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Copyright © 2001-2017 EMCO. All rights reserved.

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6

Company web site: emcosoftware.com Support e-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2001-2017 EMCO . Al l r ights res erved.

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6

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Table of Contents

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4Chapter 1: Introduction

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Chapter 2: Getting Started

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6How the Program Works

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Getting to Know the Program Interface

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Local, Remote and Web Access to the Program

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Configuring and Monitoring Hosts

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Reviewing Connection Statistics

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Configuring Notifications

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Configuring and Generating Reports

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6Using the Advanced Features

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Chapter 3: Program Interface Overview

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Details View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Hosts View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Hosts Browser View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Reports View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Connectivity Events View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Log View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Access Control View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Operations View

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33Graphical User Interface features

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 72Chapter 4: Hosts Management

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 72Defining Hosts and Groups

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 72Overriding Common Settings

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 72Importing and Exporting Hosts

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82Chapter 5: Monitoring Connectivity

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82Controlling Activity

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82Quick Launch List

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82Monitoring Data

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Chapter 6: Reporting

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Generic Reports

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Preconfigured Reports

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Report Members

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Report Outputs

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Importing and Exporting Preconfigured Reports

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 86Web Reports

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98Chapter 7: Using Placeholders

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98Notification E-mail Placeholders

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98Custom Actions Definition Placeholders

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98Report Name Template Placeholders

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98Report Footer Placeholders

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 103Chapter 8: Events Logging

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 103Reviewing Monitoring Events

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 103Exporting Monitoring Events

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 103Analyzing Log

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 103Exporting Log

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112Chapter 9: Program Preferences

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112Monitoring Part

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112Events and Statistics Part

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112Miscellaneous Part

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 136Chapter 10: Evaluation of the Program

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 136Evaluation Wizard

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 136Where can I get my License Code?

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 136How should I formulate the Extended License request?

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 141Chapter 11: Program Updates

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 141Live Update

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 141Major Update

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Chapter 12: Main Program Actions

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Home Ribbon Page

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143View Ribbon Page

Copyright © 2001-2017 EMCO . Al l r ights res erved.

Contents

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..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Program Ribbon Page

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Monitoring Tools Category

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Reporting Tools Category

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143Publishing Tools Category

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 151Chapter 13: Ping Monitor Client-Server Concept

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 153Chapter 14: Access Control

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 155Chapter 15: Notification Center

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 156Chapter 16: Requirements

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 157Chapter 17: How can I leave my Feedback?

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 159Chapter 18: About EMCO Software

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 161Chapter 19: Contact Information

IntroductionEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6

Copyright © 2001-2017 EMCO . Al l r ights res erved. 4

Chapter 1: Introduction

Welcome to EMCO Ping Monitor. You have chosen an easy-to-use software product that allows youto monitor the network connection status of your hosts. EMCO Ping Monitor not only tracks thestatus of the hosts monitored but also offers powerful features to notify you about any connectionstate changes, collect connection statistics, generate reports and integrate the program withexternal software. This manual provides you with detailed information on all of the program features.

Using Documentation

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise was designed to be a tool with an intuitive user interface that can beused by people with different levels of technological knowledge. The program encompasses an initialconfiguration wizard that helps you to configure the program for the first start. In addition, everyinterface dialog provides you with hints and clear error messages. It should help you to use theprogram successfully without reading this manual. Anyway, it's recommended to review the GettingStarted guide to familiarize yourself with the main features of the program.

To get detailed information on the program features, settings and user interface views, browse themanual content and choose the section you want to read.

Getting Help

If you face a problem, it makes sense to check the errors reported in the Log view. If the problemcan be resolved by a user, the error in the log includes troubleshooting information, so you canfollow the suggestions to resolve the problem. In other cases, you may contact the support team at https://emcosoftware.com/support.

To get help on the problem, you need to provide the support team with the problem details. Forexample, you can send the error notification you received and the steps you had performed before

https://emcosoftware.com/support

IntroductionEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


getting this error. Provide the support team with all the available information regarding the problemto speed up the problem reproduction and troubleshooting.

Getting StartedEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 2: Getting Started

EMCO Ping Monitor is a software utility that allows you to monitor the reachability of network hostscontinuously. The program sends ICMP echo requests to target hosts and analyzes echo replies toidentify connection outages of remote hosts. The program also provides you with connectionstatistics, including minimum, maximum and average round-trip times and other parameters for everyhost monitored.

Ping Monitor provides you with the following features that can be used to monitor your networkinfrastructure:

• Multi-host monitoring. The Free edition of the program allows you to monitor up to five hostssimultaneously. The Professional edition allows monitoring of 250 hosts. And the Enterpriseedition allows to monitor an unlimited number of hosts, so you can monitor a few thousands ofhosts simultaneously provided you do it on a modern PC.

• Detecting connection outages. The program can monitor hosts connection statuses in the24/7 mode to automatically detect outages and notify you of possible problems.

• Connection quality analyzing. Get statistics for every monitored host that includes theuptime, the response time minimum, maximum and average, and the response deviation toanalyze the connection quality.

• Flexible notifications. Be notified when connections are lost and restored. The program cansend e-mail notifications, play sounds and show Windows Tray balloons. You can customize thenotification parameters and use host-specific notifications.

• Charts and reports. The program can generate reports in different formats on a regular basis



and send them by e-mail or upload them to a web server. The reports include a list of outagesand the connection statistics displayed in charts for the reported period.

• Integration with other programs. You can integrate the program with other software byconfiguring scripts or executable files to be invoked when host connections are lost or restored.Using this feature, you can integrate the program with external software that sends SMSnotifications, for example.

• Client-server architecture. Using the Enterprise edition of the program, multiple clientprograms can connect to the same server and work with it concurrently. Client programs can beinstalled on the same PC where the server is installed, or they can be installed on remote PCsand connect to the server over LAN, WAN and VPN. The program can be used by different usersallowing individual configuration of the features available for every.

• Web-reports. The Enterprise edition of the program offers web reports, so you can accesshosts statistics remotely from any computer without having to install any client software forthis purpose.

In the following chapters, you can find a quick overview of the main features of the program. Youwill learn how the program detects connection outages, how to configure the program, add hosts,start and stop monitoring, and how to check the connection statistics. Special chapters arededicated to configuring notifications and reports. In the following chapters, you will also learn howto integrate the program with external tools and how to use other advanced features.

How the Program Works

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise can simultaneously monitor multiple connections to remote hosts. Themonitoring of every host is performed in own execution thread that works independently from otherhosts. Using the Free edition of the program, you can monitor up to five hosts at the same time, theProfessional edition is limited to 250 hosts, and the Enterprise edition of the program enables you tomonitor an unlimited number of hosts. On a typical modern PC, you can monitor a few thousandhosts with no performance issues; to monitor more hosts, you need to use a system with aproductive CPU and high-capacity RAM.



Every host is monitored independently from other hosts, so the program sends ping echo requests tothe monitored host on a regular basis and analyzes the echo replies to collect ping statistics anddetect connection outages.

The program sends a ping echo request to the monitored host and waits for an echo reply. If theprogram gets a ping echo reply, the ping is considered as passed. If there is no echo reply from thehost during the Ping Timeout (1500 milliseconds by default), the ping is considered as failed.

The program uses pings to detect the availability of monitored hosts, so that it has the settingsdefining how many pings may fail or pass in a row to detect connection-loss or -restore events,correspondingly. In practice, a few single pings may fail even in a stable network due to a temporaryhigh host or network workload. That's why, with the default Outage Condition set to three pings,the program detects an outage after three pings fail in a row. The default value for the AvailabilityCondition is one ping, which means the connection restore event will be reported once the firstsingle ping is passed after a connection outage.

There are also the additional settings that influence how quickly the program detects changes in thehost state and how often the remote hosts are pinged. When the program thinks the monitored hostis online but the first ping to the host fails, the next ping is performed after an Outage CheckInterval (500 milliseconds by default). In this case, the program considers that the connection isprobably lost and pings the host with a frequency different from the usual one. A similar approach isused when the monitored host is offline but the first ping to the host is passed. In this case, theprogram thinks that the connection is probably restored, and the next ping is performed after anAvailability Check Interval (500 milliseconds by default). In other cases, when the host is onlineand pings are passed, the program performs pings with an Online Pings Interval (5 seconds bydefault); when the host is offline and pings fail, the program performs pings with an Offline PingsInterval (500 milliseconds by default).



You can tune all the settings explained above in the Preferences > Monitor Settings dialog . For example, if you monitor an instable connection, to avoid false-positive detection of the stateof connection changes, you can increase the Outage Condition and/or the Outage CheckInterval as well as the Availability Condition and/or the Availability Check Interval. To pingremote hosts more or less frequently, you can increase or decrease the Online Pings Interval andthe Offline Pings Interval correspondingly.

Pic 1. Monitor Settings

When a connection is lost or restored, the program can notify you about such events and executecustom actions upon such events. By default, the program plays a sound notification and displays aballoon in Windows Tray on connection loss and restore events. To receive e-mail notifications, youneed to specify SMTP settings during the initial program configuration or later in the Preferences >E-Mail Options dialog. Custom actions can be configured in the Preferences > Custom Actionsdialog. If required, in the Professional and Enterprise editions of the program, you can configure ahost to execute its own specific actions different from the global custom actions defined inPreferences for all hosts.

In addition to detecting outages, the program also collects ping statistics, such as the ping round-trip time, which can be used to analyze the connection performance. As a result, you getinformation on the current ping round-trip time, the minimum, maximum and average ping time forthe reported period and the standard ping deviation from the average. The connection performancecharacteristics are displayed on the screen as charts and values and are available in the generatedreports.



Getting to Know the Program Interface

The program interface has multiple views that allow you to access different features of the program.The main screen is organized into several areas that display the program views as tabs. If you wish,you may change the layout of the areas, resize them, move views from one area to another andclose views if you don't need them. Depending on a particular task, you may create your customlayout of the program views that is suitable for that task. In this chapter, you can get an overview

of program views available in the default layout .

Pic 1. The main program window

EMCO Ping Monitor uses a Ribbon UI that represents all main actions as the Ribbon menu located onthe top of the main screen. Different types of actions are grouped by different Ribbon tabs, so youneed to switch to the corresponding Ribbon tab to access a specific action. The Ribbon menu canalso display highlighted contextual tabs that provide actions suitable for the currently selectedelement.

Under the Ribbon on the left side of the screen, you can find the Hosts Browser view. Using thisview, you can manage the hosts monitored by the program, so you can add and delete hosts,organize them in groups, start and stop monitoring and select hosts for inspecting their statistics. Inthe same area on the left side of the main screen, you can find the Reports view. This view is usedto manage reports generated by the program. You can configure new reports, edit report settingsand generate reports using this view.

In the center of the main screen, you can find another group of views. The Details view is used toaudit the state of the selected hosts. The view displays information for the hosts currently selectedin the Host Browser or Hosts views. This view has several tabs that display connection statisticsas values and charts. Here you can see the charts generated using historical data, for example, toinspect the host statistics for a day, a week, or a month. This view also lists outages for thereporting period. The Hosts view displays the list of hosts and their monitoring statistics as a datagrid. You can use the data-sorting, grouping and filtering features available on the grid to organize



the displayed data depending on your needs.

Finally, at the bottom of the main screen, you can find two other views. The Connectivity Eventsview displays a list of connection lost and restored events for all the hosts, so you can use it as alog of connect and disconnect events detected by the program. The Log view is used fortroubleshooting. If any errors have been detected by the program, you can find the error messagesand the troubleshooting instructions there. The Access Control view allows managing roles andpermissions of the program users. All currently running operations are displayed in the Operationsview where you can review and manage them.

You can find detailed information on the program interface and the available views in the ProgramInterface Overview chapter. In the next chapters, you can see how to use the program views inpractice to monitor hosts, generate reports and review the collected statistics.

Local, Remote and Web Access to the Program

The Enterprise edition of the program has a client-server architecture. The server part works as aWindows service and performs hosts monitoring, sends notifications and generates reports. Theclient part is a Windows application with a user interface that allows a user to manage monitoredhosts, to see the collected statistics, etc. While installing the program, you can select to install theserver, the client, or both. Thus, you can install the client and the server on the same PC ordifferent ones.

It is recommended to install the server on a Windows server or another PC that is always turned on,so the server can continuously monitor the specified hosts. The client can be installed on the samecomputer or on any remote PC since the program allows clients to connect remotely to the serverover a LAN/WAN/VPN connection. You can install multiple clients that can connect to the sameserver and work concurrently. To be able to connect to the server remotely, you need to open ports48008 and 48009 in the firewall on the computer where the server is installed.

When running the client, you need to specify if you would like to connect to the server installed

locally or remotely . If you wish to connect to a remote server, you should enter its hostname or IP address. The server requires user authentication, so when using the default settings,you need to specify a Windows account that is a member of the Administrators group on the PCwhere the server is installed. If your account satisfies this condition, you can enable the UseWindows session Credentials option and skip entering the username and password.

Pic 1. The server connection dialog

When using the default settings of the program, you should use a Windows account that is amember of the Administrators group to connect to the server. If required, you can change the

access permissions in the Access Control view of the program . There you can manage rolesand their privileges and assign those roles to Windows users and groups. This allows you to organizeflexible management of permissions. For example, using roles, you can provide an administrativeaccess with all permissions to some users, a read-only access to other users, and an access to the



reporting functionality only for certain users. Learn more about using roles and permissions in theAccess Control chapter.

Pic 2. Configuring roles and permissions

The program uses secure communication between the client and the server, so all the data traffic isencrypted. By default, the program uses a self-signed SSL certificate, and you get a warning thatthe used certificate isn't trusted when you connect to the server. If you have a SSL certificate, it'srecommended to specify it in the program's Preferences to validate the identity of the server whenyou connect to it remotely.

The Enterprise edition of the program also offers web reports. You can use web reports to check thestatus and statistics of the monitored hosts from any computer. The program uses Microsoft IIS todeploy web reports. If you choose to deploy web reports, the program installation automaticallyconfigures Microsoft IIS, so you can access web reports in a browser.

Pic 3. Web reports

In web reports, you can see the list of monitored servers and their statistics, i.e. the sameinformation you can see in the GUI client. If required, you can filter the displayed hosts. For a host,you can see the detailed monitoring statistics, charts and the list of outages for the selected timeperiod. Note that web reports don't allow you to manage monitored hosts or start/stop monitoring.These operations should be performed in the GUI client.



Configuring and Monitoring Hosts

When you start the program the first time, you can see that all program views are empty. Tomonitor network connections, you need to specify the hosts that should be monitored. The Free andProfessional editions of the program allow you to monitor up to 5 or 250 hosts respectively. TheEnterprise edition of the program has no licensing limitations regarding the number of hosts tomonitor, but the actual limit depends on the hardware performance. A modern PC allows monitoring2500 or more hosts. To start using the program, you need to specify the hosts you plan to monitor.

Configuring Hosts

You can add new hosts to the program using different approaches. For example, you can press thebutton to add a host on the Ribbon, or select the same action in the context menu of the HostsBrowser view. As a result, you can see the dialog where you can configure a host and its settings

.

Pic 1. Host configuration dialog

As you can see, the host configuration dialog allows you to add a single host or multiple hosts tothe program. We can specify a host by the name or by the IP address. If the host has a dynamic IPaddress, we can specify it by the name and enable the corresponding option to resolve the enteredname to an IP address before executing every ping, so the correct host is reached even if its IPaddress changes during monitoring.

If you need to add multiple hosts, you can specify them by means of an IP range. There is an optionto resolve IPs to host names and an option to skip the hosts that cannot be resolved to hostnames, so you can use both of them, if required. Besides, you can add hosts by importing them froma file previously exported from another copy of the program. You can find the exporting andimporting options in the context menu of the Hosts Browser view.



You may notice that the Add Host dialog has multiple configuration options on the left side, so youcan switch them to provide additional host settings. For example, on the Monitoring section you

can configure custom monitoring settings for the host .

Pic 2. Providing custom settings for a host

By default, all hosts share the global settings configured in the Preferences dialog, but you canoverride the global settings and provide the custom settings to be used for the host.

Configuring Gateway Options

In the host configuration dialog, you can find Gateway Options that allow you to specify a gatewayfor the configured host. What is a gateway and when should it be specified?

When you monitor a remote host located somewhere in the Internet and pings to that host startfailing, the program reports an outage. The outage means that there is no connection between thePC where Ping Monitor is installed and the monitored host. Usually, there are two possible reasonsfor this problem. The first reason is that the monitored host is down, so it isn't available for you andother clients. The second reason is that you have lost an Internet connection, so the host isn'tavailable for you, but it is available for other users. Gateway Options allow you to distinguishbetween these two cases.



Gateway Options allow you to specify a host to be used to check the ping results reported by the

monitored host . For example, if you monitor a host located in the Internet, you can specify atrusted, always-on host located in the Internet to check the Internet access status. In this case, ifa ping to a monitored host fails, the program will check the gateway host and will report the ping asfailed if the gateway is reachable. This means that the program has access to the Internet, but themonitored host is unreachable.

Pic 3. Gateway Options

In the program's Preferences, you can specify a gateway to be used for monitoring of all hosts. It ishelpful, for example, if you monitor hosts located in the Internet, so you can specify a single globalgateway to check that the program has Internet access. This prevents the reporting of outages formonitored hosts if your Internet connection is lost. If you wish, you can use a custom gateway for ahost or a group of hosts by overriding the global settings and specifying the Gateway Options forthem.

Start and Stop Monitoring

Once hosts are added to the program, you can start monitoring their states. If you have addedmore than one host, in most cases you need to start monitoring all the hosts simultaneously, so youcan use the Quick Launch option. Note that the hosts in the Hosts Browser view have the QuickLaunch option enabled by default, so the program starts monitoring all those hosts when you clickthe Start button on the Ribbon. To stop monitoring, you need to press the Stop button on theRibbon, and monitoring of all the hosts will be stopped.



Using of the Quick Launch option is very convenient if you have many hosts, because you canstart and stop monitoring all of them with a single click. If you prefer to manage hosts individually,you can select a host and choose the Exclude from Quick Launch option in the context menu oruse the corresponding action on the Ribbon. As a result, the Quick Launch option will be disabledfor this host, and monitoring of this host will not be started when you use the Start operation fromQuick Launch. To manage a host individually, you may select it and choose the Start Monitoring

and Stop Monitoring options in the context menu or on the toolbar .

Pic 4. Monitoring options

If you have added different types of hosts, you can combine them into groups, so that you canstart and stop monitoring all hosts in a group with a single click, when required. Using groups isdemonstrated in the Using the Advanced Features chapter.



Reviewing Connection Statistics

When hosts monitoring is activated, you can see monitoring statistics in the Hosts and Detailsviews. The Hosts view displays hosts and their main statistics in a grid, so you can see the host

status, the number of outages and the ping statistics there . This view can be used to seethe general status of all the monitored hosts. If you right-click on the grid header, you can find thedifferent options provided by the grid, so you can use them to organize the displayed informationaccording to your needs. For example, you can group and filter the displayed data by host state tosee the problematic hosts only. In addition, you can sort the data by required fields to show, forexample, slow connections with the maximum average response time at the top of the list.

Pic 1. Monitoring data available in the Hosts view



If you need to see detailed information for a particular host, you can select it in the Hosts Browserview and open the Details view. As you can see, the host monitoring information is available on

multiple tabs in this view. On the Overview tab , you can see the general host data,including the uptime and ping statistics, the response time for the host and the list of outagesdetected for the host.

Pic 2. General host monitoring data



On the Live Data tab , you can see the real-time chart with the current ping statistics. Thischart shows the statistics for the ping response time and the minimum, maximum and average pingtime for the reported interval. You can use it to estimate the current state of the connection,because, by default, the chart shows data for the last minute only. If you need to see the statisticsfor longer time intervals, you can find it on the Historical Data tab.

Pic 3. The Live Data chart



On the Historical Data tab , you can see charts displaying the response time and the uptimestatistics. You can see the data for today, yesterday, last week or month, or for a custom timerange. The displayed charts can be exported or printed. You can use this view to see the collectedstatistics for a host on the screen. If you need to get the statistics on a regular basis, you canconfigure the reports feature, which will be demonstrated in one of the following chapters.

Pic 4. The Historical Data charts

Finally, the Events tab displays a list of all events detected by the program for a host. Here youmay find information on the time when monitoring for a host was started and stopped, and when theconnection was lost and restored, etc.



If in the Hosts Browser view, you can select multiple hosts or a group including multiple hosts,then the Details view displays the statistics of the ping response time for all the selected hosts onthe Live Data and Historical Data tabs, so you can compare the performance of multiple

connections .

Pic 5. Comparing the performance of multiple hosts

Using the information displayed in the Hosts and Details views, you can see the status of thenetwork connections and their performance. In addition, EMCO Ping Monitor can not only displaystatistics on the screen but also automatically notify you of the connection problems and generatedetailed reports. These important topics are explained in the next chapters.



Configuring Notifications

EMCO Ping Monitor can automatically detect when the connection to a host is lost and restored andcan notify you of these events using different methods. The program can make sound notificationsor show balloon tips in the Windows Tray, but the most effective notification method is e-mailnotification. To use e-mail notifications, you have to configure the SMTP settings in the program.When you started the program the first time, you were prompted to enter the SMTP settings. You

can edit and modify these settings later using the Preferences > E-Mail Options dialog .

Pic 1. Configuring the SMTP settings

To test the SMTP settings, you can click the Send the e-mail to test the provided settings linkon the E-Mail Options dialog. In case of success, you should get the e-mail at the specified e-mailaddresses; otherwise, you will see an error message with the problem details, so you can resolvethe problems and try again.



