Agents
The agents collect information. The public key
of the machine to be monitored needs to be copied onto Pandora and the agent
executed. Pandora's server starts now receiving and processing the data
collected by the agent. The data collected from the agents are called "modules".
The value of each module it is the value of one
monitored variable. The agent must be activated in Pandora's server and a group
assigned to the agent. The data starts then been consolidated in the database
and can be accessed.
The user can:
View the agent status
Access to the collected information
Access the monitored values and its evolution in time
View graphic reports
Configure Alerts
Group Manager
Groups are added in "Manage Profiles" > "Manage Groups",
Administration menu.
There are nine default groups on this screen.
Applications
Comms
Databases
Firewall
IDS
Others
Servers
Workstations
A group is added by clicking "Create group" and assigning
a name to it.
A group is deleted by clicking the delete icon
in the right hand side of each group.
Adding an agent
Before an agent is added, the public key of the
machine to be monitored needs to be copied. The agent is then executed, and
added through the web console. The data starts now being consolidated in the
Database and can be accessed.
An agent is added in "Manage Agents" > "Create agent" in the Administration menu.
To add a new agent the following parameters must be configured:
Agent Name: Name of the agent. This and
the "agent name" parameter in Pandora's agent.conf file
must have the same value. If this
variable is commented out in the code, the name used will be
the name of the Host (to obtain this, execute the hostname
command).
IP Address: IP address of an agent. An
agent can share its IP address with other agents.
Group: Pandora's group the agent belongs.
Interval: Execution interval of an
agent. It is the time elapsed between two executions.
OS: The Operating System to be
monitored. The supported Operating Systems are: AIX, BeOS,
BSD, Cisco, HPUX, Linux, MacOS, Other, Solaris,
Windows.
Description: Brief description of an agent.
Module definition: There are two modes
for a module:
- Learning mode: All the modules sent by
the agent are accepted. They are automatically defined by the
system. It is recommended to activate the agents in this mode
and change it once the user is familiar with the system.
- Normal mode: The modules in this mode
must be configured manually. The self definition of the
modules is not allowed in this mode.
Disabled: This parameter shows if the
agent is activated and ready to send data or
deactivated. The deactivated agents don't appear in the user
views.
Assigning modules
Pandora's agents use the operating system own commands to
monitor a device. Pandora's server will store and process the
output generated by those commands. The commandos are called
"modules".
If the agent had been added in "normal mode", the modules
to be monitored should have been assigned. Those modules must be
configured in the agent configuration file.
The modules to be processed by Pandora's server are
assigned in the "Manage Agents" option, Administration menu. A
list with all the agents in Pandora will be shown here.
You'll get a form with all the agent's settings when the
agent name is clicked. In the same screen there is a section to
assign modules.
The following fields must be filled to create a
module:
Module type: This is the type of data
the module will process. There are five types of data:
- generic_data>, Integer data type -
generic_data_inc, Incremental integer
data type - generic_data_proc, Boolean
data type: 0 False, >0 True -
generic_data_string, Alphanumeric data
type (text string, max. 255 characters)
Module name: The name of the module
Maximum: Upper threshold for the
value in the module. Any value above this threshold will
be taken as invalid and the whole module will be
discarded.
Maximum: Lower threshold for the
value in the module. Any value below this threshold will
be taken as invalid and the whole module will be
discarded.
Comments: Comments added to the module.
All the modules to be monitored by an agent can be reviewed by
accessing the agent in the "Manage Agents" option,
Administration menu.
In this screen the modules can be:
Deleted by clicking
Edited by clicking
However, the type of data of the module can't be modified.
Alerts
An alert is Pandora's reaction to an out of range module
value. The Alert can consist in sending and e-mail or SMS to
the administrator, sending a SNMP trap, write the incident
into the system syslog or Pandora log file, etc. And basically
anything that can be triggered by a script configured in
Pandora's Operating System.
Adding an Alert
The existing Alerts are accessed by clicking on the "Manage
Alerts" option, Administration menu.
There are 6 default types of Alerts:
eMail. Sends an e-mail from Pandora's Server
Internal audit. Writes the incident
in Pandora's internal audit system
LogFile. Writes the incident in the log file
SMS Text. Sends an SMS to a given mobile phone
SNMP Trap. Sends a SNMP Trap
Syslog. Sends an alert to the Syslog
An Alert is deleted by clicking on the delete icon
placed on the right hand side of the Alert. A new customised Alert can be created clicking in "Create Alert".
The values "_field1_", "_field2_" and "_field3_" in the customised Alerts are used to build the command line that the machine where Pandora resides will execute if there were several servers, the one in Master mode.
