TRAINING

MANUAL
T H E PO W ER OF W HA T SUP G OL D

A D D R E SS CONTACT

Ipswitch, inc. Phone : 781-676-5800

83 Hartwell Ave US & Canada : 800-793-4825
Lexington, MA 02421
USA Email : trainingservices@ipswith.
com
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 i

i.1 About the Course

The Class

This class provides you with practical knowledge and specific skills
Learning Objectives to maintain a complex network using WhatsUp Gold TotalView Plus,
Which includes Application Monitoring, Virtual monitoring, Network
Traffic Analyzer, as well as Configuration manager.

All of the classes for WhatsUp gold are based on the “Big 5 Tasks” a
network or server administrator. This is what you need to get out from
network monitoring system, to have a successful deployment. These
tasks are

These big 5 tasks are Discovery, Mapping, Monitoring, Alerting and

Analysis

• Discovery is finding all your devices that are on your network. Your
routers, switches, servers and more
• Mapping is showing what devices are connected to what
• Monitoring is determining the state of your devices. Are they up or
down, as well as, the performance of your devices?
• Alerting is making sure you are aware of the status of your devices
and being notified when they are down or performing out of
thresholds.
• Analysis is using WhatsUp Gold reports, Dashboards and more to
help troubleshoot and verify the metrics of your network and its
devices.

This course was designed for Network, Server and system administrators.
Course Audience
 ii

For a full list of prerequisites please visit our training site, http://
Prerequisites nm.ipswitch.com/WhatsUp-Gold-Training-Registration.html

The Manual

Each lesson covers a set of related topics that are arranged in order by
Learning Guide task a network administrator will need to accomplish when deploying
WhatsUp Gold, as well as, monitor their network and the devices on it.

The manual contains information that will not be covered in the class.
From the basic getting started to the advanced topics of customizing
WhatsUp Gold. Lastly the manual is not meant to replace the Getting
Started or User’s Guide, please refer to those for full configuration steps.

Any method of instruction is only as effective as the time you are willing
Review Tool to invest in it. While some of the information you will learn in this
class may not be immediately important to you, it may become so in
the future. For this reason we encourage you to spend additional time
reviewing each of the topics and labs.

We have also added additional space in the margins for you to take notes
for future reference. Please add any notes that will help you in the future
recall the feature discussed

We have organized the layout of this manual to make it easy to use as a

Reference learning tool, as well as, an after-class reference. Again we stress uses the
margins to keep notes making the perfect reference tool for you.

We have taken a few liberties with punctuations at the end of sentences

or phrases, and you will see Capital Letters used when they aren’t really
called for, but should be of assistance in clarifying various points of
learning.
iii

T ip: tips to use with WhatsUp

Icons Gold.

Reme m be r: denotes
certain items you will want to
remember.

War ni ng: Indicates things

to be concerned about or things
you should not do.
 iv

i.2 Ipswitch Training Environment

The ITE

During this class, each Student will have access to a fully functional
Training Environment installation of WhatsUp Gold that exists within a training environment,
complete with an entire network of real-world, operational devices.
Network devices such as routers, switches, wireless access points, and
a firewall, as well as non-network devices such as Windows servers,
Application servers, and File servers all work together to offer you
a realistic and representative network in which to take advantage of
everything WhatsUp Gold and its plug-ins have to offer.

The Ipswitch Training Environment (ITE) fulfils two main roles for
Students attending WhatsUp Gold training:
The ITE allows you to attend WhatsUp Gold training without the need
to use your production WhatsUp Gold server, or install a second copy of
WhatsUp Gold on your network just for training.
The ITE provides Students with an environment rich in the type of
interesting traffic and conditions you will want to see live in WhatsUp
Gold and the plug-in products.

Both of these benefits work together to offer you engaging and relevant
lab exercises with no setup required on your part.

The ITE provides us with a very flexible and portable architecture

that we hope you’ll like. Essentially, you could log in to the ITE from
anywhere in the world and get started with WhatsUp Gold training
immediately.
v

Table of Contents
i.1 About the Course i
The Class i
Learning Objectives i
Course Audience i
Prerequisites ii
The Manual ii
Learning Guide ii
Review Tool ii
Reference ii
Icons iii
i.2 Ipswitch Training Environment iv
The ITE iv
Training Environment iv
Introduction1-1
1.1 What Is WhatsUp Gold 1-2
WhatsUp Gold Editions 1-2
WhatsUp Gold 1-2
The Editions 1-2
Pollers 1-3
WhatsUp Gold Licensing 1-5
Licensing 1-5
System Requirements 1-6
Logic 1-6
Server 1-6
Client 1-7
1.2 Ipswitch Philosophy 1-8
Focus 1-8
Maps 1-8
Web 1-9
Admin Console 1-9
1.3 WhatsUp Gold Installation 1-11
Microsoft SQL and IIS 1-11
Overview 1-11
Microsoft SQL  1-11
Microsoft IIS 1-11
Installing WhatsUp Gold 1-12
Initial Setup 1-12
1.4 Basic Navigation 1-13
Menus Bar 1-13
Menus 1-13
My Network Button 1-13
My Network Button 1-14
Auto -vs- Custom 1-14
Map Tree 1-14
1.5 Translation Groups 1-15
 vi

Translation 1-15
Language pack 1-15
Initial Preparation 2-1
2.1 User Administration 2-2
Overview 2-2
Users 2-2
User Groups 2-2
Best Practice 2-2
Password Policy 2-2
User Groups 2-3
Overview 2-3
Best Practice 2-4
User Rights 2-4
External Authentication 2-7
Types 2-7
Advantages 2-7
Integration 2-7
User Rights 2-8
Overview 2-8
Rights 2-9
Default Accounts 2-10
Device Group Access 2-10
2.2 Protocols and Credentials 2-11
Overview 2-11
Whats the Difference 2-11
Supported Protocols 2-11
ICMP 2-11
SNMP 2-12
WMI 2-15
Telnet/SSH 2-16
JMX 2-17
Credentials 2-17
Supported Credentials 2-17
Where to add them 2-18
2.3 Device Roles 2-19
Overview 2-19
What are they 2-19
Sub-Roles 2-20
Advantage 2-21
Configuring Device Roles 2-21
Overview 2-21
Configuration 2-21
Discover39
3.1 Network Discovery 40
Overview 40
What is a Discovery 40
3.2 New Scans 42
Scan Types 42
 vii
Overview 42
The Difference 42
When to use/Best Practice 43
IP Address Scan 43
Seed Address Scan 43
Configuration 43
Scan Depth 43
Settings 45
Credentials 47
Schedule 47
Summary 48
Run/Save 49
3.3 Saved Scans 50
Overview 50
Overview 50
Preconfigured 51
Scheduled Refresh 51
Scheduled Discovery 52
Default Discovery 52
3.4 Discover Map 54
Overview 54
The Map 54
Legend 54
Active Scans 55
Map Features 55
Zooming 55
Selecting Device 55
Filters 56
Start Monitoring 57
Grid View 58
Device List 58
My Network 59
4.1 Interactive Map 60
Basic Features 60
The Map 60
Legend 61
Zooming 61
Selecting Device 62
Device List 62
Filters 63
Additional Features 64
Overlays 64
Library Icons 66
Layout 67
Overview 67
Auto Layout 67
Custom Layout 67
4.2 Customizing the Map 68
Device Groups 68
 viii