By default, all notifications of the connection lost and restored for all hosts are sent to the e-mailaddresses provided in the To, Cc and Bcc fields of the E-Mail Options dialog, but you can usecustom e-mail recipients for every host. To specify custom settings for a host, you can create a

new host or open an existing one for editing and switch to the E-Mail Recipients tab . Thereyou can enable the option to override the global settings defined in the program Preferences andspecify custom To, Cc and Bcc recipients for the host.

Pic 2. Configuring the custom e-mail recipients for a host



After you specify the correct SMTP options, the program will automatically send e-mail notificationsto the configured recipient addresses when the connections to the hosts is lost or restored. Bydefault, the program sends an e-mail when the connection to a host is lost and another e-mail whenthe connection is restored. Besides, it shows balloon tips in the Windows Tray and plays soundnotifications. If you would like to change the notification settings, you can modify them in the

Preferences > Notifications dialog . There you can enable and disable different types ofnotifications and configure repeated notifications, if required. For example, you can configure theprogram to send e-mail notifications every minute when a connection is lost. In this case, you haveset an infinite number of notification iterations (notifications should be repeated forever as long asthe connection is lost) and 60 seconds as the interval between iterations.

Pic 3. Configuring notification options

It is possible to use customized notification settings for hosts that override the global settings.Thus, depending on the host specifics, you may be getting repeated notifications during an outagefor some hosts and only one notification when an outage is detected for other hosts.

There are several other notification customization options available in the Preferences dialog. Usingthe Preferences > Sound Configuration dialog, you can review and modify the sounds that areused for sound notification. In the Preferences > Mail Templates dialog, you can configure thecustom e-mail templates used for e-mail notifications, and you can modify the notification e-mailsubject and text, if required.



Configuring and Generating Reports

EMCO Ping Monitor is designed to work in the 24/7 mode to monitor the status of networkconnections. The program sends notifications of various events, but you need to have a connectionperformance report to analyze the connection status for the monitoring period. Ping Monitor cangenerate reports automatically on a regular basis in different formats, so you can easily analyze theperformance of the monitored network connections.

You can manage reports in the Reports view, which is located by default under the Hosts Browserview. When the Reports view is opened, you can see that you can create two types of reports:summary and detailed reports. What is the difference between these report types?

• A summary report includes only the general uptime and response time statistics for the hostsencompassed by the report. This type of report represents all the data as a simple grid.

• A detailed report includes detailed information on the uptime and response time for all thehosts encompassed by the report. The report includes charts and numeric statistics. Theincluded data is similar to the information represented in the Details view.

Both summary and detailed reports can be configured using the same procedure. To create a newreport, you can perform the corresponding action available in the Ribbon menu, or on the Reportsview toolbar, or in the context menu. To configure a report, you need to specify its recurrenceoptions, the hosts to be included into the report, and the output format. As the first step of thereport configuring, you need to specify the report name and the recurrence options for the reportgeneration. You can generate a report manually on demand or set it up for a daily automatic

generation, for example .

Pic 1. Configuring the report recurrence options



You also need to configure the hosts to be included into the report. One report can includeinformation on either a single host or multiple hosts, so you can specify the hosts and the groups to

be included into the report on the Members tab .

Pic 2. Configuring the report members



Finally, you need to configure the report format. The program can generate a report in differentformats and save it in the report storage (a local or FTP folder) and/or send it by e-mail. If youdecide to send a report by e-mail, you can specify custom recipients for every report; otherwise, allreports will be sent to the e-mail addresses configured in the Preferences. If you decide to save a

report in the report storage, you can specify the file format and the file naming conversion and optionally configure the report uploading to an FTP server. The last option is useful if you wouldlike to upload reports to a web server on a regular basis automatically and to review them online.

Pic 3. Configuring the report format options



Once reports are created, you can see them in the Reports view. You can select a report andgenerate it manually if it's configured for generation on demand, or you can use the option to show

the report storage and see the reports generated automatically .

Pic 4. Browsing the reports generated automatically



EMCO Ping Monitor automatically generates all reports at a required time according to the reportrecurrence settings. You can create as many reports as you need for the same host with different

recurrence settings. For example, you can create a detailed report for a host generatedevery day and every week to see the daily and weekly statistics.

Pic 5. A detailed host report in the PDF format

By default, the reports include a reference to the program that generated them in the header or thefooter. You can change that and include your branding information by modifying the settings in thePreferences > Reports Customization dialog.

Using the Advanced Features

EMCO Ping Monitor has several advanced features that allow you to use the program moreeffectively and integrate it with other software tools. Below, you can find an overview of the mostfrequently used advanced features of the program.

Using Custom Actions for Integration with Other Programs

Not only does Ping Monitor allow sending notifications when a connections is lost or restored, usingthe Custom Actions you can execute any external program or script upon those events. It meansthat the Custom Actions allow you to integrate Ping Monitor with other software tools. In this case,Ping Monitor will register connection changes, and an external program will perform the requiredactions. A good example of such integration is using SMS software: Ping Monitor executes an SMSutility to send SMS notifications when a connection is lost or restored.



You can configure the Custom Actions using the Preferences > Custom Actions dialog ,where you need to select the events to be processed and to specify the command lines to beexecuted. In the command line, you can use placeholders generated by the program that describethe current status and configuration. For example, you can pass a host name and status to an SMSexecutable utility. In addition, in the Custom Actions settings, you can specify the time intervalwhen actions should be executed. That allows you to avoid sending text messages at night, forexample.

Pic 1. Configuring Custom Actions

You can override the global settings of the Custom Actions and use custom setting for a host, ifrequired.



Configuring Monitoring Intervals

You can use EMCO Ping Monitor to monitor connections in the 24/7 mode, but in some cases youneed to monitor connections during business days and work hours only. In the Preferences >

Monitoring Interval dialog , you can enable the custom monitoring intervals, if required, andspecify the days of the week and the hours when the program should monitor connections.Monitoring will be paused automatically during other days/hours.

Pic 2. The monitoring interval options

The Monitoring Interval settings specified in the Preferences are applied to all the hosts. You canoverride the global settings and specify custom monitoring intervals for the hosts, so that somehosts may be monitored in the 24/7 mode, while others may be monitored during business hoursonly.

Grouping Hosts in Hosts Browser

When adding hosts in the Hosts Browser view, you may notice that you can also create groups ofhosts there. You can add a host to a group when you add the host to the program, or you can do itlater by moving the host into the group. Why do you need to use groups of hosts? The followingfeatures of the groups allow you to use the program more effectively:

• You can start and stop monitoring all hosts in a group with a single click. If you have severaldifferent types of hosts that should be monitored differently, you can create multiple groupsand add your hosts to those groups, so you can start and stop monitoring those groupsindependently with a single click.

• You can configure the reports to show statistics for all the hosts in a group. You can updatethe group to include or exclude hosts, and the report will be updated automatically to include



the actual hosts of the group only.

• You can override monitoring and notification settings for multiple hosts at once, using thesettings defined on a group.

• You can review live data and historical data charts of all hosts in a group to compare theirperformance. Simply select the required group in the Hosts Browser view and you can seecharts that display the performance of all the hosts from the selected group in the Detailsview.

Of course, there are other advanced features of the program. Most of them can be configured inthe Preferences dialog, so it's recommended to go through all the Preferences settings to reviewall the available options.

Program Interface OverviewEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 3: Program Interface Overview

The Ping Monitor main window can be divided into the following parts: the Details view ,

the Hosts view , the Hosts Browser view , the Reports view , the Connectivity Events

view , the Log view , the Access Control view , the Operations view and the Ribbon

bar .

Pic 1. The main program window

The Details view is used to display the detailed information on the selected hosts and theirperformance and availability characteristics. The Hosts view is intended to provide you with theconnection statuses for all monitored hosts and their performance and availability characteristics.The Hosts Browser view displays the hosts and groups of hosts in the hierarchical structure and isprimarily designed for performing hosts management. The Reports view is designed to display andmanage preconfigured monitors performance and availability reports to be generated either ondemand or on a regular basis. The Connectivity Events view provides access to the importantconnectivity status events for all monitored hosts. And the Log view shows those events notconnected to hosts availability and monitoring activity, such as messages from supplementaryoperations, reports generation problems, etc. Within the Access Control view, you can define theroles and permissions for the users to access the server. If you would like to review and/or cancelthe currently running operations, you can use the Operations view.



Details View

The Details view is by default located in the middle of the program main window. It is usedto display the detailed information on the hosts and their performance and availabilitycharacteristics.

Show

The Show button from the Details Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page fromthe Monitoring Tools category should be used to activate the Details view and fill itwith details for the selected hosts.

This view can display details pertaining to the selected hosts – this mode is activated using the Linkwith Selection button. In this mode, the view is updated automatically every time the scope ofselected hosts is changed. In case you have disabled this mode for your purposes, you can reviewthe details for a set of hosts by selecting them in the Hosts or Hosts Browser view and choosingthe Show Details item from the pop-up menu, the corresponding button on the toolbar, or theShow button from the Details Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page from theMonitoring Tools category.

Pic 1. The Details view

In case if there are no hosts selected, the Details view is empty and displays the hint for theactions to perform to fill it with any data. As for a single host selection and multiple hosts selection,the different detailed content is displayed – we will take a closer look on it in the following sections.In case you are selecting a group of hosts, the selection is transformed to the hosts that belong tothat group directly. The Details view content is also refreshed when you are clicking on a hosthyperlink in the Connectivity Events view, displaying the details for the highlighted host.

The details for individual hosts can be pinned to be displayed in separate views, regardless theselection.



In this chapter, we will introduce to you both the single host details and multiple hosts details viewmodes and describe each particular mode.

Single Host Details

The Details view for a single host consists of the common host information displayed on thetop of the view and four tabs, those are: Overview, Live Data, Historical Data and Events. Letus take a closer look on each part of the view.

Pic 1. The Details view for a single host with the Overview page selected

The common host information can be displayed in two different modes: when less details aredisplayed and when more. By default, the view is compacted as much as possible, thus the lessdetails mode is applied. In this mode the common information consists of the state icon and the hostaddress string with the state text appended. On the right side you can find the expander buttonthat will switch the presentation to the more detailed one. As soon as the button is pressed, thestate icon is increased to fill the given space and the information on the actions to be performed onspecific triggers is displayed. In case if you are viewing host details in a not pinned window, you'llfind the pin button next to the expander button, that will either propose you to pin or to unpindetails for the current host.

In both modes the host address part of the common host information pane is clickable. The click onthis part will open the corresponding host for editing. As we are done with the common part, let usmove over to the categorized pages.

The Overview page is used to provide you with the monitoring data gathered during allmonitoring sessions, graphically visualized and grouped by categories. The page consists of thecommon category, which is untitled, and three additional categories, that can be collapsed. Thoseare Connection Health, Response Time and Outages Info. In the first column of the commoncategory you can find the last resolved IP address and reverse DNS name for the host together withthe monitoring status. The second column contains the monitoring activity characteristics. You canfind out how long the monitoring process for the host has been active and how this time span is split



to monitoring time and pause time. Within the Connection Health category you can get thedetailed information on uptime and passed pings. The percentage is also visualized via pie charts.The Response Time category is used to display the performance characteristics of the pingprocess. You can find out the values for minimum, maximum, average and latest response times, aswell as the response deviation parameter. This data is also visualized with the chart, where you caneasily compare the values to each other. The last category is the Outages Info one. It containsthe table with all outages for the host. On the top of the table you can find the outages count, theshortest outage, the longest outage and the latest one.

Toolbar Overview

Report As

The Report As button from the Overview page toolbar can be used to report thehost overview to a PDF, HTML or MHT file.

Print

The Print button from the Overview page toolbar should be used to print thedisplayed host overview.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Overview page toolbar allows you to expand allcategories in the overview.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Overview page toolbar allows you to collapseall categories in the overview.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Overview page toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reset the view layout.



The data displayed on this page can be reported to a PDF, HTML or MHT file using the Report Asbutton from the page toolbar. Also you can print the currently displayed overview, with or withoutpreview, by choosing an appropriate option from the Print button drop-down. All categories in theview can be collapsed and expanded simultaneously using the Full Expand and the Full Collapsebuttons from the page toolbar.

Pic 2. The Live Data page on the Details view for a single host

The Live Data page is used to display the live chart for ping response time and host status.The data is displayed only if the host is currently monitored. The chart consists of the ResponseTime and Status parts. The Response Time part shows the current response in time, the lines ofmaximum, minimum and average response for the reported period and the response deviation rangefor the period. The Status part is used to show the monitoring status in time. All responsecharacteristics, except the current response one, can be hidden by disabling an appropriate checkbox in the chart legent.

Toolbar Overview

Report As

The Report As button from the Live Data page toolbar can be used to report thedisplayed data to a PDF, HTML or MHT file.

Print

The Print button from the Live Data page toolbar should be used to print thedisplayed live chart.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Live Data page toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reach the live data display preferences.



The time interval to display the live data for is chosen on the Monitoring Statistics preferencepage. The shortcut for accessing this page is available in the configuration menu of the Live Datapage. The data displayed on this page can be reported to a PDF, HTML or MHT file using the ReportAs button from the page toolbar. Also you can print the currently displayed live chart, with orwithout preview, by choosing an appropriate option from the Print button drop-down.

Pic 3. The Historical Data page on the Details view for a single host

The Historical Data page allows you to review performance and availability characteristicsfor a specific period in the past. The chart consists of three parts, those are: Response Time,Uptime and Uptime Summary. The Response Time part displays the ping performance dynamicsin time. You can review average, minimum and maximum response time as well as the responsedeviation. The Uptime part displays the uptime dynamics and the Uptime Summary represents thecumulative uptime for the entire report period.



Toolbar Overview

Report Range

The Report Range button from the Historical Data page toolbar allows you tochoose the date range to display the historical data for.

Report As

The Report As button from the Historical Data page toolbar can be used toreport the displayed data to a PDF, HTML or MHT file.

Print

The Print button from the Historical Data page toolbar should be used to printthe displayed historical data chart.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Historical Data page toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reach the historical data storing preferences.

The historical data is selected only for the specified date range. In demo purposes, the displayrange for historical data is by default set to the Today value. It can be changed with the rangedrop-down button on the view toolbar. The text on the button shows you the currently appliedrange. You can choose between the predefined ranges or provide a custom one. The level of detailsin the chart will be adjusted automatically for the specified range.

The data displayed on this page can be reported to a PDF, HTML or MHT file using the Report Asbutton from the page toolbar. Also you can print the currently displayed live chart, with or withoutpreview, by choosing an appropriate option from the Print button drop-down.

By default, the program stores all historical data for all hosts ever monitored until their statistics isdeleted. If required, you can prevent the history database from continuous growing by configuringthe historical data automatic removal on the Monitoring Statistics preference page. The shortcutfor accessing this page is available in the configuration menu of the Historical Data page.



When the Overview, Live Data or Historical Data page is active, the the Publishing Tools Ribbonpage category appears. The Publishing page from the Publishing Tools category contains theactions for reporting the displayed content to a file and printing the content.

Pic 4. The Events page on the Details view for a single host

The last page is the Events one. It contains all monitoring and connectivity events for the host andcan be used as a monitoring log. If you are facing some problems during monitoring or would like toknow when the monitoring process was started and stopped, you should refer to this page. Theimportant connectivity events for each host are also available in the Connectivity Events view.

The events are displayed in a form of a table where each row represents a single event. You cansort, group and filter the events by any column as well as change the columns set. You can alwaysroll back to the default view presentation using the Reset Layout item from the view configurationmenu. By default the table consists of the event type represented by an icon, the event title, thecompletion date and the event description itself, with or without a troubleshooting hint. Thedescription and hint for any event is by default wrapped, so that you can easily read it. If you wouldlike to have more events visible at the same time, you can configure the Events page to displayonly one line per event by disabling the Wrap Description option from the Configuration menu,after which a detailed description will only be shown in the event details pane. If required, it ispossible to add the Error Code column to the view using the Column Chooser.

The following icons are used to display the event types:

- the blue icon with the 'i' character means that everything is OK.

- the brown circle icon with a cross-cut line is used to identify that the operation wascanceled by user or due to shutdown of the underlying system.

- the yellow icon with an exclamation mark is the warning icon. It means that the specialattention should be payed to this event.



- the red icon with a white cross is the error sign: it stands for a failure event.

The event details pane is located at the bottom of the Events page by default. It shows thedetailed information pertaining to the event selected in the table so that you can always see thewhole event description and troubleshooting advices, if any. If you are not interested in this paneand do not want it to be displayed at all times, you can hide it by disabling the Show Event DetailsPane option from the Configuration menu.

Toolbar Overview

Events Range

The Events Range button from the Events page toolbar allows you to choosethe date range to display the events for.

Export

The Export button from the Events page toolbar is intended to export thedisplayed events to a CSV file.

Clear

The Clear button from the Events page toolbar should be used to delete all theevents for the host from the program database.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Events page toolbar should be used to expandall the grouping rows in the view.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Events page toolbar should be used tocollapse all the grouping rows in the view.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for theEvents page.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to bedisplayed on the Events page.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to beapplied to the data displayed on the Events page.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Events page toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reach the automatic events removalconfiguration, enable/disable automatic scroll and messages wrapping, and resetthe layout of the view.

The monitoring and connectivity events are selected only for the specified date range. Thisapproach is used to optimize memory usage and performance as there may be lots of events in theentire database. The display range for events is by default set to the Last 7 Days value and can bechanged with the range drop-down button on the view toolbar. The text on the button shows youthe currently applied range. You can choose between the predefined ranges or provide a customone.

To prevent the events database from continuous growing, the events can be deleted eithermanually or automatically. To delete all events for the current host manually, press the Clearbutton on the toolbar or choose the Clear item from the pop-up menu. The automatic eventsdeletion is configured on the Monitoring Events preference page.



If it is really important for you to see the newly arrived events as soon as possible, you can enablethe Autoscroll option in the view configuration menu. In case this option is enabled, the view willautomatically scroll to new events as soon as they arrive.

Using the toolbar or pop-up menu it is also possible to export all or selected events to a CSV file forfuture analysis, sharing with colleagues or sending problem reports to your ISP.

The layout of the Events page, including all the grouping and sorting settings and the details panevisibility, can be easily reset to factory settings by choosing the Reset Layout option from theConfiguration menu.

Multiple Hosts Details

The Details view for multiple hosts consists of two tabs, those are the following: Live Dataand Historical Data.

Pic 1. The Live Data page on the Details view for multiple hosts

The Live Data page is used to display a live chart for a chosen response characteristic. Thecharacteristic is chosen using a selector button on the toolbar. You can choose between theCurrent Response, Average Response, Minimum Response, Maximum Response andResponse Deviation. The live data is displayed only for the hosts that are currently monitored. Thegraph for each host is represented with a specific color, displayed in the chart legend.



Toolbar Overview

Report Kind

The Report Kind button from the Live Data page toolbar allows you tochoose the characteristic to be displayed on the chart.

Report As

The Report As button from the Live Data page toolbar can be used toreport the displayed data to a PDF, HTML or MHT file.

Print

The Print button from the Live Data page toolbar should be used to printthe displayed live chart.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Historical Data page toolbar opens theview configuration menu where you can reach the live data displaypreferences.

The time interval to display the live data for is chosen on the Monitoring Statistics preferencepage. The shortcut for accessing this page is available in the configuration menu of the Live Datapage. The data displayed on this page can be reported to a PDF, HTML or MHT file using the ReportAs button from the page toolbar. Also you can print the currently displayed live chart, with orwithout preview, by choosing an appropriate option from the Print button drop-down.

Pic 2. The Historical Data page on the Details view for multiple hosts

The Historical Data page allows you to review performance and availability characteristicsfor a specific period in the past. The characteristic is chosen using a selector button on the toolbar.You can choose between the Average Response, Minimum Response, Maximum Response,Response Deviation and Uptime. The graph for each host is represented with a specific color,displayed in the chart legend.



Toolbar Overview

Report Range

The Report Range button from the Historical Data page toolbar allows youto choose the date range to display the historical data for.

Report Kind

The Report Kind button from the Historical Data page toolbar allows youto choose the characteristic to be displayed on the chart.

Report As

The Report As button from the Historical Data page toolbar can be usedto report the displayed data to a PDF, HTML or MHT file.

Print

The Print button from the Historical Data page toolbar should be used toprint the displayed historical data chart.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Historical Data page toolbar opens theview configuration menu where you can reach the historical data storingpreferences.

The historical data is selected only for the specified date range. In demo purposes, the displayrange for historical data is by default set to the Today value. It can be changed with the rangedrop-down button on the view toolbar. The text on the button shows you the currently appliedrange. You can choose between the predefined ranges or provide a custom one. The level of detailsin the chart will be adjusted automatically for the specified range.

The data displayed on this page can be reported to a PDF, HTML or MHT file using the Report Asbutton from the page toolbar. Also you can print the currently displayed live chart, with or withoutpreview, by choosing an appropriate option from the Print button drop-down.

By default, the program stores all historical data for all hosts ever monitored until their statistics isdeleted. If required, you can prevent the history database from continuous growing by configuringthe historical data automatic removal on the Monitoring Statistics preference page. The shortcutfor accessing this page is available in the configuration menu of the Historical Data page.

When the Details view for multiple hosts is active, the Monitoring Tools and the Publishing ToolsRibbon page categories appear. On the Monitoring page of the Monitoring Tools category, youcan control the monitoring activity for the hosts linked to the details view and perform host detailsactions. The Publishing page from the Publishing Tools category contains the actions forreporting the displayed content to file and printing the content.



