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 Control Manager (or SCM) is fully network-enabled. In other words, any application program, such as Argent, can completely control all aspects of a service running on a remote machine, assuming the required rights have been granted.

All performance counters for all applications are kept in the registry, and access to the registry is available across the network, so Argent can read the performance counters from remote machines. Again, the required rights need to have been granted.

Many Microsoft and third-party products provide their own performance counters. For example, if a server is running SQL Server, then over 300 additional performance counters are added.

Event logs can also be accessed over the network, so Argent can scan event logs for errors from any remote machine.

Unix and Linux

If you thought Microsoft did a good job of providing network-enabled application-level APIs for everything, then the Unix and Linux people are further ahead. Not only do all Unix and Linux operating systems match Redmond, they actually provide a wider array of approaches to get to the data – from simple telnet to secure shells.

Everything Else – Hubs, Routers, Switches, Air Conditioners, UPS, PBX, And Ice Makers

Argent can monitor every piece of hardware in your enterprise.

With all common devices being SNMP-compliant, Argent’s powerful SNMP facilities can monitor them all.

For example, for one of the top three banks in London, Argent monitors the temperature of the server room, when the temperature climbs and exceeds the threshold, an Email Alert is sent, and an SNMP Alert cranks up the server room’s air conditioning.

Once the server room’s temperature is back in bounds, a second Email Alert is sent, and a different SNMP Alert is executed to turn the air conditioner back to normal.

Now the next question: Which Is Better – Local Or Remote Monitoring? Click Here To Find Out