Overview 68
Physical 68
Dynamic 69
Tools 71
Overview 71
Shapes 71
Style 72
Edit Controls 72
4.3 Device Information 74
Information Cards 74
Overview 74
Device Properties 76
Overview 76
Roles 77
Attributes 77
Custom Links 77
Device Information 77
Custom Links 78
Virtual 78
Monitor Setup 79
Overview 79
Credentials 79
Monitors 80
Polling 80
Actions 80
Monitors81
5.1 Monitors 82
Overview 82
Overview 82
Monitor Types 82
5.2 Active Monitors 83
Overview 83
Active Monitors 83
Poll Characteristics 82
Options 82
Hardware, Chassis and Wireless 83
APC UPS 83
Fan 84
Power Supply 85
Printer 85
Temperature 86
WAP Radio 86
Network Management 87
Ping 87
SNMP 87
SNMP Extended 88
WMI 89
WMI Formatted 90
Application 90
ix
JMX 90
Process 92
NT Service 92
PowerShell 93
Telnet 94
SSH 94
SQL Query 95
HTTP Content 97
Active Script 98
TCP/IP 99
File and Folder 100
Files Properties 100
Folder 101
Critical Services 102
Email 102
DNS 104
FTP 105
Network Statistics 105
Others 106
5.3 Passive Monitors 107
Overview 107
Overview 107
Listener 108
SNMP Traps 108
Overview 108
Import Tool 109
Syslogs 110
Overview 110
Windows Event 111
Overview 111
5.4 Performance Monitors 112
Overview 112
Overview 112
Default 113
Overview 113
Custom 114
Overview 114
APC UPS 114
Printer 115
Active Script 115
JMX 117
Power Shell 118
SQL Query 119
SSH 121
SNMP 122
WMI 122
WMI Formatted 123
Thresholds 123
Overview 123
x
1
Introduction
1.1 What Is WhatsUp Gold
WhatsUp Gold Editions
WhatsUp Gold Licensing
System Requirements
1.2 Ipswitch Philosophy
Focus
1.3 WhatsUp Gold Installation
Microsoft SQL and IIS
Installing WhatsUp Gold
1.4 Basic Navigation
Menus Bar
My Network Button
1.5 Translation Groups
Translation
 1-2

1.1 What Is WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold Editions

WhatsUp Gold is a comprehensive and cost-effective network

WhatsUp Gold management toolset that provides complete visibility into your
Information Technology infrastructure. Network management refers to
the operation, administration, maintenance and provisioning of network
devices; while monitoring the condition, state and performance of the
network and its devices.

WhatsUp Gold monitors, reports, alerts, and takes action on the status of
network devices, the system, and services. It installs, discovers, and maps
topology and network connected assets in minutes. Leveraging SNMP
v1/2/3, WMI, JMX and many other protocols to monitor your devices in
combination with powerful alerting and notification capabilities to keep
the network infrastructure running and you informed when issues arise.

WhatsUp Gold has Intuitive web-enabled dashboard reports provide

quick navigation to over 200 reports, documenting all device, bandwidth
and application-related activity. It ensures network managers have
360-degree visibility, actionable intelligence, and complete control to
make smarter decisions faster.

WhatsUp Gold is now available in easy to purchase editions

The Editions that allow your IT team to choose the solution that best fits your
requirements. It available in 4 different editions ranging from
basic Network monitoring solutions to proactive solution that
goes beyond the individual devices and lets you monitor your
infrastructure, applications network traffic and more.

BasicView: Network monitoring essentials for environment of all

sizes.
• Discovery
• Availability Monitoring
• Performance Monitoring
• Alerting and Reporting
• Inventory
 1-3

ProView: Step up to advanced proactive monitoring; including

wireless and in-depth server monitoring.
• All the capabilities of BasicView
• Advanced Monitoring (WMI, SSH, HTTPS)
• Wireless Monitoring

TotalView: Includes all ProView features, plus virtualization (VM)

monitoring, application performance monitoring (APM), storage
monitoring and network traffic analysis (NTA).
• All the capabilities of ProView
• Application and Web Monitoring
• Flow Monitoring
• Virtual Monitoring

TotalView Plus: The highest-value edition includes all the

functionality of TotalView as well as configuration management
and additional pollers to scale to the largest networks.
All the capabilities of TotalView
• Network Configuration Management
• Two Scalability Pollers

Polling is the term used for monitoring discovered devices in WhatsUp

Pollers Gold. Polling can occur in several ways, depending upon the monitors
configured for network devices. The default polling method uses
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). The default polling interval
for WhatsUp Gold is 60 seconds.

A small amount of data is sent from the WhatsUp Gold computer across
the network to the device it is watching. If the device is up, it echoes the
data back to the WhatsUp Gold computer. A device is considered down
by WhatsUp Gold when it does not send the data back.

WhatsUp Gold comes with one Poller on the local machine and
additional ones can be purchased. The WhatsUp Gold Poller is an
application used to perform and assign WhatsUp Gold device polling
operations to monitor network devices. Specifically, additional pollers
installed on your WhatsUp Gold system transmit active monitor and
performance monitor data to the WhatsUp Gold server. Extending
polling activity across multiple pollers increases the number of devices
for which WhatsUp Gold can poll and collect data to send back to the
WhatsUp Gold system. This is referred to as clustered polling. Using
clustered polling, WhatsUp Gold can efficiently scale polling operations
to a larger number of network devices, ultimately providing the capacity
to monitor and manage larger networks.

Clustered Pollers assist with:

• Active Monitors
• Includes ActiveScript Monitors
• JavaScript
• VBscript
 1-4

• Includes PowerShell Custom Script Monitors

• Performance Monitors
• Includes PowerShell Custom Script Monitors
• Clustered Pollers do not assist with:
• Discovery
• Virtual Polling
• Wireless Polling
• Flow Collection
• Passive Monitor Collection
• Performance Monitor ActiveScript Execution
• JavaScript
• VBscript

To help determine if you need an additional poller, the Poller Health

dashboard report displays the status of the local poller and all pollers
installed on your network. This dashboard report allows you to ascertain
at a glance if one or more pollers are down.

Each entry in the report contains the following information:

• Status. A color-coded indicator of poller status.
• Name. Displays the name of the poller.
• Lag Time. The amount of time in seconds the poller is behind its
scheduled time to poll devices; indicates poller overloaded.
• Lag Time Status. Indicates if lag time is causing a polling issue.
• A yellow status icon is rare and is only seen as an automatic
intermediary between red and green when a poller starts up or is
failing.
• To the left of each poller name is a circular icon that serves as a
visual indicator of poller status:
• Red. Indicates the listed poller is not active or status is unknown.
• Yellow. Indicates the poller is starting up or beginning to fail.
• Blue. Indicates the listed poller is active and running properly.

An average poll lag time of a few seconds or more indicates your system
may not be performing optimally. The WhatsUp Gold CPU and memory
utilization reports may also indicate performance issues.

To install an additional poller, you must configure each poller to send

data to the WhatsUp Gold server by entering a name to identify the poller,
the server name or IP address to identify the device running WhatsUp
Gold, and valid credentials required to access the WhatsUp Gold host
computer. You must also use this information to configure WhatsUp
Gold to receive data from each poller installed on our network.

