Audience

The intended audience of this guide are, 

 

1. IT Operators: Manage and monitor network and system performance. 
   
2. IT Administrators/Network Engineers: Administer and manage networks and systems.
   
3. DevOps Teams: Automate and monitor infrastructure across hybrid or cloud environments. 
   
4. IT Operations Managers/Data Center Managers: Maximize uptime and efficiency in IT operations. 
   
5. Managed Service Providers (MSPs): Offer IT monitoring and management services for their clients. 
   
6. Security Teams: Leverage syslog, traps, and network analysis for threat detection and mitigation. 
   
7. Application Monitoring Specialists: Monitor website availability and service performance to ensure reliability.
   

How to Contact Support

Here are some ways to contact Cloudmon support:

Raise a ticket through the Veryx Cloudmon portal

1. Click on the icon  at the bottom right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window.
2. Click on Tickets, and fill in the details such as Name, Email, and Subject. In the description field, you may describe the problem you are facing or any queries that you may have.

3. Click Submit.

                                                      Submitting a ticket on Cloudmon Controller

Cloudmon ChatBot

1. Click on the icon  at the bottom right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window

2. Click on Chat to start a conversation with the Cloudmon team.

                                                      Initiating a chat using Cloudmon Controller

Phone 

You can call Cloudmon support by country:

Americas: +1 267 440 0140 (8am-5pm EST) 

United Arab Emirates : call+971 4 268 8545 (9am-5pm) 

India, Srilanka : +91 44 6677 2200 (9am-7pm IST) 

International: +44 203 371 8691

Installation and Deployment

Cloudmon Deployment Options

This section lists the different deployment options available in Cloudmon:

Single Network 

In this deployment model, branches are connected through an MPLS network or leased lines, within a single network, as would be the case in smaller organizations. Cloudmon controller and database are installed either on-premises or in Cloud. Cloudmon probes are installed in a centralized location (such as the Cloud, main data center or a central office). These probes then monitor and collect data from SNMP-enabled devices, WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation)-based devices, and other network components located in the different branches.

                  Cloudmon Deployment - Single Network

Distributed - Different Networks

In this deployment model, each branch operates on its own network or across different geographical regions, as would be the case in typical large organizations. Cloudmon Controller and database are installed either on-premises or in Cloud. Cloudmon  probes are deployed in each branch to collect performance and health data from local devices. These probes then send the collected data to a central Cloudmon Controller for unified monitoring and analysis.

Cloudmon Deployment - Distributed 

Demilitarized Zone - DMZ

A DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is a network segment that separates an organization's internal network from external networks (such as the internet). It adds a layer of security by acting as a buffer zone where external-facing services and systems are isolated from the internal network. In a Cloudmon deployment involving a DMZ, probes and monitoring components are strategically placed to balance security and monitoring effectiveness.

Cloudmon Deployment - DMZ

Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer IT monitoring and management services to multiple clients, often spanning various geographical locations and network environments. Cloudmon can be effectively deployed in an MSP setting to provide comprehensive monitoring solutions for multiple client infrastructures from a centralized platform.

Cloudmon Deployment - MSP

These deployment scenarios illustrate how Cloudmon can be adapted to various network environments to provide effective monitoring and management of IT infrastructure. Whether for centralized monitoring, distributed networks, or secure environments, Cloudmon ensures comprehensive visibility and control.

For further details or assistance in deploying Cloudmon in your environment, please contact our customer support (Refer How to Contact support in Overview).

System Requirements

Cloudmon System Requirements

The following information outlines the system requirements for the self-hosted option, enabling  IT teams to install  Cloudmon  in their environment. These system requirements have been determined keeping various deployment scenarios in mind to help organizations choose the most appropriate configuration for their monitoring environment.                                                                           

	Small (up to 250 nodes)	Medium (up to 1000 nodes)	Large (up to 5000 nodes)
Cloudmon Controller Server	CPU: 4 cores RAM: 16 GB Storage: at least 200 GB capacity	CPU: 8 cores RAM: 32 GB Storage: at least 300 GB capacity	CPU: 8 cores RAM: 64 GB Storage: at least 500 GB capacity
	OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Network requirements:  Outbound - 22, 587, 27017; Inbound - 80, 443 Internet access:  i)                  https://repo.veryxtech.com ii)                 https://pro.ip-api.com iii)                smtp.office365.com (if local SMTP server is not utilized) Note: Make sure your server is NTP synchronized.
Cloudmon Database (MongoDB 7.0)	CPU: 4 cores RAM: 32 GB Storage: SSD with at least 500 GB capacity	CPU: 8 cores RAM: 64 GB Storage: SSD with at least 1 TB capacity	CPU: 8 cores RAM: 128 GB Storage: SSD with at least 2 TB capacity
	OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Network requirements: Inbound - TCP/27017 Note: If Mongodb is already available, one database can be utilized for cloudmon
Probes	CPU: 4 cores RAM: 16 GB Storage: SSD with at least 250 GB capacity	CPU: 8 cores RAM: 32 GB Storage: SSD with at least 500 GB capacity
	OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS  Network requirements:  Outbound - 80, 443 and monitored ports, Inbound: UDP/2055 (for Netflow), UDP/514 (Syslog), UDP/162 (SNMP Trap). Internet access -  https://pro.ip-api.com
Agents	CPU: 64-bit processor RAM: 128 MB of free memory Storage: Sufficient disk space for agent installation and temporary data storage, less than 200 MB OS: Windows 10+, Windows server 2012+, Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, RedHat Linux, Suse Linux and more  Note: There must be a time synchronization between the agent and the server.
Note:  Cloudmon Database can be installed along with the Server with same database system configuration.  For Deployments larger than 5000 nodes and High availability contact sales@veryxtech.com.  Cloudmon can be deployed on physical or virtual servers, whether on-premises or in the cloud. For comprehensive system requirements, please visit cloudmon-support.veryxtech.com. The listed minimum server requirements are based on a default configuration. Significantly increasing the monitors, or the frequency of statistic collection may add extra load to the server, which could necessitate a larger CPU or additional memory. The storage size required depends on several factors: the duration for which data is retained, whether debug logging is enabled, and the overall volume of data being stored.

For latest updated system requirements, please refer this page: Cloudmon System Requirements.

Installation and Upgradation

Controller Installation

For installation packages  and to receive assistance during the Cloudmon Controller setup process, please reach out to our Customer Support (Refer How to Contact support in Overview). They will provide the necessary guidance and resources to help you successfully deploy the Cloudmon Controller for your monitoring needs.

Controller Registration

After successful installation of the Cloudmon controller,

1. Open the controller with its Hostname/IP in browser. 
   
2. Login to the controller with temporary credentials – admin/admin.
   
3. Controller’s default username will be “System Account” before registration.
4. Immediately after login, the Registration page will be displayed. Refer table below and fill all the necessary fields for controller registration,
   
   

Field	Description	Remarks
First Name	First name of the User
Last Name	Last Name of the User
Contact Email ID	Email-Id of the User	Email-Id is always used as username for controller login, and it is case-sensitive, replaces username in the temporary credential.
Contact phone number	Phone number of the User
New Password	New Password to the Cloudmon user account	This password replaces the temporary password in the temporary credential.
Company Name	Organization name

            
          5. After filling all the necessary details, Click on Save.

          6. After registration completion, new registration mail will be sent to the registered email ID.

          7. The default username of the controller will be changed to the email address that was set during registration. 

IMPORTANT NOTE

Super Admin: The user created during registration will be designated as the super admin of the controller and will serve as the default user, and it cannot be deleted. In the event of a change in the super admin of the tool, the first name, last name, and email ID of the super admin user account can be edited. 

MSP Customer: Incase of Cloudmon MSP deployment, the organization name registered will be added as the MSP (Managed Service Provider) customer. Only user accounts assigned to this customer will be able to choose to receive alarm and device-related notifications of all the customers.

Agent Installation & Upgradation

Installation  of Cloudmon Agents are performed from the Cloudmon controller:

1. Click on the user icon in the top-right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window
2. Select the "Help" menu.
3. You will be redirected to the Agent article page by default.
   
4. As you scroll down, or click on Getting started > Installation, in the left-side pane, the steps for installing a Cloudmon Agent in various operating systems are listed. 
   

Probe Installation & Upgradation

Installation  of Cloudmon Probe(s) are performed from the Cloudmon controller:

1. Click on the user icon in the top-right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window.
2. Select the "Help" menu.
3. You will be redirected to an Article page, click on the Probe tab.
   
4. As you scroll down, or click on Getting started > Installation in the left-side pane, the steps for installing a Cloudmon Probe in Windows and Linux are given.

License Activation

Licensing for Cloudmon can be added or extended with assistance from our Customer Support (Refer How to Contact support in Overview). Follow the steps outlined below to manage your license, including extending it if necessary.

Viewing License Details

To view the current license details for your device:

1. Navigate to the Settings > License
2. The license details currently available for the device will be listed.
   

Extending Cloudmon License

To request an extension for your license:

1. In the License section, locate and select the Extend License button.
2. An Installation ID will be displayed. Copy this Installation ID.
   

Request Cloudmon License Key

1. Provide the copied Installation ID to the Cloudmon support team (Refer How to Contact support in Overview) or email to: cloudmon-support@veryxtech.com.
2. Include the number of additional licenses required in your request.

The Cloudmon support team will generate and provide a License Key in response.

Applying Cloudmon License Key

1. Return to the Extend License section where the Installation ID was previously displayed.
2. Enter the provided License Key into the appropriate field within the same pop-up box.
   
   

Restarting Cloudmon Services

To ensure that the new license key is applied correctly:

1. Establish an SSH session with the Cloudmon Controller device.
2. Restart all Cloudmon services using the following command:

   service cloudmon-controller@* restart
   

User Roles

Managing user authentication, access and authorizations (AAAs) in Cloudmon is crucial for maintaining control and security. User roles define what Cloudmon functionalities each user has access to, and their authorization to perform specific actions on the platform.

Types of User Roles

1. Super Admin:

      This role has complete control over Cloudmon, with full read and write privileges across all features and settings.

2. Custom User Roles:

      These roles allow for tailored permissions, granting specific access levels based on user needs. You can configure roles with varying levels of access, such as:

1. Full Read/Write Access
   
2. Read-Only Access
   
3. No Access
   

These roles can be configured by specifying the access level for each of the Pages, authorization to perform actions.

Thus for instance, a supervisory role at a higher level could have full Read/Write access, while operator role will typically need Read-only access for most Pages and Write access for specific Pages. 

