Help for Foxhound 1.2.4025a

6. The Monitor Options Page

The Monitor Options page lets you set the default Alerts criteria as well as the Alerts criteria for individual target databases. It also allows you to force the default Alerts criteria onto all target databases, and to manage multiple Monitor sessions (define, start, stop and delete) using a tab-delimited file of connection strings.

The Monitor Options Menu

Switch Display

1. Save And Restore Alerts Criteria Defaults

2. Database-Specific Email Settings

3. Display Alerts

4. Set Criteria For Alerts #1 Through #10

5. Set Criteria For Alerts #11 Through #20

6. Set Criteria For Alerts #21 Through #29

7. Manage Multiple Monitor Sessions

The Monitor Options Menu [Top]

The title shows [Default Settings] or the name of the DSN or Connection String of the target database to which various options apply.

If the target database GlobalDBId property is set to a non-default value, that value will be shown in (parentheses) after the DSN: or Connection String: title. This makes it easier to tell different remote databases apart in a replicating or synchronizing environment.

The New Menu link opens the Foxhound Menu page in a new browser window or tab.

The Foxhound Options link opens the Foxhound Options page in a new browser window or tab, where you can fill in the email server settings for sending Alert emails.

The button is a context-sensitive link to this Help topic. This button appears in many locations, each of them a link to a different Help topic in this frame.

The About link opens the About Foxhound page in a new browser window or tab.

Tip: To hide the Help for every new page, see the 1. Show Help section on the Foxhound Options page.

Switch Display [Top]

The button lets you pick which set of Monitor Options settings you want to edit. You can edit the settings for any of your target databases. You can also directly edit the "Default Settings" that will be used when you start monitoring a new target database.

1. Save And Restore Alerts Criteria Defaults [Top]

An alert is a message automatically displayed and/or sent via email whenever one or more target database conditions match user-defined criteria. The Monitor Options page lets you specify these criteria for a particular target database. Individual criteria may include a threshold amount and/or a duration or waiting period.

An alert may be issued as soon as a condition is met (e.g. Alert #9), when a threshold has been reached (e.g. Alert #5) or it may include a waiting period such as "for 10 or more recent samples" (e.g. Alert #2).

An all clear is issued when the alert criteria is no longer met. If a waiting period is specified, Foxhound waits for approximately half that time before issuing the all clear.

A cancelled message is issued as soon as some alert criteria is changed or disabled using this page. At that point the alert testing process "starts over"; it doesn't matter what the change is. For example, even if the new alert condition is already met when the change is made, if there is a waiting period it is honored before a new alert is issued.

The button does two things:

First, it works just like a button: it saves all the values on this page for use with the current target database.
Second, it saves the same values as separate "Default Settings" for use later on, whenever you press the .

The button does two things:

First, it replaces all the values on this page with the separate "Default Settings". If you have never pressed the button then the "Default Settings" are the same as the "Factory Settings".
Second, it works just like a button: it saves all the values on this page for use with the current target database.

The button does two things:

First, it replaces all the values on this page with the original Foxhound "Factory Settings" that were in effect when Foxhound was first installed.
Second, it works just like a button: it saves all the values on this page for use with the current target database.

The button does two things:

First, it replaces all the numeric alert criteria on this page with extremely aggressive settings. CAUTION: These settings are intended for testing the Alerts process, and they have been chosen to issue more alerts sooner.
Second, it works just like a button: it saves all the values on this page for use with the current target database.

The button loads the current default settings and then saves them as the current settings for each and every target database.

2. Database-Specific Email Settings [Top]

The Send alert emails checkbox specifies whether or not you want Alert and All Clear emails to be sent.

Use the Email address(es) for Alerts: field to specify one or more email addresses, separated by semicolons, that are to receive the Alert and All Clear alerts.

Click on the Use HTML in emails: checkbox if you want the email alerts to be formatted using HTML.

The Host[:port] for URLs in emails: field may be used to specify where the Foxhound web server is located relative to the computer receiving the emails, so that HTML links pointing to Foxhound History pages from inside the email alerts can find the right web pages. The default is localhost which works if the emails are being received on the same computer that's running Foxhound. If you start Foxhound on some port other than 80, you can specify a value like localhost:12345. If Foxhound is running on a different computer you'll have to change localhost to that computer's domain name or IP address; e.g., xyz.com:12345.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

The button may be used to check that the email settings are correct.