The machine on which the WhatsUp Gold poller is installed must have
the same access to the network as the WhatsUp Gold machine. Polling
data is always reported from the viewpoint of the WhatsUp Gold machine
regardless of which device performed the polling task. Therefore, if a
poller can only access a portion of the network, devices to which the
poller does not have access (even previously discovered by WhatsUp
1-5

Gold) are reported as down.

The following are prerequisites for installing an additional poller on

your WhatsUp Gold system:
• Local admin privileges for the host machine are required to
install the WhatsUp Gold poller.
• The Windows account from which you install the poller must
have a known password. You will be prompted to enter this
password during the poller installation process.
• .NET4 is required for installation and is available to install if not
already installed on the host machine.

The machine on which the WhatsUp Gold poller is installed MUST

have the same access to the network as the WhatsUp Gold machine.
Polling data is always reported from the viewpoint of the WhatsUp
Gold machine regardless of which device performed the polling task.
Therefore, if a poller can only access a portion of the network, devices to
which the poller does not have access (even if previously discovered by
WhatsUp Gold) are reported as do

In order for a poller to successfully connect to WhatsUp Gold, enable

communication on the following ports: TCP 9713 - Polling Data
Communications and TCP - 9730 Polling Control Communications.

WhatsUp Gold Licensing

All parts of WhatsUp Gold pull from a single licensing pool. Points are
Licensing consumed by various elements in WhatsUp Gold as follows:

Feature
Network monitoring: Routers,
Switches, WLCs, APs, Firewalls
Server Monitoring
Virtual Monitoring
Flow Monitoring
Application Monitoring
Points
1 point per Device
1 point per Device
1 point per Host or Guest
10 point per Device
10 point per Device

End User Monitoring 1 point per EUM

Configuration Management o point with TotalView Plus
 1-6

System Requirements

WhatsUp Gold user interface logic now resides on the client side. This
Logic greatly reduces the performance impact to you and the WhatsUp Gold
Server. The end result is a much more responsive experience for you.
Due to this WhatsUp now has recommended requirements for both
server and any client connecting to the web interface.

For a full list of OS and hardware requirements please see the release
Server notes available from our web site. https://www.ipswitch.com/support/
documentation.

Requirements may vary depending on the configuration of

WhatsUp Gold. Increasing the number of devices monitored,
number of monitors, types of monitors, polling intervals or other
configurations can result in additional load on the server and database.
Adjustments to the hardware may be required to optimise performance
for your network.
100 Devices / 2,500 Devices / 20,000 Devices /
500 Monitors 12,500 Monitors 100,000 Monitors
Processor Quad-core Quad-core WUG: Eight-core
SQL: Eight-core
Processor Speed 2.6 GHz 2.6 GHz 2.6 GHz

RAM 8 GB 8 GB WUG: 8 GB
SQL: 32 GB
Recommended: 64 GB
Database MS SQL 2014 MS SQL Server 2008, 2012, MS SQL Server 2008, 2012, or
Express or 2014 2014
Hard Drive 25 GB OS/App: 15 GB OS/App: 15 GB
Raid 1 Raid 1
SQL: 4x100 GB Database: 8x250 GB
Raid 10 Raid 10
Log: 2x100 GB
Raid 0
Temp DB: 2x250
Raid 0
For more information about moving SQL server database and log files, see the WhatsUp Gold
database migration and Management Guide
NIC 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 1 Gbps
Proffered: 1 Gbps Preferred: 1 Gbps
Video 1280x1024 or higher 1280x1024 or higher 1280x1024 or higher
1-7

With the change in logic we recommend the following the guidelines

Client below as a minimum suggestion.

100 Devices / 2,500 Devices / 20,000 Devices /

500 Monitors 12,500 Monitors 100,000 Monitors
Processor Dual-core Quad-core Quad-core

Processor Speed 2.6 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz

RAM 4 GB 8 GB 8 GB

NIC 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 1 Gbps

Preferred: 1 Gbps Preferred: 1 Gbps
Video 1280x1024 or higher 1280x1024 or higher 1280x1024 or higher

Sound Card SAPI-capable SAPI-capable sound card SAPI-capable sound card

sound card required for Text-to- required for Text-to-Speech
required for Text- Speech actions actions
to-Speech actions
 1-8

1.2 Ipswitch Philosophy

Focus

Ipswitch changes the way you visualize and monitor you network. Based
Maps on feedback, WhatsUp Gold has an interface that works the way you
want it to and displays the information you need at a glance.

The central focus of WhatsUp Gold is the unique interactive map. It

was designed to be the “window” into your network. It will dramatically
improve your effectiveness. With just a few clicks you can easily spot and
troubleshoot different areas of your network. Making your workflow
much more efficient and allowing you to track down issues quickly.

A single unified map offers a heuristic view of your entire network.

Consolidating the data from the different parts of WhatsUp Gold, to give
you complete insight into your network. The map is the gateway to the
rest of WhatsUp Gold. Giving you the ability to “drill down” through
your devices to view their status and trend reports. With the use of
Groups, Filters, and Overlays you can easily customize the map to see
just the information you need.
1-9

With the move to client side logic, the impact to you and the WhatsUp
Web Gold server is greatly reduced. Resulting in a much more responsive
experience for you. Ipswitch understands a user should be able to do
everything in a single interface, reducing the complexity and the time it
takes to configure WhatsUp Gold. We have moved, and will continue to
move, all configuration and management of WhatsUp Gold to the Web
Interface.

While we still have the Admin console, we have moved most things
Admin Console to the web. The Admin console is now only for administrative
configurations of WhatsUp Gold itself. The WhatsUp Gold console is a
Windows application installed with WhatsUp Gold and is used for the
configuration and management of specific WhatsUp Gold features and
its databases. Following installation, the application is launched from
the Windows Start menu. It provides access to the following menus and
associated functionality:
• File. Open, print, close the current application window or exit
the application.
• Configure. Manage access to WhatsUp Gold with the following
controls:
• Enable FIPS 140-2 mode which requires you to enter valid
WhatsUp Gold user credentials to access the console
application. For more information, see in WhatsUp Gold
Help “About operating WhatsUp Gold in FIPS 140-2 mode’.
• Configure new and edit existing device states available for use
and reported by WhatsUp Gold.
• Test configured active monitors, actions, and recurring
actions.
 1-10

• Access configuration management task and task script

libraries.
• Reset passwords for web user accounts.
• Tools. Perform the following WhatsUp Gold administrative
functions:
• Launch the Device Roles Settings dialog.
• Launch the VoIP Configuration Utility used to configure IP
SLA devices to monitor VoIP performance.
• Launch the Running Actions dialog where you can view the
status of actions as they are fired and cancel actions currently
in use.
• Access Database Utilities used for WhatsUp Gold-specific
SQL backup and restore operations.
• Access File Transfer Settings used to configure file transfer
settings applicable to WhatsUp Gold configuration
management.
• Launch the Trap Definition Import tool used to import SNMP
trap definitions into the WhatsUp Gold Passive Monitor
Library.
• Window. Close the current window, open a new one, or modify
the layout of all windows open within the console interface.
• Help. Access both local and online help documentation and
launch the About dialog to view product serial number and
current licensing information.
1-11

1.3 WhatsUp Gold Installation

Microsoft SQL and IIS

Your network management system’s most important task is to collect

Overview and analyze information about your network resources. This requires
that the management system have available a way to collect information
about the devices it is tasked with monitoring, a place to store this
information once it is collected, and some way to sort, filter, and present
the information afterward. WhatsUp Gold relies heavily upon Microsoft
SQL Server for its data collection and storage, and upon Microsoft
Internet Information Services (IIS) for data analysis and reporting, in
order to fulfill these key tasks.