 

Further, you could assign Cloudmon platform user accounts to specific Groups that are associated with specific sets of environments to be monitored. In this manner, a hierarchy of users with access rights based on users' roles covering all IT assets can be setup within any organisation.

Steps to Create a User Role

1. Navigate to Settings > General Settings > User Management > User Roles.

2. Click the + button on the top right corner to add a user role.

3. Fill all the mandatory fields as per table below. 

Field	Description
Name	Provides a descriptive name for the role to easily identify its purpose.
Permission to Access and View Pages	Specifies which pages the role can access and view. This controls the user's visibility within the system.
Permission to Perform Actions	Defines the actions that users assigned this role are allowed to perform, such as editing, deleting, or creating items.

4. Click on Save to add role.

User Accounts

In Cloudmon, user accounts are designed to allow multiple individuals to access and manage the platform based on their specific roles.

Steps to Create a User Account

1. Navigate to Settings > General Settings > User Management > User Accounts.

2. Click on + to add a new User Account.

3. Fill all the mandatory fields, The table below provides field descriptions.

4. Click on Save to add account.

Field	Description
First name	Enter the first name of the user.
Last name	Enter the last name of the user.
Role	Select the user role from the dropdown menu.
Email	Specify the email address of the user.
Customers (only applicable for Cloudmon MSP)	Select which customers should be accessible for this user.
Groups	Select which groups should be accessible by this user.
Desktop Notification	By default, desktop notifications will be enabled.
Toast Notification	Select whether toast (i.e., passive) notifications should be enabled for this user.
Blocked	Indicate whether the user should be blocked from accessing Cloudmon.

Adding a new user account on Cloudmon

Once a Cloudmon user account is created, an email will be sent to the added user containing their login credentials, including the username and password. The user must use these credentials to log in to Cloudmon.

User Login

When a user is provided access to login to Cloudmon. Following are the steps to access Cloudmon.

User login is mandatory to access Cloudmon to view dashboards and perform actions. The following are the steps to login.

Receive Login Credentials

• You will receive an email from Cloudmon containing your login credentials and a temporary password.
  

Log In with Temporary Password

1. Open your email and locate the message from Cloudmon.
2. Copy your temporary password provided in the email.
3. Go to the Cloudmon login page.
4. Enter your email and the temporary password.
5. Click the "Log In" button.
   

 Set a New Password

Upon your initial login, you will be prompted to set a new password. Follow these steps to create your new password:

1. A pop-up box will appear, prompting you to enter a new password.
2. Enter your new password in the appropriate fields in the pop-up box.
3. Confirm your new password by re-entering it in the designated field.
4. Click the Save button to finalize your new password.
   

Future Logins

Once your new password is set, you will use this password for all future logins to Cloudmon.

Forgotten or Lost Password

In the login screen, select Forgot password? option given below the password field. You will be prompted to type in your registered email id, to which the password should be sent. 

On receiving the email, click on link to reset the password and create a new password.

How to change Password

To change the password for an user account, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the top-right corner of the controller interface and click on your user profile.
2. Select Edit Profile, then click on Change Password.
3. A password change form will appear. Enter your current password, the new password, and confirm the new password.
4. Save the changes.
5. Log in using the updated password to confirm the change was successful.
   

Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring capability delivers comprehensive insights into the performance, availability, and health of the monitored entities. When deploying Cloudmon agents on target devices like Desktops, Laptops, VM's, Servers etc.,  a direct secure connection is established between the device and the Cloudmon controller, enabling advanced monitoring capabilities as compared to agent-less operation. 

The following Cloudmon features require the Cloudmon probe for agent-less monitoring:

• SNMP-Based Network Device Monitoring: Monitor and collect data from network devices using SNMP protocols.
• WMI Monitoring: Monitor Windows systems using WMI for performance and availability.
• Network Discovery: Automatically discover network devices and services in the network 
  
• Topology Discovery: Automatically discovers network devices using LLDP/CDP protocol and generates a network map
• Website Monitoring: Track the performance and uptime of websites.
• Network Node Monitoring: Monitor the availability and response time of network nodes and endpoints.
  
• Service Availability Monitoring: Monitor the availability and response time of the services accessed over the network
• Log Monitoring: Collect and analyze logs from various systems.
• VMware Monitoring: Monitor VMware environments, including vCenter, ESXi, and virtual machines.
• NetFlow Monitoring: Analyze network traffic patterns and bandwidth usage through NetFlow data.
• Network Configuration Management: Manage and back up device configurations across the network.
  

Alarms

Configuring Runbooks for Remediation

To configure remediation:

1. Navigate to Settings > General Settings > Runbooks.
2. View over 100 pre-defined runbooks.
3. To add a custom runbook, click the + icon and configure the runbook.
   

Creating a custom runbook

Runbooks form:

Specify the purpose of this runbook.

Indicate the operating system for which the script is intended.

The maximum time the system waits for a script or command to complete before stopping it if it exceeds the limit.

Field	Field Description	Remarks
Name*	Name of the runbook
Description
Filter	Hover over the  icon next to the filter to view the format.
Type*	In the Type field, there are two options: Script and Command. If 'Script' is selected, provide the script below. If 'Command' is selected, enter the command to be executed.
Timeout(seconds)
Arguments	additional parameters passed to a script or command to customize its execution.

Ways to Perform Remediation in Cloudmon

1. Automatic Execution

Create an alarm trigger for any entity monitored, click on it and move to Settings > Alarm rule > Trigger button

In the trigger, check the box for Run Scripts. Choose whether to run the script on the controller or the agent. Select the appropriate script from the dropdown and save the trigger. 

When the alarm is raised, the configured runbook will automatically executed and the output will be shown in the alarm overlay.

Specifying alarm trigger rule

Triggered alarm that performed automated remediation

2. Manual Execution 

When an alarm is triggered, click on the alarm, hover over Execute Runbook to view the list of available runbooks, and select the desired script. This allows for manual control over which Runbook is executed.

Manually executing a runbook for a triggered alarm

3. Actions

These action icons are available on the agent, allowing you to execute scripts or commands directly in Cloudmon.

Device summary reported by Cloudmon agent

Select an Agent and click the  icon. You can view all available runbooks, including any custom runbooks added. 
Click on the  icon to execute a runbook, or the  icon to view past executions and their outputs.

Available runbooks for the agent installed on a device
    

Actions History, showing the output of the executed runbook for an agent

You can also click the  icon to manually execute a command on the agent. Provide the command and description, and view the output under All History.

Manual execution of a command on the agent

Cloudmon Controller relies on telemetry data received from Cloudmon Probes and Cloudmon Agents. Cloudmon Probes poll resources using ICMP, TCP, SNMP, NetFlow/IPFIX and WMI protocols. The support for specific protocols is based on the Cloudmon license purchased. Cloudmon Agents reside on the resources themselves and send the data to the Controller.

ICMP

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is primarily used for ping-based availability monitoring in Cloudmon, enabling users to track the reachability of network devices.

• Device Availability: Cloudmon probe sends ICMP Echo requests (pings) to the target device, and the device responds with an Echo reply. If a device fails to respond, it indicates that the device is unavailable, and an alert can be triggered.

• Latency Measurement: By measuring the time it takes for a ping to travel to the device and return (round-trip time or RTT), Cloudmon can provide insights into network latency. Higher latency can suggest network congestion or other performance issues.

• Packet Loss Detection: Cloudmon probe monitors packet loss by sending multiple pings over a period and calculating how many are lost. This provides a good indication of network reliability. Persistent packet loss might point to network faults or degraded links.

Use Cases:

• Basic uptime checks for WAN, LAN, IOT, VPN and VDI devices
• Detecting network congestion through latency and packet loss analysis.
• Tracking the availability of critical network endpoints.
  

Refer section Network Monitoring >  Network Availability Monitoring for more details on Availability monitoring using ICMP.

TCP

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) monitoring is used in Cloudmon to verify the availability of specific services that rely on TCP communication. This is achieved by checking the status of specific ports on devices.

• Port Availability: Cloudmon probe attempts to establish a TCP connection to a specific port on a device. If the port is open and the service is responsive, the device is considered available. Otherwise, an alert is generated indicating that the service may be down or unreachable.

• Service Performance: By measuring the time it takes to establish the TCP connection, Cloudmon provides insights into service responsiveness. Slow connection times can indicate underlying network or service issues.

• Custom Thresholds for Alerts: You can configure alert thresholds based on TCP response times or port status. For example, if a web server's port 80 (HTTP) or port 443 (HTTPS) is unresponsive, an alert is triggered to notify the administrator.

Use Cases:

• Monitoring the availability of services such as HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, FTP, and other TCP-based services and also availability of nodes using TCP. Refer Network Monitoring >  Network Availability Monitoring
• Checking specific applications or services running on custom TCP ports. Refer Service Monitoring > TCP based Service Monitoring
• Proactively detecting service downtime or performance degradation.
  

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is widely used to monitor and manage devices on IP networks. SNMP operates on a polling mechanism where a management system queries the monitored devices for specific metrics. Cloudmon probes support SNMP-based device monitoring, enabling IT users to gather performance, configuration, and status data from network devices such as routers, switches, and servers.

In Cloudmon most of the features such as Server monitoring, Syslog Monitoring, Trap Monitoring, NetFlow monitoring, Network configuration Management etc., are supported for SNMP-capable devices.

Pre-requisites for SNMP Monitoring

SNMP credentials are mandatory for SNMP-based device monitoring

Ports: The default port used for SNMP is 161. Make sure that this port is not blocked by your firewall

SNMP Credentials Configuration

For adding SNMP credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > SNMP > Click on + icon in the top right corner,

You will have to configure the following parameters if SNMP credential type is selected.

Name: Credential name.

Description: A brief description about the credential.

Version: Select the version of the SNMP

Community string: Read or Write password to authenticate the device

If SNMP v3 is selected, the following options will be displayed:

Username:  The user (principal) on behalf of whom the message is being exchanged.

Authentication: Select any of the authentication protocols either MD5 or SHA and enter the password. MD5 and SHA are processes which are used for generating authentication/privacy keys in SNMPv3 applications.

Encryption: Select any of the encryption protocols between DES, AES-128, AES-192 or AES-256 and enter the password. 

Advanced Options:
 

1. SNMP Port: SNMP port number.
2. SNMP Timeout: SNMP timeout in seconds.
3. SNMP Retries: SNMP retries.
   

Refer Network Monitoring > Network Performance monitoring > Monitoring using SNMP related information. 