Hosts View

The Hosts view is by default located in the middle of the program main window and hidden underthe Details one. This view displays the connection statuses for all monitored hosts and theirperformance and availability characteristics. It displays all hosts in a flat form and allows to applygrouping, sorting and filtering operations for all available hosts at once. The Hosts view is mainlytargeted on hosts' states review. Thought it is allowed to add new hosts within the view, and tomanage hosts and groups, it is recommended to perform hosts management tasks within the HostsBrowser view. The Hosts view is represented as a table with the hosts' information.

Pic 1. The Hosts view

The view is convenient if you prefer a classical data representation and want to choose theinformation to be displayed using the column choosing feature. Another advantage of this view isthe possibility of highlighting the rows with color indicating the connection status: yellow forunstable and red for lost. The decoration can be disabled using the Highlight Connection Statusitem available both from the context menu and the toolbar of the view.

Please note that not all of the available data columns are displayed in this view bydefault, but you can always choose the columns you really need and remove theunwanted ones by using the column chooser. For example, you can display the On FirstConnection, On First Connection Failure, On Connection Loss and On ConnectionRestore columns to show the number of times each of these custom actions have beeninitiated.



In the Table View the you can choose from the following set of columns.

Column Description Visible by Default

Host properties

Name The combination of host address and label providedduring host configuration.

Yes

Address The host address. No

Label The label provided to the host during configuration. No

Group The hosts group the current host belongs to. Yes

QuickLaunch

The indication that the host is included in the quicklaunch list.

No

IP Address The IP address of the host being monitored, as resolvedduring monitoring.

No

ReverseName

The DNS name of the host being monitored, as resolvedduring monitoring.

No

Host state and status

State The remote host state: either Online, or Offline, orUnknown.

Yes

Status The last connection status to the remote host, asdiagnosed by the program.

Yes

Monitoring process characteristics

MonitoringTime

The time interval during which the monitoring processhas been running (not paused).

Yes

ActivityTime

The time passed since the monitoring was active (eitherrunning or paused).

No

Pause Time The time interval during which the monitoring processhas been paused.

No

Monitoring statistics

Uptime The percentage of time with an alive connection. Yes

Outages The number of outages. Yes

PassedPings

The percentage of successful pings. Yes

PassedPingsCount

The absolute number of pings passed. No

Failed PingsCount

The absolute number of pings failed. No

MinimumResponse

The minimum response time in milliseconds. Yes

AverageResponse

The average response time in milliseconds. Yes

MaximumResponse

The maximum response time in milliseconds. Yes



Column Description Visible by Default

ResponseDeviation

The response deviation in milliseconds. Yes

LatestResponse

The latest response time in milliseconds. No

CurrentOutage

The current outage, if any. No

LongestOutage

The longest outage, if any. No

ShortestOutage

The shortest outage, if any. No

LatestOutage

The latest outage, if any. No

LatestOutageStart Time

The start time of the latest outage, if any. No

UptimeInterval

The time interval during which the host was online. No

DowntimeInterval

The time interval during which the host was offline. No

Custom actions execution statistics

Loss Action The number of times the 'On Connection Loss' customaction was executed.

No

RestoreAction

The number of times the 'On Connection Restore' customaction was executed.

No

FirstConnectionAction

The number of times the 'On First Connection' customaction was executed.

No

FirstConnectionFailureAction

The number of times the 'On First Connection Failure'custom action was executed.

No

You can collapse or expand all the groups using the Full Expand and Full Collapse buttons on theMonitored Hosts area toolbar. The Hosts view can be linked to the Hosts Browser view todisplay only the hosts that are selected in the Hosts Browser view or that are in the groupsselected in the Hosts Browser view. This functionality is enabled using the Link to Hosts Browseritems on the toolbar and in the popup menu.

Toolbar Overview

Manage Activity

The Manage Activity button from the Hosts view toolbar can be used to start,stop and pause the monitoring process for the selected hosts.

Add Host

The Add Host button from the Hosts view toolbar allows you to add a single hostor an IP range to be monitored having provided the required properties.

Generate Report

The Generate Report button from the Hosts view toolbar can be used to generate



a monitoring performance and availability report for the selected hosts, havingspecified the required report type, output options and a period of time.

Delete Statistics

The Delete Statistics button from the Hosts view toolbar is used to delete allmonitoring data for the selected hosts.

Show Details

The Show Details button from the Hosts view toolbar should be used to activatethe Details view and fill it with details for the selected hosts.

Pin Details

The Pin Details button from the Hosts view toolbar allows you to display the detailsfor each of the selected hosts in an individual window.

Unpin Details

The Unpin Details button from the Hosts view toolbar allows you to close allindividual windows with details for the selected hosts.

Quick Launch

The Quick Launch drop-down button from the Hosts view toolbar contains theactions for the selected hosts to be included to and excluded from the quick launchlist.

Edit

The Edit button from the Hosts view toolbar should be used to edit the selectedhost.

Delete

The Delete button from the Hosts view toolbar allows you to permanently deletethe selected hosts.

Highlight Connection Status

The Highlight Connection Status button from the Hosts view toolbar enables anddisables highlighting of the table rows with yellow (for the connection to the host isunstable) and red (for the connection to the host is lost). Applicable only for thetable view.

Link to Hosts Browser

The Link to Hosts Browser button from the Hosts view toolbar allows you toenable the mode of filtering the view based on the selection in the Hosts Browserview.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Hosts view toolbar should be used to expand allgrouping rows in the table view or all information groups in the card views.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Hosts view toolbar should be used to collapse allgrouping rows in the table view or all information groups in the card views.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for thetable within the Hosts view.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayedin the table within the Hosts view.



Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to beapplied to the data displayed in the table within the Hosts view.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Hosts view toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reach the monitoring settings configuration andreset the layout of the view.

The detailed ping statistics displayed in the Hosts view includes information on the pingspercentage, uptime, outages and responses. The responses information shows the maximum andminimum responses time in milliseconds, the average response calculated as an arithmetic mean, andthe response deviation calculated as a standard deviation of the responses.

The host state is shown as an icon in all views. The following states are available:

- the host is online;

- the host is offline;

- the host state is unknown;

- there is no host state (the monitoring is either stopped or paused).

The host state is actually based on the monitoring status calculated by the program. The status isdisplayed in a separate column with icon and text in the table view, and as a general informationfield in card views. The following statuses are used:

- the host that is not being monitored;

- the host that is being monitored if the connection status is indeterminate;

- the host that is being monitored if the connection is either established or restored;

- the host that is being monitored if the connection is unstable (neither outage nor availabilitycondition is reached);

- the host that is being monitored if the connection is either lost or failed to be established;

- the host monitoring process that is paused.

From the Hosts view, you can control the monitoring process activity for specific hosts, generatehistorical data reports for custom periods of time and manage a set of hosts. All these actions areavailable from the view pop-up menu and on the toolbar. The monitoring activity control and hostdetails actions are also available on the Monitoring contextual ribbon page from the MonitoringTools category which is displayed when the Hosts view is active.

The other useful features of this view are an ability to use copy/paste and drag/drop to copy andmove hosts between groups and the ability to import/export hosts and groups. The correspondingactions are available in the pop-up menu, Organize Ribbon group and Clipboard Ribbon group onthe Program page.

Now you are familiar with the Hosts view and should be able to use its benefits during the everydaywork.



Hosts Browser View

The Hosts Browser view is by default located on the left of the main program window anddisplays the hosts and groups of hosts in the hierarchical structure. Although it is possible to reviewthe monitoring data for the hosts in this view, it was primarily designed for performing hostsmanagement.

Pic 1. The Hosts Browser view

The icon next to every item is used to describe of the item's type and state. The following set oficons is used:

- the group of hosts;

- the host that is currently not monitored;

- the host, which state is unknown;

- the host that is online;

- the host that is offline;

- the host the monitoring process is currently paused for.

The hosts browser tree initially displays three columns, those are the object name, the sign if thehost is included into the quick launch list and the IP address of the host, resolved during the currentmonitoring session. Optionally, you can add any of the columns with monitoring data using thecolumn chooser. You can choose between the same columns as within the Hosts view. At any pointyou can revert to the default view layout using the Reset Layout option from the Configurationmenu.

Within the Hosts Browser view, it is also possible to highlight the host nodes with color indicating



the connection status: yellow for unstable and red for lost. The decoration can be turned on and offusing the Highlight Connection Status item available both from the context menu and the toolbarof the view.

Toolbar Overview

Manage Activity

The Manage Activity button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar can be used tostart, stop and pause the monitoring process for the selected hosts.

New

The New button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar allows you to create hosts andgroups of hosts having provided the required properties.

Generate Report

The Generate Report button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar can be used togenerate a monitoring performance and availability report for the selected hosts andgroups of hosts, having specified the required report type, output options and a periodof time.

Delete Statistics

The Delete Statistics button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar is used to deleteall monitoring data for the selected hosts.

Show Details

The Show Details button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar should be used toactivate the Details view and fill it with details for the selected hosts.

Pin Details

The Pin Details button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar allows you to display thedetails for each of the selected hosts in an individual window.

Unpin Details

The Unpin Details button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar allows you to close allindividual windows with details for the selected hosts.

Quick Launch

The Quick Launch drop-down button from the Hosts Browser view contains theactions for the selected hosts to be included to and excluded from the quick launchlist.

Edit

The Edit button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar should be used to edit theselected host or group of hosts.

Delete

The Delete button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar allows you to permanentlydelete the selected hosts and or groups of hosts.

Highlight Connection Status

The Highlight Connection Status button from the Hosts Browser view toolbarenables and disables highlighting of the host nodes with yellow (for the connection tothe host is unstable) and red (for the connection to the host is lost).

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar should be used toexpand all grouping nodes in the view.



Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar should be used tocollapse all grouping nodes in the view.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayed inthe Hosts Browser view.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to beapplied to the data displayed within the Hosts Browser view.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Hosts Browser view toolbar opens the viewconfiguration menu where you can reach the monitoring settings configuration andreset the layout of the view.

From the Hosts Browser view, you can manage a set of hosts and groups of hosts, control themonitoring process activity for specific hosts and generate statistical reports for custom periods oftime. All these actions are available from the view pop-up menu and on the toolbar. The monitoringactivity control and host details actions are also available on the Monitoring contextual ribbon pagefrom the Monitoring Tools category which is displayed when the Hosts Browser view is active.

The other useful features of this view are an ability to use copy/paste and drag/drop to copy andmove hosts between groups and the ability to import/export hosts and groups. The correspondingactions are available in the pop-up menu, Organize Ribbon group and Clipboard Ribbon group onthe Program page.

We do hope you'll find the Hosts Browser view useful during the everyday work.



Reports View

The Reports view is by default located on the left of the program main window. It isdesigned to display and manage preconfigured monitors performance and availability reports to begenerated either on demand or on a regular basis.

Pic 1. The Reports view

The icon next to every item represented in the Reports view is used to describe of the item's typeand state. Below is the list of icons used:

- the detailed report that is enabled for generation;

- the summary report that is enabled for generation;

- the detailed report that is disabled for generation;

- the summary report that is disabled for generation.

As for the problematic situations, the following overlays are used:

- the report is incorrectly configured and won't be generated;

- the report won't be generated, because there no enabled report outputs.

For the detailed information on different report types and states, you can refer the PreconfiguredReports section of this document.

The Reports view initial state displays the report name, recurrence, next automatic generation time(for regular reports) and the sign if the report is enabled. You can customize the Reports view bychoosing other columns to be displayed and filter data to make it feet your needs best – see the



Grouping and Filtering Data topic for details. It is always possible to roll back to the default viewlayout using the Reset Layout item from the view configuration menu.

Toolbar Overview

Generate

The Generate button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to immediatelygenerate the output for the selected enabled reports.

New

The New button from the Reports view toolbar allows you to create a newpreconfigured monitoring performance and availability report having provided therequired properties.

Enable

The Enable button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to turn on an abilityof generating the selected reports both manually and on a regular basis.

Disable

The Disable button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to turn off an abilityof generating the selected reports both manually and on a regular basis.

Open Storage

The Open Storage button from the Reports view toolbar allows you to open the localreports storage for the selected preconfigured report.

Edit

The Edit button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to edit the selectedpreconfigred report.

Delete

The Delete button from the Reports view toolbar is used to permanentrly deleted theselected reports.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to expand allthe grouping rows in the view.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Reports view toolbar should be used to collapse allthe grouping rows in the view.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for theReports view.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayed inthe Reports view.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to beapplied to the data displayed in the Reports view.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Reports view toolbar opens the view configurationmenu where you can reset the layout of the view.



From the Reports view, it is possible to create new preconfigured reports to be generated either ondemand or on a regular basis, control reports enablement, generate, edit and delete reports, etc. Allthese actions are available on the Reports view toolbar and in view popup menu. The Reportingcontextual Ribbon page from the Reporting Tools category is displayed when the Reports view isactive and also contains the actions for reports generation and management.

The Reports view fully supports the drag/drop and copy/paste techniques. Via those techniquesyou can add groups and hosts to the reports members set and duplicate reports. From this view it isalso possible to export preconfigured reports, and import them to the program. The correspondingactions are available in the pop-up menu, Organize Ribbon group and Clipboard Ribbon group onthe Program page.

Connectivity Events View

The Connectivity Events view is by default located at the bottom of the main programwindow. This view is used to display the important connectivity status events for all monitoredhosts. All connections status changes except regular connection establishment when the monitoringis started are treated as important events. Those events grouped by hosts are also available withinthe Events section of the Details view.

Pic 1. The Connectivity Events view

The connectivity events are displayed in a form of a table where each row represents a single eventfor a specific host. You can sort, group and filter the events by any column as well as change thecolumns set. You can always roll back to the default view presentation using the Reset Layout itemfrom the view configuration menu. By default the table consists of the Status column, displaying thestatus change, the Host column, representing the host, the Description column, standing for theevent description, and the Time column for the event trigger time. If the host currently exists in theprogram, its name is represented with the hyperlink. When this hyperlink is clicked, the details forthis host are opened in the Details view.



The description for each event is by default wrapped, so that you can easily read it. If you wouldlike to have more events visible at the same time, you can configure the Connectivity Events viewto display only one line per event by disabling the Wrap Description option from the viewconfiguration menu.

Toolbar Overview

Events Range

The Events Range button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar allows youto choose the date range to display the connectivity events for.

Export

The Export button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar is intended toexport the displayed connectivity events to a CSV file.

Clear

The Clear button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar should be used todelete all the connectivity events from the program database.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar should beused to expand all the grouping rows in the view.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar should beused to collapse all the grouping rows in the view.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for theConnectivity Events view.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to bedisplayed in the Connectivity Events view.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to beapplied to the data displayed in the Connectivity Events view.

Configuration

The Configuration button from the Connectivity Events view toolbar opens theview configuration menu where you can reach the automatic events removalconfiguration, enable/disable automatic scroll and messages wrapping, and resetthe layout of the view.

The connectivity events are selected only for the specified date range. This approach is used tooptimize memory usage and performance as there may be lots of events in the entire database. Thedisplay range for connectivity events is by default set to the Last 7 Days value and can bechanged with the range drop-down button on the view toolbar. The text on the button shows youthe currently applied range. You can choose between the predefined ranges or provide a customone.

To prevent the events database from continuous growing, the events can be deleted eithermanually or automatically. To delete all events manually, press the Clear button on the toolbar orchoose the Clear item from the pop-up menu. The automatic events deletion is configured on theMonitoring Events preference page.

If it is really important for you to see the newly arrived events as soon as possible, you can enablethe Autoscroll option in the view configuration menu. In case this option is enabled, the view will



automatically scroll to new events as soon as they arrive.

Using the toolbar or pop-up menu it is also possible to export all or selected connectivity events toa CSV file for future analysis, sharing with colleagues or sending problem reports to your ISP.

Log View

The log is designed to store information on the events taking place during the program execution.The larger part of this information consists of events generated by the operations. The purpose ofthis chapter is to help you understand the log.

Pic 1. The Log view

The Log view is located by default at the bottom of the Ping Monitor main window and displays the

log in form of a tree and a pane that shows details of a selected event . The description forany logged event is by default wrapped, so that you can easily read it. If you would like to havemore events visible at the same time, you can configure the Log view to display only one line perevent by disabling the Wrap Description option from the Configuration menu, after which adetailed description will only be shown in the event details pane. If you do not need the eventdetails pane and would like to review the events only within the tree, you can hide the event detailspane by disabling the Show Event Details Pane option from the Configuration menu. Also, it ispossible to enable the automatic scrolling feature to always see new log events as soon as theyarrive, using the Autoscroll item from the Configuration menu.

Every event in the log is assigned a severity level represented by a certain icon. The icon allows youto see if any problem has occurred without reading the description. The following icons areavailable:

- the blue icon with an 'i' character means that everything is OK;

- the brown circle icon with a cross-cut line is used to identify that the operation was



canceled by user or due to shutdown of the underlying system;

- the yellow icon with an exclamation mark is the warning sign: it tells you that some errorshave occurred, but they are not critical. In such a case, there is no guarantee that theoperation has actually succeeded;

- the red icon with a white cross is the error sign: it means that the operation execution hasfailed.

Analyzing the log can help you a lot in your everyday work with Ping Monitor, because it contains allthe information on the executed tasks and provides you with troubleshooting recommendations incase any problems are detected.

Toolbar Overview

Export

The Export button should be used to export the log to a CSV file.

Clear

The Clear button should be used to delete all the logged events from the programdatabase.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button from the Log view toolbar should be used to expand all nodes inthe table of logged events.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button from the Log view toolbar should be used to collapse all nodes inthe table of logged events.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayed in thetable of logged events.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to be applied tothe data displayed within the table of logged events.

Configuration

The Configuration button enables you to configure the Log view, manage the visibility ofthe event details pane and reset the view layout.

The options of clearing the log, expanding nodes in the tree of logged events and collapsing themare also available from the pop-up menu of the Log view.

The layout of the Log view, including the visible columns, the column widths, the sorting settings,the descriptions wrapping and the details pane visibility, can be easily reset to the initial defaults bychoosing the Reset Layout option from the view menu.



Access Control View

The Access Control view is by default located at the bottom of the main program window.Its purpose is to define user roles and assign those roles to users and groups thus allowing grantingor denying specific privileges to clients. For detailed information on configuring the privileges, referto the Access Control section of this document.

Pic 1. The Access Control view

The Access Control view is split in two parts, which are Permissions and Roles. Within thePermissions part, you can review and manage the currently effective associations betweenaccounts and roles. The following icons are used within the Permissions group for displaying thetype of the principal:

- the role is assigned to a user;

- the role is assigned to a group.



Toolbar Overview

Assign Permissions

The Assign Permissions button allows you to assign roles to users and groups thusdefining their privileges when they access the Ping Monitor server.

Edit

The Edit button is used to reassign the access role for a selected user or group.

Delete

The Delete button allows you to delete the selected access role assignments.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button should be used to expand all the grouping rows in the table.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button should be used to collapse all the grouping rows in the table.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for the table.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayed in thetable.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to be applied tothe data displayed within the table.

Configuration

The Configuration button provides access to the option of resetting the view layout.

The Roles part is used for reviewing and managing roles. For the Roles part, the following icons areused to define the type of the role:

- a build-in role;

- a user-defined role.



Toolbar Overview

Add Role

The Add Role button is used to create a new Ping Monitor server access role to be assignedto users and groups.

Edit

The Edit button allows you to change the name and/or the set of enabled privileges for theselected user-defined access role.

Delete

The Delete button is used to delete the selected user-defined access roles.

Full Expand

The Full Expand button should be used to expand all the grouping rows in the table.

Full Collapse

The Full Collapse button should be used to collapse all the grouping rows in the table.

Group By Box

The Group By Box button should be used to configure the data grouping for the table.

Choose Columns

The Choose Columns button should be used to choose the columns to be displayed in thetable.

Filter Editor

The Filter Editor button should be used to define the custom filter criteria to be applied tothe data displayed within the table.

Configuration

The Configuration button provides access to the option of resetting the view layout.

You can regroup the layout of this view any way you want it using the Group Layout item fromthe Configuration menu. Both parts of this view fully support all the grouping and filtering features.



Operations View

The Operations view shows the detailed progress of each operation being performed at themoment and allows canceling a particular operation or all running operations. By default, it is locatedat the bottom of the Ping Monitor main window.

Pic 1. The Operations view

Progress information for every operation is shown in the pane with the progress bar, the operationinformation text and the Cancel button. The Cancel button is used to cancel individual runningoperations, whereas if the grouping operation is canceled, all the sub-operations are also canceled.

Cancel All

The Cancel All button from the Operations view toolbar can be used to cancel allthe operations running in the application.

You can cancel all the running operations by clicking the Cancel All button on the toolbar of theOperations view.

Graphical User Interface features

EMCO Software provides you with a modern and intuitive graphical user interface, because weappreciate the users of our products and would like them to feel glad that they have EMCOprograms installed on their PCs. Lots of resources were involved in creating this kind of an interfacefor you, and now we are proud we have done it. Custom DPI settings are fully supported, so thatyou can use EMCO programs on any display with any resolution you like. The 'Microsoft UserInterface Guidelines on Layout, Icons and Sizing' have been a powerful base for this work, and weare glad to tell you that they are fully complied with and supported. With the help of the skinningsupport and the Ribbon UI interface, every customer can configure the program UI to feel

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn742486.aspx











comfortable during each working day. EMCO also provides you with the High Contrast skin alongwith the bonus skins pack, which is an accessibility feature designed for people with visionimpairment. The High Contrast color scheme can increase legibility for some users by heightening thescreen contrast with alternative color combinations.

This chapter gives you a detailed description of how to fully enjoy the graphical user interfacefeatures, the skinning mechanism and the Ribbon bar features.