Every installation of WhatsUp Gold includes a copy of

Microsoft SQL Microsoft SQL Server Express edition free of charge,
which the user can install alongside WhatsUp Gold
during the installation process. The user may also
choose to specify an existing Microsoft SQL Server
during the installation, one that will allow for a new database to be
created and used by WhatsUp Gold for managing the network. WhatsUp
Gold needs a reliable and fast connection to its backend database,
and if the SQL Server database were to go offline for whatever reason,
WhatsUp Gold stops all monitoring of devices on the network.

Microsoft IIS is a web server included with Windows

Microsoft IIS operating systems that provides a secure, standardized,
and reliable interface within which you can host data. IIS
allows the user to access everything stored by WhatsUp
Gold during the monitoring and management of devices.
A complimentary copy of IIS is included with every Microsoft Windows
operating system.
 1-12

Installing WhatsUp Gold

For complete step-by-step instructions on installing WhatsUp gold

Initial Setup please see our “Installing and Configuring” Guide on our website
(https://www.ipswitch.com/support/documentation). After running the
WhatsUp Gold executable and providing a serial number, the WhatsUp
Gold server will use either online or offline activation. This will verify
which features are enabled and with how many points can be used. The
user also specifies a user account to use for the Microsoft SQL Server
connection, and the password for a new local administrator account
to run the IIS web page. Once you have completed the installation of
WhatsUp gold you can launch the web interface. The first time you go
to log into WhatsUp Gold you will be prompted to supply an Admin
password to be used with the Admin account.
 1-13

1.4 Basic Navigation

Menus Bar

WhatsUp Gold Cleaned up the menu bar with the release of 2017. It now
Menus has a common look and feel across all the Ipswitch products. WhatsUp
Gold currently had 3 different menus and one button. Your menu
options are Discover, Analyse, and Settings.

The Discover Menu allows you to view the map of discovered devices or
perform a discovery from a new scan or a previously saved scan.

The Analyze menu is where you would access any default or custom
dashboards as well as generate reports. This is also where you would
go to see the extensive library of logs containing historical data to aid in
troubleshooting potential network issues.

The last menu is Settings, which allows you to configure everything from
the WhatsUp Gold itself to individual customization of your deployment.

The last item on the menu bar is the My Network Button, which takes
My Network Button you to the interactive network map to monitor you device inventory,
connectivity and status information. This is the default map view you see
when logging into WhatsUp Gold.
 1-14

My Network Button

While you can see everything in a single map you have two different
Auto -vs- Custom option in viewing the map. You have an Auto Layout or a Custom one.

The Auto Layout arranges your devices according to connectivity. It also

gives you the option to show all the devices in sub-groups.

The Custom Layout allows you to organize your devices where you
want them to be. In essence it gives you finer tuning of your devices and
device groups, including adding shapes, annotations and images to the
map.

To navigate the different device groups, you can click on the down arrow
Map Tree on the Group picker. It will expand the navigation tree. Clicking on the
arrow shrinks it again.

When the tree is expanded you

can see the 3 bar menu. This
menu allows you to edit, copy
delete or create device groups and
much more.
1-15

1.5 Translation Groups

Translation

The language in which WhatsUp Gold is displayed is dependent on

Language pack the user’s web browser settings by default. However, languages can be
configured in the WhatsUp Gold web interface (Admin > Translation).
The language can be changed by selecting another language from the
Language list.

You can use the Translation Groups dialog to translate content in one of
two ways. You can either export the entire user interface for translation,
or you can translate one page each time.

For more information about translation, see the WhatsUp Gold

Translation Guide (http://www.ipswitch.com/Wug16Trans).
2
Initial Preparation
2.1 User Administration
Overview
User Groups
External Authentication
User Rights
2.2 Protocols and Credentials
Overview
Supported Protocols
Credentials
2.3 Device Roles
Overview
Configuring Device Roles
 2-2

2.1 User Administration

Overview

User accounts allow users to log in to the web interface of WhatsUp

Users Gold and control access to data and functionality either through direct
assignment of user rights or by membership in a user group.

User groups efficiently manage assignment of permissions and rights to

User Groups user accounts. Users in the web interface can be assigned membership
in a user group, which applies user rights settings from the group to the
user account. A user account can also belong to multiple groups and all
user rights from all groups are combined to give that user a complete set
of user rights.

You can map WhatsUp Gold user groups to Active Directory groups so
that users can authenticate and be assigned to WhatsUp Gold groups
using their Windows domain credentials

The most efficient order to set up users and groups within WhatsUp
Best Practice Gold is as follow:.
1. Create all you users groups first.
2. To simplify the configuration; Set WhatsUp Gold to authenticate
against an external authentication system, such as Active Directory.
3. Finally create your user accounts and assign them to the correct
groups

Password Policy allows you to configure different aspects of the

Password Policy password, for WhatsUp Gold User accounts, that are authenticating
internally. The table below shows the different aspects you can
configure:

Password Policy

Account Lockout Duration Enter the time in minutes that the system should delay
(minutes) before allowing a locked out user from performing a log on
attempt.
2-3

Maximum number of days Enter the minimum number of days required between
between password changes password changes.
Password expires after (days) Enter the number of days before a password expires.

Retain Passwords for at least
(days)
Ensure password not reused
against previous
Warn when (days) left before
password expiration
Minimum complex password
length
Enter the number of days to retain previously used
passwords.
Enter the number of passwords that are not to be reused
against previous passwords.
Enter the number of days to warn user before password
expiration.
Enter the minimum number of characters required for the
password policy. The default minimum complex password
requirement is one special character, one capital (upper
case) letter, one lower case letter, and one number.

User Groups

Overview By creating and using user groups first allows for a single point of editing
and configuration of user rights. If at any time you need to change the
user rights assigned to a selection of users, doing so at the user group
level requires only a single configuration change, versus changing all
user accounts individually, if no user groups were present.

This also follows best security practice which states to limit user
interaction. Therefor instead of making changes to multiple users it
allows for only making the change one time, while still giving the users
the rights they need to perform their job/duties.

One method of user rights management for WhatsUp Gold involves

creating user groups with specific permissions sets and adding users to
the groups that control features to which they need access. Users can be
a member of multiple groups. Their rights will be inherited from each
group.

User rights are cumulative when users are assigned to multiple groups.
 2-4

You will want to keep the number of Groups at a minimum, to make it

Best Practice easier to manage. Only create groups that are needed, while still letting
them control the user rights. We recommend a minimum of 3 Groups:
• Admin Group that has all rights
• Write Access Group: Has all rights in WhatsUp Gold except to
manage users.
• Read Access: only has access to view reports and cannot make
any changes

You will also want to make sure you use correct naming conventions.
This allows you to see what type of rights a group has by just looking at
the name.