WMI

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is used to manage and monitor Windows-based systems. Cloudmon probes, leverages WMI for agentless monitoring of Windows servers and workstations, enabling real-time tracking of various performance metrics.

WMI monitoring is ideal for environments with many Windows systems, as it provides rich data without requiring agents to be installed on the target machines.

WMI Credentials Configuration

For creating a WMI Credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > WMI tab > Click + icon to add new credential,

Fill all the necessary fields such as,

1. Name - Name of the credential
   
2. Description - Description of the credential to be added
   
3. Username - User name of the Windows device
   
4. Password - Password of the Windows device
   

Note: Authentication to windows devices using WMI requires you to login as a domain user with administrator privileges

NetFlow/IPFIX

NetFlow and IPFIX are protocols used to collect and monitor IP network traffic. These protocols provide visibility into the flow of data across the network by analyzing packets that traverse flow-exporting devices like routers and switches. Cloudmon probes support both NetFlow and IPFIX, offering in-depth traffic analysis and reporting.

NetFlow/IPFIX is invaluable for network administrators looking to understand traffic patterns, identify bandwidth bottlenecks, and troubleshoot issues related to excessive traffic or suspicious network activity.

Refer Network Monitoring > Network Traffic Flow Monitoring related information.

Cloudmon Agent 

Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring delivers comprehensive insights into the performance, availability, and health of critical infrastructure. By deploying the Cloudmon agent on target devices like Desktops/Laptops, VM's, Servers etc.,  a direct socket connection is established between the device and the Cloudmon controller, enabling advanced monitoring capabilities. This ensures smooth operations, rapid issue detection and continuous oversight of your environment.

Configuration for Agent-Based Monitoring

For installation and configuration guidelines of an Agent,

From the Cloudmon controller:

1. Click on the user icon in the top-right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window
2. Select the "Help" menu.
3. You will be redirected to the Agent article page by default.
   
4. As you scroll down, or click on Getting started > Installation, in the left-side pane, the steps for installing a Cloudmon Agent in various operating systems are listed. 
   

After completing all the steps above, your agent will be automatically discovered by the Cloudmon controller, and the monitored agents will be visible in the controller under "Agents" in the top navigation bar.

Key Features requiring Agent-Based Monitoring

Liveness Monitoring: Detects device downtimes and restarts within 25 seconds, ensuring that availability data is updated instantly. For configuring Liveness for an agent, Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Metrics > Search for metric 'Liveness'

Automatic Remediation: Supports automatic execution of remediation scripts when threshold breaches occur, reducing downtime and improving response times. Refer Platform Overview > Remediation.

High-Frequency Resource Monitoring: Provides real-time resource monitoring with polling intervals starting from 1 second and reporting intervals as short as 1 minute, ensuring up-to-date insights into critical devices. Refer Platform Overview > Monitoring Profiles section for more details.

System metrics received in High Frequency for a server

Hyper-V Monitoring: Hyper-V servers can only be monitored using the Cloudmon agent, enabling visibility into Hyper-V resources, including VMs, CPU, memory, network, and storage. Refer Virtualization Monitoring > Hyper-V Monitoring section for more details.

Docker Host Monitoring: Monitor Docker containers and hosts, gaining insights into container resource usage, availability, and performance. Refer Virtualization Monitoring > Docker Host Monitoring.

Service and Process Monitoring: Track active services and processes running on monitored devices, allowing for in-depth process-level performance data and alerts. Refer Service monitoring and Process Monitoring sections for more details.

Agent-based service and process monitoring for a device

Installed Software Monitoring: Cloudmon can detect and monitor all software installed on agent-enabled devices, providing visibility into software inventory and usage.

Installed software on server or host

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM): This Cloudmon features tracks user experience by monitoring application performance and network interactions from an end-user perspective. Refer Digital Experience Monitoring.

With Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring, users can gain powerful, detailed insights into their environment, ensuring proactive management and optimized performance end-to-end.

Digital Experience Monitoring on a user desktop

Configuring Alarms for Agents

To configure alarms for an agent, follow the steps,

1. Navigate to the Top Bar: From the top navigation bar, select All Agents.
2. Select an Agent: Click on the desired agent.
3. Access Settings: Go to Settings and then select Alarm Rule.
4. Add a Trigger: Click on Add Trigger to set up an alert rule.
5. Configure Alert Rules: You can set alert rules for various parameters such as resources, interface metrics, Process and Service inactivity and agent inactivity.
   
   

Adding alarm trigger for an Agent

Reports

Cloudmon provides robust reporting capabilities for agents, with over 10 built-in reports that cover critical metrics like high resource utilization, open alarms, and device availability. The platform supports two types of reports: Scheduled Reports and Custom Reports.

Scheduled Reports

From the top navigation bar, click on Reports > Click on + icon to create a Scheduled report.

Adding scheduled reports

Users can select from predefined templates and set a frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly) to automatically generate reports. These reports are sent to designated users, helping with ongoing monitoring and decision-making. 

Custom Reports

From the top navigation bar, click on Reports > Click on Custom report  button to create a Scheduled report.

Adding custom report

Custom reports offer flexibility in selecting specific agents and metrics. Users can define the scope of the report and set a custom time period to match their specific reporting needs, allowing deeper insight into agent performance.

This feature helps ensure that key performance indicators are tracked effectively and reported regularly for optimal resource management. 

Refer Reports for more details.

Discovery

Network Discovery

Cloudmon Network Discovery feature provides IT administrators with a powerful tool to list and monitor network nodes, devices and services across their network based on ICMP, TCP, and SNMP. This helps in maintaining an accurate inventory of resources and assessing their operational status.

Network-based discovery in Cloudmon involves scanning specified IP ranges using different protocols to gather information about networked nodes, devices and services. The available protocols include:

• ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol): Used to check the availability of network nodes.
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): Used to identify services running on specific ports.
• SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol): Used to fetch and list all SNMP-enabled devices on the network.

Discovery Process in Cloudmon

The discovery process in Cloudmon is performed using Cloudmon probe(s) already installed in the network.

1. Protocols supported:

   • ICMP Discovery: Determines if a node is reachable by sending ICMP Echo requests. This helps in checking the availability of network nodes.
   • TCP Discovery: Identifies services running on specific ports by establishing TCP connections. This allows for the detection of services and applications operating on network devices.
   • SNMP Discovery: Retrieves and lists all SNMP-enabled devices. This protocol helps in gathering detailed information from network devices that support SNMP.

2. Resource Details: For each discovered resource, Cloudmon provides information based on the protocol used.

   • ICMP: Availability and reachability status.
   • TCP: Services and open ports.
   • SNMP: Detailed SNMP information, including device type, configuration, and operational status.

Post-Discovery Actions in Cloudmon

1. Resource Status Check:

   • Monitored Resources: Resources already monitored in Cloudmon will have their status displayed.
   • Unmonitored Resources: Resources not currently monitored will be marked as “Not Monitored.”

2. Enable Monitoring: One can enable monitoring directly from the discovery results:

   • For SNMP Devices: Directly enable monitoring for SNMP devices to integrate them into the monitoring system.
   • For ICMP/TCP Resources: Monitor availability and reachability checks to ensure continuous tracking of device status and services.

3. Status Updates: Once monitoring is enabled, Cloudmon updates and displays the status of the resources, ensuring accurate tracking and management of network health and performance.

Steps to perform Resource Discovery

1. Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Network Discovery.

2. Click on the + to add a discovery.

3. Fill all the mandatory fields, as per table below.

Field	Description
Name	Provide the name of discovery
Probe	From the dropdown Choose the probe through which you want to perform the discovery.
IP Range	Enter the IP range within which the discovery should be conducted.
Type	Host: To scan for device availability and reachability. Service: To identify specific services running on ports.
Protocol	Choose which protocol (ICMP, TCP, SNMP) needs to be used to perform the discovery

4. Click on Save to add the discovery.

5. Click on Scan to scan the network.

Adding a discovery rule before performing network discovery

6. From the list of IPs obtained through the scan, select the ones you want to monitor for performance and availability tracking.

Topology Discovery

Cloudmon’s topology discovery provides IT admins with a detailed view of infrastructure in the manner that they are connected in the network, as compared to network discovery which provides only the list of resources discovered. This comprehensive understanding of the network’s physical and logical layout helps identify potential bottlenecks and troubleshoot issues effectively. It allows admins to visualize switch-to-switch connections. This further aids in avoiding disruptions during network changes and maintaining operational continuity.

Topology discovery in Cloudmon involves using an SNMP device as a seed router and leveraging CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) and LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) from Cloudmon probes to map the network topology. This process also includes displaying FDP (Foundry Discovery Protocol), ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), and IPROUTE table details for each node.

Topology Discovery Process in Cloudmon

The topology discovery process in Cloudmon is performed using Cloudmon probe(s) already installed in the network.

      Seed Router Initialization:

1. The discovery process begins by providing an SNMP-enabled device as the seed router. This device serves as the starting point for the network discovery.
   

      Protocol Utilization:

1. CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) and LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) are utilized to crawl through the network. These protocols help in identifying and mapping out the network topology by discovering neighboring devices and their details.
   

      Node Details:

      For each discovered node, Cloudmon displays comprehensive information, including:

1. FDP (Foundry Discovery Protocol): Information about the device’s neighbors.
   
2. ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) Table: Maps IP addresses to MAC addresses.
   
3. IPROUTE Table: Displays the routing table of the device, showing the paths to different network destinations.
   

Steps to perform Topology Discovery

1. Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Topology Discovery.
   
2. Click on the + to add a discovery.
   
3. Fill all the mandatory fields as per table below.
   
4. Click on Save to add the discovery.
   
5. Click on Scan to scan the network.

1. Field	Description
   Name	Provide the name of discovery
   Probe	From the dropdown Choose the probe through which you want to perform the discovery.
   Seed IP	Enter the IP address of the seed device.
   SNMP Credentials	Input one or more SNMP credentials required for the discovery process.
   IP Range	Enter the IP range within which the discovery should be conducted.

Creating a network topology discovery rule

Once the entities have been discovered, Click on the view icon in the topology discovery table to display the topology discovered.

Topology Discovery - Device and Link Overview

Post-Discovery Actions in Cloudmon

Enable Monitoring:

To enable monitoring for unmonitored devices in the topology, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Monitoring > Topology Discovery.
2. Click on View Discovered Topology.
3. From the discovered topology, select any unmonitored device.
4. Click on the Monitor button to enable monitoring for that device.