Skinning

Ping Monitor provides you with a wide range of custom skins with unique look and feel, so that youcan choose any skin you like most. If you are a fan of the Microsoft Office interface, you have noreason to complain either, since Ping Monitor also gives you an option of choosing this type of skin.There are not only formal skins but also some informal ones.

All the skins can be divided into four groups: Office Skins, Custom Design Skins, Bonus Skins andSkins for Fun. The following skins are available:

Office Skins: "Office 2016", "Office 2016 Dark", "Office 2013", "Office 2013 Silver","Office 2013 Black", "Office 2010 Blue", "Office 2010 Silver", "Office 2010Black", "Office 2007 Blue", "Office 2007 Silver", "Office 2007 Black","Office 2007 Green", "Office 2007 Pink".

Custom Design Skins: "Modern Style", "Dark Style", "Blue Vision", "Blue Vision 2013", "LightVision 2013", "Dark Vision 2013", "High Contrast", "Metropolis", "MetropolisDark", "Seven", "Seven Classic", "McSkin", "Blue", "Black".

Bonus Skins: "Lilian", "iMaginary", "Caramel", "Money Twins", "Sharp", "Sharp Plus","Foggy", "Darkroom", "Dark Side", "Liquid Sky", "London Liquid Sky", "TheAsphalt World", "Glass Oceans", "Stardust", "Coffee", "Blueprint","Whiteprint".

Skins for Fun: "Christmas", "Valentine", "Summer", "Springtime".



Let us take a brief look at some of the skins:

Office 2010 Skin look and feel example



Custom Design Skin look and feel example



Skins for Fun look and feel example



High Contrast Skin look and feel

Ribbon

Ribbon is a tool that presents commands organized into a set of tabs. The tabs on the Ribbon

represent commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in the program . Forexample, in Office Word the tabs group commands by activities such as inserting objects likepictures and tables, doing page layout, working with preferences, doing mailings, and reviewing. TheHome tab provides an easy access to the most frequently used commands. Office Excel has a similarset of tabs that make sense for spreadsheet work including tabs for working with formulas, managingdata, and reviewing. Those tabs simplify access to the program features, because they organize thecommands in a way that reflects the tasks people perform in those programs.

Pic 1. The Ribbon bar

We are delighted to let you know that we fully conform with Microsoft® Ribbons Guidelines andwould like to introduce some Ribbon features to you. To learn more about Ribbon, the story of itsdevelopment and its usability features, you may visit 'The Story of the Ribbon' article from the MSDNblogs.




http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx







Application Menu

The Application Menu invoked using the Application button is somewhat similar to the Filemenu in most programs that use a classic user interface, but it gives you more.

Pic 2. Application Menu

It contains links to the most helpful actions located under different tabs but made available from oneaccess point.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is an end-user customizable bar located near the ApplicationMenu or below the Ribbon bar depending on the configuration. It can contain links to both Ribbonitems and Ribbon groups.

Pic 3. Quick Access Toolbar

To add an action link to the quick access toolbar, right click this action and select Add to QuickAccess Toolbar from the pop-up menu. The groups can be added in the same way, the onlydifference being that to add a group you should right click its caption.

Representation and Navigation Features

The representation of the Ribbon bar can also be configured to make your work more comfortable.You can minimize Ribbon so that the tab's content is only shown when the tab is clicked on, thusextending the program workspace. Also, if it is not convenient for you to have the Quick AccessToolbar next to the Application Menu, you may place it below the Ribbon bar, so that it will lookjust like a simple toolbar. This configuration can be accessed from the pop-up menu of the Ribbon

bar .

Pic 4. The Ribbon customization menu

Navigation between the Ribbon tabs can be performed not only with a mouse click on a tab but alsowith the help of the mouse wheel. Just place the cursor over any tab and scroll the wheel – scrollingup will switch the tabs from right to left, and scrolling down will switch the tabs in the opposite



direction.

UI Elements' main features

The graphics shell used for Ping Monitor is aimed at providing a high level of usability to everyone.This topic covers main features of the graphical elements used in this program, and here you canfind what puts EMCO GUI a step ahead of the others.

Docking

The Ping Monitor user interface is built using the ultimate docking technology which provides for themaximum use of the program working area. It allows docking the windows that are used less oftenthan the main one to the sides, auto hide them or even close and then open again when required.The dock panels can be docked both to the main window and to each other, thus enabling you tobuild such a subsidiary window layout that makes you feel comfortable while working with Ping

Monitor .

Pic 1. Docking preview

To change the position of any dock window, you should click its header and move the mouse pointerwhile holding the left mouse button down. Hint windows are shown to help you understand whereyou can drop the window dragged. When you are dragging it over another dock window, it ispossible to dock both windows to each other or display them in different tabs of the same dockwindow.

To enable the auto hide feature for a window attached to any side of a main window, click the pinbutton in the dock window header. Clicking the cross button results in closing of the dock window.Each view can also be closed and opened again using the checkboxes in the Show Ribbon groupaccessible from the View page.

Grouping and Filtering Data

The Ping Monitor user interface is designed so as to make its usage as flexible as possible. Thetables available in every EMCO program provide you with an easy-to-use data filtration and groupingmechanism. To group data by one of the columns, you should drag its header to the grouping box

displayed over the table or choose an appropriate item from the column header pop-up menu .

Pic 2. The grouping box of a table grouped by two columns

To group or ungroup data by any column when Group By Box is not visible, you can have itdisplayed by selecting the Show Group By Box item from the pop-up menu of any column header.



Data filtration can be performed in two ways: by using the quick filter or the filter editor. To use thequick filter feature, just click on the glyph in the right top corner of any column header. A drop-down list appears offering you to choose one of the predefined filters or select the custom one from

the filtering dialog .

Pic 3. Accessing the quick filter abilities

The Filter Editor shipped with Ping Monitor is easy to use and allows you to build your own complex

filters quickly and easily . To open the filter editor, choose the Filter Editor item from thecolumn's pop-up menu.

Pic 4. Using the filter editor

You can enable and disable the currently applied filter condition using the checkbox displayed next

to the filter condition in the bottom of the view, inside the filter info pane .

Pic 5. The filter info pane

To reset the currently applied filter use the button from the filter info pane, and to customize ituse the Edit Filter button from this pane.



Managing Columns in Trees and Tables

You can customize almost every table and tree in EMCO programs by moving and removing columnsto make the control most informative for you. To move a column, drag it over the control's header

and drop between other columns to its new position .

Pic 6. Moving a column

To remove a column that is of no use for you, right click the control's header and select theRemove This Column item from the pop-up menu. Also, you can control columns availability using

the column chooser .

Pic 7. Using the column chooser

To show the column chooser, right click the control's header and select the Column Chooser menuitem. After that, you can drag and drop columns from the header to the column chooser andbackwards.

Automatic Saving and Restoring of Windows Layout

One of the service functions of Ping Monitor user interface is its ability to save and restore thewindows layout. All the changeable parameters like the windows sizes and positions; the tablecolumns order, sizes and positions; the grouping and filtering options; the dock windowsconfiguration, etc. are saved between sessions. Thus, you do not need to configure the program'suser interface layout every time you start this program.

Hosts ManagementEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 4: Hosts Management

Ping Monitor is a tool for monitoring the hosts connectivity. So the primary object in the program isthe one that represents the remote host in the program, it is also called a host. All hosts can begrouped via host groups. A group, for instance, allows you to add a single unit as a report member,adding a group reference, and change a set of hosts included into the report by simply changing aset of group members. Also the group allows you to define custom settings to be applied for allhosts in it during the monitoring, unless the settings are overridden on a host itself. See theOverriding Common Settings section of this document for details.

The host is used as a master object for all data gathered by the program. It means that thegathered data is connected to a host, that allows to maintain the host monitoring statistics andcreate statistical reports for specific date intervals. The most part of the monitoring data for thehost is stored until deleted by the user or until the host is deleted. The historical data can also bedeleted automatically when treated as outdated – this option is available for configuration in theprogram preferences.

All the hosts are displayed in the Hosts and the Hosts Browser views. The first one is primarilydesigned for reviewing the hosts states and monitoring data, and the second one – for performinghosts management, although you can use them on your wish. The main difference of the views isthat the Hosts Browser one is hierarchical and display the hosts with the groups they are locatedin, so it should be easier to review the grouping and perform regroup operations.

In this chapter we will take a closer look on the process of defining the hosts and groups of hosts,configuring them for monitoring, changing hosts configuration, deleting hosts or groups and at theprocess of hosts import and export.

Defining Hosts and Groups

The hosts are displayed in the Hosts view (in the flat from) and the Hosts Browser view (in thehierarchical form). The Hosts Browser view shows the groups the hosts belong to as separateobjects, and the Hosts view as a simple column, thus the groups editing and hosts regrouping areavailable only in the Hosts Browser view. The Host Browser view is also capable of displayingempty groups. So, if you need to manage just hosts, you can use both views, but for managinggroups it is convenient to use the Hosts Browser one.

In this chapter we will describe how to create hosts and groups, configure them for monitoring anddelete them when they are no longer needed.

Host

The Host button from the New Ribbon group on the Home page should be used to add anew host or a range of hosts to be monitored.



To create a new host or a group of hosts from an IP range you should press the Host button fromthe New group on the Home Ribbon page. Alternatively you can either use the Add Host buttonfrom the Hosts view toolbar and a corresponding pop-up menu item or the New > Host routine fromthe Hosts Browser view toolbar and pop-up menu. In any case the dialog will appear on the screen

to help you with the creation process .

Pic 1. Adding a host or a range of hosts

In the Add Host dialog, you should first choose if you would like to add a single host or a range ofhosts by specifying their IP addresses. If you would like to add a single host, leave the Add SingleHost radio button chosen, enter the host address into the Address field and indicate if this hostuses a dynamic IP address. In case of adding a range of hosts, you should provide the start and endIP addresses for the range. To perform the name resolution from IP addresses to host names whenadding a range of hosts, you should check the Resolve address to host name option. If the hostnames resolution is enabled, you can specify if the hosts whose names cannot be resolved should beadded to the monitoring data or not by using the Do not add if not resolved option.

The Label and Description fields can be used for easier host identification, and the Group fieldallows you to select the group this host belongs to. Also, you can provide additional configurationsettings using appropriate tabs of the Add Host dialog.

When you are done with providing the required information, press Add for the host or the hosts tobe created. The created hosts will be automatically included into the quick launch list.

Group

The Group button from the New Ribbon group on the Home page allows you to create anew hosts group.



To create a new group of hosts, you should use the Group button from the New Ribbon group onthe Home page. Alternatively you can use the Group item from the New button pop-up on theHosts Browser view toolbar and the appropriate item in the view pop-up menu. The Add Group

dialog will appear on the screen to configure the group being created .

Pic 2. Creating a group of hosts

When creating a group you are proposed to define the group name and description as well as theset of hosts and groups to be included into a group being created. The name and description areused to make it easier for you to identify the group being created in the future. To add a host or agroup to the group being created use the Add button from the members tree toolbar or choose anappropriate item from the pop-up menu. The dialog will be displayed to let you choose the hosts andgroups to be added. Those items that are already in the group being created are filtered from thoseavailable. The Delete button and menu item are used to remove the selected hosts and groups fromthe group being created. As soon as the group is configured, press Add to create it.

To edit any host or group, select it and either choose the Edit button from the Organize Ribbongroup on the Program page or use the Edit items from the view toolbar and pop-up menu. Theediting process is similar to the creation. When some hosts or groups are no longer needed you candelete them using either the Delete button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program pageor use the Delete items from the view toolbar and pop-up menu. When you are deleting hosts andgroups they are also deleted from all groups and reports they are currently included into.

Within the Hosts Browser view it is also possible to copy and move hosts and groups betweenother groups as well as create their duplicates. This can be done either via the drag and droptechnique, or via the copy/paste one. The Cut, Copy, and Paste items from the Clipboard Ribbongroup on the Program page can be used, as well as the appropriate items from the pop-up menu.Within the Hosts view you can also use this approach to duplicate hosts. It is also possible to copyhosts and groups between different editions of the program and use the export feature. For thedetails on import and export, refer to the Importing and Exporting Hosts section of this document.



Overriding Common Settings

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise comes with a wide range of monitoring and notification options thoseare defined in the program preferences. The options defined in preferences are initially used for allmonitored hosts, but you can override specific groups of options for particular hosts or groups ofhosts.

When an options value for a host is calculated, first it checks if it is overridden on a host itself andon any of the parent groups. In case it is overridden on any level, than the overridden value is used,otherwise the value from program preferences is taken into account.

The overriding features are available during the hosts and groups addition and modification. Theoptions are gathered on the corresponding navigator pages of the configuration dialog, those are:Monitoring, Gateway Options, Intervals, Automation, Notifications, E-mail Recipients andSounds.

For example, to override the ping options, you should check the Override ping optionsconfiguration box on the Monitoring page, and then perform the required changes. Changing thecommon configuration, either from preferences or from the parent group, can be reached via theChange common configuration link. To reset the settings to common, you can use the Reset tocommon link. As you can see, the approach is easy and can be used to reach maximum flexibility ofthe monitoring process configuration.

Importing and Exporting Hosts

With Ping Monitor, you can easily import and export hosts information any time you want. You canexport one or all of the available hosts and groups to use the exported data as a back-up, to sharethe hosts with your colleagues or simply to import them to another instance of the program. Theimport feature can be used to import hosts information both from the files created during export andthose created manually. For example, you can create a CSV file manually to add multiple hosts byadding their data in Microsoft Office Excel. To get detailed information on the file formats used forimport and export, review the Export/Import Formats section. This chapter covers the process ofimporting and exporting host information.

Import

The Import button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page should beused to import hosts information from an XML or CSV file with the help of the wizard.

The hosts information can be imported into Ping Monitor from XML and CSV files. The XML filestructure is quite complex, so it is not recommended to create it manually, but it is recommended touse it for export. The CSV file should consist of 5 columns: the host address, the label, theindication if the host uses a dynamic IP, the group and the description - each column should beseparated with the field delimiter. The CSV file can be created manually to be able to add multiplehosts to Ping Monitor easily.



If you want to import the hosts information into Ping Monitor, press the Import button fromOrganize Ribbon group on the Program page. The Import Hosts Wizard will appear on the

screen .

Pic 1. The Import Hosts Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Import Hosts Wizard is the welcome page, which is used to introduce you tothe feature the wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information, pressNext to continue with import.

On the next page of the Import Hosts Wizard, you are offered to choose the file you are going to

import hosts information from. The file path should be provided in the Import From field .The format of the provided file is detected automatically. The encoding of the XML file with hostsinformation is also detected automatically. For the CSV format, the preview page is displayed, whereyou can tune the parse options, being able to preview the parsing results.

Pic 2. Choosing the import source file



The next page offers you to choose the hosts to import. By default, all the valid hosts that does not

duplicate already existing addresses are selected .

Pic 3. Choosing the hosts to import

When the hosts to import have been chosen, press Finish. When the import is done, the hosts areadded the program thus can be monitored.

Export

The Export button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page should beused to export hosts and/or groups of hosts from the program to an XML or CSV file thatcan be used in the future for import.



The hosts' information can be exported to the XML or CSV file format. The overridden settings aresaved only into an XML format file. The hosts export can be performed either from the HostsBrowser or from the Hosts view. You can choose between exporting all objects and those that arecurrently selected. To perform export, use an appropriate option from the drop-down of the Exportbutton from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page. The Export Hosts Wizard will

appear on the screen .

Pic 4. The Export Hosts Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Export Hosts Wizard is the welcome page, which is used to introduce you tothe feature the wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information, pressNext to continue with export.



On the next page you are offered to choose the file you are going to save the hosts information to,

the file format and the format options. The file path should be provided in the Export To field . For the XML format, you can choose the encoding to be used for saving the host information, andfor the CSV file, the field delimiter and the text qualifier should be specified together with theencoding. When exporting to the CSV file format, you can also define if you would like the columnheaders to be preserved in the resulting file, which can make it easier for you to identify eachcolumn – this feature can be enabled using the Include column header option.

Pic 5. Configuring export options

When the file path and the export form are chosen, press Finish to proceed with export. The filecontaining the hosts' information will be created in the location according to the path specified. Thefile created during export can be used in the future to import the hosts' information back to theprogram.

Now you are fully introduced to the export and import capabilities of Ping Monitor and can use themin future to solve your tasks.

Export/Import Formats

This section describes the file formats used by Ping Monitor during hosts import and export. Theavailable formats are CSV and XML. The CSV format file consists of five columns, namely:

Index Header Description Mandatory

1 Address The host name or IP address. Yes

2 Label The label used for the host. No

3 DynamicIP

The indication that the host uses a dynamic IP address. 'yes' shouldbe used if the IP address is dynamic, otherwise use 'no'.

No

4 Group The group the host belongs to. No

5 Description

The description used for the host. No



Sampe CSV file

"Address","Label","DynamicIP","Group","Description"

"emcosoftware.com",,"yes","",

"cnn.com",,"yes","News Providers",

"google.co.uk","Google UK","yes","Search Engines",

"isport.com",,"yes","News Providers",

"yahoo.com",,"yes","Search Engines",

"livejournal.com",,"yes","News Providers",

The host and groups in the XML file are hierarchically structured. Each item is represented with theEntry node, which has its Type attribute set either to Group or to Host. The other attributes arethe following.

Attribute Description Mandatory

The following attributes are used for the Host entry type.

Address The host name or IP address. Yes

Label The label used for the host. No

DynamicIP The indication that the host uses a dynamic IP address. 'True'should be used if the IP address is dynamic, otherwise use 'False'.

No

The following attributes are used for the Group entry type.

Name The name of the hosts group. Yes

The following attributes are used for both the Host and the Group entry types.

GUID The unique item identifier in the database. Yes

Description The description used for the item. No

Settings Overridden monitoring process settings applied to this item in theXML format.

No



Sampe XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Data Version="3" Format="Hosts">

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="3cb12a0a-ca50-4f9d-988b-ea5dec476bc2"Address="emcosoftware.com" DynamicIP="yes" />

<Entry Type="Group" GUID="e884f424-68b0-48c6-8f9c-750ddbf6d046" Name="News Providers" >

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="eec15a4f-674e-4a67-bb1f-eaa2db2d8cfc" Address="cnn.com"DynamicIP="yes" />

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="1099adcd-d7cf-49bb-98b0-4f41a474c719" Address="isport.com"DynamicIP="yes" />

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="1afdd862-1982-4f6a-afa0-21e4c8138774" Address="livejournal.com"DynamicIP="yes" />

</Entry>

<Entry Type="Group" GUID="2a93587f-f31f-43dd-96e1-0afd6f9f2c00" Name="Search Engines">

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="330add9e-0445-4e8a-90ac-c0d4b5328eb3" Address="google.co.uk"Label="Google UK" DynamicIP="yes" />

<Entry Type="Host" GUID="d5f73184-90fe-4b84-9d26-fa70e6b1b68e" Address="yahoo.com"DynamicIP="yes" />

</Entry>

</Data>

Now you are introduced to the formats used for storing the hosts information and can prepare thefiles to be used for export manually or edit the data exported earlier to be used for future imports.

Monitoring ConnectivityEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 5: Monitoring Connectivity

The main goal of Ping Monitor is to provide you with easy-to-use connection monitoring features.After you have added and configured the hosts to monitor, you are ready to start the monitoringprocess. As soon as the process is started, the program checks for the monitoring status changesusing the options defined on the Monitoring Settings preference page. During this process themonitoring data is gathered by the program, to allow you review the overall monitoring statistics foreach host and build performance and availability reports for required periods of time. The mentionedreports are covered in details in the Reporting section of this document.

The monitoring process for each host can either be inactive, running or paused. Those states canbe either controlled manually or by the program regarding the automation and monitoring intervalsoptions defined in the program preferences and per host. While the monitoring process is paused,the ping packets are not sent to the remote hosts and the ping statistics stays the same until themonitoring process is resumed.

The host can be in one of three states, those are: Online, Offline and Unknown. These states arebased on a monitoring status. If the monitoring status is Connection Established or ConnectionRestored, than the host is treated as online; if the monitoring status is Connection NotEstablished or Connection Lost, than the host is treated as offline; for other statuses the state isunknown.

Ping Monitor can notify you when the host goes online or offline via e-mail, balloon or sounds. Theseways of notifications are enabled on the Notifications preference page. You can choose whichnotification is enabled for each trigger. Also any kind of actions can be performed on these triggerswith an ability to specify the delay for each action.

The main characteristic of the monitored host is its uptime – the percentage of the monitoring timethe host was online. The time period when the host is offline is called an outage. Each outage isdetected regarding the condition defined in the monitoring settings. This and other information onthe host availability and performance is available in the data gathered during the monitoring process.

In this chapter we will go throw all the aspects of monitoring activity management and describe thedata gathered during hosts monitoring in details.

Controlling Activity

Ping Monitor is used to check if the remote host is online and notify the user on connection statuschanges. The connection status checks are performed only when the monitoring process is running.The monitoring process can be initiated either automatically on the server startup, if this is enabledon the Automation preference page, or manually. Then the process can be either paused orstopped both automatically and manually. This chapter will show you how to control the monitoringprocess activity.

Start

The Start button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Home page should beused to start monitoring for all hosts included into the quick launch list.

Start

The Start button from the Activity Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual pagefrom the Monitoring Tools category allows you to start monitoring for the currentlyselected hosts.



