Process Monitor

The Process Monitor monitors Windows processes when assigned to an Agent. The Process Monitor is multi-functional; it can notify you when a process has exceeded the threshold of CPU usage you specify and it can track when processes are started or terminated. In addition, it can generate a Warning or Error when the number of instances of a process exceeds your specified value.

Each Process Monitor item supports multiple match criteria. Use the Add button to add a match criterion. Use the Delete button to remove a listed match criterion. Double-click any listed item to edit it.

Process Monitor

Click the Add button to enter the name of the process or processes you want to monitor.

Note
The name of the process to monitor is derived from the Processes object in Windows.  This name does not always match what you see in Task Manager.  You should verify the name of the process you wish to monitor by using a utility such as Performance Monitor.

You may use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character, a pipe (|) as an OR operator, the ampersand (&) as an AND operator, and the exclamation point (!) as a NOT operator.  Process names can be entered on separate lines for exclusion.  For example, to exclude the _Total and Idle processes, you can enter them like this:

!_Total

!Idle

Click OK to save your changes.

Select a line in the Processes to Monitor window and click the Delete button to remove the line from the list.

Note
The Default pre configured Process Monitor is setup to watch all processes with the exception of _Total and Idle.

Thresholds

Enter threshold triggers for the Process Monitor.

CPU Usage

•Warning when % Processor Time is greater than - Executes the enabled CPU Warning Actions when the CPU utilization of a monitored process exceeds the value.

•Error when % Processor Time is greater than - Executes the enabled CPU Error Actions when the CPU utilization of a monitored process exceeds the value.

Note
The ELM Process Monitor recognizes multi-processor systems and calculates an overall system utilization. For example, given a quad-processor system and the processor utilizations shown, system utilization would be about one-third:
 
 Processor 0 =  25% utilization
 Processor 1 =  50% utilization
 Processor 2 =  25% utilization
 Processor 3 =  50% utilization
Total               = 150%
 Possible      = 400%
 System       = 150/400 = 37.5% utilization

Number of Processes With the Same Name

•Warning when the number is greater than - Executes the enabled Process Count Warning Actions when the number of processes with the same name exceeds the value.

•Error when the number is greater than - Executes the enabled Process Count Error Actions when the number of processes with the same name exceeds the value.

Process Starts or Stops

Process Monitors can notify you when a process is started or terminated. These settings can be found on the New Process and Process Ended tabs of the Process Monitor's Actions dialog.

Actions

•CPU Error (Error) 5534 - A monitored process is using more CPU than the Error when % Processor Time is Greater Than value specified under Thresholds (see above).

•CPU Warning (Warning) 5533 - A monitored process is using more CPU than the Warning when % Processor Time is Greater Than value specified under Thresholds (see above).

•New Process (Informational) 5535 - A new process was found in the list of monitored processes.

•Process Ended (Warning) 5536 - A process disappeared from the list of monitored processes.

•Process Count Warning (Warning) 5553 - The number of processes with the same name exceeds the Warning when Process Count is greater than value specified under Thresholds (see above).

•Process Count Error (Error) 5554 - The number of processes with the same name exceeds the Error when Process Count is greater than value specified under Thresholds (see above).

Categories

Displays the Monitoring Categories to which the Monitor is assigned. Click to select or deselect Monitoring Categories. Right click to create or edit Monitoring Categories.

Test Monitor

Test any Monitor Item against any Agent capable of running the Item using the drop-down and Test button on this dialog box. Testing a Monitor Item prior to putting it into production validates that the monitor item is configured properly. To test a monitor item:

1.Select the Agent you wish to test against from the drop-down list.

2.Click the Start Test button.

If the test was successful, you will receive a pop-up indicating this and the option to see detailed results of the test. If the test failed, detailed results of the test will automatically open in Notepad.

Schedule

Displays the Scheduled Interval and Scheduled Hours settings which control the frequency for the Monitor Item.

Scheduled Interval tab

Specify the interval at which the monitoring, polling or action is to occur. Depending on the Monitor Item type, Items can be scheduled in interval increments of Seconds, Minutes, Hours and Days. The Scheduled Interval is relative to the top of the hour or top of the minute. For example, if a Scheduled Interval is configured for 10 minutes, the Monitor Item will execute at hh:10:00, hh:20:00, hh:30:00, hh:40:00, hh:50:00, h1:00:00, etc. If a Scheduled Interval is configured for 15 seconds, the Monitor Item will execute at hh:00:15, hh:00:30, hh:00:45, hh:01:00, hh:01:15, etc.

Scheduled Hours tab

Select the days and/or hours this item is active. By default, the schedule is set to ON for all hours and all days. Mouse clicks toggle squares between ON and OFF. Clicking on an individual square will toggle the active schedule for that hour. Clicking on an hour at the top of the grid, or on a day of the week at the left of the grid will toggle the corresponding column or row. Keyboard equivalents are the arrow keys and the space bar.

Properties Tab

This read-only tab displays the properties of the selected object and the values for those properties.