HipCheck Installation and User Guide

3 Using the HipCheck client

This chapter describes how to use both the HipCheck mobile client that runs on Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and the PC client that runs on Windows computers.

Specifically, this chapter covers:

• "Starting the HipCheck client"
• "HipCheck at-a-glance"
• "Selecting a system to monitor or manage"
• "Working with HipCheck views"

Starting the HipCheck client

To start the HipCheck client:

Mobile client:	PC client:
Tap on Start > Programs. Tap on the HipCheck icon.	From the Start menu, open All Programs. Select Me Inc > HipCheck.

Note: You must be an authorized HipCheck user, or member of an authorized public group, to use the HipCheck client. If you are unable to access system data from the client, verify that you were added to the privilege list for each system that you want to monitor, as described in "Setting up systems, user privileges, and alert recipients on the HipCheck Mobility Server" in Chapter 2, "Getting started".

When starting the HipCheck client, note the following:

• The first time the HipCheck client connects with a monitored system during a session, it checks the version of the agent that is running on the system. If the agent is an older version than supported by the client, you see a dialog message that the client cannot monitor the system. After you click OK to close the dialog, all client functions with the exception of the MeInc menu are unavailable. To restore monitoring functionality for the selected system, you must install an updated HipCheck agent. See Appendix A, "Upgrading HipCheck agents and clients" (page 103) for more information.
• The HipCheck mobility service requires clients to re-authenticate with the HipCheck Mobility Server every two weeks. You will be prompted to supply your Me Inc. account password. If you decline to re-authenticate, or if the password that you supply does not match your subscription information stored on the HipCheck Mobility Server, all client functions (except the MeInc menu) will be disabled. If you cannot remember the password for your Me Inc. account subscription, contact the account owner or an account manager.

HipCheck at-a-glance

The HipCheck client is easy to use and quick to learn. This section provides an overview of how the client works and helps get you oriented with the user interface.

The screens on the next page highlight the most common user interface elements that you will encounter while using the HipCheck client. The screens show the Processes view, as seen in both the mobile client and the PC client.

Mobile client interface	PC client interface

1	The name of the current view.
2	System pop-up list. Lists all of the systems that you are authorized to monitor or manage.
3	The "Updated" field shows the elapsed time since data for the current view was last refreshed. (See the "Refreshing a view:" table (page 51) to configure how view data is automatically refreshed and to manually update a view.)
4	The area where view information is displayed.
5	The HipCheck menu bar. Note that the menu bar is located at the bottom of the Pocket PC screen, and at the top of the PC client window.

There are three principle components of the HipCheck client: views of different aspects of system behavior, a collection of alerts that you can use to watch for problems, and different actions that you can perform to manage a system or correct detected problems.

• Views

  Views are reports that display the information that has been collected by a system's HipCheck agent on your mobile device or computer. Views allow you to observe, assess, and analyze different aspects of a system's behavior or performance.

  There are 11 HipCheck views, including: Summary, System Info, Storage, Printers, Print Jobs, Processes, Services, Users, Hardware, Logs, and Alerts.

  You access the different HipCheck views from the View menu, in the HipCheck menu bar.

  In most cases, entries in a view are objects on which you can perform tasks.
  
  

  This example of the Printers view shows that two printers are connected to the selected system. Each printer is a selectable object, upon which you can do tasks such as get more Details, set Alerts, and perform Actions.

• Alerts

  A number of views allow you to set alerts for objects displayed in the view. Alerts are set on an object-by-object basis.

  When alerts are turned on, the system's HipCheck agent monitors the specified conditions. These conditions range from defined values that have been exceeded (like the percentage of a hard disk in use) to problems like a printer going off-line.

  When an alert condition is triggered on a system, the HipCheck agent sends an alert notice to the HipCheck client.

  The way in which you receive alert notices depends on how your Me Inc. account subscription is configured: you either receive SMS text notifications on your mobile device, or email messages.

• Actions

  A number of views allow you to perform actions on the different objects displayed in the view. These actions allow you to perform basic remote system management and to correct a problem to which you have been alerted.

The HipCheck views, and the corresponding Details, Alerts, and Actions tasks, are described in detail later in this chapter, in "Working with HipCheck views".

Configuring what is displayed when the client is started

You can specify the type of information that is displayed whenever you start a new HipCheck client session. To do this, select Startup from the Options menu. Select the desired startup setting and click OK. This configuration takes place the next time you start a client session.