The monitoring process for host included to a quick launch list can be automatically started on eachprogram start up, if enabled in the preferences. If the monitoring is currently inactive for all hosts,you can start it for those included in quick launch using the Start button from the Quick LaunchRibbon group on the Home page. To start a monitoring for specific hosts, you can select thosehosts in the Hosts or the Hosts Browser view and press the Start button from the ActivityRibbon group on the Monitoring contextual page from the Monitoring Tools category. The samecategory is available when the Details view is currently active. Optionally you can use the StartMonitoring item from the pop-up menu or the Start item from the Manage Activity button drop-down on the toolbar.

Stop

The Stop button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Home page should be usedto stop the monitoring process for all hosts being currently monitored.

Stop

The Stop button from the Activity Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page fromthe Monitoring Tools category allows you to stop monitoring for the currently selectedhosts.

With Ping Monitor, it is possible to stop the monitoring process for all the hosts being currentlymonitored at once or for individual hosts. To stop the monitoring process for all the hosts, press theStop button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group. If you want to stop monitoring of an individualhost, select it in the Hosts or the Hosts Browser view and press the Stop button from theActivity Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page from the Monitoring Tools category.Alternatively you can use the Stop Monitoring item from the pop-up menu or the Stop item fromthe Manage Activity button drop-down on the toolbar.

Pause

The Pause button from the Activity Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual pagefrom the Monitoring Tools category allows you to pause monitoring for the currentlyselected hosts.

With Ping Monitor, it is possible to pause the monitoring process any time you want. While themonitoring process is paused, the ping packets are not sent to the remote hosts and the pingstatistics stays the same until the monitoring process is resumed. To pause monitoring manually,select the required host and press the Pause button from the Activity Ribbon group on theMonitoring contextual page from the Monitoring Tools category. Alternatively you can use thePause Monitoring item from the pop-up menu or the Pause item from the Manage Activity buttondrop-down on the toolbar. It can also be paused automatically upon a certain predefined conditionfor a specified interval using the automation features of Ping Monitor. If the monitoring is paused,you can restart its operation using the Start Monitoring menu item, or stop it completely using theStop Monitoring menu item.



Quick Launch List

Ping Monitor is a program used to monitor connectivity to remote hosts, so the monitoring activitymanagement is one of the main functionality parts. To make it more comfortable to start bulkmonitoring we have introduced the quick launch list. For the hosts added to this list, the monitoringis started when you press the Start button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Homepage. The automatic start of monitoring on the server startup, that can be enabled on theAutomation preference page, is also using this list to get the set of hosts to start monitoring for.

Include

The Include button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Home page should beused to add the selected hosts to the quick launch list.

Exclude

The Exclude button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Home page should beused to remove the selected hosts to the quick launch list.

When a host is created it is automatically added to the quick launch list. You can then use theInclude and Exclude button from the Quick Launch Ribbon group on the Home page to includehosts to and exclude hosts from this list. These items are also available in the Hosts Browser andthe Hosts view toolbars and pop-up menus. To check if the host is currently included to the quicklaunch, just review if the Quick Launch column of either the Hosts Browser or the Hosts view hasthe value check box checked.

Monitoring Data

Ping Monitor gathers and stores per host performance and availability data while monitoring remotehosts connectivity. This data consists of the live data, historical data and overall data. The livedata is cleared as soon as the monitoring process is stopped. The historical and overall data ispersisted to the program database. Let's take a detailed look on each layer of the monitoring data.

The live data is only available on the Live Data page of the Details view both for a single hostselection and a multiple hosts selection. The time interval for displaying a live data is specified onthe Monitoring Statistics preference page. For a single host, you can review the dynamics of thecurrent response within the interval and compare it to the constant lines of minimum, maximum andaverage response and the response deviation range. The connection status changes in time are alsoavailable for a single host. For the multiple hosts, you can compare any of the performancecharacteristic described above for different hosts.

The historical data is stored hourly since the first time the monitoring was started. For each hour, allrequired characteristics are available: the monitoring time, the pause time, the uptime interval, thedowntime interval and all responses characteristics. This approach allows Ping Monitor to provideyou with monitoring data for specific periods of time in the past with the maximum precision of onehour. This data is used by the statistical reports and by the Historical Data page of the Detailsview. By default, the program stores all historical data for all hosts ever monitored until theirstatistics is deleted. If required, you can prevent the history database from continuous growing byconfiguring the historical data automatic removal on the Monitoring Statistics preference page.

The overall data speaks for itself. It contains the cumulative statistics for all the monitoring activitytime. This data is displayed in the Hosts and Hosts Browser views. Also you can find it on theOverview page of the Details view of a single host.

Delete Statistics

The Delete Statistics button from the Statistics Ribbon group on the Monitoringcontextual page from the Monitoring Tools category should be used to delete allmonitoring data for the selected hosts.

In case you want to begin the host monitoring from scratch, you do not need to delete the host and



then create a new one. Ping Monitor provides you with an option of deleting the monitoring data forany host even without stopping the monitoring process.

Please note, that both live data, historical data and overall data will be permanentlydeleted when deleting monitoring statistics, so it won't be possible to generate historicaldata reports and review historical charts for previous monitoring sessions.

To delete all monitoring data for a host, select it and press the Delete Statistics button from theStatistics Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page from the Monitoring Tools category.Alternatively you can use the Delete Statistics button on the toolbar and the corresponding itemfrom the pop-up menu.

ReportingEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 6: Reporting

Ping Monitor comes with a built in feature of generating statistical reports based on the historicaldata gathered while monitoring remote hosts connectivity. The generated reports can be sent toyou via e-mail and stored either locally or on an FTP server. You can generate a generic report forany period of time any time you want. Also it is possible to save preconfigured reports to begenerated either on demand or automatically on a regular basis.

There are two different types of reports, those are the Summary and the Detailed ones. Thesummary reports provide you with a brief information on monitors availability and performance in aform of a table, where each row represents a single host from the report members. The detailedreport contains a wider range of data and consists of multiple sections, where each section standsfor a single host. Within a section, you can find the monitoring activity, response time andavailability characteristics. The cumulative characteristics are amplified with the graphicalrepresentation of the characteristics dynamic in time for the report period. The presentation and theactual set of displayed characteristics depends on the report output settings.

In the following chapters we will provide you with the detailed description of the reportsconfiguration process.

Generic Reports

Ping Monitor allows you to generate reports based on historical data for any set of hosts and for anyperiod from the past. The generated report can be either sent via e-mail or saved to the reportsstorage. Let us take a look at generating reports from a scratch.

Generate Report

The Generate Report button from the Reporting Ribbon group on the Home pageshould be used to generate a performance and availability report for any period of time.



To generate a new report at the current moment, you should use the Generate Report button fromthe Reporting Ribbon group on the Home page. The wizard will be displayed on the screen to guide

you through the steps of the report generation process .

Pic 1. Choosing a report type



On the first page of the wizard you are proposed to choose the type of the report to be generated.The Summary reports provide you with a brief information in a form of a table, where each rowrepresents a single host, and the Detailed report contains a wider range of data and consists ofmultiple sections, where each section stands for a single host. When the report type is chosen,press Next.

Pic 2. Specifying the report properties

On the next page of the wizard , you are proposed to specify the report properties. Those arethe report name and the period to generate the report for. You can choose between the predefinedperiods available in the Range drop-down, or choose the Custom Range value and specify therequired period. When the detailed report is generated, the level of details will be adjusted to thereport period automatically. Next to the report range, you can specify the time zone used forgenerating the report. The selected time zone affects the selection of the report period and all thetimes within the report content. You can either use the local time zone of the monitoring server,which is the default behavior, or choose a specific time zone.

On the next pages, you are proposed to choose a list of report members and define report outputoptions. In case the Hosts view or the Hosts Browser view was active while initiating a genericreport generation, the selected hosts and groups are automatically added to the report members.For the detailed information on report members configuration, refer to the Report Members section ofthis document. As for the reports output, you can save it to the file or send via e-mail. The outputsconfiguration is described in the Report Outputs section.

After you have configured the report options, press Finish for the report to be generated. As youcan see, creating a generic monitoring data report is a fast and easy process, and you should beable to use it in the everyday work without any difficulties.



Preconfigured Reports

Along generating the monitoring performance and availability reports from scratch, Ping Monitorallows you to save preconfigured reports to be generated either on a regular basis or on demand.The preconfigured reports are saved in the program database and displayed in the Reports view.Let us take a closer look on those reports.

Summary Report

The Summary Report button from the New Ribbon group on the regular Home andcontextual Reporting page from the Reporting Tools category should be used tocreate a new preconfigured report with the brief information on monitors performanceand availability.

Detailed Report

The Detailed Report button from the New Ribbon group on the regular Home andcontextual Reporting page from the Reporting Tools category should be used tocreate a new preconfigured report with the detailed information on monitorsperformance and availability.

The same way as for creating generic reports, you can choose between summary and detailedreport. To create a preconfigured summary report, use the Summary Report button from the NewRibbon group on the regular Home and contextual Reporting page from the Reporting Toolscategory. For the detailed reports creation, the Detailed Report button should be used. Thecorresponding items are also available under the New drop-down button of the Reports viewtoolbar and the corresponding item in the pop-up menu. In any case a dialog will be opened to help

you configure the report object .

Pic 1. Creating a detailed report



The report configuration pane consists of three navigation pages, those are: General, Membersand Outputs. On the general page, you are supposed to provide a common information about thereport object to be created. The name for the report to be created should be provided to the Namefield. Optionally, you can provide a description for the easier report object identification to theDescription field.

For the preconfigured reports, one of the main properties is the recurrence type. It defines if thereport is generated on demand or on a regular basis. In case the report should be generated on aregular bases, you can choose between daily, weekly and monthly reports.

The daily report, when being generated, includes the monitoring data for the day prior the thegeneration date. The daily reports are generated every day at the specified time.

The weekly report contains the information for the previous seven days when generated. Forexample, if the report is generated on the Autust the 28th, the report period will be from the Augustthe 21st to the August the 27th, inclusive. The weekly reports are generated on a specified weekdays at the specified time.

And the monthly report is generated on a basis of the monitoring data for the previous month. Forexample, if the report is generated on the May the 5th, the report period will be from the April the5th to the May the 4th, inclusive. The monthly reports are generated on a certain week day of themonth at the specified time.

You can also specify the time zone used for the predefined report being configured. The selectedtime zone affects the report generation time, when recurrent, the report period and all the timeswithin the report content. You can either use the local time zone of the monitoring server, which isthe default behavior, or choose a specific time zone. When configuring recurrent reports, in case thetime zone differs from the client's one, the next report time preview will show both the time in theselected time zone and the local time.

The other pages are used to define the report members and outputs. For the information on definingmembers, you can refer the Report Members section of the document, and the guidance on reportoutputs configuration is available in the Report Outputs section.

Generate

The Generate button from the Reports Ribbon group on the Reporting contextualpage from the Reporting Tools category should be used to manually generate theselected preconfigured report.

For the report to be generated on a regular basis, the program should be up and running at the dateand time the report is going to be generated. You can also generate such report manually at anytime, the behavior will be the same as it is generated automatically at the same time.

If you have chosen to generate the report on demand, the program will ask you to provide thereport period when you are requesting the report generation. The level of details in the detailedreport will then be automatically adjusted to the report period.

To generate the report on a basis of predefined configuration, you should select it in the Reportsview and press the Generate button from the Reports group on the Reporting contextual Ribbonpage from the Reporting Tools category. Alternatively, you can use the corresponding items onthe Reports view toolbar and in the pop-up menu.

Enable

The Enable button from the Reports Ribbon group on the Reporting contextual pagefrom the Reporting Tools category allows you to turn on an ability of generating theselected reports.

Disable

The Disable button from the Reports Ribbon group on the Reporting contextual pagefrom the Reporting Tools category allows you to turn off an ability of generating theselected reports.



In case for some reason you do not want the preconfigured report to be generated automatically orwould like to prevent on demand reports from being mistakenly generated, you can disable thosereports generation. To disable an ability of reports generation, select those reports in the Reportsview and choose either the Disable button from the Reports Ribbon group on the Reportingcontextual page from the Reporting Tools category, or the Disable button on the view toolbar, orthe Disable item from the pop-up menu. As soon as the report is disabled, it won't be possible togenerate it until it is enabled again. To enable the report, use the Enable buttons and menu item.

To edit any report, select it and either choose the Edit button from the Organize Ribbon group onthe Program page or use the Edit items from the Reports view toolbar and pop-up menu. Theediting process is similar to the creation. When some reports are no longer needed you can deletethem using either the Delete button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page or theDelete items from the view toolbar and pop-up menu.

Within the Reports view it is also possible to copy reports and add members to reports withoutopening the report editing dialog. This can be done either via the drag and drop technique, or viathe copy/paste one. The Cut, Copy, and Paste items from the Clipboard Ribbon group on theProgram page can be used, as well as the appropriate items from the pop-up menu. It is alsopossible to copy reports between different editions of the program and use the export feature. Forthe details on import and export, refer to the Importing and Exporting Preconfigured Reports sectionof this document.

Report Members

When configuring both generic and preconfigured reports, you are proposed to provide a list of

report members . This list is used to define a set of host to report their availability andperformance characteristics.

Pic 1. Defining report members

When defining report members, you can add to the members lists any host or group of hosts. In



case a group of hosts is added, all hosts from this group and subgroups will be processed whilegenerating a report. When you perform the changes to the group content it is automaticallyreflected in the report, because the group is actually linked. You can review a group content in themembers list editor by expanding the group node. If you want to ensure, that specific host willsurely be included in the report, you can add that particular host even if it contains in a groupalready added. The program guarantees that a single host will appear in a report content only once.

To add members to a report, you can use the Add button on the members editor toolbar and thecorresponding item from the pop-up menu. The dialog will be opened to let you choose the membersfrom those available in the program to be added. To remote the members from the list, select themin the editor and press the Delete button on the toolbar. You can also choose the Delete item fromthe pop-up menu.

Report Outputs

Ping Monitor allows you to send monitors performance and availability reports via e-mail or savethem to a reports storage. Each of these outputs can be enabled while configuring a generic or

reconfigured report .

Pic 1. Configuring report outputs

When configuring report outputs, you can specify if you would like the report to be sent via e-mailand/or saved to the reports storage. The e-mail generation options are configured within the E-mailReport group, and the saving options in the File Report group.

Within the E-mail Report group you can enable the e-mail output using the Send Report via E-mail check box. When sending reports via e-mail, the message body is by default generated usingthe mail template specified for the report type and sent to the recipients defined in the mail options.For preconfigured reports, you can override e-mail recipients and mail templates on thecorresponding tabs of the outputs configuration page.



To enable saving file reports to the reports storage, you should check the Save Report to Storageoption within the File Report group. The report can be saved to one of the following formats:Adobe PDF File, HTML Web Page and MIME HTML Document. The format is selected within theReport Format field. The file name to be used for the file created while generating the report iscreated on a basis of the template defined within the Name Template field. The placeholders thatcan be used in the field are described within the Report Name Template Placeholders section of thedocument. The preview of the file name generated using the specified template is available in theName Preview field. The file reports are by default saved to the location configured in the storagesettings. For preconfigured reports, you can override these settings on the corresponding tab of theoutputs configuration page.

Importing and Exporting Preconfigured Reports

With Ping Monitor, you can easily import and export reports any time you want. You can export oneor all of the available reports to use the exported data as a back-up, to share the reports with yourcolleagues or simply to import them to another instance of the program. This chapter covers theprocess of importing and exporting reports.

Import

The Import button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page can be usedto import reports from an XML file with the help of the wizard.

The reports can be imported into Ping Monitor from XML files. The XML file structure is quitecomplex, so it is not recommended to create it manually. If you want to import the reports into PingMonitor, press the Import button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page, when

the Reports view is active. The Import Reports Wizard will appear on the screen .

Pic 1. The Import Reports Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Import Reports Wizard is the welcome page, which is used to introduce youto the feature the wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information,press Next to continue with import.



On the next page of the Import Reports Wizard, you are offered to choose the file you are going

to import reports from. The file path should be provided in the Import From field . Theformat and encoding of the XML file with reports is detected automatically.

Pic 2. Choosing the import source file

The next page offers you to choose the reports to import. By default, all the valid reports are

selected .

Pic 3. Choosing the reports to import

When the reports to import have been chosen, press Finish. When the import is done, the reportsare added to the program and displayed in the Reports view.



Export

The Export button from the the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page should beused to export reports from the program to an XML file that can be used in the future forimport.

The reports can be easily exported to the XML file format for future reuse. The reports export canbe performed from the Reports view. You can choose between exporting all reports and those thatare currently selected. To perform export, use an appropriate option from the drop-down of theExport button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Program page. The Export Reports Wizard

will appear on the screen .

Pic 4. The Export Reports Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Export Reports Wizard is the welcome page, which is used to introduce youto the feature the wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information,press Next to continue with export.



On the next page you are offered to choose the file you are going to save the reports to and the

format options. The file path should be provided in the Export To field .

Pic 5. Configuring export options

When the file path and the encoding are chosen, press Finish to proceed with export. The filecontaining the reports' information will be created in the location according to the path specified.The file created during export can be used in the future to import the reports back to the program.

Now you are fully introduced to the reports export and import capabilities of Ping Monitor and canuse them in future to solve your tasks.

Web Reports

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise comes with an option of deploying an IIS web site together with theserver application to provide web access to historical data gathered for monitored hosts. This site isinstalled by default when performing a complete server installation.

Web Reports

The Web Reports button from the Reporting group on the Home Ribbon page andfrom the Reports group on the Reporting page from the Reporting Tools categorycan be used to open the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise program web site in the defaultbrowser to let you review statistics.

On the web site home page, you can see summary statistics either for all hosts or for specific ones

. By default, the summary statistics for the requested period is displayed for all hosts, splitinto pages. You can narrow the hosts range using the filter on the left of the home page.



Pic 1. The summary statistics for specific hosts

On the summary page, you can expand each host row a more detailed and intuitive representationof the summary statistics. Clicking on the Details hyper link in a host row results in opening detailed

host statistics .

Pic 2. The detailed host statistics on the web site

Within the detailed statistics, you can find all information available in the historical data for thespecified period.

The report period and the report time zone are selected at the top of the page for both summaryand detailed report pages.

Using PlaceholdersEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 7: Using Placeholders

Ping Monitor supports a flexible configuration of custom actions definitions, report file names and e-mail message templates - this flexibility is achieved by allowing the use of placeholders to form thetemplates and command line parameters of actions. This part of the guide describes theplaceholders that can be used in templates for notification messages sent by e-mail in case ofcertain events, in report file names and in definitions of custom actions.

Notification E-mail Placeholders

This part of the guide describes the placeholders that can be used in the templates for thenotification messages sent by e-mail in case of certain events. There are three types of messages,these are: Connection Status Notification, Summary Report and Detailed Report. Each of them isdescribed below.

Connection Status Notification

Connection Status Notification placeholders can be used for notification messages that are sentwhen the connection status changes. The following placeholders can be used:

%REMOTE_HOST% the remote host being monitored, including the host label,if defined;

%REMOTE_HOST_ADDRESS% the address of the remote host being monitored;

%REMOTE_HOST_LABEL% the label of the remote host being monitored;

%REMOTE_HOST_IP% the resolved IP address of the remote host;

%REMOTE_HOST_GROUP% the group the remote host belongs to;

%REMOTE_HOST_DESCRIPTION% the description of the remote host being monitored;

%CONNECTION_STATUS% the current connection status. It can be either'established', or 'failed to establish', or 'lost', or 'restored'.For the 'lost' and 'failed to establish' statuses, the reasonfor ping failure is added. If you do not want to see thereason, use the '%SHORT_CONNECTION_STATUS%'placeholder;

%SHORT_CONNECTION_STATUS% the current connection status. It can be either'established', or 'failed to establish', or 'lost', or 'restored'.The reason for ping failure is never added;

%CHANGE_TIME% the date and time the connection status was changed at;

%LOCAL_HOST% the machine name;

%RUNNING_PRODUCT% the running program name;

%PRODUCT_VERSION% the current version of the running program;

%TIME% the current time;

%DATE% the current date;

%DATETIME% the current date and time;

%UTC_OFFSET% the current UTC offset;

%YEAR% the current year.



