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Using WEB browser, user specifies which services should be checked, the way of checking service status and type of events to notify. Generally, there are two kinds of events ("service is up" and "service is down") in the Service Console. Both can be notified permanently or, only when the status changes by several notification actions like an E-mail, sending SNMP trap, writing a message etc.

• Principles of operation
• Discovery & Locator
• Notification Actions
• SNMP Traps
• MIB Compiler
• Remote Administration
• Integration with other management applications
• Requirements - Java VM

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Principles of operation

Service Console is driven by a set of rules. Service Console periodically processes defined rules to check the services and notify their statuses. Processing the rule is scheduled with specified period and is independent of other rules. Each rule maintains the information about the kind of service (Template property), its location (Host property) and set of notification actions. To check the service, the rules use templates. They predetermine how it is found if a service lives or does not live. Service Console comes with several templates preinstalled. User can create new templates based on most common protocols (TCP, UDP, ICMP). He can even create Java based cartridges to process any protocol that has not been implemented yet.

While processing a rule, Service Console:

1. gets the host address from the list of hosts
2. connects to the specified socket on this address
3. performs the script predefined by template based on the protocol of checked service (SMTP, HTTP and so on)
4. performs notification actions depending on the service status
5. continues with 1, if there is next host on the list

NOTES:

1. If the connection is successful and the script is completed without error (i.e., the Service Console obtains expected replies), the service is considered as running (up). On the contrary, the remote service is considered as not running (down) either in the case of connection failure or in the case of obtaining unexpected replies.
2. If the service protocol is not connection based (UDP protocol), Service Console just sends the packet(s) and waits for the response(s), according to the predefined script.

Each service status can be notified by Notification Actions. Each rule can have no, one or several notification actions assigned. An action can notify either that the service is down, or that it is up, or both.

Service Console can use preconditions in the rules. It helps to prevent Service Console from trying to connect temporarily inaccessible parts of network. E.g. pinging the gate to corporate network can act as the precondition.

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Discovery & Locator

Service Console uses the discovery process to detect hosts available on network. The discovery can be configured to look for hosts using either ICMP ping & traceroute, or SNMP protocol. For each discovered host Service Console tests all services, whether they are running there. User can choose them for checking (by creating the rule) with default notification action. Discovery and service locator run hidden at background, if specified so.

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Notification Actions

In addition to simple logging down the events, Service Console provides multiple ways to notify user:

• Writing on application console
• E-mail message
• Sending SNMP trap
• Writing to database
• Executing third party application on the server
• Generic socket communication

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SNMP Traps

Service Console sends customizable SNMP traps as one of notification actions. It complies with policy for easy integration of network management applications. Service Console reads traps from user-defined MIB files.

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MIB Compiler

Service Console’s integrated MIB compiler lets you add new MIBs into the MIB database. The MIB Manager's upload feature makes it possible to upload new MIB files right from your web browser.

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Remote Administration

Service Console features Web-based user interface. It is possible to view and configure Service Console from any place over the Internet. Any standard Web-browser is the only requirement for administration. Service Console's password protection in conjunction with advanced session management provides the necessary level of security.

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Integration with other management applications

With utilization of SNMP traps and of generic socket-based reporting, Service Console integrates easily with high-level management consoles.

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Requirements - Java VM

Service Console was written to fulfill the need for a portable back-end service, independent of the hardware and operating system it runs on, easily accessible from a platform-independent client.

Service Console is written in Java. This makes the presence of Java VM (Virtual Machine) the only requirement to run Service Console (see NOTE). Version 1.1.7 or higher is strongly recommended. You can download JavaSoft's JVM from http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/jre/index.html.

Any table-supporting Web browser can serve as the user interface - Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, etc. Download the latest Netscape Navigator from http://www.netscape.com/navigator/ or the latest Microsoft Internet Explorer from http://www.microsoft.com/ie/.

NOTE: Service Console uses ICMP support native library requiring winsock2 (Windows Socket 2), which is not part of Windows 95 installation. To run Service Console on Windows 95, winsock2 must be installed. You can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/.../w95sockets2/....