The Startup tab includes the following options:

• Summary -- the Summary view, which provides a list of all of the systems in your HipCheck system list, is automatically displayed. Note that if your HipCheck system list includes a large number of systems, the Summary view may take awhile to display. (See "Summary view" for more information on this view.)
• System Info for 1st system -- the System Info view for the first system in your HipCheck system list is automatically displayed. This is the default setting. (See "System Info view" for more information on this view.)
• None -- no view information is displayed on startup and the view area is left blank. This setting results in the fastest client startup times.

Selecting a system to monitor or manage

There are several methods available for selecting a system to monitor or manage. These options are described in the following tables.

Using the mobile client:

Click the System pop-up list and tap the desired system name or IP address. If you are in the Summary view, tap on the View menu and select the desired view. If you are using any other view, HipCheck populates that view with the corresponding data for the system you just selected. or From the Summary view, highlight the desired system name or IP address and then tap on the View menu and select the desired view. To go directly to a system's System Info or Alerts view, tap and hold on the system in the Summary view, then select Details or Alerts from the pop-up list.

Using the PC client:

Click the System pop-up list and select the desired system name or IP address. If you are in the Summary view, select the desired view from the View menu. If you are using any other view, HipCheck populates that view with the corresponding data for the system you just selected. or From the Summary view, double-click the desired system name or IP address. The System Info view for the selected system is displayed. Use the View menu to look at a different view. Alternately, you can right-click on the desired system. From the pop-up list, select Details to see the System Info view or Alerts to see the Alerts view.

Working with HipCheck views

The available HipCheck views are: Summary, System Info, Storage, Printers, Print Jobs, Processes, Services, Users, Hardware, Logs, and Alerts. Each of these views is described in detail later in this section.

When working with HipCheck views, note the following:

Using column headers in views:

All of the views, except the Summary, System Info, and Hardware views, have column headers: Columns can be resized dragging the separator line between two column headers. You can sort by the different columns displayed in a view. To select the sort column, tap on the desired column header. You can also select to sort in ascending or descending order. Tapping repeatedly in the same column toggles the sort order. For mobile clients only, an up or down arrow indicates the sort column and the chosen sort order.

Changing to a different view:

The first time you open a view for the selected system, the HipCheck client requests the relevant data from the system's HipCheck agent, via the HipCheck Mobility Server. However, depending on how you have configured your client, when you return to a view that you have already visited in your current HipCheck session, you may be seeing cached data as opposed to the most current information. See the next section to control how frequently view data is updated. Note: For security, HipCheck does not store any data on your mobile device or Windows computer. Consequently, when you exit and then restart the HipCheck client, all system data must be reloaded from the HipCheck Mobility Server.

Refreshing a view:

To see the most current information for a selected view, you may need to manually refresh the view. To do this: From the mobile client, tap and hold on the "Updated" field, then tap Refresh Now. From the PC client, right-click on the "Updated" field, then select Refresh Now. In both clients, you can also select Refresh Now from the View menu. You can configure how often, if at all, your client automatically refreshes the data presented in a previously displayed view. To do this, select Auto-refresh from the Options menu. Select the desired setting and then click OK. The available options are: Never -- views are never automatically refreshed. You must use the View > Refresh Now option when you want to see the most current data for a view. This is the default setting. Always -- every time you open a view, the data for that view is automatically updated. Because this selection requires the client to connect to the HipCheck Mobility Server every time you open a view, this option may not always be desirable. If data older than -- specify the number of minutes that must elapse between viewings before a view will be automatically updated.

Selecting tasks:

You can perform a variety of tasks for the objects (i.e., printers, processes, filesystems) that are displayed in the HipCheck views. These tasks include: View additional Details about the selected object. Turn Alerts for the selected object on or off, and define threshold criteria for the alerts. Perform Actions on the selected object, either as part of routine system maintenance or to correct a problem detected by the HipCheck agent. To perform a task for an object in a HipCheck view: From the mobile client, tap and hold on the desired object, then select Details, Alerts, or Actions. From the PC client, right-click on the desired object, then select Details, Alerts, or Actions. In both clients, you can also highlight the desired object then select the desired task from the Tasks menu. Tip: When you select a task for an object, the corresponding task window displays. This window includes tabs for any of the other tasks that can be performed on the selected object. Note: Depending on the view and the type of object, the Alerts and Actions tasks may not be available. These tasks are also unavailable if you have not been set up to receive alerts for the system, or do not have Owner or Admin privileges for the system.