Summary Report

For the e-mail messages, sent as summary reports you can use the following placeholders:

%REPORT_NAME% the name of the generated report;

%REPORT_DESCRIPTION% the description of the generated report;

%REPORT_TYPE% the type of the generated report;

%REPORT_PERIOD% the period the report is generated for;

%SUMMARY_TABLE% the table with the summary information on hostsavailability and ping performance;




%TIME% the current time;





Detailed Report

For the detailed report, the message body is generated for each host separately, and the headerand footer are generated only once. So, the placeholders standing for any information on a singlehost can be used only wihin the message body. The following placeholders are available:

%REPORT_NAME% the name of the generated report;

%REPORT_DESCRIPTION% the description of the generated report;

%REPORT_TYPE% the type of the generated report;

%REPORT_PERIOD% the period the report is generated for;

%REMOTE_HOST_EXT% the remote host being monitored, including the host label,if defined, and footnote sign, if required;

%REMOTE_HOST% the remote host being monitored, including the host label,if defined;






%MONITORING_TIME% the time span the host was monitored for during thereport period;

%PAUSE_TIME% the time span the host monitoring was paused for duringthe report period;

%ACTIVITY_TIME% the time span the host was either monitored or paused for



during the report period;

%MIN_RESPONSE_TIME% the minimum ping response time during the report period inmilliseconds;

%MAX_RESPONSE_TIME% the maximum ping response time during the report periodin milliseconds;

%AVG_RESPONSE_TIME% the average ping response time during the report period inmilliseconds;

%RESPONSE_DEVIATION% the ping response deviation during the report period inmilliseconds;

%UPTIME% the percentage of alive connection time during the reportperiod;

%OUTAGES_COUNT% the number of outages that took place during the reportperiod;

%UPTIME_INTERVAL% a time span the connection to the host was alive duringthe report period;

%DOWNTIME_INTERVAL% a time span the connection to the host was down duringthe report period;

%SHORTEST_OUTAGE% the shortest outage that took place during the reportperiod;

%LONGEST_OUTAGE% the longest outage that took place during the reportperiod;

%OUTAGES_TABLE% detailed information on outages that took place during thereport period in a form of a table, where each row standsfor a single outage;

%UPTIME_CHART% the host availability chart for the report interval (HTML e-mail messages only);

%RESPONSE_CHART% the ping response chart for the report interval (HTML e-mail messages only);




%TIME% the current version of the running program;





Custom Actions Definition Placeholders

This part of the guide describes the placeholders that can be used in custom actions definitions.You can use these placeholders for forming both the path to the action to be executed and thecommand line parameters of the action. Do not forget to quote the placeholder or the combinationof placeholders used as a command line parameter. The following placeholders can be used for thecustom actions definition:

%REMOTE_HOST% the remote host being monitored, including the host label,



if defined;






%CONNECTION_STATUS% the current connection status. It can be either'established', or 'failed to establish', or 'lost', or 'restored'.For the 'lost' and 'failed to establish' statuses, the reasonfor ping failure is added. If you do not want to see thereason, use the '%SHORT_CONNECTION_STATUS%'placeholder;

%SHORT_CONNECTION_STATUS% the current connection status. It can be either'established', or 'failed to establish', or 'lost', or 'restored'.The reason for ping failure is never added;

%CHANGE_TIME% the time of the connection status change. For the 'lost'and 'failed to establish' statuses this time is the outagestart time, and for the 'restored' status this time is theoutage end time;

%LOCAL_HOST% the name of the machine on which the product is running;

%RUNNING_PRODUCT% the running product name;

%PRODUCT_VERSION% the current version of the running product;

%TIME% the current time in a long format;

%DATE% the current date in a short format;

%DATETIME% the current date with the current time;



Report Name Template Placeholders

Ping Monitor allows you to use placeholders when defining a name template for the file output ofmonitoring data reports. You can use the following placeholders when specifying the template:

%REPORT_NAME% the name of the report being generated;

%REPORT_DATE% the report generation date in the 'yyyy.MM.dd' format;

%REPORT_TIME% the report generation time in the 'HH.mm.ss' format;

%FORMAT_EXTENTION% the default file system extension of the report format.

Report Footer Placeholders

Ping Monitor allows you to use placeholders when defining a template for the report footer whileconfiguring options on the Reports Customization preference page. You can use the followingplaceholders when specifying the footer template:

%LOCAL_HOST% the name of the machine on which the product is running;



%RUNNING_PRODUCT% the running product name;

%PRODUCT_VERSION% the current version of the running product;

%TIME% the report generation time in a long format;

%DATE% the report generation date in a short format;

%DATETIME% the report generation date with the report generationtime;


%REPORT_TIME_ZONE% the time zone the report is generated for;


Events LoggingEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 8: Events Logging

Ping Monitor stores the events taken place during hosts monitoring and when executing genericoperations. The monitoring events are stored per host and are available for reviewing within theEvent page of the Details view. The most important of the monitoring events, those arenotifications on connection status changes, are also available within the Connectivity Eventsview, so that you can review those events for multiple hosts at once. Those events, that are notdirectly connected to hosts monitoring, are displayed within the Log view.

Both the event viewers and the log are designed in a manner that helps you easily analyze themonitored host status changes and troubleshoot problems taking place while the program is in use.The events databases may grow continually, thus slowing down the program loading and responsetime. To prevent this, you can either clear the event logs manually, or allow the program to performthe clean-up automatically on a regular basis. The options for automatic events deletion areavailable on the Monitoring Events and Log Configuration preference pages. On the LogConfiguration page, it is also possible to change the Log view presentation options.

In this chapter, we will explain how to analyze the events views and the log and describe the optionof exporting events to a simple format.

Reviewing Monitoring Events

Ping Monitor allows you to review each and every event that has happened while monitoringconnection to a remote host. The per host events are available on the Events page of the Details

view . Each entry in the view has a severity icon, a title and a description. From the title, youcan understand which event is logged; the description provides you with the detailed message; andthe severity icon can be used to quickly understand if the event needs hight level of attention.

Pic 1. Host monitoring events

The events in the Details view cover all aspects of host monitoring. They state when themonitoring was started and stopped, displaying brief session statistics on stop; they show when theconnection status has changed, and display if there any problems with sending notifications andperforming custom actions for the host being reviewed.



Quite often, you do not need to review the detailed list of events for each host, but would like toget to know quickly the connections status changes that took place, without browsing events foreach and every host. The events available on the Connectivity Events view are used to solve thetask.

Pic 2. Connectivity Events

From this view, you can always get information only for important connection status changes. Theview is optimized for displaying the connection status changes only and provides you with an abilityto group by status and/or host.

We hope you'll find it comfortable to review both detailed per host monitoring events andconnectivity events.



Exporting Monitoring Events

With Ping Monitor, you can easily export the monitoring events to the CSV file format for futureanalysis or processing by an automated tool. You can export events displayed within the Eventspage of the Details view and within the Connectivity Events view. To export the events, clickthe Export button from the toolbar. You are proposed to choose between exporting the selectedevents and all displayed events. Also you can press the Export button from the Organize Ribbongroup on the Program page, when the view is focused. It is also possible to use the pop-up menu

of the view to export events. The Export Events Wizard will appear on the screen .

Pic 1. The Export Events Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Export Events Wizard is the welcome page used to introduce you to thefeature the wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information, press Nextto continue with export.



On the next page of the Export Events Wizard, you are offered to choose a file you are going tosave the events to and the CSV format options. The file path should be provided to the Export To

field . You can choose the encoding to be used for saving the data as well as the fielddelimiter and the text qualifier. While performing export, you may also define if you would like thecolumn header to be present in the resulting file, which would make it easier for you to identify eachcolumn – this feature can be enabled using the Include column header option.

Pic 2. Configuring the export options

After you are ready with configuring the export options, press Finish to proceed with export. Thefile containing the events will be created in the path specified.

The CSV file with the connectivity events consists of four columns, which are the following:

IndexHead

erDescription

1Status

The connection status the event is generated for.

2 Host The host the event is generated for.

3Description

The logged event description.

4 Time The time when the event was logged.



Sample exported data in the CSV format

"Status","Host","Description","Time"

"Connection Restored","Google UK (google.co.uk)","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)'host was restored at 9/11/2015 9:08:30 AM.","2015-09-11 09:08:30"

"Connection Lost","Google UK (google.co.uk)","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' hostwas lost at 9/11/2015 9:08:26 AM. Ping reply was not received within the allotted time. IP status:11010.","2015-09-11 09:08:26"

"Connection Restored","Google UK (google.co.uk)","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)'host was restored at 9/11/2015 6:19:28 AM.","2015-09-11 06:19:28"

"Connection Lost","Google UK (google.co.uk)","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' hostwas lost at 9/11/2015 6:19:10 AM. Ping reply was not received within the allotted time. IP status:11010.","2015-09-11 06:19:10"

The CSV file with the host monitoring events consists of five columns, which are the following:

IndexHead

erDescription

1 Title The logged event title.

2Severity

The logged event severity level.

3Description

The logged event description.

4 Time The time when the event was logged.

5ErrorCode

The error code for the event, if any.

Sample exported data in the CSV format

"Title","Severity","Description","Time","Error Code"

"Connection Status","Information","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was restoredat 9/11/2015 9:08:30 AM.","2015-09-11 09:08:30",

"Connection Status","Warning","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was lost at9/11/2015 9:08:26 AM. Ping reply was not received within the allotted time. IP status:11010.","2015-09-11 09:08:30",

"Connection Status","Information","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was restoredat 9/11/2015 6:19:28 AM.","2015-09-11 06:19:28",

"Connection Status","Warning","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was lost at9/11/2015 6:19:10 AM. Ping reply was not received within the allotted time. IP status:11010.","2015-09-11 06:19:15",

"Name Resolution","Warning","The reverse name resolution from the '173.194.113.215' IP address toa host name could not be performed. DNS name does not exist. Error code: 9003.","2015-09-1100:09:38","9003"

"Connection Status","Information","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was restoredat 9/10/2015 9:01:49 PM.","2015-09-10 21:01:49",

"Connection Status","Warning","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was lost at9/10/2015 9:01:44 PM. Ping reply was not received within the allotted time. IP status:11010.","2015-09-10 21:01:49",

"Connection Status","Information","Connection to the 'Google UK (google.co.uk)' host was restoredat 9/10/2015 8:12:16 PM.","2015-09-10 20:12:16",



Analyzing Log

The main purpose of the Log view is to help you understand if the execution has succeeded andtroubleshoot problems if any have occurred. Each entry in the log has a severity icon, a title, and adescription, and possibly a hint on solving the problem, if any. From the title, you can understandwhich operation has been performed and which resource has been operated; the descriptionprovides you with the result message, a hint is used to provide you with an advice on solving theproblem, if any; and the severity icon can be used to quickly understand if the operation has fullysucceeded.

For example, let us take a closer look at the following result set in the log .

Pic 1. Sample logged events

The picture above shows the set of result we received after performing an operation. As we cansee, most of the logged events are informational, but some stand for problems. We need to find outwhat caused the problem and what should be done to avoid it in future. Also, it may be interestingto go through the warnings to see if anything wrong is going on.

After the events have been reviewed and all the problems have been solved, you can run theoperation again and ensure that it completes successfully.



Exporting Log

With Ping Monitor, you can easily export the log to the CSV file format for future analysis orprocessing by an automated tool. To export the logged events, click the Export button from theLog view toolbar. You are proposed to choose between exporting the selected events and allevents. You can also press the Export button from the Organize Ribbon group on the Programpage when the Log view is in focus. It is also possible to use the pop-up menu of the Log view to

export logged events. The Export Log Wizard will appear on the screen .

Pic 1. The Export Log Wizard welcome page

The first page of the Export Log Wizard is the welcome page used to introduce you to the featurethe wizard is supposed to help you with. After reading the welcome information press Next tocontinue with export.



On the next page of the Export Log Wizard, you are offered to choose a file you are going to savethe logged events to and the CSV format options. The file path should be provided to the Export To

field . You can choose the encoding to be used for saving the data as well as, the fielddelimiter and the text qualifier. While performing exporting, you may also define if you would like thecolumn header to be present in the resulting file, which would make it easier for you to identify eachcolumn – this feature option can be enabled using the Include column header option.

Pic 2. Configuring the export options

After you are ready with configuring the export options, press Finish to proceed with export. Thefile containing the logged events will be created in the path specified.

The CSV file with the exported data consists of six columns, which are the following:

IndexHead

erDescription

1 Path The path to the logged event in the log tree.

2 Title The logged event title.

3Severity

The logged event severity level.

4Description

The logged event description

5 Time The time when the event occurred.

6ErrorCode

The error code for the event, if any.

Sample exported logged events in the CSV format

"Path","Title","Severity","Description","Time","Error Code"

"Clear Application Log","Clear Application Log","Information","The operation was completedsuccessfully.","2015-09-14 13:47:40",

"Save Report","Save Report","Error","The 'News Providers' report could not be saved to the 'F:\Reports\' folder with the 'News Providers (2015.09.14).pdf' name. The system cannot find thepath specified. Error code: 3.","2015-09-14 13:47:46",



Now you are introduced to the log export and export data file format and can use the export featurefor the log analysis without any misunderstanding.

Program PreferencesEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 9: Program Preferences

Ping Monitor comes with a wide range of settings that users can adjust to suit their needs. Everypreference page has a detailed description of its content and of the feature it is used to configure.You can configure almost everything: the program behavior in respect to the System Tray, thedatabase location, the proxy settings to be used to connect to the Internet, etc. To reach theprogram preferences, click the Preferences button available from the Application Menu. Also, theclickable Ribbon groups' glyphs open the preference pages that configure the functionalityencapsulated by this group.

Monitoring Part

The Monitoring part of the program preferences should be used to configure the monitoring processsettings. It is possible to configure the connection monitor behavior, gateway options, monitoringintervals and automation settings. To open the Preferences dialog, click the Preferences buttonavailable from the Application Menu. Configure the available settings to suit your needs best.

Monitor Settings Page

Ping Monitor monitors the remote host availability using the specified monitor settings. These

settings can be specified on the Monitor Settings preference page . You can activate thispage by clicking the glyph of the Activity Ribbon group on the Monitoring contextual page, orclicking the Preferences button from the Application Menu and selecting the Monitor Settingslink on the navigation bar on the left in the opened dialog.

Pic 1. Configuring the Monitor Settings



The following ping options can be configured:

• Online Pings Interval is the time span in seconds between pings if the previous ping wassuccessful and the availability condition was reached.

• Offline Pings Interval is the time span in milliseconds between pings if the previous ping failedand the outage condition was reached.

• Availability Condition is the number of pings passed in a row that could be interpreted as anestablished connection to a remote host.

• Outage Condition is the number of pings failed in a row that could be interpreted a lostconnection to a remote host.

• Availability Check Interval is the time span in seconds between pings if the previous ping wassuccessful but the availability condition has not been reached yet.

• Outage Check Interval is the time span in seconds between pings if the previous ping failedbut the outage condition has not been reached yet.

• Packet Size is the size in bytes of the packet sent with an ICMP echo request.

• Ping Timeout is the time span in milliseconds for the ping command to wait for a response froma remote host.

• Time To Live (TTL) is the time-to-live for the packet being sent. It is reduced by every host onthe route to the destination. If the TTL field reaches zero before the packet arrives, suchpacket is discarded and an error is sent back. The purpose of the TTL field is to avoid asituation in which an undeliverable packet would keep circulating in the Internet.

With EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise, it is possible not only to set a common Ping Optionsconfiguration, but also to provide a specific configuration for each host individually. See theOverriding Common Settings part of this document for details.



Gateway Options Page

Ping Monitor can check that either a remote host has gone offline or the PC hosting the monitoringsoftware has lost connection to the network the host is located in by pinging a specific gateway.This feature is provided to protect the user from a false-positive detection of outages. In case thegateway is unreachable, the host is not considered offline until it is confirmed by a successful pingto the gateway.

The gateway configuration is set up on the Gateway Options preference page . To accessthe Gateway Options preference page, press the Preferences button from the Application Menuand select the Gateway Options link in the navigation bar on the left in the dialog that opens.

Pic 1. Setting up the gateway options

If you want to enable the failed pings confirmation by checking a specific gateway for accessibility,you should check the Check gateway connectivity to confirm ping failures option and providethe address of the gateway to ping to the Gateway IP field. The size of the packet to sent to thegateway, the ping operation timeout and the time-to-live for the ping packet can be specified in theappropriate fields, if required. As soon as this check is enabled, a ping to a remote host will betreated as failed only if the gateway is reachable.



Intervals Page

Ping Monitor allows you to restrict the monitoring time to specific time intervals on certain weekdays, thus you can configure the monitoring to pause automatically when it is not required. This

configuration is available on the Intervals preference page . You can activate this page byclicking the Preferences button from the Application Menu and selecting the Intervals link on thenavigation bar on the left in the opened dialog.

Pic 1. Configuring monitoring intervals

You can choose if you would like the hosts to be monitored only on specific week days and/or withinspecific hours. After you start the monitoring process, it is managed by the program automatically: ifthe current time is not within the monitoring intervals, monitoring is automatically paused until themonitoring interval is reached again.



Automation Page

Ping Monitor comes with a range of automation features that allow you to start, stop and pausemonitoring automatically. The configuration of such features is available on the Automation

preferences page . You can activate this page by clicking the Preferences button from theApplication Menu and selecting the Automation link in the navigation bar on the left in theopened dialog.

Pic 1. Configuring the automation features

To start the monitoring automatically for all hosts included into the quick launch list on each serverstart-up using the monitoring settings configured during the previous session, you should check theRun monitoring on server startup option from the Auto-start Monitoring group on this page.

The Auto-stop Monitoring group is designed for you to define the conditions to be used to stop orpause monitoring of a single host. There are three conditions available, namely: On FirstConnection Failure, On Connection Loss and On Outages Limit. For each condition, you canchoose the action to perform in case of this condition between Stop and Pause. For the Pauseaction, you should define the pause timeout. Let us take a closer look on each condition.

The On First Connection Failure condition allows you to stop/pause the host monitoring processautomatically if the connection to the host has not been established after the start of the currentmonitoring during the interval specified in the Timeout field next to the On First ConnectionFailure option.

The On Connection Loss condition should be enabled if you would like the host monitoring processto stop/pause automatically if the connection to the host is lost and not reestablished during theinterval specified in the Timeout field next to the On Connection Loss option.



The On Outages Limit condition provides you with an option to stop/pause the host monitoringprocess automatically if a defined number of outages have been registered during the specified timeinterval. The number of outages is defined in the Count field, and the time interval to be appliedshould be provided in the Interval field.

With EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise, it is possible not only to set a common Auto-stop Monitoringconfiguration, but also to provide a specific configuration for each host individually. See theOverriding Common Settings part of this document for details.

Events and Statistics Part

The Events and Statistics part of the program preferences should be used to configure thenotifications and custom actions to be performed upon discovery of certain events duringmonitoring, statistics and events storing, etc. To open the Preferences dialog, click thePreferences button available in the Application Menu. Configure the available settings to suit yourneeds best.



Notifications Page

Another useful feature of Ping Monitor is its ability to send e-mail notifications to any e-mailaddress, play specific sounds and show balloon tips when certain events occur. This feature's

behavior can be configured on the Notifications preference page , and the messages aresent using the specified E-mail Options. The e-mail message subject and body used for buildingnotification messages are configured on the Mail Templates preferences page, and theplaceholders that can be used in the templates are described in the Using Placeholders part of thisguide. The sounds to be played can be configured on the Sounds Configuration preference page.

Pic 1. Configuring notifications

To access the notifications configuration, click the Preferences button from the Application Menuand select the Notifications link in the navigation bar on the left in the Preferences dialog. On thepage that opens, you can check the events you want to send notification messages, show balloontips and play sounds for. It is possible to specify the number of iterations and interval betweeniterations for connection status notifications, so you can choose to loop the notification for aspecific number of times or until the connection status changes again.

Balloon tips are displayed and sounds are played to notify of each client connected to the server.When disabling such notifications, you disable them only for the client you use at the moment.

With EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise, it is possible not only to set a common Notificationsconfiguration, but also to provide a specific configuration for each host individually. See theOverriding Common Settings part of this document for details.



Mail Templates Page

Mail Templates are used to form e-mail messages sent by Ping Monitor. They can be configured on

the Mail Templates preference page . To access this page, click the Preferences buttonfrom the Application Menu and select the appropriate link in the navigation bar on the left of thePreferences dialog within the Events and Statistics group.

Pic 1. Configuring Mail Templates

On this page , you are offered to choose a template that you want to review and edit. Thetemplate description shows you the use case of the chosen template.



Sound Configuration Page

Ping Monitor comes with an option of sound notification alerts in case of certain events. Thesenotifications can be enabled on the Notifications preference page. The sounds played as

notification alerts should be chosen on the Sounds Configuration page . To access theSounds Configuration preference page, press the Preferences button from the Application Menuand select the Sounds Configuration link in the navigation bar on the left in the opened dialog.

Pic 1. Choosing sounds to be played in case of certain events

You can choose the sound to be played for the On First Connection, On First ConnectionFailure, On Connection Loss, On Connection Restore and On Terminate Actions eventsrespectively. Each sound can be previewed using the play button on the right in the sound chooser.You can choose between the predefined system sounds or provide a custom sound. To provide a

custom sound, press the button on the right of the editor and pick the wave file in PMC format inthe opened dialog.

If the custom sound you have chosen cannot be played during the monitoring process,e. g. it is not reachable, the default message beep sound is played instead.



Monitoring Events Page

Ping Monitor stores monitoring and host status events so you can easily review the connectionstatus changes and monitoring log for each and every host. Storing all events over a lengthy periodof time can significantly increase the size of the program database and decrease the programperformance. To avoid performance issues, it is recommended to optimize the program database bydeleting the events that are no longer needed. The program comes with a built-in option toautomatically remove the events based on their age.

To configure the conditions for automatic removal, open the program preferences using thePreferences button from the Application Menu and click the Monitoring Events link in the

navigation bar on the left of the Preferences dialog within the Events and Statistics group .

Pic 1. Configuring automatic events removal

You can choose the condition to trigger automatic removal of the events within the Auto RemoveOptions group. It is possible to remove the events that are older than one day, one week, onemonth, one year, or instruct Ping Monitor not to remove the events automatically. In any case, youcan always remove the events manually from the Events page of the Details view and from theConnectivity Events view.



Monitoring Statistics Page

Ping Monitor gathered and stores per host performance and availability data while monitoring remotehosts connectivity. This data consists of the live data, historical data and overall data. The intervalfor storing and displaying live data as well as the historical data storing options are available on the

Monitoring Statistics preference page . To reach this page, you should open the programpreferences using the Preferences button from the Application Menu, and click the MonitoringStatistics link in the navigation bar on the left of the Preferences dialog within the Events andStatistics group.

Pic 1. Configuring live and historical monitoring data options

First of all, within the Details group, you can specify the maximum number of hosts to be displayedin the Multiple Hosts Details mode of the Details view and whether the details for the groupedhosts should be displayed when a group is selected.

For the live data, you can choose the time interval to be used for storing and displaying theresponse time characteristics progression and connection status changes progression online. Thevalue should be provided in minutes to the Interval field of the Live Data group.

