ISPPlanet NMS Series - Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold 5.0

Network Monitoring

WhatsUp Gold monitors network status by polling with ICMP ping (default), any TCP service, NetBIOS, or IPX. Maps created by discovery automatically start polling when loaded (i.e., opened). Monitoring parameters (e.g., frequency, timeout, schedule) can be reconfigured using device property panels (right). Each device has a "Check Now" command for on-demand polling. Poll an entire map now using the "Check" button, or suspend polling for the entire map using the "Stopwatch" button. These controls offer flexibility, but are a little confusing at first—for example, toolbar buttons affect only the last-touched map.

When devices are created, manually or by discovery, a poll sequence is constructed for the map. When the interval expires, devices are polled in sequence, affected by "up" and "down" dependencies. "Down" dependencies are intuitive: for example, if a router is down, don't poll connected subnets. Dependent devices are considered down from a statistical perspective, even though they are not polled. "Up" dependencies permit atypical polling on failure: for example, if a server is down, poll its first-hop router. If down, poll the next hop router, working backwards across the network until the problem is found. Traceroute discovery creates "Up" dependencies that regularly poll just the destination, and poll intermediate nodes when the destination fails. Other dependencies can be configured manually. Resources can also be polled every Nth interval: for example, poll routers each minute; poll servers every five minutes. These controls reduce management overhead, making it possible to monitor larger networks by being selective.

Like most monitors, WhatsUp Gold indicates loss of reachability with color: for example, progress from light yellow to dark red as 2-8 poll cycles elapse without response. Status is propagated up the map hierarchy (e.g., subnet red if any failed device in subordinate map), making it easy to watch just the top-level map, then drill down when status changes. Problem devices can be explored with the Status properties panel (below, left). This panel describes when the problem was detected, number of polls missed, and which service is affected. Other panels provide further detail: a Log panel lists recent events and a History panel graphs round-trip times (RTTs). Reachability status and statistics like RTT and downtime are summarized for each network in a Statistics window (below, right) .