The HipCheck views, and the various tasks that can be performed on objects in each view, are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Note: The following sections include examples of the view and task windows that are available in HipCheck. While the examples used in this chapter are taken from a PC client running on a Windows XP desktop, they also represent the screens that you see when running the mobile client on a Windows Mobile Pocket PC.

Summary view

The Summary view lists all of the systems that you are authorized to monitor and manage. (Your HipCheck system list is also displayed in the System pop-up list, at the top of the screen.)

Note the following:

• The "System" column shows the name and status of each system in the list. Status of each system is indicated by the icon preceding the system's name.
  • Green circle: system is reachable; no alerts have been triggered
  • Yellow circle: system is reachable; alerts have been triggered
  • Red circle: system is unreachable, or HipCheck agent version is out-of-date
• The "Alerts" column shows the number of alerts, if any, that have been triggered for each system in the list.

System Info view

The System Info view shows basic information about the monitored system, including its name, IP address, operating system, memory, and uptime. The information displayed for Windows and UNIX systems is slightly different.

Note: This view is for informational purposes only. None of the Task menu options are available in this view

Storage view

The Storage view shows disk space allocations and usage. For Windows systems, it reports on the size and number of logical drives. For UNIX systems, filesystems and filesystem sizes are displayed. Additionally, this view shows how much space is currently in use and how much remains free.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Storage view, highlight the desired object and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a Windows logical drive or a UNIX filesystem:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected object, including the object's filesystem type and whether or not compression is in use. Note that the information reported for Windows and UNIX systems is slightly different. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Storage view.

Set an alert for a Windows logical drive or a UNIX filesystem:

The Alerts window allows you to configure an alert that warns you if the free space on the selected drive or filesystem falls below a certain percentage. You can set the free space threshold that you desire. Select the checkbox to turn on this alert. Click the up and down arrow keys to set the percentage of free space that will trigger this alert. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current setting unchanged. You return to the Storage view.

Printers view

The Printers view shows all configured printers on the monitored system, including the printers' status and print queue size.

Note: The Printers view shows printers that are physically connected to the selected system. Network printers and printers shared from a different system are not monitored or displayed in this view.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Printers view, highlight the desired printer and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a printer:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected printer, including its location, if it is the default printer, and whether or not it is a network printer. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Printers view.

Set alerts for a printer:

The Alerts window controls alerts for the selected printer: To receive an alert if the printer's status is not okay (i.e., the printer is out of paper), select the first checkbox. To receive an alert if the number of queued jobs exceeds a specified threshold, select the second checkbox. Enter the desired threshold that will trigger this alert. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current settings unchanged. You return to the Printers view.

Manage a printer:

The Actions window allows you to perform several management tasks for the selected printer. You can: cancel all print jobs on the printer pause and resume a printer (Windows systems), or disable and re-enable a printer (UNIX systems) Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current settings unchanged. You return to the Printers view. If an action was performed, the Printers view is automatically refreshed.

Print Jobs view

The Print Jobs view shows all of the print jobs for all printers on the monitored system.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Print Jobs view, highlight the desired print job and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a specific print job:

The Details window shows additional information about the selected print job, including who owns the print job, the total number of pages in the print job, and when it was submitted. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Print Job view.

Cancel a print job:

The Actions window allows you to cancel the selected print job. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Print Job view. If an action was performed, the Print Job view is automatically refreshed.

Processes view

The Processes view shows all of the running processes on the monitored system.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Processes view, highlight the desired process and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a process:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected process, such as the command line arguments issued to launch the process, and the amount of CPU time and memory that the process has consumed. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Processes view.

Set an alert for a process:

The Alerts window allows you to configure an alert that warns you if the selected process stops running. Select the checkbox to turn on this alert. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current setting unchanged. You return to the Processes view.

Kill a process:

The Actions window allows you to stop the select process. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current settings unchanged. You return to the Processes view. If an action was performed, the Processes view is automatically refreshed.

Services view

The Services view shows all of the services configured on the monitored system, as well as the status of each service.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Services view, highlight the desired service and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a service:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected service, such as the service description and the user who is running the service. Select OK or Cancel to return to the Services view.

