Monitoring accounts enable you to define connection information required by services to run controls during host monitoring.

Each monitoring account:

• Is defined with a type of account that will determine the contextual information to be specified.
• Is configured based on the hierarchical structure in the company tree, i.e. company > sites > hosts > services. This is used to propagate information automatically to the lower levels.
• Can be locked for a host or service to define a specific configuration. If this is the case, modifications made to the monitoring account at a higher level will not be propagated to the configuration of this account.
   

Purpose of the hierarchical structure

• Reduce repetitive data input and configuration. Each monitoring account is defined once only, for the company, site, host or service.
• Propagate information and modifications automatically to the services associated with hosts in the company or lower-level sites.
• Simplify updates to monitoring accounts when maintaining a large volume of IT assets.

Examples

• The SNMP monitoring account is used to collect information on a host via the SNMP protocol.
• The Windows – Admin monitoring account requires you to define the domain (optional), user login and password.

• Inheritance:
  • The Domain administrator monitoring account is defined once only for the site. It is used for all current and future hosts and associated services.
  • The SNMP monitoring account is locked for the COPCGRE61 server host because the SNMP authentication credentials for the host are different from those inherited from the company.

Notes

• The types of accounts are defined by EasyVista.
  • You cannot add new ones.
  • You can only define information for each monitoring account associated with a type of account.

• Action templates will use the monitoring account information inherited from the associated host/service (account locked for the host/service), or alternatively, from the parent site of the host/service, from a higher-level site or from the company.

Management rules

• Updates to monitoring accounts are propagated based on the hierarchical structure of the company tree.
  • When a monitoring account is updated for the company, all services associated with the hosts of the company's sites will be updated, except for those locked for a specific site, host or service.
  • When a monitoring account is updated for a site, all services associated with the hosts of this site and lower-level sites will be updated, except for those locked for a specific host or service.

• The host configuration form displays all monitoring accounts required for running services associated with the host (Accounts tab).
  • The accounts displayed are automatically updated when a service is added or deleted for a host. You cannot add new ones or delete existing ones manually.
  • If a specific configuration is required, the monitoring account of the host must be locked.

• A single monitoring account is defined for each service. A given service does not require more than one monitoring account.

• To restore the inherited values for the locked monitoring account so that its configuration is identical to that defined at a higher level in the company tree, you must delete the locked account.
  • You can delete accounts that are not being used by any service.
  • You can delete accounts that are being used by one or more services only if the same type of account exists for the site of the host, or alternatively, for a higher-level site or for the company. If this is not the case, then you must first define and configure a monitoring account for the site or for the company.

• When you lock a monitoring account, all of its fields will be locked.

Best Practice

• When deploying EV Observe, you must first define the monitoring accounts for the company followed by those for the sites, and lastly, by those for the hosts if specific configurations are required.
  In this way, any modification made to the monitoring account (e.g. account password) at the highest level in the company tree will automatically be propagated to all hosts at all sites.

Menu access

Monitoring accounts for a company or site: Configuration > General > Monitoring accounts

Monitoring accounts for a host: Configuration > Hosts > List > Host configuration form > Accounts tab

Monitoring accounts for a service: Configuration > Services > List > Service configuration form >  Availability and checks tab

Screens description

Monitoring account for a company or site

Type: Type of monitoring account.

• The information to be specified will depend on the type of account selected.
• Passwords are hidden.

Description: Description of the monitoring account.

Locked: Used to specify whether the monitoring account is locked (Yes option) or not (No option).

• If a configuration specific to the company or site is required, the account must be locked. To do this, select Yes and enter the configuration information specific to the type of account.
• To restore the inherited values for the monitoring account, select No to unlock the monitoring account. The information displayed will be inherited from the monitoring account defined at a higher level in the company tree.
   

List of monitoring accounts

• The Status column displays a lock icon based on whether or not the monitoring account is locked.
  : Monitoring account locked for the site or for the company.
  : Monitoring account defined and locked by a higher-level site.

