MonitorThis

MonitorThis is a complete monitoring service in a single executable.

This efficient, effective monitoring service is configured from a single XML file and includes a suite of monitors that can be configured to perform regular environmental monitoring checks.

MonitorThis has no user interface and is designed to run as a silent background service. It can be installed from the command line, automatically updates regularly from a network share and save alerts to a network location, posts alerts to a web portal or sends email notifications.

MonitorThis works like an advanced XML based task scheduler allowing you to schedule monitoring activities to occur as required all launched as separate threads by the monitoring service. This approach ensures redundancy and reliability with a cache of the last run for all scheduled activities ensuring monitoring continues smoothly after a reboot or maintenance outage of a machine. MonitorThis allows any script or application to be launched so it is not limited to the included functionality but can be used to trigger custom scripts or processes to monitor unique applications to assist service or software providers.

Out of the box MonitorThis includes functionality to replace a wide range of individual monitoring applications such as StalkerGo, ServiceStalker, ProcessStalker, DriveStalker and WebStalker. These applications are designed to be simple, user friendly and perform a single task. MonitorThis is designed to be stable,  fast and efficient, minimising resource usage, while performing a more complex range of monitoring activities.  This makes it more suitable for enterprise server monitoring especially when combined with the free monitoring portal included.

As of July 2016 MonitorThis had completed over 150,000 operational hours of enterprise monitoring. I still use it but it is so stable it has required no further updates.

Included Monitors

  • CPU
  • PhysicalMemory
  • VirtualMemory
  • DiskSpace
  • DNS
  • Ping
  • Process
  • Services
  • Update
  • Execute
  • FileExist
  • WebRequest
  • MaxChildren
  • EventLog

Monitoring Portal

A Classic ASP monitoring portal is included with MonitorThis allowing a completely customised monitoring experience to be tailored to suit your individual requirements. This portal is intended as a demonstration of how alerts can be received and processed into a portal allowing ultimate flexibility for you to tailor a solution to your requirements. The portal is not required to use MonitorThis as email notifications can operate independently.

Advanced functionality available with this portal include:

  • Near realtime monitoring status
  • Ability to post alerts to the portal via HTTP(S)
  • Ability to post email to the portal via HTTP(S)
  • Ability to view all running processes/alerts on a server as required
  • Ability to clear triggered alerts on a selected server

Releases

  • v1.0.0.0 (10/11/2015) - New Release
  • v1.0.0.1 (18/01/2016) - Added Ping Monitor and updated portal details page (to support Win 2003)
  • v1.0.0.2 (8/07/2016) - Added Event Log Monitor
  • v1.0.0.3 (9/07/2016) - Removed cd/dvd drives from drive space monitor
  • v1.0.0.4 (11/07/2016) - Updated Process Monitor to 'ends with' command to increase flexibility
  • v1.0.0.5 (14/07/2016) - Added Sleep function to disable monitoring during selected hours
  • v1.0.0.6 (13/02/2017) - Corrected an issue with date time handling for EventLog monitor

Requirements

Microsoft Windows PC or Server
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10/11/Server 2008/Server 2008R2/2012

User Guide

 


Xsemmel MT

Xsemmel MT is a customised version of Xsemmel designed for validating and configuring MonitorThis XML files. Based on XSemmel by Frank Schnitzer this great XML editor has now been enhanced to assist you in validating your MonitorThis configuration before deployment.

XSemmel is fully featured XML editor with a long list of features including:

  • XML editing
    • xsd-based code completion
    • pretty printing
  • validate against XSD schema
  • xsd visualizer
  • grid view
  • generate sample XML based on XSD
  • tree view
    • navigate with tree
    • show only XML fragments
    • generate XPath of selected node
  • XPath queries
    • auto-detect namespace
    • user-defined functions (C#)
  • generate complex XML files based on pattern language
  • generate XSD schema based on sample XML file
  • compare XML files
  • XSLT transformation
  • XQuery
  • bulk XSD validation of many XML files at once
  • bulk XPath processing of many files at once

Xsemmel MT extends this with the following enhancements:

  • Background for XML grid view
  • Fix for 'invalid format' reading some XML files
  • MonitorThis new configuration template
  • MonitorThis Validation check
  • Upgrade to .NET 4.6

Releases

  • 2/6/2016 - V1.0.0.0 Release
  • 8/7/2016 - V1.0.0.1 Update for MonitorThis

Requirements

XSemmel MT does not include an installer but is currently a standalone application that requires minimum .NET 4.6 to be installed.

Recent News

 

Christian specialises in translating complex business requirements into technical solutions. With a degree in Communications and over 20 years experience in IT solutions, implementation, training, troubleshooting and software development he has developed a skill set designed to help any business maximise the potential of their IT spend.

With expertise in Consumer Goods retail execution, life sciences relationship management and data driven cross platform technologies Christian can help enhance sales revenue and the return on investment in field selling resources.

Christian Dunn
chris@chrisdunn.name