# Monitoring server performance

These are the questions asked during Server Performance Monitoring Training

## FAQ's

- **Can OpManager monitor the device's availability based on DNS name instead of IP address?**  
  To monitor a single device using DNS name instead of IP address, go to the device’s snapshot page, click on the option button in the top right corner, and select *Edit device details*. In the *Poll using* option, select DNS instead of IP address.  
  To monitor the availability of all your devices using DNS name, go to **Settings → Monitoring → Monitor Settings** and in the *Poll using* option, select DNS.

- **Does OpManager have dynamic threshold?**  
  Currently OpManager does not have dynamic thresholds. However, it is on our pipeline and is under development. If you have any suggestions/requests, you can let us know from this link:  
  [https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/roadmap.html?featureID=54](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/roadmap.html?featureID=54)

- **How to get alerts if the CPU utilization of the OpManager server is above 90%?**  
  Go to **Settings → General Settings → Self Monitoring**. Here you can set the threshold values for your CPU and choose to get notified.

- **I would like to search for a specific string in my logs and alert me if it matches from any of the records?**  
  Go to **Settings → Monitoring → Files**. Click on *Add*, under the *File contains* tab, enter the search string. Select *Save and Associate* to associate this configuration across required devices.  
  To learn more about file monitoring, click on this link:  
  [https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/how-to/file-monitoring.html](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/how-to/file-monitoring.html)

- **How to add Nutanix server in OpManager?**  
  The process of adding a Nutanix server is similar to adding any other virtual server. Go to **Settings → Discovery → Add Nutanix**. Enter the IP Address/DNS Name of your Nutanix device, choose the corresponding credential, and click *Discover*.

- **What are the storage devices supported?**  
  Click on the following link to get a list of storage devices supported by OpManager:  
  [https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/faq/supported-devices-and-protocols.html](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/faq/supported-devices-and-protocols.html)

- **How can I monitor all the scheduled changes and maintenance done on my system?**  
  We can monitor Event Logs for Windows and Syslogs for Linux-based servers. Any change in the system will generate an event which can be captured by OpManager, and you can create Rules in OpManager to generate an alarm for the event.

- **Is there any option to get process wise utilization in a server?**  
  Yes, we have reports like *Process by CPU Utilization* and *Process by Memory Utilization*. You can view all the process details of a particular server from the device snapshot page.

- **How can I monitor a Broadcast storm?**  
  OpManager helps you monitor switch ports for traffic, utilization, and errors. By presenting accurate information on port traffic and utilization, OpManager helps you identify top talkers on the LAN and detect potential *Broadcast Storms* and proactively prevent them.

- **How to monitor live traffic of multiple interfaces of different devices and combine them in one single graph? Can we view it in dashboard?**  
  You can view the data as tabular information in the Dashboard by adding *Interfaces by Traffic* and *Interfaces exceeding N Mbps Traffic* widgets.  
  To view as graphs, go to *Generate Reports* from **Interfaces Inventory → Select Devices → Choose Traffic Monitors**. Currently, viewing graphs in the Dashboard is not available.

- **Is it possible to get only critical alerts without getting alerts classified as ‘attention’ or ‘trouble’?**  
  Yes, you can directly configure the critical alert by leaving the other threshold severities blank.

- **Can we have graphical view of CPU, memory, and disk utilization for a particular device?**  
  Navigate to the *Graphs* page from the device snapshot page or from the Monitors List view page. Click on the monitor name to view the graph page.

- **Can I perform actions like restarting a virtual machine from my OpManager Console?**  
  Yes, you can restart a virtual machine using OpManager. There are options to turn on/off VMs and other features as well.

- **Is it possible to view the availability status of a device or interface for more than 24 hours?**  
  Yes, you can view the availability status based on time by changing the time period from the *Availability Timeline* graph.

- **Is it possible to monitor a Linux/Windows server or device using SNMP and CLI protocol?**  
  Yes. It is possible with OpManager, which uses SNMP and CLI protocols to get information from a Linux/Windows server or device.

- **Is OpManager an agent-based or agent-less monitoring solution?**  
  OpManager is an agent-less monitoring solution. We rely on remote protocols like WMI, SNMP, and CLI.

- **Is it possible to check the uptime of a device rather than relying on ping to check availability?**  
  Yes, we can do a TCP port check to get device availability if ICMP is disabled.

- **Under URL monitoring, does OpManager monitor the Single Sign On URLs?**  
  Yes.

- **How to monitor the Cloud and mixed environment in OpManager?**  
  Provide the proxy server details in OpManager to monitor cloud URLs.