User Rights govern what actions and rights a user can perform in
User Rights WhatsUp Gold. Users inherit rights from group memberships first
then any additional rights given them individually. Similar to Active
Directory, a user can be a member of multiple groups.

User rights are cumulative in nature, meaning they will get all the
rights from every group they are a member of. Plus any additional
rights given to them.

User rights are cached and should refresh within 5 minutes, or when the
user logs off and then back into WhatsUp gold

The Table below lists and describes each user right:

WhatsUp gold Console

Access WhatsUp Gold Console Enables users to access the WhatsUp Gold Admin
Console application (NMConsole.exe) when FIPS 140-2 is
enabled. Important: If FIPS 140-2 is disabled, the Access
WhatsUp Gold Console user right does not apply. For
more information, see Program Options - General in the
WhatsUp Gold console application.
Account Administration

Change Your Password Enables users to change their password from

Manage all Dashboards
Manage and Publish
Dashboards
the Preference dialog (Click [username] > User
Preferences from the upper-right of the network
Performance monitor interface.
Enables users to add and publish all dashboard views
as well as configure, move and delete dashboard
reports within all dashboard views.
Enables users to add and publish dashboard views
as well as configure, move and delete reports withing
owned dashboard views.
2-5
Manage Personal
Dashboards
System Administration
Manage Users
Configure External
Authentication
Translations
Manage SNMP MIBs
System Administration
Configure Credentials
Manage Configuration
Management Tasks
Configure Alert Center
Email Settings
Configure Network Traffic
Analysis
Access Wireless
Configure Wireless
Access Inventory Reports
Access Tools Menu
Access Virtual Monitor Event
Log
Access Virtual Monitor Map
Monitoring
Configure Active Monitors
Enables Users to add, delete, and copy dashboard views, as
well as edit the properties of an owned dashboard view.
Enables users to create and edit users for the web
interface. This option also allows users to specify
Group Access Rights. Important: Enabling this right
will enable all other rights.
Enables user to configure external authentication (LDAP
/ MSAD / Cisco ACS) for user authentication in the web
interface.
Enables users to view the translation system as well as
import and export languages.
Enables users to download and delete SNMP MIBs through
the SNMP MIB Manager.
Enables users to edit system configuration items, including
the maximum number of passive monitor records,
maximum dimensions of map and enabling or disabling
mobile access.
Enables users to configure SNMP and Windows credentials
Enables users to configure Network Configuration
Manager tasks and task scripts on devices in the groups
which the user has access.
Enables user to create, edit and delete WhatsUp Gold alert
Center thresholds and notification policies
Enables users to configure Network Performance Monitor
email settings from Configuration & Settings > System
Settings > Email.
Enables users to create and delete WhatsUp Gold Network
Traffic Analyzer sources, collection intervals and data
intervals for reports.
Enables users to view Wireless data.
Enables users to configure wireless settings.
Enables users to view Layer-2 data including reports and
reporting tools.
Enables users to access the tools menu for networking
utilities.
Enables users to access the Virtualization Monitor plug-in
event log.
Enables users to access the Virtualization Monitor plug-in
Map.
Enables users to create, edit and remove active monitors on
devices in the groups to which the user has access.

Configure Passive Monitors
Configure Performance
Monitors
Configure Actions
Manage Recurring Actions
Configure Action Policies
Access Group and Device
reports
Manage Scheduled Reports
Create Scheduled Reports
Email Reports
Administer Alert Center
Threshold Items
Devices
Manage Device Groups
Manage Devices
Access Discovery
APM
Access Application Monitoring Enables user to view APM.
Configure Application Profiles Enables users to configure application profiles in APM.
Configure Application
Instances
Reports
Access System Reports
Manage Business Hours
2-6
Enables users to create, edit and remove passive monitors
on devices in the groups to which the user has access.
Enables users to create, edit and remove performance
monitors on devices in the groups to which the user has
access.
Enables users to create, edit and remove actions on device
in the groups which the user has access.
Enables users to create, edit and remove recurring actions
on devices in the groups to which the user has access.
Enables users to create, edit and remove action policies on
devices in the groups which the user has access.
Enables users to view group and device reports for the
groups to which the user has access.
Enables users to manage and view scheduled reports of
other Network Performance users (Configure & Settings >
Scheduled Reports).
Enables users to create scheduled reports (Configuration &
Settings > Scheduled Reports).
Enables users to email an exported report to a specified
email address.
Enables users to resolve or acknowledge Alert Center
threshold alerts
Enables users to create, edit, or remove device groups on
the network.
Enables users to add new device and edit existing devices
in the groups to which the user has access. Important: A
users must have this right to view and hear Web Alarms.
Enables users to access the Discovery console. Granting
users access to this dialog also enables users to discover
network devices, define device roles that help identify
specific device features, and add them to the WhatsUp
Gold database.
Enables users to configure application instances in APM.
Enables users to view system reports.
Enables users to configure Business Hours filters for the
system.
2-7

External Authentication

WhatsUp Gold allows you to synch authentication with two different

Types types of authentication systems;
• LDAP
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
• Microsoft Active Directory
• Cisco ACS

While there are advantages with synching with any external

Advantages authentication system, your biggest advantages are when you synch with
Active Directory. When synching with AD you can synch your WhatsUp
Gold user groups with your Active Directory groups; allowing AD group
membership supply access and rights into WhatsUp Gold.

The biggest advantage is you will no longer have to create user accounts.
When a user logs into WhatsUp Gold for the first time, The user account
will automatically get created with the correct rights according to group
membership.

You will need to do clean up, for we do not automatically delete

accounts.

To integrate with an external authentication system you need to launch

Integration the External Authorization Settings interface. You can do so by going
to Settings > System Settings > External Authorization. ON the first tab
is where you can configure your
LDAP or Active directory settings.
If you prefer to synch with Cisco
ACS you will need to click that tab
and enter the IP address of your
Sisco ACS server.

On the Active Directory/LDAP

tab, you will want to enter your
domain controller or LDAP server.
Under Server Type be sure to
enter your Domain name or for
 2-8

LDAP you Authorized DN.

If are using LDAP and not Active Directory be sure to use the
fully qualified name LDAP server might be CN=%s, OU=Users,
o=yourdomain.net where %s is replaced by the username and
password of the user

If you are going to synch your Active Directory

groups with your WhatsUp Gold groups you
will need to click Browse and enter a username
and password so you can browse your Active
Directory Groups.

WhatsUp Gold does not supported

nested groups within Active Directory

Once you have gotten your groups, select each

group in the list, or by using the search box.
Once your groups are selected Click OK to
return and choose from the drop down what
WhatsUp gold group will be associated with
each Active Directory Group.

User Rights

As system administrator of WhatsUp Gold for your organization, you

Overview have the ability to allow others access to all or part of WhatsUp Gold, and
in that regard, have the responsibility of making sure WhatsUp Gold is
available when they need to access it.

Access to WhatsUp Gold is accomplished differently depending on

the interface used. For the Admin Console, access to this application is
controlled at the server level. If a user has access to the server as a local
or domain Administrator, then access to Admin Console is assumed to be
granted without further authentication.