This ensures seamless integration of new devices into the monitoring system.

Device and Device Link Status

Monitored Devices:

• Devices that are already monitored in Cloudmon will be highlighted based on their status:
  • Active Monitored Devices: Highlighted in green.
  • Inactive Monitored Devices: Highlighted in red.

Unmonitored Devices:

• Devices not currently monitored are marked as "Not Monitored" and are highlighted in grey.
  

Refreshing Monitoring Information

To refresh the monitoring information of devices:

1. Navigate to Topology Discovery and view the discovered topology.
2. Look for the Refresh icon  in the side pane.
3. Clicking the icon will update the monitoring information, including:
   • Device Monitoring Status: Whether the device is currently monitored or not.
   • Device Link Status: This shows the connectivity between devices and the interface status.

Real-time Updates in Discovered Topology

To get real-time updates in the discovered topology:

1. Rescan the topology by clicking the rescan   icon from the topology discovery added.
2. The topology will update with:
   • Newly added devices and links will be added to the existing topology
   • Deleted devices and links, which will be marked in red.

Dashboards

Cloudmon Dashboards

The first menu item on the top left of the Cloudmon window is the Dashboard. Click on Dashboard to select any of the dashboard types, which are further described below.

1. Admin Dashboard

The Admin Dashboard gives a comprehensive overview of data from the dashboard provides the overall health status of the devices configured to it. The Admin dashboard displays the following information: 

                      Admin Dashboard

• Agents - The number of devices monitored using agent-based monitoring. This includes the number of Active, Inactive agents.
  

• SNMP Devices - The number of network devices monitored using SNMP. This includes the number of active devices, inactive devices.
  

• Windows Devices - The number of Windows devices. This includes Not-monitored and Active devices.
  

• Network Nodes & Network Services - The number of Active and Inactive monitored network nodes and services.
  

• Probes - The number of network endpoints. This includes the number of active and inactive probes. 
  

• Recently visited Network Nodes/Services - This includes the top recently viewed 
  

• Recently visited Devices/Network Devices  - This includes the top 10 recently viewed devices/Network devices. 
  

2. Geographic View

Geographic (Geo) View displays the geolocation of all entities such as Agents , Probes , Network Nodes and Network Services . The entities can be chosen from the dropdown in the top right corner.

Each entity is represented by a unique icon, with inactive entities highlighted in red, allowing the IT operator to easily identify affected locations.

      Geo View showing the geographically location of all entities monitored

3. IT Infrastructure Overview

The IT infrastructure overview dashboard displays the following information,

• Devices heat map - This represents data of devices where devices' health can be classified by color, size, group, and filters. Heat maps make it easy to visualize complex data and understand it briefly. 
  

• Top 10 Interfaces by Percent - This includes the top 10 interfaces by percentage. 
  

• Top 10 Interfaces by Traffic - This includes the top 10 interfaces by traffic. 
  

            

Heat map of devices in IT infrastructure Overview

4. Network Availability

Heat Map of Network Services and Nodes - represents monitored health of the Network Nodes and Network Services where device data can be classified by color, size, group, and filters.

Heat map of Network Availability for Services and Nodes

5. User Experience Overview

The User Experience Overview Dashboard provides comprehensive insights using the Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) feature. It enables IT to assess and visualize the performance and experience of agents, applications, and geographical locations in a structured format in the following visualizations.

1.  Agents heat map
   
2. Application heat map
   
3. Geographical view
   
4. Application Summary
   

                  User Experience Overview showing breakdown of digital experience in different views

6. Network Flow Overview

The Network Flow Overview Dashboard provides a summary of NetFlow data analyzed from flow exporters received by the Cloudmon controller.

Network Flow Overview showing traffic trends

It visualizes key metrics through various widgets, including:

• Locality Usage: Total private and public NetFlow data.
• Active Hosts: Hosts actively participating in NetFlow traffic.
• Active Remote Hosts: Remote hosts engaged in NetFlow traffic.
• Active Sessions: Current active sessions.
• Top 5 Interfaces (IN & OUT Traffic): Top interfaces based on inbound and outbound traffic.
• Top Internet Applications: Most frequently used internet applications.
• Top Conversations: Top conversations in terms of traffic.
• Top NetFlow Sources: Primary sources of NetFlow data.
• Top Internet Destinations: Most accessed internet destinations.
• Top Hosts Accessing the Internet: Hosts with the highest internet access activity.
  

7. Alarm Triage

Alarm triage dashboard helps ensure that alarms are ordered by criticality so that they prioritized attention from the NOC system administration team.

Alarm Triage dashboard displaying alarms categorized by severity

• Alarm triage - This includes all the active alarms, which are grouped based on severity (such as Attention, Critical, and Trouble), metric (such as CPU.load, CPU.temp, mem.usage, etc.), department (such as production, finance, sales, etc.), and metric category (such as CPU, memory, etc.) 

• Alarm trend - This chart includes the open alarm count and closed alarm count on a timely basis. 

• Active alarms - This shows the total number of active alarms. 

• Average MTTR - This shows the average MTTR (Mean Time to Recover), time taken by IT to recover from the problem incident.

• Active alarms by severity - This includes the number of active alarms grouped based on severity such as Critical, Attention, and Trouble.

8. Alarm Overview

The alarm overview dashboard shows the alarming devices for troubleshooting.

                  Alarm Overview dashboard shows all alarms categorized by severity, devices type and heat map

It displays the following information: 

• Recent alarms - include all the recently raised alarms in detail with their alarm description, device name, device IP, and the alarm raised time. You could find this icon on the top right side of the recent alarms by selecting the required options via drop down; you could categorize the alarms based on their severity. 
  

  By clicking the alarm, it will display the summary of the selected alarm will be displayed.

• Active alarms by severity - This includes the number of active alarms grouped based on severity such as Critical, Attention, and Trouble.

• Active alarms by device type- This includes the number of active alarms grouped based on device type, such as laptop, desktop, server, switch, etc. 

• An alarm heat map is a graphical representation of data depicting the Alarm data by color and group. 

• Alarm pending >24 hours - If any raised alarms remain open for more than 24 hours, they will show here.
  

• 
  

Customizable Dashboard

Customizable Dashboards allow IT to design and tailor their own dashboards by incorporating built-in widgets and creating personalized tables of information. These dashboards provide a flexible and customizable view, enabling users to monitor and visualize data according to their specific needs. The created dashboards are accessible under the Dashboards menu in the top navigation bar.

How to create Custom Dashboard

Begin by hovering over the Dashboard menu in the top navigation bar and clicking on Create Dashboard.

Customizing Dashboard

1. Fill Out Dashboard Details, This includes entering a name and a description.
   
2.  Click on the Add Widget button to incorporate various built-in widgets into your dashboard. You can select from options such as Top 10 Interfaces by Traffic, Top 10 Devices by CPU Utilization, Top 10 Devices by Memory Utilization, Top 10 Devices by Disk Utilization. Choose one or multiple widgets based on your requirements.
   
3. Click on the Add Table button to include custom tables. Complete the table form with the necessary details.
   

      

Field	Description
Name	Name of the table to be embedded
Data Source	Select from options like DEM Agents, Agents, Applications, or Interfaces.
Filters	Apply specific filters to refine the data shown in the table. Example filters are provided below the field.
Limit	Set the maximum number of data rows to display per page.

     

            5.  To visualize network topologies, click on the Add Network Topology button. This will display all available network topologies, from which you can select and add to your dashboard.

            6. You can view and manage the created dashboard by accessing it under the Dashboards menu in the top navigation bar.

Live Dashboards

In Cloudmon, Live Dashboards ensure that the data displayed is always up-to-date with real-time information. This feature automatically refreshes the data in the dashboard, allowing continuous monitoring without manual intervention. Live dashboards are available in both built-in Cloudmon dashboards and custom dashboards.

How to Configure Live Dashboards

Navigate to either a built-in Cloudmon dashboard or a custom dashboard, In the top-right corner of each dashboard, you'll find a three-dot (ellipsis) icon., where you can enable "Auto Refresh" feature.

                                                      Enabling auto-refresh feature for Live Dashboard

1. Select the Auto-Refresh Interval: Click the icon, and a menu will display various time intervals for auto-refreshing the dashboard. Available intervals are:
   
   • 30 seconds
   • 1 minute
   • 5 minutes
   • 10 minutes
2. Enable Auto-Refresh: Choose your desired refresh interval, and the dashboard will begin refreshing automatically according to the selected time period. This will ensure the displayed data is always current.
   

Live Dashboard use cases

Live Dashboards feature is particularly useful for organizations that rely on real-time monitoring to ensure optimal performance and uptime. Key use cases include:

• Real-Time Infrastructure Monitoring: For teams responsible for monitoring critical systems, live dashboards provide up-to-the-second data on the health of servers, applications, and network devices.
• Incident Response: When dealing with performance issues or outages, live dashboards enable immediate insights into system behavior without the need for manual refreshes or navigating to other monitoring tools.
• Continuous Performance Tracking: Organizations can track ongoing performance trends and metrics in real-time, helping them to make informed decisions and mitigate risks before they escalate.

Live dashboards is often required by Network Operation Centers (NOCs) and IT teams requiring continuous infrastructure oversight, at least during some periods of time.

Digital Experience Monitoring

Digital experience monitoring (DEM) enables IT teams to efficiently track, analyze, and diagnose business application experiences of end users from a central location. Cloudmon DEM provides insights into the real-time and historical digital interactions of both users within the organization premises, in distributed office locations or remote,  enabling the detection and resolution of potential issues quickly, often before users notice them, resulting in few trouble tickets.

Thus, this feature can be used for monitoring on user-basis, for accessing from on-premises or remote, end-user desktops or laptops, as well as on branch-site basis.

Cloudmon DEM uses a combination of real-time and predictive data to monitor network performance, application efficiency, and other factors impacting end-user experience. It captures data related to website traffic, user behavior, and application functionality. By analyzing this data, IT leaders can proactively identify problem areas that hinder performance or usability, and take appropriate actions to optimize the end-user experience for their organization.

DEM Configurations

To enable monitoring for DEM, perform the following steps.

Add Application

To add the business applications that must be monitored, Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Applications, Click on + icon in the top right corner. 