- **Can we have any example for SSO?**  
  Configure the user name and password for authorization. This is required on pages where you need to log on and test host availability. For more information:  
  [http://help.opmanager.com/monitor_url_api-v12](http://help.opmanager.com/monitor_url_api-v12)

- **How to add WMI monitors?**  
  Default WMI Performance monitors are already available. For new custom monitors, go to the **Device Snapshot page → Monitors** and add custom WMI monitors by selecting the respective WMI Class and monitors.

- **How to configure monitoring interval for devices?**  
  Go to **Settings → Configuration → Monitoring Intervals**.

- **Did I see that we can monitor the Postgres process for OpManager? Is this available for Linux as well?**  
  In Linux, you can monitor all available processes using SNMP.

- **Does file/folder monitoring require any plug-in like APM?**  
  No. It uses WMI credentials. If required, you can use agent-based monitoring to monitor the *Contains Text* option.

- **Would the OpManager server monitor itself under self monitoring or would it need to be added as a device?**  
  OpManager adds the localhost device by default. There is no need to add it manually.

- **If someone deletes the OpManager local server, do I use its IP address to rediscover it?**  
  Use the *Add Device* option to re-add the device by IP or device name.

- **For server monitoring, do we require only WMI? Or is SNMP also required?**  
  OpManager monitors servers using either SNMP or WMI. We recommend WMI for Windows devices.

- **Please confirm if we can get SMS/email notifications when set thresholds are reached?**  
  Yes, you can use the *Notification Profile* feature.

- **Under uplink dependency, do you set a VM to be the host and host to be the switch and the switch to be the router?**  
  You can set any device as a parent device for uplink dependency. When a parent device is down, alerts will not be raised for its child device.

- **I have one server where memory and disk information are available, but CPU utilization does not show up. How to fix that?**  
  This depends on the appropriate protocol in place and the monitors added.

- **Do you support Lenovo servers?**  
  Yes. If the device is discovered with the appropriate protocol, it will be categorized using default templates.

- **I want a process utilization report by CPU. How do I configure it?**  
  Go to **Device Snapshot page → Monitors → Process Monitors**, add the required processes, and monitor CPU/memory usage.

- **How to reset 'Discards rate for Interface' threshold for switches?**  
  Go to **Settings → Interface Template** and select the specific interface type, or use **Device Snapshot page → Settings → Configure Interfaces**.

- **Where can I see memory modules hardware sensor data for VMware hosts?**  
  Hardware Monitor is disabled by default. Enable it under **Settings → System Settings → Hardware Monitor**. Verify VMware credentials if needed.

- **Is there a typical TCP port used to monitor servers in the DMZ?**  
  Ensure the device is reachable via Ping and required ports are open for WMI/SNMP (135, 445, and 161). Refer to:  
  [https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/help/hardware-and-software-requirements.html#port_requirements](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/help/hardware-and-software-requirements.html#port_requirements)

- **How do you determine uplink dependency?**  
  It is based on network-level dependency. For example, if servers are connected to a switch, set the switch as the parent device to reduce alarm flooding when the switch is unreachable.

- **When discovering vCenter, can I select specific virtual machines?**  
  Yes. During vCenter discovery, select only the required virtual machines to avoid consuming unnecessary licenses.

- **How to save switch configuration in OpManager?**  
  Use the *Network Configuration Add-On* available with OpManager.

- **How to get customized reports?**  
  From the *Inventory* tab, select devices and click *Generate Reports*.

- **Why are services monitored using OpManager?**  
  OpManager performs TCP port checks to determine if services are up or down. Learn more:  
  https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/help/monitor-tcp-service.html

- **Can we use a specific port instead of the default port for a service?**  
  Yes. Create a new service monitor under **Settings → Monitoring → Services → Add New Service** with the required port.

- **How to use OpManager on mobile?**  
  Use the OpManager Mobile App:  
  - iOS: https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/apps.html  
  - Android: https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/opmanager-android-app.html

- **Is file and folder monitoring available for Linux?**  
  Currently supported only for Windows servers using WMI. For Linux, use script monitoring.

- **What’s the minimum permission required to monitor VMware?**  
  Read-only user privilege is sufficient for monitoring. Administrator privileges are required for tasks like rebooting or powering off.

- **Can OpManager check AD network shares like netlogon and sysvol?**  
  Direct monitoring is not supported. However, scripts can be added as script monitors.

- **What brands of UPS are supported?**  
  View the complete list under **Settings → Configuration → Device Templates**. Custom UPS devices can also be monitored if SNMP is enabled.

- **Does OpManager support scheduling downtime for maintenance?**  
  Yes. Go to **Settings → Configuration → Device Downtime Schedule** to mark devices in maintenance mode.

- **How to add credentials to a specific device?**  
  Go to *Inventory*, select the device, click *Click here to change option*, configure the required credentials, and save.