If you put WhatsUp Gold in FIPS 140-2 Mode, you can restrict
access to the Admin Console

Accessing the web interface, however, requires configuration of the

authentication method and user settings for each new web user. While
2-9
a few default accounts are available in a fresh installation of WhatsUp
Gold, it is suggested that new web user accounts are created for anyone
wishing to access the WhatsUp Gold web interface.

User accounts allow users to log in to the web interface of WhatsUp

Gold and control access to data and functionality, either through
direct assignment of user rights or by membership in a user group.
Many settings in WhatsUp Gold are specific to each user, such as user
preferences, the last device and group used by the web user, and settings
they may have configured on individual pages of the web interface.

User accounts can authenticate using:

• Internal authentication.
• The user account is created using the Add User dialog, and
will authenticate using an Internal password that is stored in
the WhatsUp Gold database.
• LDAP authentication.
• The user account is created using the Add User dialog;
however its authentication type is set to LDAP. The user will
log in using the credentials they use to authenticate with
their LDAP server. The connection to the LDAP server must
be configured in WhatsUp Gold, using the LDAP Credentials
dialog.
• Active Directory authentication.
• The user account can be created manually in the Add user
dialog or automatically via mapping an AD group to a
WhatsUp Gold user group. The user will log in to WhatsUp
Gold using their Windows domain credentials which must be

User rights govern what actions users in WhatsUp Gold can perform.
Rights Any user who has been granted the Manage Users right or belongs to
a group that has this right can manage user rights. In the case of a new
WhatsUp Gold user, we recommend that you restrict the account to only
those rights that they will need to gain familiarity with the application.
Grant additional rights as the user gains confidence and application
knowledge.

User accounts gain user rights when:

Directly assigned those rights using the Add/Edit user accounts dialog.
User rights directly assigned to the user account supersede any rights
prohibited by membership in a WhatsUp Gold user group.
The user is a member of a WhatsUp Gold user group. The user will gain
those rights assigned to the WhatsUp Gold user group. Users may be a
member of multiple groups, inheriting different rights from each one.
The user is a member of an AD group that has been mapped to a
WhatsUp Gold user group. The user will gain those rights assigned to
the WhatsUp Gold user group.
 2-10

There a r e tw o d ef au lt user a ccoun ts:

Default Accounts • Admin account: The Admin account is given all user rights,
including Manage Users, which grants the right to create and
edit other user accounts. The Admin user is also given all group
access rights, so that when enabled, this account will be able to
view and edit devices in all device groups.
• Guest account: The Guest account allows users to see the
application without giving them the ability to modify any
settings. By default, all user rights and all group access rights are
disabled for this account. This limits the account to only seeing a
limited number of things in the application and having access to
no advanced features. The Admin account (or anyone else with
Manage User rights) can modify the Guest account rights using
the Manage Users dialog.

Device Group Access Device group access rights enable the system administrator of WhatsUp
Gold to allow or deny read and write access to specific physical groups
and devices. These rights can be enabled or disabled by the administrator
and are disabled by default (except for the user’s Home device group, to
which each user has Group Read access). Device group access rights are
useful when users need to view and edit only those groups that matter to
them, as would be the case with a large network with multiple network
administrators. Device group access rights allow an administrator to
grant each user rights to only the devices on the network for which that
user is responsible.

There are four types of device group access rights:

• Group Read: This right allows users to view groups and
devices in the selected group. This right allows users to see the
group’s map and device list. Group-level reports are not affected
by group access rights but are affected by user rights.
• Group Write: This right allows users to edit group properties
and add, edit, and delete devices and subgroups within the
selected group.
• Device Read: This right allows users to view the device
properties of all devices within the selected group. Device-level
reports are not affected by group access rights but are affected by
user rights.
• Device Write: This right allows users to edit the device
properties of any device within the selected group and to delete
the device from the group.
 2-11

2.2 Protocols and Credentials

Overview

Protocols are the rules or standards that define the syntax, semantics
Whats the Difference and synchronization of communication and possible error recovery
methods.
Credentials are used to control access to information or other
resources.

In essence credentials are the passwords and other authentication

methods used to access the different protocols used for network
management.

Supported Protocols

The most basic protocol that we probably all use for network
ICMP troubleshooting is – ping – it is also a very valuable tool for network
discovery. The only configuration information that is needed to run a
ping is the IP address of a
target device.

A host device sends out a

specific Internet Control
Message Protocol (ICMP)
packet called “echo” to the
target IP address, which
contains both the sender’s
(host) and the intended
receiver’s (target) IP
addresses. If the intended
 2-12

device is running and is allowed to respond to this message, it does so

with a response packet called “echo reply” which also contains the two
IP addresses, but with the sender and recipient addresses flipped. To
ensure more confidence in the results of this one exchange, ping can be
configured to send out a few packets, or to continuously transmit packets
until stopped. However, since it is possible to disable the intended device
from responding to “echo” packets, the lack of an “echo reply” response
does not necessarily mean a device does not exist at that IP address, is not
operating, or that the path to that target is unavailable.

Therefore, the most information the host device could learn through
ping is that there is a device at a given IP address, because it received
a response. If you intend to use ping for discovery or monitoring in
WhatsUp Gold, make sure every device on your network is allowed to
respond to “echo” packets, which is the default setting unless otherwise
restricted.

To help reduce security risk, allow ICMP traffic only to and from
the WhatsUp gold server and any additional pollers through any

SNMP, Simple Network Management Protocol, is one of many protocols

SNMP that have been introduced as part of the Internet, and more specifically,
from the Internet Architecture Board. It is a defined collection of tools
to exchange information between devices for the purposes of managing
and monitoring networked devices, and is part of the overall TCP/IP
protocol suite. The first official publication of the protocol was released
in 1988, which is now referred to as SNMP Version 1 or SNMPv1. Since
then, SNMP has been revised twice, so in addition to SNMPv1, there
is SNMPv2 and SNMPv3. The details of all versions of SNMP are very
interesting, and the most pertinent features will be discussed throughout
this Class at the point where and when they relate to the next Lab
exercise. Although “simple” is part of the name, SNMP is by no means
trivial, and there are many books and websites that go into the myriad
details of dozens of official Request for Comments (RFC) documents.

At this point, we will view SNMP at a very high level and only insofar as
to compare and contrast it against ping as a scanning technique.

SNMP can poll networked devices and monitor data such as utilization
and errors for various systems on a host device. SNMP can also be
used for changing the configuration of the host, which enables remote
network management. SNMP is based on the concept of network
management and monitoring as a system of logical elements including
a Network Management System, Managed Devices and SNMP Agents,
which are software modules, on those devices.
2-13

In our case, WhatsUp Gold is the Network Management System, and the
fundamental SNMP architecture is depicted here:

Like ping, SNMP can send out a specific message from one device to
request information from another device, which responds back with the
requested information, and there are specific formats described in the
RFCs for the arrangement of the information within these messages.

To be more specific, it is the Network Management System (WhatsUp

Gold) that initiates the request/response exchange, not just any host
device, and it’s the SNMP Agent on the Managed Device that would
respond to the Management System queries. The message sent from the
Management System is simply called a “Get” message and a “Response”
is returned from the device.