Adding application to be monitored

Add Application Form:

Field	Field Description	Remarks
Name*	Name of the application
Application*	URL of the application  needs to be provided
Tags	Tags for the application
Customer*	Dropdown listing all the  available customers will  be displayed	The added application can only  be monitored for the selected  customer.
Secure	Toggle button to  enable/disable secure  connection	Used for establishing secure  connection between agent and  application in case of https  application

Enable monitoring

After adding application, a new application will be added and successfully assigned to the user.

1. To monitor an application, the added application must be associated with a monitoring profile. This ensures that all Cloudmon agents associated with the monitoring profile will monitor all the assigned applications for that profile.
2. For adding an application to a monitoring profile, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Monitoring Profiles > Add new profile/Edit a profile.
   
3. Check for + icon for adding application. Refer figure below showing Applications section in a monitoring profile.
   
4. Click on OK to enable monitoring of the application according to specified profile.

Associating application with a monitoring profile

 

Adding application to be monitored

Field	Field Description	Remarks
Application*	Drop down listing all the  applications added (in  step 1)
Application threshold (ms)	Threshold for Processing  time of the application
Ping	Enable/Disable ping  statistics for the  application	When ping enabled, user can  configure Ping threshold for the  application.
Traceroute	Enable/Disable  traceroute for the  application

NOTE: When traceroute is enabled for an application, the route between the agent and the application will be shown and updated every 10 mins.

1. After adding the application, click on the "Save and Associate" button to save and associate the monitoring profile changes with all associated agents if editing an already existing profile or just click on save in case of creating a new profile.
   
2. To check all the applications being monitored, navigate to the DEM, in the top navigation bar.
   

NOTE FOR MSPs: The same monitoring profile could be associated with Agents of different customers. Application are associated on customer-specific basis. Thus, they may associated with the same monitoring profile, the application will only be monitored by the agents of that customer in a secure manner.

User Experience Overview Dashboard

This widget displays a heatmap showing the user experience for devices being monitored. Each agent on the heatmap reflects the overall performance and experience score. By clicking on an agent, you can view a detailed summary of that specific agent's performance metrics.

The Applications Heat Map shows the monitored applications in a honeycomb view, with each tile colored according to the Apdex score. Clicking on an application within this heatmap takes you to a detailed view of the application's performance.

This section provides a list of all business applications that are actively monitored for user experience. It displays key metrics such as:

• Application Name
• Agent Count monitoring the application
• Apdex Grade
• Processing Time for user experience analysis

The Geographical View widget shows the physical locations of all agents that are monitoring user experience for business applications. This visual representation helps identify performance issues based on geographic location.

Detailed User Experience for Applications

From either the Applications Summary or the Applications Heat Map, you can click on an application to access the Consolidated User Experience view. This view provides a comprehensive overview of user experience metrics for a specific application across all associated agents.

Key metrics include:

• Combined Apdex Score for all agents
• Overall Processing Time
• 5-Point Analysis depicting detailed user experience metrics across various stages of connectivity (device, LAN, WAN, application)

By clicking on each of the points in the 5-point analysis, the impacted users at each hop are displayed.

• Apdex Score
• Processing Time for the individual user
• Device Connectivity: CPU, memory, and disk usage statistics
• LAN Connectivity: Traffic in/out for Ethernet and Wi-Fi signal strength, along with available Wi-Fi networks
• WAN Connectivity: Jitter, latency, packet loss at the ISP level, and ISP details
• Application Details: Content type, HTTP status codes, download size, and time-series data for Apdex score and processing time.
  
  

This detailed view provides valuable insights into improving both application performance and the user experience by identifying and resolving issues at different points in the connection.

1. Navigate to Setting > Configurations > Alarm rules.
   
2. In devices, Click on the + icon. 
   
3. The Add Alert Rule window will appear. Click on Trigger. This will open a configuration box where you can define the alert conditions.

For DEM there are 5 metrics, as shown in the figure below:

Wi-Fi signal Quality issues

When a user raises a ticket with IT regarding an unreachable application, IT can use DEM to troubleshoot. By searching for the user's device in the top navigation bar, DEM > User Device, IT can navigate to the specific application that the user couldn’t access. DEM highlights potential problem areas—if the Wi-Fi hop is marked in red, this indicates poor signal quality. DEM also displays all available Wi-Fi networks, enabling IT to advise the user to switch to a stronger network for improved connectivity. The image below illustrates the issue described above, where the user experience affected by Wi-Fi connectivity is highlighted using DEM,

WAN Routing Path Discrepancies

DEM dashboard for specified user device indicating ISP network issue

Branch Site-Specific Application Access Issues

DEM Reports

Configuration for Website Monitoring

1. Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Probes 
   
2. Specify a probe in which the URL or website should be monitored
   
3. Go to Website tab
   
4. Click on + icon, in the top right corner, Add website form will be displayed
   
5. Fill all the mandatory fields, Check below table for field descriptions
   
   

   Field	Description
   Name	Name of the website
   Website URL	URL of the website
   Method	Choose between GET and HEAD methods
   User Agent	User agent string to monitor the website
   HTTP Request Headers	Key-value pairs sent in the HTTP request
   Follow Redirection	Enabled by default, allows automatic redirection
   Trust Server SSL Certificate	Enabled by default, verifies the server's SSL certificate
   Connection Timeout (sec)	Timeout duration in seconds
   Interval	Reporting interval for pushing website statistics
   Tags	Tags associated with the website

1. Name - Name of the website being monitored.
   
2. URL - The URL of the website
3. Status Code - The HTTP response code indicating the success or failure of a request (e.g., 200 for success, 404 for not found).
4. Available Status - Shows whether the monitored URL is currently reachable and operational.
5. Response time - The time taken for the server to respond to a request, measured in milliseconds.
6. Last Polled - Time at which the last polling was performed
   
   

 
Monitored Website Metrics

1. Availability: The percentage of time the URL is accessible and operational.
2. Downtime: Amount of time the URL was unavailable or not responding.
3. Response Time: The time it takes for the web server to respond to a request, measured in milliseconds.
4. Status Code: The HTTP response code indicating the result of a request (e.g., 200 for success, 404 for not found).
5. Throughput: The rate at which data is successfully transferred between the server and client.
6. Redirections: The number of times a URL has been redirected to another URL during the request process.
7. Content Length: The size of the response body in bytes, indicating the amount of data returned by the server.
8. Server: The server that is handling the requests for the specified URL.
9. Content Type: The MIME type of the response content, indicating the type of data returned (e.g., text/html, application/Json).
   
10. Cloudmon also provides detailed information on connection metrics, including Connection Start, DNS Lookup, Initial Connection, SSL, Request Sent, Waiting for Server Response, Content Download, and Total Duration.
    
    

Log Report for Website

Website Outages

Outages tab for a Website

Alarm Configuration for Website Monitoring

1. Navigate to Applications > Website > {website} > Settings > Alarm rule
2. Click on Trigger button, a pop-up will open.
3. Add required metric like Website Response Time,  Availability, Status Code, Content Check, Header with required threshold and select Save.
   
   

Website Monitoring Reports

For creating scheduled website reports,

1. From the top navigation bar > Click on Reports > Click on + icon in the Top Right Corner > Search for Template Website Availability Report.
   
2. Enter all mandatory fields and click Save.
   
3. The added report will be shown in the Reports page.
   
4. You can view or send it to the notified user.
   
   

Adding report configuration

For creating custom website reports.

1. From the top navigation bar > click on Reports > Click on Custom Report in the top right corner > Search for entity Websites.
   
2. Enter all the mandatory fields and select the website you wish to generate report and click Save.
3. The added report will be shown in the Reports page.
   
4. You can view or send it to the notified user.
   

With agent-based monitoring, Cloudmon offers a proactive, high-performance solution for monitoring critical servers, ensuring your business remains operational without disruption. Refer Telemetry > Agent Based section for more details.

• Immediate Issue Detection: In mission-critical environments, server downtime can have significant business consequences.  Cloudmon agent’s are capable of performing liveness checks to  detect server outages or reboots that have occurred, within 25 seconds, ensuring immediate visibility and action to mitigate issues before they affect business continuity.
  

• Automated Alerts & Remediation: Cloudmon allows IT to set up automated responses to known problems. When a critical threshold is breached (e.g., high CPU usage or low storage capacity), Cloudmon can trigger automated scripts on agent-installed devices to resolve the issue without manual intervention. This proactive capability is invaluable for businesses that rely on continuous server uptime, such as financial institutions, healthcare providers, or e-commerce platforms.

The image below illustrates the "Run script" option available when configuring an alarm. This feature allows a script to be executed automatically whenever a threshold breach occurs, enabling automatic remediation of the issue.

            

Enabling Run script on when an Alarm is triggered

• High-Frequency, Real-Time Monitoring: Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring capability offers polling intervals from 1 second to 1 minute, providing real-time insights into server performance. This makes it ideal for critical servers where every second matters, enabling businesses to maintain optimal performance across their infrastructure. IT admin may enable 1 second polling only for critical servers and choose higher interval of upto 1 minute for other servers.
  

             

Time-series metrics with high-frequency polling

• Cloud-Based Server Support: As more businesses shift to the cloud, Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring extends to cloud servers, ensuring comprehensive coverage and real-time monitoring of cloud environments in addition to on-premises servers.

For businesses seeking a lightweight, non-intrusive solution, Cloudmon’s agentless monitoring leverages SNMP and WMI technologies to perform monitoring without installing software directly on servers. Refer Monitoring using SNMP and Monitoring using WMI in Network Monitoring chapter for more details.

• Low Overhead, High Efficiency: Agent-less monitoring allows businesses to track critical server performance without using any system resources. SNMP and WMI enable seamless monitoring, providing crucial insights into server health.

• Simplified Setup with Pre-Defined Templates: Cloudmon’s pre-defined templates simplify deployment, ensuring quick and efficient monitoring of server metrics as soon as SNMP or WMI credentials are added. This reduces the time needed for setup, allowing businesses to start monitoring their critical infrastructure faster.
  

The image below shows a list of in-built device templates, while specifying a Server to be monitored, using a probe.

Adding a server to be monitored using SNMP from a Probe

• Scalable monitoring: Cloudmon’s agentless monitoring is ideal for organizations with large or complex environments, offering a cost-effective way to monitor a broad range of devices. It’s particularly beneficial for monitoring essential servers without the need to deploy agents in every system. However, this has to be weighed against the advantage of deeper visibility and responsiveness available with agent-based monitoring.
  
  

Server Monitoring Configurations

Cloudmon supports both agent-based and agentless configurations for monitoring servers. Here's how to configure Cloudmon to monitor servers using these methods,

Agent-Based Monitoring

For agent-based server monitoring, you need to install the Cloudmon agent on the server. This method allows for high-frequency monitoring and real-time alerts.