• The Company column displays the company or site from which values are inherited.

Monitoring account for a host

All monitoring accounts required for running services associated with a host are displayed in the Accounts tab of the host configuration form.

HostMonitoringAccounts

EndHostMonitoringAccounts

Monitoring account for a service

Monitoring account information required for running services is displayed in the Availability and checks tab of the service configuration form.

ServiceMonitoringAccounts

EndServiceMonitoringAccounts

Procedures

How to create a monitoring account

Step 1: Select the company where you want to implement the new monitoring account

SelectCompanyInCompanyTree_Procedure

Step 2: Create the new monitoring account

1. Select Configuration > General > Monitoring accounts.

2. Click Add.

3. Select the type of account.

Note: Account types that are already defined will not be available.

4. Enter the information on the new account.

5. Click Apply.

The new monitoring account will be created. It will be available to the company and all lower-level sites. It is automatically propagated to all services associated with hosts in the company and lower-level sites.

How to lock a monitoring account

Step 1: Select the host

1. Select the company from the company tree.

2. Select Configure > Hosts > List in the menu.

3. Open the relevant host configuration form.
 

Step 2: Modify the monitoring account

1. Select the Accounts tab.

2. In the left pane, select the monitoring account to be locked.

3. Select Yes in the Locked field.

The values for the monitoring account will be reinitialized and become modifiable.

4. Enter the information on the new account.

5. Click Apply.

How to restore the inherited values for a monitoring account

Step 1: Select the host

1. Select the company from the company tree.

2. Select Configure > Hosts > List in the menu.

3. Open the relevant host configuration form.
 

Step 2: Modify the monitoring account

1. Select the Accounts tab.

2. In the left pane, select the monitoring account whose values should be inherited.

3. Select No in the Locked field.

A monitoring account of the same type will appear.

The monitoring account of the same type is the one defined for the parent site of the host, or alternatively, for a higher-level site or for the company.*

• If no monitoring account of the same type can be found, you cannot unlock the monitoring account. If this is the case, you must first define a monitoring account for the site or for the company.
      See the procedure

4. Click Apply.

How to finalize and check the monitoring account configuration

Step 1: Finalize the monitoring accounts for the new hosts

When new hosts are manually added from the list of hosts or automatically discovered, you must check and finalize the monitoring account configuration of the services associated with the new hosts.

1. Select the Accounts tab in the host configuration form.

2. Accounts indicated by  must be configured and locked, or an account of the same type must be added for the site or company.

Hosts added through discovery

When a host is discovered and added using an SNMP community and a Windows administrator account, the SNMP community and Windows administrator account fields will be preloaded with the same type of account defined for the site, or alternatively, for a higher-level site or for the company.

• If the monitoring account (e.g. SNMP or WMI) specified in the host discovery form is identical to the monitoring account of the site associated with the host, of a higher-level site or of the company, it will not be locked for the host.
• If the monitoring account is not identical, it can be locked.
   

Step 2: Finalize the monitoring accounts for the new host templates

When host templates are associated with a host, you must check and finalize the monitoring account configuration of the services associated with the new templates.

1. Select the Accounts tab in the host configuration form.

2. Accounts indicated by  must be configured and locked, or an account of the same type must be added for the site or company.
 

Step 3: Finalize the monitoring accounts for the new services

When services are added to and associated with a host from the list of services, you must check and finalize the monitoring account configuration of the new services.

1. Select the Accounts tab in the host configuration form.

2. Indicate whether the monitoring account is defined for the service, host, site or company.
 

Step 4: Check that the monitoring accounts are correctly configured

1. Select the company from the company tree.

2. Select Configuration > General > Loading in the menu.

3. Select the Box where you want to check the configuration of the monitoring accounts.

4. Click Apply.

The Configuration error detail section will display the list of errors.