The Test result: field will display OK if the test email was sent ok, or an error message if there was a problem. However, you should also check that the email was received at the other end; just because a message was sent doesn't mean it will actually arrive.

For more information see this Q&A entry:

Message: SMTP send email failed with return code ... when sending "..."

3. Display Alerts [Top]

The Display alerts checkbox specifies whether or not you want the following messages to appear on the Monitor Database and History pages:

Alerts,
All clears,
Cancellations when alerts are disabled or criteria are changed, and
Email failures.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

4. Set Criteria For Alerts #1 Through #10 [Top]

Alert #1. Foxhound has been unable to gather samples for [1m] or longer.
Alert #2. The heartbeat time has been [1.0s] or longer for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #3. The sample time has been [10s] or longer for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #4. The CPU time has been [90]% or more for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #5. The free disk space on the drive holding the main database file has fallen below [1GB].
Alert #6. The free disk space on the drive holding the temporary file has fallen below [1GB].
Alert #7. The free disk space on the drive holding the transaction log file has fallen below [1GB].
Alert #8. The free disk space on one or more drives holding other database files has fallen below [1GB].
Alert #9. The high availability target database has become disconnected from the arbiter server.
Alert #10. The high availability target database has become disconnected from the partner database.

Alert #1. Foxhound has been unable to gather samples for [1m] or longer. [Top]

The Alert #1 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

The "unable to gather samples for xxx" duration uses the "d h m s" input format; e.g., 1m for one minute, 10s for ten seconds, 3d for three days, 1h 30m for one hour and 30 minutes.

This Alert is issued if

the elapsed time since the last successful sample was recorded, or
the elapsed time since Foxhound was last restarted after being stopped,
whichever is shorter,
is greater than or equal to the threshold duration; e.g., 1m.

A subsequent All Clear is issued when a subsequent successful sample is recorded.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #2. The heartbeat time has been [1.0s] or longer for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #2 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

The "heartbeat time has been xxx" duration uses the "d h m s" input format; e.g., 10s for 10 seconds, 3d for 3 days, 1h 30m for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

This alert is based on measurements made by Foxhound itself.

The "for xxx or more recent samples" text box contains a count of samples taken by the Foxhound Database Monitor.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #3. The sample time has been [10.0s] or longer for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #3 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on measurements made by Foxhound itself.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #4. The CPU time has been [90]% or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #4 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the following properties: NumLogicalProcessorsUsed, NumProcessorsAvail, NumProcessorsMax and ProcessCPU.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #5. The free disk space on the drive holding the main database file has fallen below [1GB]. [Top]

The Alert #5 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the sa_disk_free_space system procedure. This alert is not produced if the free disk space drops to exactly zero because that is most likely a problem with the sampling process itself.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #6. The free disk space on the drive holding the temporary file has fallen below [1GB]. [Top]

The Alert #6 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #7. The free disk space on the drive holding the transaction log file has fallen below [1GB]. [Top]

The Alert #7 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #8. The free disk space on one or more drives holding other database files has fallen below [1GB]. [Top]

The Alert #8 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #9. The high availability target database has become disconnected from the arbiter server. [Top]

The Alert #9 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the ArbiterState property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #10. The high availability target database has become disconnected from the partner database. [Top]

The Alert #10 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the PartnerState property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

5. Set Criteria For Alerts #11 Through #20 [Top]

Alert #11. The high availability target database server has switched over to [server2].
Alert #12. The high availability target database has changed from [read only] to [updatable].
Alert #13. There are [1000] or more fragments in the main database file.
Alert #14. The number of requests waiting to be processed has reached [5] or more for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #15. The current number of incomplete file I/O operations has reached [256] or more for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #16. There have been [1000] or more disk and log I/O operations per second for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #17. The Checkpoint Urgency has been [100] % or more for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #18. The Recovery Urgency has been [1000] % or more for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #19. The cache has reached [100] % of its maximum size for [10] or more recent samples.
Alert #20. The cache satisfaction (hits/reads) has fallen to [50] % or lower for [10] or more recent samples.

