Netware Server Monitor for Win32

Version 1.01
Copyright 2002-2003 University of Wisconsin - Madison, CAE Center

 

Overview

Netware Server Monitor is a Win32 toolbar for monitoring the overall status of multiple Netware Servers. It does this by polling the servers over TCP/IP and displaying their overall status as GREEN, YELLOW, RED, or UNREACHABLE. You have control over which servers it displays, their polling frequency, timeout, logging information as well as specifying a URL to launch specific to each server.

It is intended to be a replacement utility with a smaller memory footprint, screen realestate and processor usage than leaving Netware Remote Management running all the time.

The above image shows NWSysMon in action.

 

System Requirements

 

Installation

Simply drop the file NWSysMon.exe anywhere you want it to reside. It requires no specific path information and will create its own registry key for preferences under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/UW/CAE/NWSysMon/

 

Using Netware System Monitor

When you launch Netware System Monitor, it installs a traffic light icon into the system tray (fig. 1). This icon represents the most severe reportable status condition between the servers you are monitoring. The first time you run the program, no servers are defined so it reports GREEN. Right-click on the traffic light icon to get a popup menu that allows you to interact with Netware System Monitor. From here you can Configure the program or Exit (fig. 2).


fig. 1   NWSysMon installs icon into system tray

fig. 2   Right-click to get menu

Selecting Configure will bring up a dialog box that allows you to add/remove servers for monitoring as well as configure the programs options (fig. 3). You can select whether you wish to use large icons for the toolbar as well as what status changes you wish reported. Selecting GREEN, YELLOW, RED, or UNREACHABLE will cause the program to notify you via a dialox box when any server changes to a particular status. You may also choose to log status changes to a text file. This text file will include ALL status changes, not just the ones you wish to be notified about.


fig. 3   Configure dialog box

Double-clicking an existing server or selecting "New" will bring up a dialog box where you can edit server information (fig. 4). By default, Netware System Monitor will attempt to contact the server on port 8008 (default non-SSL Netware Port) with a poll rate or 60 seconds and a timeout of 5 seconds. You may also enter a URL which will be launched when you double-click on the appropriate button in the toolbar. You may leave the URL field empty but all other fields must be filled out with valid values.


fig. 4   Editing server information

After you have entered information about the desired servers, Netware System Monitor will poll them at the specified intervals to determine their status. Placing the mouse over a server button will let you know which server it is and right-clicking allows you to repoll a particular server immediately (fig. 5). You can change the size of the toolbar to accomodate your personal style. Servers are always listed in a left to right, top to bottom fashion although you can change their order in the Configure dialog box.


fig. 5   Right-click on server to repoll

fig. 6   Orient the toolbar vertically....

fig. 7   or as a stack

 

Notes

Netware System Monitor uses a single thread to poll all the servers. This means that if one isn't responding, the updates for the rest of them will queue up. You may notice especially when you launch the program. It will not redraw the status for each server until all have been polled.

Version History

Version 1.01
-Fixed the code to accept https:// in the URL to launch for each server

Version 1.00
-Initial Release
Netware System Monitor was written by Jeremy Parker for the Computer Aided Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.