It is what’s exchanged within these two messages that differentiates

SNMP from ping, not the least of which is the fact that there may be
multiple messages exchanged. More information relating to hardware
and software is exchanged with SNMP, such as make, model, serial
number, and performance as well as OS version, state and status.

Each version of SNMP has different aspects associated with it

• SNMPv1: Introduced the term “community” to refer to all the
devices in a particular SNMP network, and this concept continues
to be used. A unique name or collection of alphanumeric
characters is used to identify a particular community and serves
as a case-sensitive password, called a “Community String.”
Community strings are used to authenticate the exchange of
SNMP messages, providing a basic level of security. WhatsUp
Gold and each of the SNMP Agents use this string to indicate that
they belong to the same community. Every message exchanged
 2-14

between them also must contain this string (passed in clear text),
because any mismatch between the string in the message and

the string assigned to the device receiving this message would

result in the message being ignored by that device. A device
can belong to several communities, and its SNMP agent can
differentiate requests from any management system, as long as
that management system string is listed on the device
• There are two cases of community strings used: Read, and
Read/Write. In many cases, vendors of SNMP managed
devices will enter “public” by default for the Read community
string on their products, and possibly “private” by default for
the Read/Write community string. Each of these community
strings allow connections exactly as their name would imply,
so exercise caution in selecting appropriate community
strings for each purpose.
• SNMPv2: Although security was addressed in SNMPv2 and
resulted in many alternatives, ultimately the use of clear text
community strings was carried over into SNMPv2c in addition
to an expanded set of commands and it became the new SNMP
standard. Today the terms SNMPv2 and SNMPv2c are used
interchangeably.
• SNMPv3: Adds many additional benefits to earlier versions,
but notably increased security through encryption of packets,
integrity against packet tampering, and authentication between
manager and agents. This latest version of SNMP was recognized
by the IETF in 2004 and continues to gain popularity in network
management largely due to these security enhancements, but
SNMPv2 is still widely used as well.

Later in this class, we will revisit other capabilities of SNMP for

2-15

generating and sending messages to set or modify configurations, referred

to as “Set” messages, as well as a procedure to spontaneously react to
certain conditions with messages, referred to as “Traps”.

There are many more parameters and settings used by all three versions
of the SNMP protocol operations, but the fundamental operation is
similar among them. We will be describing SNMP often, to address some
of these configuration elements.

We strongly recommend that you enable SNMP on all of your

devices before discovery to take advantage of the capabilities that
SNMP offers. We will discuss how to do this later from an overview
perspective, but each vendor will have its own way of doing so.

Windows Management
WMI Instrumentation (WMI) is
Microsoft’s implementation
of the Web-based
Enterprise Model
technology for unified
monitoring of distributed
environments. It is a set of
extensions that provide an
operating system interface
to collect management
data on Windows-based systems. WMI performance monitors can
supervise Windows servers, desktops, and applications performance and
health. The monitors can proactively identify failures and bottlenecks by
tracking component processes and workloads, and thereby aid in faster
troubleshooting. Administrators can also create custom monitors for any
web-based or virtual domain applications. Additionally, WMI also trends
historical data to chart out application performance over time.

WhatsUp Gold can gather information about Windows computers using

WMI. To monitor Windows servers via WMI you must have windows
credentials, whether with local administrative rights or at least WMI and
DCOM query permissions.

In many cases, the information available via WMI is also available via
SNMP. Oftentimes SNMP requests are more broadly applicable and may
be more efficient than WMI requests. Therefore, Ipswitch recommends
using SNMP, except when SNMP cannot be enabled or does not provide
the same information as WMI.
 2-16

Telnet is an application layer protocol used on the Internet or local

Telnet/SSH area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented
communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data
is interspersed in-band with Telnet control information in an 8-bit byte
oriented data connection over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

Telnet was developed in 1969 beginning with RFC 15, extended in RFC
854, and standardized as Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet
Standard STD 8, one of the first Internet standards.

Historically, Telnet provided access to a command-line interface (usually,

of an operating system) on a remote host, including most network
equipment and operating systems with a configuration utility (including
systems based on Windows NT).[clarification needed] However, because
of serious security concerns when using Telnet over an open network
such as the Internet, its use for this purpose has waned significantly in
favor of SSH.

The term telnet is also used to refer to the software that implements the
client part of the protocol. Telnet client applications are available for
virtually all computer platforms. Telnet is also used as a verb. To telnet
means to establish a connection with the Telnet protocol, either with
command line client or with a programmatic interface. For example, a
common directive might be: “To change your password, telnet to the
server, log in and run the passwd command.” Most often, a user will be
telnetting to a Unix-like server system or a network device (such as a
router) and obtaining a login prompt to a command line text interface or
a character-based full-screen manager.
Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating
network services securely over an unsecured network.[1] The best known
example application is for remote login to computer systems by users.

SSH provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client-

server architecture, connecting an SSH client application with an SSH
server.[2] Common applications include remote command-line login
and remote command execution, but any network service can be secured
with SSH. The protocol specification distinguishes between two major
versions, referred to as SSH-1 and SSH-2.

The most visible application of the protocol is for access to shell accounts
on Unix-like operating systems, but it sees some limited use on Windows
as well. In 2015, Microsoft announced that they would include native
support for SSH in a future release.[3]

SSH was designed as a replacement for Telnet and for unsecured remote
shell protocols such as the Berkeley rlogin, rsh, and rexec protocols.
Those protocols send information, notably passwords, in plaintext,
rendering them susceptible to interception and disclosure using
packet analysis.[4] The encryption used by SSH is intended to provide
confidentiality and integrity of data over an unsecured network, such as
 2-17

the Internet, although files leaked by Edward Snowden indicate that the
National Security Agency can sometimes decrypt SSH, allowing them to
read the content of SSH sessions.[5]

JMX (Java Management Extensions) is a set of specifications for

JMX application and network management in the J2EE development and
application environment. JMX defines a method for Java developers to
integrate their applications with existing network management software
by dynamically assigning Java objects with management attributes
and operations. By encouraging developers to integrate independent
Java management modules into existing management systems, the Java
Community Process (JCP) and industry leaders hope that developers will
consider non-proprietary management as a fundamental issue rather
than as an afterthought

JMX facilitates the centralized management of managed objects

(called Mbeans) which act as Java wrappers for applications,
services, components, or devices in a distributed network. The actual
management is provided by an MBean server, which acts as a registry
for all manageable resources. The MBean server is the spine of the JMX
architectural frame, allowing server components to plug in and discover
all manageable objects.

Java Management Extensions for management and monitoring are an

optional extension to the standard Java Developer Kit (JDK) and can be
used in place of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Credentials

The Credentials system stores the applicable login, community string,

Supported Credentials or connection string information for network devices such as routers,
switches, servers, virtual hosts, and other devices. Use the device
credential library to add the following devices and application credential
types to WhatsUp Gold:

SNMP v1, v2, & v3

Windows (WMI)

ADO (Active X Data Objects)

Telnet & SSH

 2-18

VMWare (if licensed)

JMX

Hyper-V uses windows credentials, therefore if you are licensed

for Virtual Monitor then you will just need to enter your Windows
Credentials

You need to follow your manufacturer’s or operating system’s

Where to add them instructions on adding and enabling protocols on each of your device.
Inside of WhatsUp Gold you can add the credentials in the credential
library which can be accessed in 2 different way.
• From the menu
• Click Settings > Libraries > Credentials
• From the Map
• Click on the credential Icon in the upper right hand corner
• Click the Library Icon
• Or add credentials directly by clicking the plus sign Icon
2-19

2.3 Device Roles

Overview

Each device discovered by WhatsUp Gold is assigned both a single

What are they primary and multiple sub roles based on data gathered from that device
during the discovery scan. Roles assigned during discovery determine
which monitors and attributes are assigned to the device automatically,
and which actions are available for use. Additionally, role assignments
affect what devices and associated icons the map views display when
filters are applied as well as Layer 2 dynamic group membership and
may affect certain overlay-specific behavior such as wireless or virtual.