When a new Alert is created the following field must be filled in:
Alert name: The name of the Alert
Command: Command the Alert will trigger
Description: Description of the Alert
In 'Command' data field these variables are used to build the command line that the machine where Pandora resides will execute if there were several servers, the one in Master mode, replacing at runtime:
_field1_: Field #1, usually assigned as username, e-mail destination or single identification for this event
_field2_: Field #2, usually assigned as short description of events, as subject line in e-mail
>_field3_: Field #3, a full text explanation for the event
>_agent_: Agent name
_timestamp_: A standard representation of date and time. Replaced automatically when the event has been fired
_data_: The data value that triggered the alert
Assigning Alerts
The next step after an Agent has been added, its modules have been configurated and the alerts have been defined, it is time to assign those Alerts to the agent.
This is done by clicking on the Agent to be configured on the "Manage Agents" option, Administration menu. The Alert Assignation form is placed at the bottom of that page.
To assign an Alert the next fields must be filled in:
Alert type: This can be selected from the list of alerts that have been previously generated.
Maximum Value: Defines the maximum value for a module. Any value above that threshold will trigger the Alert.
Minimum Value: Defines the minimum value for a module. Any value below that will trigger the Alert.
Description: Describes the function of the Alert, and it is useful to identify the Alert amongst the others in the Alert General View.
Field #1 (Alias, name): Define the used value for the "_field1_" variable.
Field #2 (Single Line): Define the used value for the "_field2_" variable.
Field #3 (Full Text): Define the used value for the "_field3_" variable.
Time threshold: Minimum duration between the firing of two consecutive alerts, in seconds.
Max Alerts Fired: Maximun number of alerts that can be sent consecutively.
Assigned module: Module to be motitorized by the alert.
All the alerts of an agent can be seen through "Manage Agents"
in the Adminitration menu and selecting the agent.
Agent module and agent's alert management
It might happen that the user finds that modules and alerts
configured for an agent would be repeated in a new agent.
In order to simplify the administrator's job Pandora offers
the option of copying modules and alerts defined in an agent to be
assigned to another.
The screen is accessed through "Manage Agents">
"Manage Config.", in the Administration menu:
The Source Agent menu permits the selection of the agent
where the needed modules and/or alerts reside. The "Get Info"
button shows the modules for that agent in the Modules list box.
The copy process is performed to copy
the module and/or alert configuration from the selected source
agents to the selected destination agents. Several agents can be
selected, pressing CTRL and the mouse right button simultaneously.
The two tick boxes at the top of the form will be used to specify
if the configuration to copy is from modules and/or from alerts.
The delete process is performed to delete the
configuration of the destination agents, in the multiple selection
list box. Several agents can be selected at a time, and the tick
boxes at the top of the form indicate whether it is the modules
or the alerts configuration what is to be deleted. The
application will prompt to confirm the deletion, as once
deletion is performed, the data associated to them will also be
deleted.
Agents group detail
Once you have configured your groups and agents, you can
see the status of the groups of agents through "View Agents",
in the Operation Menu.
If you pass the mouse over any group image, you'll see
the number of agents of that group as well the number of monitors,
organized by status.
By pressing the icon
at the right of any group image, you will update the info of
that group.
Agent monitoring
When the agents start the data transmission to the server,
and it is added in the Web console, Pandora processes and inserts
the data in the Database. The data are consolidated and can be
accessed from the Web console, either as row data or as graphs.
Agent view
All the Agents can be accessed from the Operation menu.
From here the status of the agents can be quickly reviewed thanks
to a simple system of bulbs and coloured circles.
The list of agents shows all the relevant the information
in the following columns:
Agent: Shows the agent's name.
SO: Displays an icon that represents the
Operating System.
Interval: Shows the time interval (seconds)
in which the agent sends data to the server.
Group: This is the group the agent belongs to.
Modules: Under normal circumstances this field
shows the values representing the number of modules and
the number of monitors, both in black. If the status of a monitor
changes to "incorrect", one additional number is shown: the number
of modules, the number of monitors and the number of monitors with
"incorrect" status, all in black save the last one.
Status: Shows the "general" status of the agent
through the following icons:
All the monitors OK. It's the ideal status.
No defined monitors. Sometimes nothing is monitored
that could be right or wrong, and only numeric or
text data is reported.
At least one of the monitors is failing. Usually we
want to avoid this, and keep our systems in a healthy
green colour.
The agent
doesn't have any data. New agents with an empty data
package can have this status.