For installation and configuration guidelines of an Agent,

From the Cloudmon controller:

1. Click on the user icon in the top-right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window
2. Select the "Help" menu.
3. You will be redirected to the Agent article page by default.
   
4. As you scroll down, or click on Getting started > Installation, in the left-side pane, the steps for installing a Cloudmon Agent in various operating systems are listed. 
   

After completing all the steps above, your agent will be automatically discovered by the Cloudmon controller, and the monitored agents will be visible in the controller under "Agents" in the top navigation bar.

Agent-less Monitoring

For agent-less monitoring, you do not need to install any software on the server (with the exception of a Cloudmon probe). Instead, Cloudmon will utilize protocols such as SNMP or WMI to perform monitoring of the server. Thus in essence, the server will be associated with a Cloudmon probe that performs the monitoring.

Configuring SNMP based monitoring

For Monitoring Servers using SNMP, SNMP credentials are mandatory for SNMP-based device monitoring

Ports: The default port used for SNMP is 161. Make sure that this port is not blocked by your firewall

For adding SNMP credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > SNMP > Click on + icon in the top right corner,

You will have to configure the following parameters if SNMP credential type is selected.

Name: Credential name.

Description: A brief description about the credential.

Version: Select the version of the SNMP

Community string: Read or Write password to authenticate the device

If SNMP v3 is selected, the following options will be displayed:

Username:  The user (principal) on behalf of whom the message is being exchanged.

Authentication: Select any of the authentication protocols either MD5 or SHA and enter the password. MD5 and SHA are processes which are used for generating authentication/privacy keys in SNMPv3 applications.

Encryption: Select any of the encryption protocols between DES, AES-128, AES-192 or AES-256 and enter the password. 

Advanced Options:

1. SNMP Port: SNMP port number.
2. SNMP Timeout: SNMP timeout in seconds.
3. SNMP Retries: SNMP retries.

Configuring WMI based monitoring

For Monitoring Servers using WMI, WMI credentials are the requisite to be added before adding a server for WMI monitoring.

For creating a WMI Credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > WMI tab > Click + icon to add new credential,

Fill all the necessary fields such as,

1. Name - Name of the credential
   
2. Description - Description of the credential to be added
   
3. Username - User name of the Windows device
   
4. Password - Password of the Windows device

Note: Authentication to windows devices using WMI requires you to login as a domain user with administrator privileges

Alarm Configuration for Server Monitoring

Whether using agent-based or agentless monitoring methods, alarms can be setup to be triggered in Cloudmon specific server parameter thresholds are crossed. Thus, IT teams will be immediately alerted of any deviations in server performance and pro-actively address them.

Agent-Based Server Monitoring Alarms

For agent-based server monitoring, you can configure detailed alarms to trigger notifications based on specific conditions or thresholds.

Configuring Alarms

1. Go to Agents > Click on an agent > Settings > Configuration > Alarm Rules.
   
2. Click the + icon in the top right corner to add a new alarm rule.
   
3. When creating an alarm rule, you must set an alarm trigger. A trigger defines the specific conditions under which the alarm will be activated
   The following image displays the Add Trigger form in the alarm rule settings for reference.

Adding alarm trigger

Refer to Platform Overview > Alarms  for more details.

Agent-less Server Monitoring Alarms

Agent-less Server monitoring in Cloudmon supports alarms for both SNMP and WMI-based monitoring methods.

SNMP-Based Alarms

SNMP-based server monitoring in Cloudmon supports alarms to track key metrics and ensure system health, as shown in the figure below,

SNMP based alarm triggers in servers

WMI Based Alarms

For WMI-based server monitoring in Cloudmon, alarms can be triggered when performance thresholds are crossed on Windows servers, as shown in the figure below.

                        

WMI-based alarm triggers in Windows servers

Alarms can be customized to monitor various server metrics such as CPU, memory, disk usage, and network activity, ensuring high responsiveness to any server performance issues.

Server Monitoring Reports

Virtualization Monitoring

Hyper-V Monitoring

Cloudmon provides comprehensive agent-based monitoring for Hyper-V environments, offering real-time visibility into the performance and health of Hyper-V servers and the virtual machines (VMs) running on them. After installing the Cloudmon agent on a Hyper-V server, you can monitor key resources like CPU, memory, network, storage, availability and more. With Cloudmon’s detailed insights of more than 70 Hyper-V metrics, you can comprehensively monitor your Hyper-V infrastructure.

Adding a Hyper-V Server

To start monitoring a Hyper-V server in Cloudmon, follow these steps:

1. Install the Cloudmon Agent: The agent package must be installed directly on the Hyper-V server to enable monitoring. Refer Agent installation section in Installation and Deployment.
2. Enable Hyper-V Monitoring: Once the agent is installed, navigate to Agents > Click in an Agent > Settings > Monitoring and toggle Enable Hyper-V Monitoring. This action will activate the monitoring features, and the Hyper-V server will appear under Virtualization > Hyper-V in the Cloudmon dashboard.

Once enabled, Cloudmon begins tracking the performance and health metrics of the Hyper-V server and its hosted VMs.

Monitoring Hyper-V Server/VM

Cloudmon provides extensive monitoring capabilities for both the Hyper-V server and VMs running on it. To view the Hyper-V server being monitored, in the top navigation bar hover on Virtualization > Hyper-V > Click on a Hyper-V server. 

Hyper-V Server Monitoring

General Information: Displays the Hyper-V server’s basic information and operational status.

Service and Availability Status: Displays the uptime and health of critical Hyper-V services, along with the overall health status and availability timeline.

The image below displays a Summary page having general information, availability and health timeline of a Hyper-V server.

Resource Utilization: Displays key resources such as processor, memory, network bandwidth, storage, and processor usage. The image below displays processor metrics retrieved from a Hyper-V server.

Virtual Machines: Lists all VMs running on the Hyper-V server, allowing detailed monitoring of each VM's performance and health.

VM Monitoring

For each VM hosted on the Hyper-V server, Cloudmon provides in-depth performance insights:
Resource Utilization: Displays CPU, memory, network, and storage usage.

Activity and Health Status: Displays VM activity, overall health, and performance trends.
Network Monitoring: Displays data on virtual network adapters and virtual switch metrics, ensuring the network is operating efficiently.

The image below displays Hyper-V virtual network adapter metrics.

Storage Monitoring: Displays disk usage and storage performance for each VM.

The image below shows Hyper-V VM's storage metrics.

 Alarm Configuration for Hyper-V Monitoring

In Cloudmon, you can configure alerts to proactively manage the performance and health of both Hyper-V servers and the associated VMs. Follow these steps to set up alerts:

1. Access Alert Settings: Navigate to the Hyper-V server or VM’s Settings page, then click on Add Trigger to create a new alert condition.

2. Choose the Metric: Select the specific metric you want to monitor, such as CPU usage, memory utilization, network bandwidth, or disk space.

3. Set the Threshold: Define the threshold for the chosen metric, such as triggering an alert if CPU usage exceeds 80% or if available disk space drops below a certain level.

4. Set Alert Severity: Choose the severity level for the alert (e.g., Critical, Warning), helping to prioritize the alerts based on the impact of the issue.

5. Notification Preferences: Specify which users should be notified when the alert is triggered, ensuring the right team members are informed promptly.

Once configured, Cloudmon will monitor the specified metrics in real-time and raise alerts when the defined thresholds are met, allowing for timely intervention and resolution of any issues.

Using Hyper-V monitoring in Cloudmon, you can monitor performance and health of both servers and virtual machines, to ensure a smooth-running virtualized infrastructure.

Hyper-V monitoring Reports

Using Cloudmon Hyper-V reports, you can get both scheduled and custom reports to analyze historical data and detect anomalies. 

For creating scheduled Hyper-V reports, from the top navigation bar > Click on Reports > Click on + icon in the Top Right Corner > Choose Template Hyper-V/Hyper-V VM monitoring. 

• Scheduled Reports: Cloudmon provides two predefined report templates— "Hyper-V Monitoring" and "Hyper-V VM Monitoring." These reports offer insights into the performance and status of Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines over set timelines (daily, weekly, or monthly). The reports can also be sent automatically to users.
  

For creating Custom reports, from the top navigation bar > click on Reports > Click on Custom Report in the top right corner > Choose entity type as Hyper-V/Hyper-V VM.

• Custom Reports: For more flexibility, you can create custom reports by selecting specific devices, desired time periods, and metrics. When creating custom reports, choose the entity type as either "Hyper-V" or "Hyper-V VM." This allows greater control in retrieving specific data relevant to Hyper-V environments, making it easier to focus on particular aspects of infrastructure performance.
  
  The image below, is a sample report for Hyper-V server's Storage Monitoring
   

1. Support for VMware Environments from vCenter 7 and ESXi 6.
   
2. Monitors effective utilization of critical resources like CPU, Memory, Network and Disk.
3. Supports monitoring of hardware health such as temperature, voltage, power, fan speed, status of processors etc. via VMware API.
4. Availability and health states of all VMware resources are continuously monitored. 
   
5. Any degradation in resource availability or health triggers can be alerted, allowing for proactive issue resolution before they impact operations.
   
   

Configuring VMware credentials

1. Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > VMware tab 
2. Click on + icon in the top right corner, Add credentials form will be displayed
   
3. Fill all the mandatory fields, Check below table for field descriptions,    

Field	Description
Name	Name of the credentials
Description	Description on the credentials
Type	Type of the credentials VMware vCenter/VMware ESXi
Username & Password	Username and Password of the credentials.

            4. Click on Save to add credentials.

Discovering VMware vCenter/ESX

Discover vCenter

1. Go to Virtualisation > VMware
   
2. Click on + icon, in the top right corner, Add vCenter form will be displayed.
   
3. Fill all the mandatory fields, as per table below. 

Field	Description
Probe	Probe from which the vCenter discovery to be initiated
Name	Name of the vCenter discovery
Hostname or IP	Hostname or IP of the vCenter to be discovered
Port	Port of the vCenter running, by default "443", will be present
Credential	VMware vCenter credential to be associated for discovery to be selected
Resources to be discovered	The resources  to be discovered in a vCenter
Interval	The reporting interval for which the vCenter and vCenter resources monitoring statistics will be pushed.
Tags	Tags for the credentials

      4. Click on Discover to start the discovery process.

Discovering ESX

                        Add ESX/ESXi host details so that it could be monitored using Cloudmon probe

1. Go to Virtualisation > VMware > ESX/ESXi Hosts
   
2. Click on + icon, in the top right corner, Add ESX/ESXi Host form will be displayed.
   
3. Fill all the mandatory fields as per table below.   
   

Field	Description
Probe	Probe from which the ESX discovery to be initiated
Name	Name of the ESX discovery
Hostname or IP	Hostname or IP of the ESXi to be discovered
Port	Port of the vCenter running, by default "443", will be present
Credential	VMware ESX credential to be associated for discovery to be selected
Resources to be discovered	The resources  to be discovered in a Vmware ESX
Interval	The reporting interval for which the ESX and ESX resources monitoring statistics will be pushed.
Tags	Tags for the credentials

      4. Click on Discover to start the discovery process.

After the reporting interval configured, the VMware vCenter/ESX resources will be discovered.