The Historical Data group contains the options for historical data storing and automatic deletion. Ifyou do not want to store the historical data at all, you can disable the Store the historical dataoption. Please take into account, that as long as this options is disabled, it is not possible to reviewhistorical data and generate statistical reports for future monitoring sessions.

The options for historical data auto remove, allow you to prevent the monitoring data database fromcontinuous growing. You can enable the automatic removal of the historical data that is older than aspecific age within the Auto delete drop-down list.



Reports Storage Page

Ping Monitor allows you to save performance and availability reports to the reports storage. Thisstorage can be located either locally or on an FTP server. The report storage is configured on the

Reports Storage preference page . To reach this page, you should open the programpreferences using the Preferences button from the Application Menu, and click the ReportsStorage link in the navigation bar on the left of the Preferences dialog within the Events andStatistics group.

Pic 1. Configuring reports storage

Firstly, you should decide if you would like the reports to be stored in a local storage or uploaded toan FTP server. The Save reports to the local storage radio button should be checked for usingthe local storage, and the Upload reports to the specified storage on the FTP server – foruploading reports to the server. For the local storage, you can specify a path to the folder to beused for saving reports to in the Storage Location field. It is possible to provide the path manuallyor pick it from the file system browser, using the button on the right of the editor. The FTPconfiguration is slightly more complex. The server address should be provided to the FTP Serverfield. You can use both the host name and the IP address for specification. The next step is tochoose if the connection should be encrypted in the Encryption field. In case the server is using acustom port for files transfer, you should provide the port number to the Port field. The Remote Dirfield is used to specify the location on the FTP server to upload files to. The credentials foraccessing the server are provider to the Username and the Password fields respectively. After thesettings are provided, you can check if the program is able to access the server using the Testconnection settings hyperlink.

The report storage settings defined in a program preferences are used by default for all generic andpreconfigured reports when generating a file report output. For the preconfigured reports, thesettings can be overridden for a specific report during the outputs configuration.



Reports Customization Page

Ping Monitor enables you to customize the header and the footer of the PDF, HTML and MHT reportsgenerated by the program. The configuration options are available on the Reports Customization

preference page . To reach the Reports Customization page, you should open the programpreferences using the Preferences button from the Application Menu and click the ReportsCustomization link in the navigation bar on the left of the Preferences dialog within the Eventsand Statistics group.

Pic 1. Reports customization

For the report header, you can choose if you would like a custom image to be displayed in the righttop corner instead of the EMCO Software logo, and for the footer, you can define a text template.At the bottom of the page, you can see the preview for the header and the footer of a reportgenerated using the defined settings.

To use a custom image, you should use the button of the picture edit. To reach the bestrendering results when printing reports, it is recommended that a 125x55 px. 100 DPI image beprovided. Smaller images will be centered in the logo area and lager ones will be scaled down to fit

the logo area. If you would like to revert to the default header image, you can use the button ofthe edit.

The report footer template is provided to the Report Footer field. When providing a template, youcan use placeholders that are replaced with actual values during the report generation. Refer to theReport Footer Placeholders section of the document.



Custom Actions Page

Ping Monitor enables you to specify Custom Actions for host connectivity events. You can specifyan action for the On First Connection, On First Connection Failure, On Connection Loss and OnConnection Restore events. It is also possible to indicate if the actions should be executed onlyduring the definite time period.

With Ping Monitor, you can use the placeholders for the Custom Actions definitionssimilarly to the connection status notifications, e.g. ConnectionLoss.cmd "%REMOTE_HOST_ADDRESS%" for connection loss. Do not forget to quote the placeholdersthat contain white spaces.

The actions configuration is set up on the Custom Actions preference page . To access theCustom Actions preference page, press the Preferences button from the Application Menu andselect the Custom Actions link in the navigation bar on the left in the dialog that opens.

Pic 1. Setting up the actions configuration

As the action definition, you can specify any executable file or a command line script to be executedwhen the event takes place, along with providing the command line parameters to this executable.You can browse to the executable location using the ellipses button on the right of the path inputfield.

The On First Connection event occurs when the host is successfully pinged the very first timeafter the monitoring process is activated. If no connection to the host is established shortly afterthe monitoring process is started, this event is considered to take place as soon as the host goeson-line. The connection establishment event handling is enabled by checking the On First



Connection checkbox.

The On First Connection Failure event occurs when a connection the host fails immediately afterthe monitoring process is activated. The handling of such an event is enabled by checking the OnFirst Connection Failure checkbox.

Another event you can add a handler for is the On Connection Loss event. It is considered to takeplace when the outage condition is met for the host in case a connection to this host had beenestablished earlier.

To enable an action on Connection Loss, you should check the On Connection Loss checkbox witha corresponding action definition.

The last event available for handling is On Connection Restore. This event is considered to occurupon the first successful ping to the host connection to which was lost. The On ConnectionRestore event handling is enabled by checking the On Connection Restore checkbox.

For each custom action, it is possible to define a timeout, in minutes, i.e. the waiting period beforethe action is executed. If the connection status is changed during such waiting period, the action isnot executed.

If you want the defined actions to execute only during a specific period of time, enable the Runactions only from/till option and specify the time period. You can also define the actions' behaviorduring a certain interval: it is possible to choose between skipping the actions for the events thatoccur outside such interval and delaying the actions' execution until the defined time period begins.

Please note that it is possible to show the number of times each custom action has beeninitiated for every host in the Hosts view. The appropriate columns are available fromthe column chooser and are named On First Connection, On First Connection Failure,On Connection Loss and On Connection Restore respectively.

Now, you are fully introduced to the option of executing custom actions upon specific eventsprovided by Ping Monitor and can use this feature to solve any kind of problem you may face in youreveryday work.

With EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise, it is possible not only to set a common Custom Actionsconfiguration, but also to provide a specific configuration for each host individually. See theOverriding Common Settings part of this document for details.

Miscellaneous Part

The Miscellaneous part of the program preferences should be used to configure the common PingMonitor options, such as the program behavior in respect to the System Tray, the proxy settings tobe used to connect to the Internet, etc. To open the Preferences dialog, click the Preferencesbutton available from the Application Menu. Configure the available settings to best suit yourneeds.



General Settings Page

Ping Monitor can automatically check for updates for you to always have the latest version of theprogram and can be added to the Windows startup. You can configure this features from theGeneral Settings preference page. To open this page, click the Preferences button from theApplication Menu and select the General Settings link in the navigation bar on the left in the

Preferences dialog within the Miscellaneous group .

Pic 1. Configuring general settings

Ping Monitor can check for updates automatically every day or once a week. To enable anautomatic checking for updates, check the Automatically check for updates option and choosethe checking frequency between Daily and Weekly. You can also define if the program shouldcheck for major updates by changing the Automatically check for major updates option value.

If you use a proxy server to connect to the Internet and the required proxy settings arenot provided, an automatic check for updates will not take place.

If you want Ping Monitor to be automatically started right after you are logged on to the underlyingoperating system, enable the Launch at Windows startup option.



E-mail Options Page

Ping Monitor can send notification e-mails only after your mailbox settings have been configuredproperly. To perform the mailbox configuration click the Preferences button from the ApplicationMenu and select the E-mail Options link in the navigation bar on the left in the Preferencesdialog within the Miscellaneous group.

Pic 1. Configuring a mailbox

You should specify the mail server host, the encryption type the port to be used for connection tothe mail server, the e-mail address to send e-mail messages from, the e-mail message format andthe credentials to be used to access the mail server.

Although Ping Monitor supports both explicit and implicit SSL/TLS encryption, it isstrongly recommended that explicit SSL/TLS be preferred due to its optimizedperformance and security. Thus, implicit SSL/TLS should only be used for compatibilitywith servers that do not support explicit SSL/TLS.

The Mail Server (SMPT) value can be provided both as an IP address and as a host name .

Ping Monitor supports mail servers that run using SMTP. A mail server configuration maybe quite complex. Contact your system administrator to get proper configuration detailsto be used for accessing your mailbox.

You can send a test e-mail to check the settings provided using an appropriate hyperlink. In thenext section, it is described how the settings test works and how you can tell if the e-mail optionsare configured properly.



How does the test work?

After you have configured the e-mail options you can send a test e-mail to check the mail serversettings. A test message is generated and sent to the specified recipients and the e-mail addressspecified in the E-mail Address field. If you and the other recipients receive the message, it isassumed that the mail options are configured properly, and there will be no problems with sendingnotification e-mail messages.

Program Database Page

The program database is a storage used by Ping Monitor to keep all business data and loggedevents. The program database configuration can be changed on the Program Database preferencepage. To access this page, click the Preferences button from the Application Menu and selectthe corresponding link in the navigation bar on the left of the Preferences dialog within theMiscellaneous group.

By default, Ping Monitor uses the SQLite database management system to store the data within thecommon application data folder. Using this concept as default, allows you to start using the programwithout performing additional data storage configuration. The program also supports the MicrosoftSQL Server database management system. You can choose the database engine to be used withinthe Database Management System drop-down list.

Pic 1. Configuring the SQLite database

For the SQLite database, you can choose a new database location . You can either choosethe predefined database location or provide a path to the database files manually. While choosingthe program database location, be aware of the fact that the concurrent access to the database isnot supported by Ping Monitor. Please also take into account that full access to the database



location folder should be granted to the program for it to operate correctly.

Although the SQLite database is preconfigured and set by default, it is recommended to use theMicrosoft SQL Server database if you are going to operate in an enterprise environment, because it

provides you with a much higher performance and reliability .

Pic 2. Configuring the Microsoft SQL Server database

While choosing the Microsoft SQL Server database to be used by Ping Monitor, you should providethe database server name to the Server Name field and configure the authentication options. Youcan choose between Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication. It is stronglyrecommended by Microsoft that integrated security via Windows Authentication be preferred. Assoon as you have completed this configuration step, you can press the Test Connection Settingshyperlink to check if the database server is accessible.

The next step is choosing the database to store data in. You can either use the defaultconfiguration or define the required database manually. When choosing a database from thoseavailable on the server, it is also possible to create a new one with default settings having providedits name.

When you apply changes to the program database configuration, the program checks the providedsettings for validity. If the specified database is empty, you are proposed to fill it with the dataavailable in the database currently used by the program. This feature allows you to switch to theMicrosoft SQL Server database from the SQLite database you are using easily and at any time.Besides, if the server restart is required for the applied changes to take effect, you are immediatelyprompted to restart the server.



Connection Options Page

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise server allows connection from both local and remote clients, includingthose from other Windows domains and those reachable through the Internet only. When connectingto the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise server using the windows credentials of the session run by theclient, the integrated security is used for authentication and communication processes. In a cross-domain case, the client is authenticated to the server using the specified windows credentials, andthe server is authenticated with the help of a domain identification certificate enablingcommunication over a secure socket layer of a TCP channel. This process can be configured on the

Connection Options preference page . To open the Connection Options page, click thePreferences button in the Application Menu and press the corresponding link in the navigation baron the left of the Preferences dialog within the Miscellaneous group.

Pic 1. Configuring Connection Options

By default, the server uses a self-signed custom certificate issued toPingMonitorEnterpriseServer.exe, thus there is actually no identification of the server host. It ispossible to accept this certificate when connecting to the server; however, it is stronglyrecommended to use a certificate that actually identifies the server. Such a certificate should beissued to the specific server host by a certification authority trusted in your organization.

For a digital certificate to be used by Ping Monitor for authenticating the server, the following set ofrequirements must be met:

1. The certificate must include the Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1) within itsIntended Purpose.

2. The certificate's Valid From date must be earlier and the Valid To date must be later than theconnection date.



3. The digital certificate must be placed in the Local Computer certificates storage.

4. The private key must be available together with the signing certificate in the certificatesstorage. In case you have a private key in a separate file, please use the tool provided byMicrosoft for preparing a private & public key pair to be imported into the certificates storageas described here: Pvk2Pfx, Combine PVK + SPC to PFX.

To choose a certificate, you should use the Select Certificate button in the Certificate field. Adialog will be displayed showing you the server authentication certificates available on the PChosting the service. You can review detailed information on each of the available certificates usingthe View Certificate button. The same button is also available in the Certificate field when aserver authentication certificate is already selected. The Reset Certificate button in theCertificate field should be used to discard the selected certificate and use the default one.

To start using the selected certificate for securing communication, it is required to restart theserver. The program will notify you of it and prompt for an immediate server restart.

Proxy Settings Page

Ping Monitor requires an Internet connection to support the Live Update and Feedback features,as well as be able to upload reports to an FPT server. Therefore, if a proxy server has to be used to

connect to the Internet, it should be configured on the Proxy Settings preference page . Toaccess this page, click the Preferences button from the Application Menu and select theappropriate link in the navigation bar on the left in the Preferences dialog within theMiscellaneous group.

Pic 1. Proxy Settings

On this page, you can configure client and server proxy settings. The client settings are used whenchecking for updates and providing feedback, the server settings are applied when uploading reports

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff550672(v=vs.85).aspx

https://support.comodo.com/index.php?/Default/Knowledgebase/Article/View/768/7/combine-pvk--spc-to-pfx



to an FTP server. For the client settings, you may choose among three variants of the proxyconfiguration. If Auto-detect proxy settings is chosen, the program uses the settings predefinedin the Internet Explorer. If Ping Monitor does not have to use a proxy server to connect to theInternet, the Direct connection to the Internet option should be chosen. The Manual proxyconfiguration option allows you to provide the proxy server address and port manually.

Both for the automatic detection and manual configuration, it is possible to specify if the proxyserver requires authentication and what credentials should be used to connect to the proxy server.For the manual configuration, an NTLM authentication can be used (i.e. connection to the proxyserver takes place using the credentials of the user currently logged on) by enabling the Use NTLMauthentication option.

As for the server settings , the configuration process is the same. The difference is only thatit is not possible for the server side to detect proxy settings automatically and use NTLMauthentication.

Pic 2. Server proxy settings

After the proxy settings have been configured, it is possible to test if the Internet connection isavailable by using the corresponding hyperlink on the bottom of the settings page.



Log Configuration Page

To configure the Log behavior, click the Preferences button from the Application Menu andswitch to the Log Configuration preference page using the appropriate link in the navigation bar onthe left in the Preferences dialog within the Miscellaneous group. Here, you can specify both

storing and viewing options to make your work with the log as comfortable as possible .

Pic 1. The log configuration

Ping Monitor gives you an option of an automatical removal of logged events from its database. Themaximum event age can be specified by the Auto remove events option. Choose Do not removeevents if you do not want any events to be removed automatically. Anyway, it is always possibleto remove logged events by clearing log manually.

The Show Options are designed to help you configure the log representation to best fit your needs.These options specify the maximum age and types of the logged events to be shown.



System Tray Page

The Tray icon provides a quick access to some of the program functionality and serves to notify youof any significant changes taking place while the program is running when the main program windowis minimized or hidden behind other windows. To configure the program behavior regarding theSystem Tray, click the Preferences button from the Application Menu and switch to the SystemTray preference page using the corresponding link on the navigation bar to the left in the

Preferences dialog within the Miscellaneous group .

Pic 1. Configuring the System Tray behavior

If you prefer the program main window to be minimized during the program start, you should checkthe Minimize on startup option.

The Show program icon in System Tray option allows you to choose if the program icon should beshown in the tray. If it is enabled, you may also specify if the program should be hidden from theWindows taskbar when it is minimized to System Tray, and if the main window should be restoredfrom the tray with a single or double click.

Evaluation of the ProgramEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 10: Evaluation of the Program

EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise is a shareware product but you can use it as long as the evaluationperiod does not expire to get a closer introduction to its main features. To activate the program youshould enter the License Code EMCO Software provides you with after you have purchased thelicense for using EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise. This chapter will cover the particularities of theevaluation mode, tell you how and where you can get the license code and how you can requestthe extended evaluation. Read this chapter carefully to face no difficulties during the EMCO PingMonitor Enterprise evaluation.

Evaluation Wizard

As long as the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise is not activated on each program startup the

Evaluation Wizard is displayed on the screen, showing you the information about theevaluation process and providing with quick links for the program activation, purchase and extendedevaluation request.

Pic 1. The EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise Evaluation Wizard welcome page

The welcome page of the Evaluation Wizard allows you to choose between four options tocontinue. Those are Evaluate, Enter License Code, Request extended evaluation and Buynow. Optionally you can press Exit button to close the program. In this section we will help you tochoose the option that will best fit your needs.

The Evaluate option shows you the time left until the evaluation period expires. You should choosethis option to continue the evaluation process – the wizard will be closed and you can start workingwith Ping Monitor. You can use the program as long as the evaluation period does not expire to geta closer introduction to its main features.



It you have already purchased the license for using the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise you shouldchoose the Enter License Code option to activate the program. This options also should be chosenif the extended evaluation request has been approved by EMCO Software and you have beenprovided with the Extended License. If you are having problems with finding the License Code referto the Where can I get my License Code? section of this document. After choosing the Enter

License Code option the program activation page is displayed on the screen .

Pic 2. Activating EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise

To activate EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise copy and paste the License Code to the input field on thispage and press Activate.



If the evaluation period has expired and you are not sure you have fully introduced yourself to EMCOPing Monitor Enterprise main features you can once request the extended evaluation. As soon as therequest is processed by EMCO Software you are provided with the Extended License to prolong theevaluation period. To request the Extended License you should choose the Request extended

evaluation option. After choosing this option the request form will appear on the screen .

Pic 3. Requesting an extended evaluation

To request the Extended License fill the fields on the request form regarding the recommendationsand press the Send Request button.

The Evaluation Wizard also provides you with the short cut action that allows you to visit EMCOSoftware web store. To use this feature choose the Buy Now option. The on-line ordering processis fast, easy, and fully secure.



Where can I get my License Code?

After you have purchased the license for using EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise our experts willgenerate the License Code and send it to you via e-mail to the address you have specified duringthe purchasing process. You are supposed to receive two e-mail messages – one with the LicenseCode written in the message body and one with the attached text file (license.txt), containing thelicense. It is your choice to use any message because both License Codes are identical.

To activate the program the License Code received via e-mail should be copied and pasted to the

program activation form . This form can be reached using the Enter License Code buttonfrom the Information group on the Ribbon bar or by choosing the appropriate option in theEvaluation Wizard.

Pic 1. Activating EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise

To activate Ping Monitor, copy and paste the License Code to the input field and press Activate.



How should I formulate the Extended License request?

The Extended License is used to prolong the evaluation period to get a closer look at EMCO PingMonitor Enterprise. This feature can be reached by choosing the appropriate option in theEvaluation Wizard. Here we'll give you the recommendations on filling the Request extended

evaluation form .

Pic 1. The Request Extended Evaluation form

In the Request extended evaluation form you should obligatory specify your name in the Namefield, company name in the Company field and your e-mail address in the E-mail field.

Though the Comment field is optional it is strongly recommended to use this field forproviding EMCO Software with the reason of requesting the Extended License. Pleasenotice that EMCO Software reserves the right to decline the request without providing arequester with any explanations.

If the extended license request is approved by EMCO Software experts you'll receive the LicenseCode to the e-mail address specified.

Program UpdatesEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 11: Program Updates

EMCO Software cares for versatile needs of the users of EMCO programs and fully understands theirwish to have the most up-to-date software installed on there PCs. That is why we provide you withan easy update feature. You do not need to browse the Internet again and again to find out if anyupdates are available – Ping Monitor will do this work for you. Checking for updates can beperformed both manually and automatically. This chapter describes the Live Update process for thecurrent major version of the program and the Major Update feature which allows you to get a brandnew version of Ping Monitor quickly and easily.

Live Update

Ping Monitor can be easily updated with just a few clicks. The update process is performed via anInternet connection using preconfigured proxy settings.

Check for Updates

The Check for Updates button from the Update Ribbon group should be used tocheck for new versions of Ping Monitor.

Ping Monitor can check for updates automatically. You can configure the programbehavior regarding the automatic check for updates on the General Settings preferencepage.

To check for updates, click the Check for Updates button from the Application Menu or from theUpdate group of the Program Ribbon page. Ping Monitor will check if any updates are available and

if so, the Live Update Wizard will appear on the screen.

Pic 1. The Live Update Wizard welcome page

The Live Update Wizard will introduce you to the changes made in the newer version and guideyou through the whole updating process while showing the detailed download progress. When thedownload is finished, the program will be restarted to perform the actual update.

Program UpdatesEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Major Update

Along with the Live Update feature, Ping Monitor comes with a built-in function of automaticchecking for Major Updates. The Major Update is an update to a brand-new version of Ping Monitorthat includes a number of significant changes.

You can install this version alongside the version you are using now. It will import the settings anddata from your current version, so that you won't need to configure the new version in the sameway you configured the one you are using at the moment. Such parallel installation allows you toinspect the new version and compare it with the previous one in your environment with your dataand settings.

The Major Update is installed alongside the version you currently use. The existingversion is not automatically uninstalled from your PC, and you can continue using theprogram version you are accustomed to while having a look at the brand new one.

If the program detects availability of a Major Update, the Major Update Wizard will appearon the screen.

Pic 1. The Major Update Wizard welcome page

The Major Update Wizard will introduce you to the features available in the brand new version ofPing Monitor and guide you through the update process. The message displayed at the bottom ofthe welcome page will let you know if the current License allows you to install and use the MajorUpdate for free. When the download is finished, the new version installation will be runautomatically.

Main Program ActionsEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 12: Main Program Actions

The main program actions are all gathered on the Ribbon bar and are grouped by the functionsperformed into pages. There are static pages, that are always displayed, and categories, containingcontextual pages, that are displayed only when a specific context is active. As for the static pages,they are the following: Home, View and Program. These static pages are filled up with the pagesavailable in the Monitoring Tools, Reporting Tools and Publishing Tools categories.

