication of control information Argent Data Consolidator Scheduling Engine Send timeout:ArgentDataConsolidator\TCP_SEND_TIMEOUT Receive timeout:ArgentDataConsolidator\TCP_RECV_TIMEOUT Affects: Transfer engine Replication of control information Transfer Engine Send timeout:ArgentDataConsolidator\TransferEngine\TCP_SEND_TIMEOUT Receive timeout:ArgentDataConsolidator\TransferEngine\TCP_RECV_TIMEOUT Affects: Database engine Replication of control information Argent Exchange Monitor Send […]

Help is at hand Argent can very easily address this until the vendor provides a release that does not have memory leaks This applies to any product or application Here’s the deal: Define a Performance Rule Checking the Amount of Memory Used The following screenshot shows you what to do, just replace the Spooler service […]

On the Argent Main Engine server, you first need to install and configure the modem, modem driver, and the set the dial properties. Click For Full Size Click For Full Size Within the Argent Console, right-click and select New SMS Alert Because Argent Alerts are shared by all Argent products, you can select any Argent […]

Adding a server or a device to be monitored requires two steps. Step 1: Add To The Argent Master Catalog The Master Catalog is the list of all servers and devices Argent knows about. Once a server or device is added to the Master Catalog, you can then add it to one or more Monitoring […]

Argent offers powerful, robust monitoring and alerting capabilities. And you likely have a framework product, like HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, or CA Unicenter. There are two ways to integrate Argent with a framework : direct integration or with SNMP traps. This integration isn’t limited to simply sending events from Argent to the framework. You can […]

Runbooks A Runbook is the optional text file to explain to the reader what to do when the Rule is broken It’s a simple text file created by the person who creates or updates the Rule For example, if a Rule breaks when there is less than 30% disk free space on the server, the […]

The Argent MIB Viewer lets you easily understand both the syntax and semantics of OIDs (Object IDentifiers) The information gathered from the compiled MIBs also helps when you define an SNMP Rule, an SNMP Alert, as well as an SNMP Trap Monitor For example, a read-only OID can use the SNMP Rule but not an […]

The Argent Unix Rule Engine is a self-contained monitoring agent running on all common Unix platforms. The Argent Unix Rule Engine downloads control information from the Argent Guardian main engine, runs the Rule Scripts as scheduled, and uploads the results (including Argent Predictor data) to the main engine. The Argent Unix Rule Engine has four […]

TCP/IP is the standard communication protocol used by Argent. And there are a lot of things you can do to optimize the performance; here are some of the more important ones. TCP Send And Receive Timeout Setting the right timeout value for TCP send and receive operation is essential to get good responsiveness for both […]

You can use the AG_ME_TOOL.EXE utility to administer Argent Guardian Monitoring Engines from a command prompt. The utility is located in drive:\ARGENT\ArgentManagementConsole\ArgentGuardian. You can get it from the Installation zip file. Commands /LIST Lists all visible Monitoring Engines. /INSTALL /TARGET=machine Installs the Monitoring Engine Service on the target server and adds an entry to the […]

Log in as the user who will be running the Argent Unix Rule Engine Note that this user should not be “root“. Generate public key files. To make your life easier (“good…”), we will generate and use all three key types, taking the default values in all cases and not supplying a passphrase. Note that […]

Essentially the rule of thumb is: If It Uses Electricity Argent Monitors It. More specifically, Argent monitors all common operating systems platforms. These include: All Windows Operating Systems, Vista, Windows 200x, XP, 4.0, 3.50, 3.51, Windows 98 Solaris SCO AIX HPUX All Linux iSeries With over 2,500 Rules, Argent monitors all aspects of your operating […]

Argent provides a number of free-standing batch utilities to help manager your Argent installation. Argent_DBCheck.exe Run the database integrity as a batch command from the command line. An interactive window can be used, or you can use parameters on the command line. See Also: Argent_DBCheck — How Do I Run The Argent Database Integrity Check? […]

The server ‘Connectivity Test‘ button has been relocated in Argent AT Click For Full Size Go to License Manager( Screen G1) Click For Full Size Highlight the server you are interested in, double click to bring up the Properties TAB Click For Full Size Click the “Connectivity Test” button Click For Full Size Argent will […]

The Argent Security Manager lets you control how your users work with the Argent Console by letting you assign various level of permission granted to the users System Administrator System Administrator can change any aspect in the product And only System Administrator can change the security settings You can assign multiple users as System Administrators, […]

The quality of the Argent SuperMaps images depends on a number of factors, here are the most important: Bitmap (BMP) provides the best image and you should use BMP format The resolution of your display or monitor determines how well images can be displayed Toggle Argent to full screen (use the right-click menu option) Click […]