Colour
shifting from green to red. This icon indicates
that the agent has just changed its status, from
'All OK' to 'we have a problem'.
When an agent
is down or there is no news from it for 2 times the Interval
value in seconds. Usually it is due to a communication issue
or a crashed remote system.>
Alerts: Shows if any alerts have been sent
through the following icons:
No alerts have been sent.
When at least one alert has been sent within
the time threshold of the alert.
Last contact: Shows the time and date of the
last data package sent by the agent, using a progress bar,
according to value of the interval. If you see the image
,
the agent has not send data during the interval.
Passing the mouse over the image will show you the last contact
in time and date format.
Note: The icon
is only visible if you're and administrator and it's a link
to the "Manage Agents" > "Update Agent" option in the
Administration menu.
Accessing the data of an agent
When an agent is accessed, by clicking on its name, all the
information related to that agent is displayed.
Agent general info
This shows the data introduced when the agent was created
and the total number a data packages the agent has sent.
Last data received
This is the description of all the agent modules
been monitored.
In this list the module information is shown
in the following columns:
Module name: Name given to the module
in the agent's config file.
Module type: Type of module as described
in Asigning Modules section.
Description: Description given to the module
in the agent's config file.
Data: Last data sent by the agent.
Graph: Monthly(M), Weekly(W), Daily(D)
and Hourly(H) graphs are generated with
the data sent by the agent against time.
On the left hand side of the graph the newst
data is represent, and on the right had side the oldest.
The generated graphs are:
- Hourly graph
(
)
covers a 60 minute interval
- Daily graph
(
)
covers a 24 hour interval
- Weekly graph
(
)
covers a 7 day interval
- Mothly graph
(
)
covers a 30 day interval
Raw Data: This is the raw data sent by the agent
-
Last month
-
Last week
-
Last day
Complete list of monitors
This is the description of all the monitors defined by
the agent
The list shows the information about the monitors in the
following columns:
Agent: Agent where the monitor is defined.
Type: Data type of the monitor. For a monitor this
value is always of the generic_proc type.
Module name: Name given to the module when it was
created.
Description: Description given to the module
in the agent's config file.
Status: The table shows the agent status through
the following icons:
The monitor is OK
The monitor is failing
Last contact: Shows the time and date of
the last data packaged received from the agent
Complete list of alerts
This is the description of all the alarms defined
in the agent
The monitor information is shown in the list
divided in the following fields:
ID: Agent were the alert has been defined.
Type: Type of alert.
Description: Description given to the alert when
it was created.
Last fired: The last time the alert was
executed.
Times Fired: Number of times the alert was
launched.
Status: Shows if the alert has been sent through
the following icon:
No alerts
have been sent
At least
one alert has been sent
Group details
The groups configured in Pandora can be
accessed through "View Agents">"Group detail" in the
Operation menu. The group details can be reviewed quickly thanks
to a system of coloured bulbs.
The groups are displayed ordered by the following columns:
Groups: Name of the group
Agents: Number of agents configured
in the group.
Monitors: Number of monitors configured
in the group.
Status: The status is described through
the following icons:
All monitors are OK.
At least one monitor has failed.
At least one monitor is down and there is no contact
with it.
This Agent doesn't have any monitor defined.
OK: Number of monitors that are OK.
Failed: Number of failing monitors.
Down: Number of down monitors.
Monitors view
The description of all the monitors defined in the server
can be viewed from the "View Agents">"Monitor detail"
option in the Operation menu.
In this list all the monitors appear in a similar way as
in the individual view, but now they are shown all together.
This allows a deeper analisys of each monitor.
Alert details
The description of all the alerts defined in the server
can be viewed from the "View Agents">"Alert Details"
option in Operation menu.
In this list all the alerts appear in a similar way
as in the individual view, but now they are shown all together.
This allows a deeper analisys of each alert.
Data Export
The Data Export tool can be found in the "View Agents">"
Export data" option in the Operation Menu.
Three parameters need to be configured for exporting data:
the agent where data resides, the modules to be exported
and the date interval of the data to be exported:
The fields in the results of Exporting data are:
Module: Module name.
Data: Data contained by the module.
Timestamp: Date and time of the the package
was sent by the agent.
Selecting the CSV format for the output, a text
file with extension .csv is be created. The data
is qualified by single quotes
and the fields separated by commas:
Statistics
Two kinds of graphical statistics are displayed from the
"View Agents" >"Statistics" option, in the Operation menu:
A graph with the number of modules configurated for each
agent
A graph with number of packages sent by each Agent.
A package is the number of values from the modules the agent
sends after each time interval
SNMP Console
SNMP Alerts