Monitoring VMware vCenter/ESX server

Cloudmon does performance monitoring of VMware vCenter/ESX environments by discovering and tracking key infrastructure components such as ESXi hosts, VMs, datastores, resource pools, and clusters. After discovery, you can selectively enable monitoring of any of the discovers entities from the Virtualization > VMware section, thus gaining deep visibility into the performance and health of your virtual environment.

vCenter Overview

Cloudmon vCenter page provides a summary of the entire vCenter environment in Virtualization > Vmware > vCenter Table which includes:

• General vCenter information and counts of all key entities - ESXi hosts, datastores, clusters, VMs, resource pools).
• Top ESXi hosts by CPU, memory usage, and VM count.
• Top datastores by available space.
• Recent alarms raised for any monitored vCenter entities, ensuring users are promptly informed of any potential issues.

With Cloudmon’s performance monitoring capabilities, you can optimize the health and efficiency of their VMware vCenter environment, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted operations.

vCenter Summary Page

ESXi Host Monitoring

• Resource Utilization: Metrics like processor, memory, and network usage help in identifying potential bottlenecks or performance issues.
• Hardware Details: Information on fans, temperature, processors, and the system board provide a complete overview of the physical health of the ESXi server. Refer image below, showing ESXi hardware details. 
  
  

ESXi host hardware details

• VM Information: Lists all VMs running on the ESXi host, giving details on their status and performance.
• Datastore and Disk I/O: Monitors the datastores associated with the ESXi host, along with disk input/output statistics, helping in storage performance optimization.
• Network Details: Shows network utilization and configurations, ensuring that the host's network performance remains optimal.
  

Cluster Monitoring

• Resource Utilization: Shows how the cluster’s resources (CPU, memory, storage) are being used.
• ESXi Hosts: Lists all ESXi hosts part of the cluster, helping to track performance at a host level.
• Datastores and VMs: Shows the datastores and virtual machines within the cluster.
• DRS Configuration: Displays information on Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) settings, useful for balancing load across ESXi hosts.

Virtual Machine (VM) Monitoring

• Resource Utilization: Provides real-time CPU, memory, and disk utilization, ensuring each VM is running efficiently.
• Networks and Datastores: Lists the network connections and datastores the VM is using.
• Logs: Helps in troubleshooting by providing access to VM-level logs.

Datastore Monitoring

• Resource Utilization: Shows how much storage space is used and available within the datastore.
• Associated ESXi Hosts and VMs: Lists the ESXi hosts and VMs utilizing the datastore, helping to understand the storage distribution.
• Storage Performance: Monitors storage I/O and latency metrics, helping in optimizing performance.

Resource Pool Monitoring

• Resource Utilization: Shows CPU and memory usage of the resource pool, ensuring efficient resource allocation.
• Cluster Details: Links the resource pool back to its parent cluster, providing context on its overall resource management.

Availability and Health Monitoring

Cloudmon continuously monitors the availability and health of each resource. You can track the status of their ESXi hosts, VMs, datastores, and clusters over time, ensuring proactive identification and resolution of any issues affecting the virtual environment.

Interrelated Entity Mapping

Cloudmon simplifies navigation and troubleshooting by mapping interrelated entities. For example:

• ESXi hosts: Shows associated VMs and connected datastores.
• Resource Pools: Shows their corresponding clusters.
• Datastores: Lists the VMs stored within them.

This mapping provides a holistic view of the virtual environment, making it easier for you to monitor relationships and dependencies, and optimize resource allocation across your VMware infrastructure.

Alarm configuration in VMware monitoring

Users can configure alerts for all monitored metrics to ensure timely notifications when thresholds are exceeded or issues arise. This proactive alerting system allows users to respond swiftly to potential performance or availability problems within their VMware environment.

Steps to configure alerts,

1. Navigate to the Settings Page: For each monitored VMware entity (ESXi, VM, datastore, resource pool, etc.), access the Settings page by selecting the specific entity from the Virtualization > VMware section.
   
2. Add a Trigger for an Alert: On the Settings page, locate the Add Trigger button. Clicking this button will open a configuration box where you can define the alert conditions.
   
3. Click on Save button.

Refer Alarms for more configuring alarm related info.

Reports in VMware Monitoring

For VMware reports in Cloudmon, both scheduled and custom reports provide detailed insights into VMware infrastructure, covering various monitored resources. 

For creating scheduled VMware reports, from the top navigation bar > Click on Reports > Click on + icon in the Top Right Corner > Search for Template VMware

• Scheduled Reports: You can generate reports based on VMware entities like clusters, datastores, resource pools, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines (VMs). These reports can be scheduled to run on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, offering a comprehensive view of VMware performance over time. The reports are automatically sent to users, providing updates on the selected entities.
  

For creating Custom reports, from the top navigation bar > click on Reports > Click on Custom Report in the top right corner > Search for entity VMware*

• Custom Reports: For more granular reporting, you can create custom reports by selecting specific VMware entities such as clusters, datastores, resource pools, ESXi hosts, or VMs. Custom reports allow you to define the time period and choose the metrics for each monitored resource, ensuring that the report meets your specific needs. This flexibility makes it easier to focus on specific aspects of VMware infrastructure performance.
  

Refer Reports for more information.

Monitoring Dockers

Enabling Docker monitoring by editing monitoring profile

2. Select the agent and navigate to the Settings tab. In Monitoring, enable the Docker container toggle and click Save.

Enabling Docker monitoring in Settings tab

 

 Docker monitoring software enables comprehensive monitoring of Docker. This includes tracking memory usage, network traffic, and critical metrics such as health, availability, and CPU. This comprehensive approach provides valuable insights that help optimize resource usage effectively.

Dashboard Summary of a Docker

1. Docker Info

Displays comprehensive details about the Docker environment, including name, operating system, server version, memory usage, logging driver, kernel version, and various Docker configurations.

2. Number of Containers

Shows the total number of containers, including their states (running, paused, or stopped).

3. Number of Images

Displays the total number of Docker images available.

4. Number of Volumes

Indicates the total number of volumes used by Docker.

5. Container

A container in Docker is a lightweight, standalone, and executable package that includes everything needed to run a piece of software, including the code, runtime, system tools, libraries, and settings.

In Cloudmon, the Docker container monitoring includes:

Container Name: Identifier of the container.

Platform: The operating system and version on which the container runs.

State: Current state of the container (running, paused, stopped).

Image: The Docker image from which the container is created.

Driver: The storage driver used for the container.

Command: The command used to start the container.

Started At: The time when the container was started.

Clicking on a container allows you to monitor the following:

Monitoring container metrics

CPU Usage: The amount of CPU resources used by the container.

Memory Usage: The amount of memory consumed by the container.

Network I/O: The network input/output operations.

Block I/O: The block storage input/output operations.

Ports: Open ports on the container.

Mounts: Volumes and files mounted to the container.

Processes: Running processes within the container.

6. Volume

A volume in Docker is a persistent storage mechanism used to store data that needs to be preserved across container restarts.

In Cloudmon, volume monitoring provides:

Name: The name assigned to the volume.

Mount Point: The location where the volume is mounted.

Scope: The scope of the volume (local, global).

Driver: The driver used to manage the volume.

Created At: The creation timestamp of the volume.

7. Images

A Docker image is a read-only template used to create containers. It includes the operating system, application, and all dependencies needed to run the application.

In Cloudmon, image monitoring includes:

Repository: The repository from which the image was pulled.

ID: The unique identifier of the image.

Architecture: The architecture for which the image is built (e.g., x86_64).

Author: The author or maintainer of the image.

Comment: Any additional comments related to the image.

Docker Version: The version of Docker used to create the image.

Created At: The creation timestamp of the image.

Operating System: The OS on which the image is based.

Size: The size of the image.

Virtual Size: The total size of the image including all parent images.

By leveraging Docker host monitoring in Cloudmon, you can effectively manage and oversee your Docker environment, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.

Pre-defined reports are not currently available in Cloudmon.

Host Monitoring

Cloudmon provides versatile methods for monitoring hosts, which include desktops, VMs, and user laptops, through both Agent-Based Monitoring and Agentless Monitoring. These options ensure that businesses can maintain high performance and uptime for their devices across various environments, from corporate workstations to virtualized platforms.

Agent-Based Host Monitoring

Cloudmon’s agent-based monitoring is ideal for ensuring the seamless operation of critical hosts such as virtual machines and desktops. Key features include:

• Real-Time Detection: Cloudmon agents can detect reboots or downtimes on desktops, VMs, or laptops within 30 seconds, allowing swift action to prevent extended outages. For enabling real-time down time detection hosts, From the top navigation bar > Agents > All agents > Click on an Host (monitored with the agent) > Settings > Monitoring > Add 'Liveness' metric in the monitored metrics and Save the configuration

• Automated Remediation: You can configure alerts and automatic responses, enabling script execution to resolve issues like high CPU usage or network bandwidth problems on critical devices without manual intervention. Refer section Platform Overview > Remediation for more details.

• High-Frequency Monitoring: With polling intervals starting from 1 second, agent-based monitoring offers granular insights into host performance, ideal for environments where immediate feedback is crucial. 
  

The image below displays hosts monitored through agents.

List of hosts monitored

Refer sections Telemetry > Cloudmon Agent to know monitoring features available using Cloudmon Agents and Platform Overview > Agents for supported host operating systems.

Agentless Host Monitoring

For less critical hosts or environments where installing agents is impractical, Cloudmon supports Agent-less Monitoring using protocols such as WMI (for Windows-based hosts) and SNMP.

• Low Overhead: With SNMP monitoring, no agents need to be installed.
  