Set an alert for a service:

The Alerts window allows you to configure an alert that warns you if the selected service stops or starts. Select the checkbox to turn on this alert. Select to monitor for the service starting or stopping. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current setting unchanged. You return to the Services view.

Kill a process:

The Actions window allows you to stop, start, or restart the selected service. Select OK to update any changes you make on this window, or Cancel to leave the current settings unchanged. You return to the Services view. If an action was performed, the Services view is automatically refreshed.

Users view

The Users view shows all of the configured user accounts on the monitored system. On UNIX systems, it shows the equivalent output of `userls -u` on OpenServer systems, and `logins -u` on UnixWare. System accounts (such as root, bin, sys, etc.) are not shown.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Users view, highlight the desired user name and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a user:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected user, such as the user ID of the selected user, whether a password is required, and if the password expires. Select OK to return to the Users view.

Hardware view

The Hardware view shows the hardware devices, organized by categories, for the monitored system. To see the actual hardware devices installed on the system, expand the device categories by clicking or tapping on the corresponding plus sign.

Note: The Hardware view of a UNIX system does not include categories for Keyboards and Monitors.

Tip: If there is a problem with a device on a Windows system, a yellow exclamation mark icon appears next to the device's entry in the Hardware view.

To perform a task on an object displayed in the Hardware view, expand the device category, highlight the desired device, and then select an option in the Tasks menu. The options that may be available are discussed below:

See more details about a device:

The Details window shows you additional information about the selected device, including the device's manufacturer and model, and other device-specific information. Select OK to return to the Hardware view.

Logs view

The Logs view shows the events that are contained in the selected system's log files which you have selected to monitor.

Your Log list -- the collection of log files that is being monitored by the HipCheck agent running on the selected system -- is displayed in the Log pop-up list. Note the following:

• On Windows systems, all of the Windows event logs (Application, Security, System, OSession, and ODiag), as well as the HipCheck agent for Windows event log, are monitored by default.
• On SCO UNIX systems, the syslog log file and the HipCheck agent log file are monitored by default. Note that any errors that occur on the system before the HipCheck agent is running are not captured by the agent and not visible in the Logs view.
• By default, the Logs view in the mobile client displays the last 25 log entries; in the PC client, the last 100 log entries are displayed. For SCO UNIX systems, this limit can be adjusted, on a per-log basis, by editing one of the following files:

/usr/lib/monlog.d/conf/<LogName>/conf

where <LogName> is the name of the desired log file (for example, syslog). Modify the MAXSIZE and RESIZE parameters, as desired.

• You can customize your Log list by adding additional log files to monitor or removing some of the default log files. Also, you can select to receive alerts if specific entries are detected in any of the log files you are monitoring.

You can perform the following tasks in the Logs view:

Display entries from a specific log file:

The Log pop-up list displays the complete set of log files that are being monitored for the selected system. By default, the Logs view displays all of the detected events tracked by all of these log files. To only see the entries for a specific log file in your Log list, click on the Log pop-up list and select the desired log file.

See more details about a specific log entry:

Highlight the desired log entry and select Details from the Tasks menu. The Details window shows you additional information about the selected entry. Select OK to return to the Logs view.

Set an alert for a log entry:

You can receive alerts if log entries that you want to know about are detected in any of the log files that you are monitoring. Select Alerts from the Tasks menu. The Alerts window displays the log entry patterns for which you currently receive alerts. To set up an alert for a specific log entry: In the Alerts window, click Add. You see: In the "Log" field pop-up list, select the desired log file. In the "Pattern" field, enter a keyword that is part of the log entry you want to know about. Tip: If the log entry might contain different capitalizations of this pattern, you can use regular expressions to cover all possibilities. For example, to be alerted about all instances of "error", you could enter: [E,e] [R,r] [R,r] [O,o] [R,r] Click Ok. You can also modify or delete your Logs view alerts. Select the desired entry in the Alerts window and then click Modify or Delete.