This chapter is to describe the actions available on all the pages and can be used as a glossarywhile working with Ping Monitor.

Home Ribbon Page

The Home Ribbon page contains all main actions related to the primary features of Ping Monitor.This chapter will describe each group and the actions available in it for the Home page.

Quick Launch Ribbon Group

The Quick Launch Ribbon group contains the actions to start monitoring for hosts from a quicklaunch list, stop all running monitoring sessions and add/remove hosts to/from the quick launch list.

Start

The Start button should be used to start monitoring for all hosts included into the quicklaunch list.

Stop

The Stop button should be used to stop the monitoring process for all hosts beingcurrently monitored.

Include

The Include button should be used to add the selected hosts to the quick launch list.

Exclude

The Exclude button should be used to remove the selected hosts from the quick launchlist.

Reporting Ribbon Group

The Reporting Ribbon group allows you to create generic reports.

Generate Report

The Generate Report button should be used to generate a performance andavailability report for any period of time.

Web Reports

The Web Reports button can be used to open the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterpriseprogram web site in the default browser to let you review statistics.



New Ribbon Group

The New Ribbon group contains the actions for creating new business objects within Ping Monitor.

Host

The Host button should be used to add a new host or a range of hosts to bemonitored.

Group

The Group button allows you to create a new hosts group.

Summary Report

The Summary Report button should be used to create a new preconfigured reportwith the brief information on monitors performance and availability.

Detailed Report

The Detailed Report button should be used to create a new preconfigured report withthe detailed information on monitors performance and availability.

View Ribbon Page

The View Ribbon page is used to control the program representation, such as the currently appliedskin, visible views and their layout.

Layout Ribbon Group

The Layout Ribbon group should be used for a workspace layout management.

Reset Workspace

The Reset Workspace action should be used to restore the default windows', views'and dock panels' layout.

Show Ribbon Group

The Show Ribbon group should be used for managing the currently visible Ping Monitor views.

Details

Shows or hides the Details view. The Details view shows detailed informationon specific hosts and their performance and availability characteristics.

Hosts

Shows or hides the Hosts view. The Hosts view displays a plain list of hostswith their connection statuses, performance and availability characteristics.

Hosts Browser

Shows or hides the Hosts Browser view. The Hosts Browser view is used todisplay and manage a set of hosts and groups in the program.

Reports

Shows or hides the Reports view. The Reports view shows a set ofmonitoring performance and availability reports based on historical data, which



can be generated automatically on a regular basis.

Connectivity Events

Shows or hides the Connectivity Events view. The Connectivity Eventsview displays important connectivity status events for all hosts in theprogram.

Log

Shows or hides the Log view. The Log view shows information on the eventstaking place during the program execution.

Access Control

The Access Control view is used to define roles used to control access tothe Ping Monitor server and assign those roles to users and groups.

Operations

Shows or hides the Operations view. The Operations view shows detailedprogress of each operation currently performed and allows canceling some orall running operations.

Skins Ribbon Group

The Skins Ribbon group provides you with an option of quick changing of the program skins.

Skin Chooser

The Skin Chooser is a drop-down button that should be used to select the skinfrom the available skins to be applied to the program. The currently active skin isthe highlighted one.

Program Ribbon Page

The Program Ribbon page contains service actions that are not connected to the business area ofthe program.

Server Ribbon Group

The Server Ribbon group contains actions for reconnecting the client to another server andreviewing information on the server the client is currently connected to.

Switch Server

The Switch Server button should be used to connect to another Ping Monitor server.

Server Info

The Server Info button allows you to review information on the server the client iscurrently connected to, including information on other connected clients.

Organize Ribbon Group

The Organize Ribbon group contains the actions to be used for managing objects.

Import

The Import button should be used to import objects to Ping Monitor from a file.



Export

The Export button should be used to export objects from the currently focused view inPing Monitor to a file.

Edit

The Edit button allows you to edit the object selected in the currently focused view.

Delete

The Delete button is used to delete the selected objects from the currently focusedview in Ping Monitor.

Clipboard Ribbon Group

The Clipboard Ribbon group contains the actions to copy/move objects to the clipboard and pastedata from the clipboard.

Paste

The Paste button should be used to add the objects that are currently available fromthe clipboard to a selected location in the currently focused view.

Cut

The Cut button should be used to put the selected objects from the currently focusedview to the clipboard and remove them from the source after pasting them to thedestination.

Copy

The Copy button allows you to put the selected objects from the currently focusedview to the clipboard to be copied to the destination when pasting.

Update Ribbon Group

The Update Ribbon group is responsible for the product updates function. The glyph of this groupopens the General Settings preference page enabling you to configure the auto-update options.

Check for Updates

The Check for Updates button should be used to check for new versions of PingMonitor.

Feedback Ribbon Group

You can use the Feedback Ribbon group to send EMCO Software a request for a new feature youare missing in Ping Monitor or to report on problems you faced while working with the program.

Suggest a Feature

The Suggest a Feature button should be used to suggest a functionality you wouldlike to see in the next versions of Ping Monitor.

Report a Problem

The Report a Problem button should be used for reporting the problem you facedwhile working with Ping Monitor.



Information Ribbon Group

The Information Ribbon group has a range of useful actions to manage licensing issues, get help orinformation you may require.

Enter License Code

The Enter License Code action should be used to enter the license code youreceived from EMCO to activate Ping Monitor.

Buy Now

The Buy Now button is only visible if Ping Monitor is not activated. It provides youwith a quick access to the EMCO web store.

Contact Support

The Contact Support button should be used to get efficient technical assistancefrom EMCO Software support team.

EMCO on the Web

The EMCO on the Web button provides you with a short-cut to the EMCO website.

About

It opens the About dialog to review the Ping Monitor information, licensinginformation and the End-User License Agreement.

Monitoring Tools Category

The Monitoring Tools Ribbon category is displayed when the Hosts, Hosts Browser or Detailsview is active and contains the Monitoring page with actions for monitoring activity and datamanagement.

Monitoring Contextual Ribbon Page

The Monitoring contextual Ribbon page from the Monitoring Tools category contains the actionsfor monitoring activity and data management.

Activity Ribbon Group

The Activity Ribbon group is used to control the monitoring process activity. The glyph of this groupis used to open the Monitor Settings preference page.

Start

The Start button allows you to start monitoring for the currently selected hosts.

Stop

The Stop button allows you to stop monitoring for the currently selected hosts.

Pause

The Pause button allows you to pause monitoring for the currently selected hosts.



Details Ribbon Group

The Details Ribbon group is used to show details for hosts as well as pin and unpin host details to/from per host separate windows.

Show

The Show button should be used to activate the Details view and fill it with details forthe selected hosts.

Pin

The Pin button allows you to display the details for each of the selected hosts in anindividual window.

Unpin

The Unpin button allows you to close all individual windows with details for the selectedhosts.

Statistics Ribbon Group

The Statistics Ribbon group is used to manage the stored monitoring data.

Delete Statistics

The Delete Statistics button should be used to delete all monitoring data for theselected hosts.

Reporting Tools Category

The Reporting Tools Ribbon category is displayed when the Reports view is active and containsthe Reporting page with actions for working with preconfigured reports.

Reporting Contextual Ribbon Page

The Reporting contextual Ribbon page from the Reporting Tools category contains the actions forworking with preconfigured reports.

New Ribbon Group

The New Ribbon group contains the actions for creating new preconfigured reports.

Summary Report

The Summary Report button should be used to create a new preconfigured reportwith the brief information on monitors performance and availability.

Detailed Report

The Detailed Report button should be used to create a new preconfigured report withthe detailed information on monitors performance and availability.



Reports Ribbon Group

The Reports Ribbon group contains the actions for working with already created predefined reports.

Generate

The Generate button should be used to manually generate the selectedpreconfigured report.

Enable

The Enable button allows you to turn on an ability of generating the selectedreports.

Disable

The Disable button allows you to turn off an ability of generating the selectedreports.

Open Storage

The Open Storage button should be used to open the local storage for the reportthe feature of storing the output locally is enabled for.

Web Reports

The Web Reports button can be used to open the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterpriseprogram web site in the default browser to let you review statistics.

Publishing Tools Category

The Publishing Tools Ribbon category is displayed when the Details view is active and containsthe Publishing page with actions for saving displayed content to different file formats and printingit.

Publishing Contextual Ribbon Page

The Publishing contextual Ribbon page from the Publishing Tools category contains the actionsfor saving displayed content to different file formats and printing it.

Report As Ribbon Group

The Report As Ribbon group contains the actions for saving displayed content to different fileformats.

Adobe PDF File

The Adobe PDF File button should be used to export the displayed data to theportable document format.

HTML Web Page

The HTML Web Page button should be used to export the displayed data to theHTML format.

MIME HTML Document

The MIME HTML Document button should be used to export the displayed data tothe MIME HTML format.



Print Ribbon Group

The Print Ribbon group contains the actions for printing the displayed content.

Print

The Print button should be used to print the displayed content.

Print Preview

The Print Preview button opens the print preview dialog for the displayed content.

Ping Monitor Client-Server ConceptEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 13: Ping Monitor Client-Server Concept

Ping Monitor Enterprise is shipped as a client-server application, thus allowing to perform hostsmonitoring and generate regular reports with no logged-on user session required. The server part isrepresented with the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise Server 6 Windows service, and the clientpart is the program that is running in a user session. By default, the service is configured to starttogether with the underlying operating system, thus allowing you to start monitoring as soon as thehosting PC is up and running provided that the corresponding automation option is enabled (it isenabled initially). When you launch the client program, it prompts you to choose if the server to

connect to is located on the local or remote PC .

Pic 1. Choosing the server to connect to

For the server to accept remote connections, the following ports should be opened in the firewall forinbound TCP connections:

• 48008 – this port is used to connect to the remote server using the Windows sessioncredentials;

• 48009 – this port is used to connect to the remote server via a SSL channel using the specifiedcredentials.

If you would like to use custom ports, you can define the required ports in theHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\EMCO\Ping Monitor Enterprise\v6 key in theWindows Registry on the PC hosting the EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise server. Tooverride the port used for connection by using the Windows session credentials, youshould specify it in the Port DWORD value. The SSLPort DWORD value should be definedto override the port used for connection vial a SSL channel using the specifiedcredentials. For the client to be able to connect to the server via a custom port, youshould define this server in the server name, e.g. emco-server.local:3112.

After the connection is established, the client allows you to manage the monitoring process, thehosts and the reports if you account is authorized accordingly by the server access controlconfiguration. You can disconnect from the current server and connect to another one at any timeusing the Switch Server button from the Application Menu or from the Server Ribbon group onthe Program page.

When connecting to a remote server, you can choose if you would like to use the credentials of theWindows session the client program is executed in or to provide other credentials. When the currentsession credentials are used, all aspects of the Windows integrated security are applied to theclient-server communication. Otherwise, when the credentials are provided manually, the transportlayer of communication is secured with a SSL certificate provided by the server. By default, theself-signed certificate issued to PingMonitorEnterpriseServer.exe is used. It is not fully trusted,

Ping Monitor Client-Server ConceptEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


because the DNS match and the trusted root conditions are not met. Although it is possible toaccept this certificate for communication, it is strongly recommended that you use the certificateissued to your server. It can be either your self-signed certificate issued by a certification authoritytrusted in your organization or the certificate issued to the server by one of the commonly knowncertification authorities. The certificate to be used by the server for authentication is selected onthe Connection Options page of the program preferences.

In the Server group, you can also find the Server Info button. When this button is pressed, adialog is displayed containing information on the server and all the clients currently connected to it.Upon exiting the program, is exited, the client is disconnected from the server application that keepsrunning on the server PC.

In case the currently installed client is not compatible with the server you are connecting to, theprogram will prompt you that a compatible client needs to be installed, if it is not installed yet,otherwise the compatible client is automatically launched and connected to the specified server.

Access ControlEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 14: Access Control

Ping Monitor server supports concurrent access by multiple users. Each user is authenticated by itsWindows credentials, but for an enterprise solution it is not enough to authorize access since eachaction should also be authorized for specific users only so that a simple user cannot performadministrative tasks. In Ping Monitor the server access is controlled by means of roles.

Each role defines a set of enabled privileges. There are three predefined user roles, which areAdministrator, Read-Only and No Access. The Administrator role is used to grant users anunlimited access to the server. The Read-Only role allows the users in that role to access theserver but does not allow performing any modifications to the server data and configuration. The NoAccess role should be used to disallow access for specific users that belong to the groups for whichaccess is granted. In addition to these predefined roles, you can create custom roles enablingrequired privileges for those roles.

The roles may be assigned to users and groups thus granting or disabling access to Ping Monitorfeatures for specific users. By default, users that are members of the built-in administrator groupson the PC hosting the service are assigned the Administrator role. Other users are not allowed toconnect to the server.

It is possible to grant users administrative access without applying the Administratorrole to them by adding those users to the Ping Monitor Administrators Windowsgroup. This option can be used by the server administrator to get protected from losingthe administrative role due to mistakes in roles configuration or manipulations performedby other administrators.

The roles are managed and assigned within the Access Control view. To assign roles to users and/or groups, use the Assign Permissions button in the Permissions part of the Access Controlview. A dialog will be opened where you can add a set of principals and choose a role for each one

.

Pic 1. Permissions assignment

The assignment process is fast and easy. All you need is adding a list of principals for which youwould like to assign roles in the table then selecting a role for each one on the right of the table.You may select multiple principals and assign them the same role. For each role, you can review the

Access ControlEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


set of enabled privileges. To proceed with assignment, press the Assign button.

To assign another role to any principal, select it in the Access Control view and click the Editbutton. Alternatively, you can use the corresponding item in the pop-up menu. A dialog will beopened where you can choose a new role for the selected user or group. To delete roleassignments, use the Delete buttons and menu item.

To create a custom role, use the Add button in the Roles part of the Access Control view. Adialog will be opened where you can specify a name for the role to be created and a set of privileges

to be granted to users in this role .

Pic 2. Creating a user-defined role

You can use the Edit button and menu item to change the role in the future. As during creation, itis possible to specify the role name and a set of privileges. To delete specific user-defined roles - if they are no longer required - use the Delete button and menu item. If the role is assigned toprincipals, you are prompted to decide during the deletion process whether you would like to deletethe assignment altogether or reassign another role to those principals.

Notification CenterEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 15: Notification Center

The Notification Center is used to notify users about possible configuration problems, availableprogram updates, etc. As soon as notifications arrive, you are able to see a balloon icon in thestatus bar together with the number of available notifications. When you click on this element, the

notifications are displayed in a flyout window on the right of the main program window .

Pic 1. Displayed notifications

When you click on the notification, you are proposed to perform the action requested by thenotification. For example, in case of the configuration issue, the preferences dialog is displayed onthe appropriate page, allowing you to fix the issue, and in case of the available update, the updatewizard is displayed.

If the notification is about any kind of a critical issue, it is highlighted red and it is not possible toignore it. For other notifications, you can close each and every one using the cross button in theright top corner of the notification row. As the notification is closed, it won't be displayed again untilthe condition for displaying it is reached once again.

RequirementsEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 16: Requirements

Please carefully read and follow all requirements, listed here, or you may not be able to successfullyuse the product. You can contact our support if you experience a problem during the product use.

System Requirements

Computer running Ping Monitor must meet the following requirements:

• Minimum Hardware Requirements

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor or equivalent

• 2 GB of RAM

• 250 MB of free disk space

• Recommended Hardware Requirements

• 6th Gen Intel Core Processor or equivalent

• 4 GB of RAM

• 500 MB of free disk space

Supported Platforms

Windows XP (with SP3 or later), Windows XP x64 (with SP2 or later), Windows 2003 (with SP2 orlater), Windows 2003 x64 (with SP2 or later), Windows 2003 R2, Windows 2003 R2 x64, WindowsVista, Windows Vista x64, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 x64, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7,Windows 7 x64, Windows 8, Windows 8 x64, Windows 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 x64,Windows 2012 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 x64, Windows 2016

Requirements

• Administrative rights on the local computer

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or above (recommended), Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0(minimum)

• TCP ports opened: 48008, 48009

How can I leave my Feedback?EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 17: How can I leave my Feedback?

EMCO Software always takes care of its customers, and your opinion means a lot to us. For thisreason, our programs have built-in features for your feedback. You can suggest a feature you wantto see in new program versions or report a technical problem you have faced using the program.Specifying your contact information on the feedback forms ensures that you will be informed of anychanges with regard to the reported issue, our plans for implementing the suggested feature orfixing the reported bug. Those actions can be found in the Feedback Ribbon group of the Programpage.

Suggest a Feature

The Suggest a Feature button from the Feedback Ribbon group should be used tosuggest a functionality you would like to see in the next versions of Ping Monitor.

Ping Monitor comes with a wide range of features, but if you feel some functionality is missing, youcan always suggest a new feature to us that you want to see in the program. To suggest a newfeature, you should press the Suggest a Feature button from the Feedback Ribbon group. After

pressing this button, you will see the Feature Suggestion dialog on the screen where youare offered to enter your contact information and describe your suggestion.

Pic 1. The feature suggestion form

Press Send when you are done with filling out the form to send your suggestion.

Report a Problem

The Report a Problem button should be used to report a problem you have faced whileworking with Ping Monitor.

How can I leave my Feedback?EMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Ping Monitor is easy to use and very stable. Nevertherless, if you have faced any difficulty orproblem while working with it, you can send us a problem report. To send such a report, you shouldpress the Report a Problem button from the Feedback Ribbon group. When this button is pressed,

the Problem Report dialog will appear on the screen where you are offered to enter yourcontact information and describe your problem.

Pic 2. The problem report form

In the Environment field, you can provide us with a description of the specific environment usedwhile working with the program. Press Send when you are done with filling out the form to send yourreport.

Do not hesitate to contact EMCO Software - we are always glad to receive your feedback and aredoing our best to satisfy our customers' preferences.

About EMCO SoftwareEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 18: About EMCO Software

EMCO Software is a leading innovator on the remote administration and management solutionsmarket. Headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, we are an international company with offices andoperations around the globe. Since the company's founding in 2001, we have been dedicated toproviding network administrators with feature-rich, easy-to-use and affordable software andimproving productivity of IT departments. Focused on the real-world needs of network professionals,our products are simple to try, simple to use, and simple to maintain while providing the power,scalability and flexibility needed by companies and organizations of all sizes.

Our solutions portfolio includes award-winning products targeted at remote network inventory,remote software deployment, remote desktop access and administration, network protection fromviruses and malware, network security and health analyzing, remote power management, and remoteautomation.

Our Innovations

For a long time, products for remote desktops management, administration and inventorying werepositioned on the market as enterprise-level solutions with a prohibitive total cost of ownership. Ahigh price and a significant complexity kept many companies and organizations away from thosesolutions despite their high demand for tools that can improve productivity of their IT departments.We came onto the market looking to change this situation focusing on real-world needs of networkprofessionals by providing simple but effective products and making them affordable for companiesand organizations of all sizes.

Our first releases in 2001 proved that our products - which can be up and running within minutes,with no learning and complex configuration required, to immediately provide remote desktop controlover the network - were exactly the solution that network engineers need most. An intuitiveinterface, valuable highly demanded features and an affordable price were the key factors to ourquick market acquiring. After the first big success, our solutions portfolio quickly grew to 35products that cover various fields of network administration and help automate hundreds ofadministration tasks. Along with this, there is still a lot of space for improvement, and we plan tofurther extend our product range to provide best-of-breed solutions.

EMCO Worldwide

More than 20,000 customers in 85 countries around the world rely on our products every day totake the complex routine out of their network management tasks. Our solutions help them toremotely manage as many as 2,3 million desktops and 103,000 servers and save millions of hours ofwork and multi-million dollar costs in total every year. Our worldwide customer base includes dozensof Fortune 100 and hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, as well as numerous large and smallbusinesses representing all industries, educational and healthcare organizations, charity and non-profit organizations, and government institutions.

As a global company, we have partners all around the world who contribute to our productsdevelopment, international sales and technical support. We are proud to cooperate with leadingdistributors and more than 50 resellers from 20 countries who represent our products on localmarkets.

Company Facts

• Year founded: 2001

• Headquarters: Reykjavik, Iceland

• Status: International corporation

• Expertise: Software network solutions

• Number of products: 35+

• Technology awards: 100+

About EMCO SoftwareEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


• Number of customers: 20,000+

• Customers in: 85 countries worldwide

• Fortune 100 customers: 37%

• Fortune 500 customers: 49%

• Operations in: 20 countries worldwide

• Number of sales partners: 50+

Contact InformationEMCO Ping Monitor Enterprise 6


Chapter 19: Contact Information

We would be glad to help you with any questions and problems you might have. Here you can find allthe information you will need to contact us. To get quick answers regarding support issues or anyother services, use corresponding contact information.

Company Requisites

• Name: EMCO ehf.

• Address: 12, Bildshofda St.

• City: Reykjavik

• Country: Iceland

• Postal code: 110

• E-mail: [email protected]

• Site: emcosoftware.com

Sales Questions

For any pre-sales or sales questions, contact us at [email protected] or call us:

+1 646 233-1163 Business days 9.00-18.00 GMT (8.00-13.00 EST; 8.00-12.00CST; 8.00-10.00 PDT).

+44 20 3287-7651 Business days 9.00-18.00 GMT.

Other hours: please leave your phone number and message - wewill recall you within one business day.

Technical Support

In case of any problems with our products or any technical question related to our products, pleasevisit our Support area to receive FREE technical support.

mailto:[email protected]

https://emcosoftware.com

mailto:[email protected]

https://emcosoftware.com/support

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