• Simplified Setup: Pre-configured templates for different Windows devices streamline the process of adding and monitoring host devices, making it easier to scale.

Agentless monitoring is optimal for scenarios with large host counts or where minimal resource consumption is a priority, such as monitoring less critical desktops or laptops.

Refer Network Monitoring > Monitoring using SNMP and Monitoring using WMI for more details.

Configuration for Host Monitoring

Cloudmon supports both agent-based and agentless configurations for monitoring Hosts. Here's how to configure Cloudmon to monitor servers using these methods,

Agent-Based Monitoring

For agent-based server monitoring, you need to install the Cloudmon agent on the User laptops/desktops/VM's. 

For agent-based host monitoring, you need to install the Cloudmon agent on the hosts. This method allows for high-frequency monitoring and real-time alerts.

For installation and configuration guidelines of an Agent,

From the Cloudmon controller:

1. Click on the user icon in the top-right corner of the Cloudmon Controller window
2. Select the "Help" menu.
3. You will be redirected to the Agent article page by default.
   
4. As you scroll down, or click on Getting started > Installation, in the left-side pane, the steps for installing a Cloudmon Agent in various operating systems are listed. 
   

After completing all the steps above, your agent will be automatically discovered by the Cloudmon controller, and the monitored agents will be visible in the controller under "Agents" in the top navigation bar.

Agent-less Monitoring

For agentless monitoring, you do not need to install any software on the Hosts such as Laptops/Desktops/VMs (with the exception of a probe for WMI-based monitoring). Instead, you will utilize protocols such as SNMP or WMI to perform monitoring of the server. Thus in essence, the hosts will be associated with a probe to perform monitoring.

1. Configuration for SNMP based monitoring

For Monitoring hosts using SNMP, SNMP credentials are mandatory for SNMP-based device monitoring

Ports: The default port used for SNMP is 161. Make sure that this port is not blocked by your firewall

For adding SNMP credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > SNMP > Click on + icon in the top right corner,

You will have to configure the following parameters if SNMP credential type is selected.

Name: Credential name.

Description: A brief description about the credential.

Version: Select the version of the SNMP

Community string: Read or Write password to authenticate the device

If SNMP v3 is selected, the following options will be displayed:

Username:  The user (principal) on behalf of whom the message is being exchanged.

Authentication: Select any of the authentication protocols either MD5 or SHA and enter the password. MD5 and SHA are processes which are used for generating authentication/privacy keys in SNMPv3 applications.

Encryption: Select any of the encryption protocols between DES, AES-128, AES-192 or AES-256 and enter the password. 

Advanced Options:

1. SNMP Port: SNMP port number.
2. SNMP Timeout: SNMP timeout in seconds.
3. SNMP Retries: SNMP retries.

2. Configuration for WMI based monitoring

For Monitoring hosts using WMI, WMI credentials are the requisite to be added before adding a server for WMI monitoring.

For creating a WMI Credentials, Navigate to Settings > Configurations > Credentials > WMI tab > Click + icon to add new credential,

Fill all the necessary fields such as,

1. Name - Name of the credential
   
2. Description - Description of the credential to be added
   
3. Username - User name of the Windows device
   
4. Password - Password of the Windows device

Note: Authentication to windows devices using WMI requires you to login as a domain user with administrator privileges

Alarm Configuration in Host Monitoring

Agent-Based Host Monitoring Alarms

For agent-based host monitoring, you can configure detailed alarms to trigger notifications based on specific conditions or thresholds.

Configuring Alarms

1. Go to Agents > Click on the host > Settings > Configuration > Alarm Rules.
   
2. Click the + icon in the top right corner to add a new alarm rule.
   
3. When creating an alarm rule, you must set an alarm trigger. A trigger defines the specific conditions under which the alarm will be activated
   The following image displays the Add Trigger form in the alarm rule settings for reference.

Adding alarm trigger

Agent-less Host Monitoring Alarms

Agentless Host monitoring in Cloudmon supports alarms for both SNMP and WMI-based monitoring methods.

SNMP-Based Alarms

SNMP-based hosts monitoring in Cloudmon supports alarms to track key metrics and ensure system health, as shown in the figure below,

SNMP based alarm triggers in hosts

WMI Based Alarms

For WMI-based hosts monitoring in Cloudmon, alarms can be triggered when performance thresholds are crossed on Windows Hosts, as shown in the figure below.

                        

WMI-based alarm triggers in Windows Hosts

Alarms can be customized to monitor various server metrics such as CPU, memory, disk usage, and network activity, ensuring high responsiveness to any server performance issues.

Refer Alarms in Network Performance monitoring > Monitoring using SNMP and Alarms in Network Performance monitoring > Monitoring using WMI for more details.

Host Monitoring Reports

Cloudmon offers both scheduled and custom reports for Hosts monitoring. To create scheduled reports:

1. Navigate to Reports.
2. Click on the + icon.
3. Choose from the in-built templates to generate server reports. Available templates include:
   • Open Alarms
   • High CPU Utilizing Hosts
   • High Memory Utilizing Hosts
   • High Network Utilizing Hosts
   • Inactive Devices
   • Device Availability Report
   • Device Resource Usage Report

For custom reports, navigate to the Reports page and click on the Custom Report button. Choose the entity type as Agents to create reports for hosts monitored using Agents.

Process Monitoring

Cloudmon offers comprehensive process monitoring for devices using both agent-based and WMI-based monitoring. This feature provides visibility into running processes on critical infrastructure, enabling users to track resource utilization, set alerts, and respond to potential performance issues effectively.

Configuration for Process Monitoring

To monitor a specific process:

1. Agent Monitored Devices:
   Go to Servers > Agents > Select the agent > Process and Services tab > Click All Processes to view all running processes.

2. WMI Monitored Devices:
   Navigate to Servers > WMI > Select the device > Process tab > Click All Processes.

                                                                        Process list on selected server

Once the list of processes is shown, click the Monitor icon  next to the process you wish to track (refer above image). This process will then be added to the Monitored Process table for ongoing monitoring. Refer the image above.

Alarm Configuration for Process Monitoring

When clicking on the  icon, the process status alarm will be enabled, which when process in inactive, Critical alarm will be raised.

Key Features of Process Monitoring

• Top Processes by Resource Utilization: A stacked chart displaying the top processes by CPU and memory usage, highlighting high-consumption processes over a specific time period.

• View All Processes: The All Process button allows users to view all currently running processes. From this view, users can choose specific processes to monitor by clicking the monitor icon next to each process.
  

• Update on Processes: In Agent based monitoring, the process list will be updated for every reporting interval, whereas in WMI monitoring, the processes where discovered from the device on request, by clicking on the Discover Process Button, refer image (ii).

• Granular Resource Tracking: For monitored processes, detailed information such as CPU and memory utilization, instance count, PID,  PPIDs, Installation Path and User are fetched and displayed.
  

         Processes Tab in agent-based server monitoring

                Processes tab in WMI based server monitoring

Pre-defined Reports for Process Monitoring are currently not available in Cloudmon.

Service Monitoring

TCP-based Service Monitoring

This section describes how you can monitor availability of Network services. Cloudmon provides tracking of Network services running on servers. By monitoring these services, you can ensure their availability and performance, including key metrics such as latency, jitter, loss, and trace path. To view and manage the monitored services, from the Network in top navigation bar, click on Service Availability. 

QoS for Domain Network Service (DNS)

Configuring Network Services Monitoring

1. Network Discovery

1. Navigate to Settings > Monitoring > Network Discovery.
2. Add a network by selecting a probe from which discover and setting the type to  Service with the protocol as TCP.
3. In the Advanced Options, choose default services or add custom services as needed. The services within the network will be listed and can be monitored.

For more details, refer Discovery > Network Discovery.

2. Manually configuring Network Services monitoring

1. Navigate to Network > Service Availability. Click the + button to add a new service.
2. Go to Settings > Monitoring > Probe. Select a probe from which to monitor, navigate to Network Service, and click + to add a service.
   
   

                                                                     Adding a Network Service to be monitored

Add Service Form

Field	Field Description	Remarks
Probe*	Probe from which the network service is to be monitored
Name	Name of the network service
Hostname or IP*	IP or Hostname of the Network node
Monitoring Profile*	Profile which specifies of the polling and reporting interval	The profile added in Settings > Configuration > Monitoring Profile > Network Nodes/Services will be listed in the dropdown
Alarm Rule	Alarm Rules configured for the Service	The dropdown will list the alarm rules configured in Configurations > Alarm Rules > Network Nodes/Services.
Protocol	Select the Protocol to be used	For network services, only TCP protocol is applicable.
Service*	Service to be monitored	A dropdown listing the services list is displayed, or else custom ports can also be given to be monitored.
Tags	Tag for this Network Service

Trace path

Cloudmon Trace path shows a hop-by-hop analysis of the network route taken to reach a specific network service, which helps in diagnosing connectivity issues and identifying potential bottlenecks in the connecting network.

                                                      Trace path to an FTP service showing loss of connectivity

Enabling Trace path for a Network Service

1. Select a Monitored Service > Go to Settings Tab > Monitoring.
2. Toggle the Trace path option to enable trace path monitoring for the selected service.
3. Set Trace path Interval: Choose the desired Trace path Interval from the dropdown menu.
4. Click Save to apply the settings.
   
   

Enabling trace path for a network service

Key Metrics to Monitor for Network Services

Availability: Cloudmon continuously monitors whether the application, database or network services are active or inactive and can be configured to notify when downtimes occur.

Response Time: Cloudmon measures the round trip time (RTT) to network service. Increased response time may indicate connectivity issues or performance issues with the service, requiring investigation.

Error Rate: Cloudmon tracks the percentage of errors occurring during data transfer. A higher error rate connectivity issues to the network service  suggests that the service.

Alarm Configuration for Service Monitoring

By navigating to Settings tab of a Service > Alarm rule > Click on Add trigger button,  you can configure alarms to monitor critical performance metrics such as latency, jitter, and packet loss.

Adding alarm trigger

Setting up these alarms ensures you are notified whenever a value exceeds the defined threshold limits for these metrics.

Service Monitoring Reports 

To create reports for network services in Cloudmon, navigate to Reports in the top navigation bar and click on the + icon to schedule reports. You can use built-in report templates such as Inactive Services and Service Availability Reports, which provide detailed insights on service status and uptime.

Additionally, you can create Custom Reports by selecting the Entity Type as "Network Services" to tailor reports based on user preferences, allowing for comprehensive service monitoring and reporting.

Application availability monitoring