OP5 Monitor ["OP5 Monitor"]
["User Guide"]

# Introduction to monitoring hosts, services, and groups

## Overview

The main monitoring functions you can perform on hosts and services are as follows:

- View host and service problems.
- View performance graphs.
- Execute service, host, and group commands.
- Manage scheduled downtime for hosts, services, and groups.
- Check for network outages.
- View syslog messages.

Before you begin to use the monitoring functions and displays, it is important to ensure that you have performed all of the necessary configuration to get the most from OP5 Monitor, such as configuring monitoring objects, notifications, logging, list views, and filters.

OP5 Monitor configuration is explained in Introduction to configuration.

## List views

OP5 Monitor comes with a default set of views to display and manage your monitoring objects, known as list views. The main list view for hosts gives you access to key host and service information and additional functions.

You can click on any column to sort it ascending or descending.

You can filter list views, to view lists of objects with specific characteristics, and save your filtered list views in the Monitor menu. The following default filtered views are pre-defined in the Monitor menu:

- The acknowledged hosts/services views.
- The unhandled host/service problems views.

List views vary by object, but generally contain the following by default:

- A top bar with total object counts and object counts by status.
- An Actions column for performing actions on the object.
- Status columns.
- Information columns relating to information such as Checks, Duration, Status, and Notes.

The table below details the host and service list view icons and their related meaning or action.

Icon | Description | Location
--- | --- | ---
| Number of objects with warning status | Top bar, column header
| Number of objects with OK status | Top bar, column header
| Number of objects with critical status | Top bar, column header
| Number of objects with unknown status | Top bar, column header
| Total object count | Top bar, column header
| Multiple actions | Top bar
| Filter | Top bar
| Link to a list view of services for a host | Actions column
| Extra actions for this object. This icon only displays if the action_url option is set for hosts or services. For more information, see Host options in Manage templates and time periods. | Actions column
| Object configuration | Actions column
| Extra notes for this object. This icon only displays if the notes_url option is set for hosts or services. For more information, see Host options in Manage templates and time periods. | Actions column
| Performance graph | Status column
| Comments | Status column

You can configure list views to display specific columns and data. For more information, see Configure list view columns and Manage list view filters.

### List view refresh times

By default, list views refresh every 90 seconds. You can temporarily pause list view refreshing or update list view refresh rates by clicking the list view refresh settings icon , available in the navigation bar on list view pages.

Note: The settings only apply as long as you continue to navigate list views. As soon as you go to another part of OP5 Monitor, they revert to the default values.

For more information about creating and customising list views, see Manage list view filters and Configure list view columns.

## Multiple actions

If you want to perform the same action on more than one host group, service group, host, or service from the same list view, you can use the multiple actions menu. You select all of the required objects in the list view and open the menu to select the action, by clicking the icon at the top right. The actions available vary, depending on the object type.

For example, you can open the unhandled host problems view and acknowledge all the unhandled host problems at the same time.

## Quick access

You can access actions for monitoring objects quickly by right-clicking the status icon in the first column of a host or service list view. The quick access menu for hosts also includes the functions for its associated services.

## Search facility

You can search for monitoring objects by name, and you can view the results in a list view and perform actions on them, including multiple actions.

The following sections describe the different types of searches you can perform on your monitoring objects.

### Simple search

You can search for hosts, services, service groups, host groups, and their associated notes, using a simple string search.

The following table shows details of values that can be matched by the search string, including any related variables.

Object type | Variable
--- | ---
Host | host_name host_alias host_address display_name
Service | service_description display_name
Host group | hostgroup_name alias
Service group | servicegroup_name alias
Notes |
Status information |

To perform a simple search:

1. Enter your search string in the search input field. While you are typing, OP5 Monitor attempts to find a matching host name and displays a list of matching hosts, if any exist.
2. If you see your search item in the host list, select it and OP5 Monitor redirects you to the detail page for the host. Otherwise press Enter to continue your search on any of the variables listed in the table above.

### Advanced search

To make your search more specific, you can use the advanced search features. The following table describes the search parameters that you can use in the search function:

Short parameter | Description
--- | ---
h: | Search for hosts
s: | Search for services
hg: | Search for host groups
sg: | Search for service groups
si: | Search for Status information using the output from the latest service or host check
% | Wild card — can be replaced with any string
AND |
OR |

Note: You must not leave a space between the colon and the search string.

### Advanced search examples

##### Search for hosts containing a particular string in the name

To search for hosts with a host name containing `server`, enter the following search:

`h:server`

##### Perform a search combining both hosts and services

To search for all services called either `ping` or `http`, running on hosts with a name like `win` or `linux`, enter the following search:

`h:win OR linux AND s:ping OR http`

##### Search for status information

To search for hosts and services with status information containing the string `Connection refused` in their most recent status output, enter the following search:

`si:Connection refused`

##### List all hosts or services

To retrieve a complete list of hosts and services, enter the following search:

`s:% OR h:%`

##### List all hosts, services, host groups, and service groups

To retrieve a complete list of hosts, services, host groups, and service groups, enter the following search:

`%`

### Notes search

To search for notes, the Notes column must be present in the list view. For more information, see Add columns to list views in Configure list view columns.

Tip: It is possible to retrieve the host notes on a service as well, by using the host.notes label in the column definition.

### Search results

Search results are displayed in a sortable list, with object types grouped into separate sections:

To open the results for a specific object type in a list view, click View in listview. You can then perform single or multiple actions on the list view objects as in any other list view.

Tip: If your search returns too many results, you can change the default limit of 100 rows by adding a limit in the search field as part of your query, for example: `limit=10` .

### Save a search

To save a search query, you need to view the output in a list view.

1. Click View in listview, then click the filter icon .
2. Enter a name for the search query, then click Save filter. The new view is saved in the sub-menu for the object.

## Graphs

OP5 Monitor includes graphing performance data returned by check plugins that support this feature. Performance data can be anything that gives a more detailed picture of a check's performance characteristics than the ok, warning, and critical levels found in OP5 Monitor responses. For example, check_ping returns performance data for packet loss and round trip times. This data is stored by OP5 Monitor and used to create graphs for different time periods, such as the last 24 hours or past week. This feature can help identify trends or potential problems in a network.

You can view the performance graph for a host or service in a list view, by hovering over the graph icon . You can also view a graph for the overall service in the Report menu under Graphs.

Hovering over the graph icon in a list view displays a pop-up graph. You can click on the pop-up to go to a detailed graph page, where you can perform the following:

- View graphs for all time periods and services.
- Search for graphs for another host.
- View graphs from multiple sources by adding them to a basket.
- Zoom into sections of a graph to see more detail.
- Make a graph the default for the service or host.
- View the most recent alerts for the time period of the graph.
- Create an availability report for the graph.

You can find more information on graphs in the following topics:

- View graphs
- Manage graphs

## Logs

If your system is configured to use Logger, you can view a list of syslog messages sent from your hosts in Monitor > Log messages. You can create filtered views of log messages. For more information, see Manage logging.

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