Alert #11. The high availability target database server has switched over to [server2]. [Top]

The Alert #11 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the ServerName property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #12. The high availability target database has changed from [read only] to [updatable]. [Top]

The Alert #12 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is usually raised when Foxhound is monitoring the read-only secondary HA database and a failover occurs. Foxhound remains connected to the same database, which is now the primary database, and the mode has changed from read-only to updatable. This alert is cleared as soon as all three HA servers become operational. Foxhound does not wait for the mode to change back to its original value.

This alert is based on the ReadOnly property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #13. There are [1000] or more fragments in the main database file. [Top]

The Alert #13 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the DBFileFragments property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #14. The number of requests waiting to be processed has reached [5] or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #14 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the UnschReq property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #15. The current number of incomplete file I/O operations has reached [256] or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #15 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the CurrIO property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #16. There have been [1000] or more disk and log I/O operations per second for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #16 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the DiskRead, DiskWrite and LogWrite properties.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #17. The Checkpoint Urgency has been [100] % or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #17 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the CheckpointUrgency property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #18. The Recovery Urgency has been [1000] % or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #18 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the RecoveryUrgency property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #19. The cache has reached [100] % of its maximum size for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #19 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the CurrentCacheSize and MaxCacheSize properties.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #20. The cache satisfaction (hits/reads) has fallen to [50] % or lower for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #20 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the CacheHits and CacheRead properties.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

6. Set Criteria For Alerts #21 Through #29 [Top]

Alert #21. The total temporary file space used by all connections has been [1G] or larger for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #21 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the TempFilePages property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #22. At least one single connection has used [500M] or more of temporary file space during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #22 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the TempFilePages property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #23. The number of blocked connections has reached [10] or more during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #23 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the BlockedOn property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #24. At least one single connection has blocked [5] or more other connections during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #24 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the BlockedOn property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #25. The number of locks has reached [1,000,000] or more during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #25 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the LockCount property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #26. The number of connections has reached [1000] or more for [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #26 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the ConnCount property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #27. The approximate CPU time has reached [25] % of elapsed time or more for at least one connection during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #27 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the ApproximateCPUTime property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #28. The transaction running time has reached [1m] or more for at least one connection during [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #28 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the TransactionStartTime property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

Alert #29. There have been [1] or more cache panics in [10] or more recent samples. [Top]

The Alert #29 enabled checkbox specifies whether or not you want Foxhound to check for this condition.

This alert is based on the CachePanics property.

You must click if you want your changes saved. Any one of the Save buttons will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page.

7. Manage Multiple Monitor Sessions [Top]

The Connection Strings file: field lets you provide the file specification for a text file containing connection strings for multiple target databases. The file contains one line per target database, with each line terminated by a carriage return - line feed pair ('\x0d\x0a'). Each line contains two fields, separated by a single tab character ('\x09'). The first field contains a unique name for the connection string, and the second is the connection string itself. Here is and example:

ddd001	ENG=benchmark; DBN=ddd001; UID=dba; PWD=sql; DRIVER=SQL Anywhere 12;
ddd002	ENG=benchmark; DBN=ddd002; UID=dba; PWD=sql; DRIVER=SQL Anywhere 12;
ddd003	ENG=benchmark; DBN=ddd003; UID=dba; PWD=sql; DRIVER=SQL Anywhere 12;
ddd004	ENG=benchmark; DBN=ddd004; UID=dba; PWD=sql; DRIVER=SQL Anywhere 12;

The Connection Strings file is used when you press each of the following four buttons. You can create different files for different purposes; e.g., for starting and stopping a large number of Monitor sessions in smaller batches.

The button will save all the changes you have made anywhere on this page, including the Connection Strings file.

Note: If you enter a new value in the Connection Strings file field, and then press one of the other buttons Create Connection Strings, etc., the new Connection Strings file value will be saved in the Foxhound database even though you didn't press Save. In this case, only that value will be saved, not any of the changes you might have made elsewhere on this page.

The button uses the data in the Connection Strings file to create or replace Connection Strings in the Foxhound database. Individual connection strings can then be modified using the String tab of the Foxhound Menu page.

The button reads the connection string names from the Connections Strings file and starts a Monitor session for each corresponding target database if that session is not already running or in the process of starting.

The button reads the connection string names from the Connections Strings file and stops the Monitor session for each corresponding target database if it is running or cancels that session if it is in the process of starting.

The button reads the connection string names from the Connections Strings file and deletes the Monitor session for each corresponding target database if that session is not already running or in the process of starting.

[Top]