You can use the Logs view to set up the log files -- and the entries in specific log files -- that you want to monitor. These options are discussed in the following tables:

Add a new log file for monitoring:

For Windows systems Click Configure to open the "Log Config" window. Click Add and then complete the fields in the "Add Log" window. - "Name" field: enter a name to help identify the log file, such as the log's purpose or the application that uses it. - "Desc" field: provide a description of the log file. - "Type" field: at this time, Event log is the only type of log that can be monitored on Windows systems. - "Path" field: enter the log's full path and filename. - "Criteria" field: select the checkboxes that correspond to the types of events that you want to know about. The options are Errors, Warnings, and Information. When you are finished, click OK. The new log file is now included in your Log list. For SCO UNIX systems Click Configure to open the "Log Config" window. Click Add and then complete the fields in the "Add Log" window. - "Name" field: enter a name to help identify the log file, such as the log's purpose or the application that uses it. - "Desc" field: provide a description of the log file. - "Type" field: at this time, Text logfile is the only type of log that can be monitored on SCO UNIX systems. - "Path" field: enter the log's full path and filename. - "Criteria" field: click Add and then enter the string that is associated with the desired event (for example: error or critical) in the "Criteria pattern" field. You can select to include or exclude entries that match this pattern. Click OK to add the string to the criteria that the agent uses when monitoring the log file. Repeat this step until you have entered all of the desired events. Tip: To monitor all possible capitalizations of a pattern, you can enter regular expressions in the "Criteria" field. For example, to see all instances of "error", you could enter: [E,e] [R,r] [R,r] [O,o] [R,r] When you are finished, click OK. The new log file is now included in your Log list.

Modify the events that are monitored in individual log files:

Note: After a log file is added to your Log list, you cannot change its Name or Path. If you need to change this information, delete the log from your Log list (see the next table) and then re-add it. For Windows systems Click Configure to open the "Log Config" window. Highlight the desired log file in the list and then click Modify. In the "Edit Log" window, modify the criteria that the agent uses when monitoring the log file. When you are finished, click OK to close the "Edit Log" window. For SCO UNIX systems Click Configure to open the "Log Config" window. Highlight the desired log file in the list and then click Modify. In the "Edit Log" window, modify the criteria that the agent uses when monitoring the log file: - to include additional events for monitoring, click Add. In the "Add Criteria" window, enter the string that is associated with the desired event (for example: error or critical) in the "Criteria pattern" field. You can select to include or exclude entries that match this pattern. Click OK to add the string to the "Criteria" field. Repeat this step until you have entered all of the events for which you want to monitor. Tip: To monitor all possible capitalizations of a pattern, you can enter regular expressions in the "Criteria" field. For example, to see all instances of "error", you could enter: [E,e] [R,r] [R,r] [O,o] [R,r] - to modify an existing pattern, highlight the entry in the "Criteria" field and click Mod. In the "Edit Criteria" window, make the desired changes and then click OK. - to stop monitoring a particular type of event, highlight the entry in the "Criteria" field and click Del. Click Yes to confirm the deletion. When you are finished, click OK to close the "Edit Log" window.

Stop monitoring a log file:

Note: You can stop monitoring any log file, including the default logs, by removing it from your Log list. Click Configure to open the "Log Config" window. Highlight the log file that you no longer wish to monitor and then click Delete. Click Yes to confirm the deletion. The log file is removed from your Log list and is no longer monitored by the agent.

Alerts view

The Alerts view lists all of the alerts that are currently turned on for the selected system, as well as any alert conditions that have been triggered.

Manage alerts:

Select the Configured tab to see a list of all the alerts that are currently active for the monitored system. "Type" column: the view from where the alert was activated. "Object" column: the filesystem, printer, process, or other object that is being monitored by the HipCheck agent. "Alert Conditions" column: the event, threshold, or situation that triggers the HipCheck agent to send an alert. The Configured Alerts window offers a convenient way to go to turn off multiple alerts from the same place: Select the checkbox next to the alert or alerts that you want to stop. Tip: To stop all of the active alerts, select Check All. Use Uncheck All to clear existing selections in the list. Select Delete.

View and restart triggered alerts:

Select the Triggered tab to see a list of alerts that have been triggered on the monitored system. "Timestamp" column: date and time the alert was triggered. "Type" column: the view from where the alert was activated. "Object" column: the filesystem, printer, process, or other object that is being monitored by the HipCheck agent. "Details" column: the event, threshold, or situation that occurred on the monitored system Once an alert has been triggered, the system's HipCheck agent stops monitoring for the associated condition. To reset the agent so that it resumes monitoring for the alert condition: Select the checkbox next to the alert or alerts that you want to restart. Tip: To restart all of the listed alerts, select Check All. Use Uncheck All to clear existing selections in the list. Select Clear.