While WhatsUp Gold determines the most appropriate roles based on

information received from the device itself, you can modify the primary
role assignment by clicking Change Role in Device Properties, then

selecting from the list of available roles and descriptions that appears.
The ability to change the primary role and/or sub roles can be beneficial
 2-20

if a device serves a different purpose or performs multiple functions

within your network. That is, WhatsUp Gold may assign a primary role
based on a device’s assumed function when it is actually being used for a
different reason within your network environment. For example, you can
monitor a wireless infrastructure device that could be potentially be used
as a wireless controller, a router, switch, or similar in which case, it may
benefit you to change its role in WhatsUp Gold to more accurately reflect
its actual function.

If you modify any roles assigned to a device, new monitors are not
automatically applied based on the new roles. However, the monitors
associated with the role determined by WhatsUp Gold during discovery
will be reapplied if you:
• Update the device by clicking Update Monitoring from the
information card on the Discovered Network map.
• Request updated information from the device by selecting
Refresh Device Details from the actions menu.

Assigned credentials are used to refresh device details. If credentials

or other configuration details for the device have changed since the
previous refresh, the most appropriate primary role determined by
WhatsUp Gold during discovery could be different depending on what
modifications were made to the device configuration since the last time
device details were refreshed. As a result, new monitors may also be
applied to match the updated role.

If you have modified any monitors and/or attributes for the device,
performing these functions neither removes, disables, or re-enables
monitors, nor do they update attributes.

Finally, you can customize the default WhatsUp Gold configuration

for device roles or create new roles based on your specific network
monitoring needs using the Device Role Settings accessible from the
WhatsUp Gold console application.

Devices in today’s networks support multiple roles per device. For

Sub-Roles example, a device can be a virtual and windows server at the same time
and have the appropriate monitors applied, or a wireless LAN controller
could also be a switch and DNS server at the same time.

Discovery supports multiple roles (one primary and many secondary

roles) for one device so monitors, maps, and UI components will be able
to correctly handle these devices. A device will always have one primary
role and will be identified as such, when WUG discovers a device that
has multiple roles it determines which role is going to be the primarily
through a prioritized set of criteria.

WUG will apply all monitors for both roles and sub-roles that apply to
that device. A network admin will be able to change the primary role of
a device that has multiple sub roles
2-21

The biggest advantage of device roles is it reduces the manual

Advantage configuration of your devices. You can automatically add all our
monitors (active, passive and performance), during the discovery process.
It will also apply an action policy automatically at the device level. It will
also allow you to customize other device properties such as attributes,
notes and more.

Configuring Device Roles

The Device Role Setting are only located in the Admin console, on the
Overview WhatsUp Gold Server. Once in the Admin console Click Tools > Device
Role Settings. Here you can configure each part of your devices. You can
customize your device roles with different percent variables that will try
to be discovered and pulled automatically during the discovery process.

You can see a full list of variables available for discovery by doing
a search on the help files for “Discovery Percent Variables”

General Tab: Device Role name and

Configuration description, can be configured on this tab.

Performance monitors:
Automatically add your performance
monitors to your devices on this tab.

Active monitors: Active monitors can

be applied to your devices on this tab. You
can also determine what monitors will be Critical monitors.

Passive monitors: Configure your

Passive monitors for your devices on this
tab.

Actions: On this tab is where you can

automatically assign your Action Policies at the
device level.

Context menu items: no longer

applies, but hasn’t been pulled from
the configuration window yet
 2-22
Web links: Links added here are available for
the device in the web interface.

Notes: Any notes on this tab will show up on the

Notes tab of the device properties.

Device attributes: You can

automatically add attributes by
configuring them on this tab.

Role identification: This tab is

where you actually configure the criteria
WhatsUp Gold uses to determine if a device fits a particular role or not.
They can be configured on any combination of multiple different criteria.
• DNS hostname contains: Select to set criteria that passes if the
value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified
hostname value. For example, you can check that a device name
contains “ATL,” the prefix used in the Atlanta office computer
names.
• SNMP object contains: Select to set criteria that passes if the
value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified
value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the
OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 (Microsoft branch) with “Version 5.1”
system description information to determine the devices that are
running Windows 10.
• SNMP object has a child which contains: Select to set criteria that
passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) includes a
child object. For example, you can check for devices that contain
the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.17 (dot1dBridge, the root of the bridge
MIB). If this OID has a child, it means the device supports the
Bridge MIB, and therefore the device must be a switch.
• SNMP object has a number of children greater than: Select to
set criteria that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object
(OID) includes child objects greater than x number of children.
For example, you can check the number of instances of a device
interface by discovering instances of the interface table. This
criterion could be used to identify “critical” network switches by
identifying switches with 200 or more interface tables.
• SNMP object has a value: Select to set criteria that passes if the
value of the polled SNMP object (OID) contains the specified
value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the
OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6 (sysLocation) with “Server Room” system
description information to determine the devices that are
network servers.
• SNMP object has at least one child: Select to set criteria that
passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) includes at
least one child object. For example, you can check that a printer
OID includes at least one child printer OID. This criterion
determines that the device is definitely a printer device. Printer
OIDs must include a printer child OID.
• SNMP object is: Select to set criteria that passes if the value of
2-23
the polled SNMP object (OID) is equal to the specified value. For
example, you could poll the sysContact object to make sure the
configured contact information is equal to “Jane Doe.”
• SNMP object matches regular expression: Select to set criteria
that passes if the value of the polled SNMP object (OID) matches
the specified regular expression value. For example, you could
check for devices that contain the OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0, the
Catalyst switch sysDescr. If this system description matches the
regular expression value (.*Catalyst), the criteria is matched.
• SNMP object starts with: Select to set criteria that passes if the
value of the polled SNMP object (OID) starts with the specified
value. For example, you can check for devices that contain the
OID value 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0, an HP enterprise OID. If this OID starts
with 1.3.6.1.4.1.11, the root of the HP Enterprise MIB space, it
means the specified device is supported.
• SNMP SysObjectID is: Select to set criteria that passes if the
value of the polled SysObjectID object the specified value. For
example, the criterion could poll the SysObjectID and check that
it starts with 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.1.502, a Catalyst switch SysObjectID. This
criteria will pass only if the polled device is a Catalyst machine.
• SNMP SysObjectID starts with: Select to set criteria that passes
if the value of the polled SysObjectID object starts with the
specified value. For example, the criterion could poll the system
object ID and check that it starts with 1.3.6.1.4.1.9, the root of the
Cisco Enterprise MIB space. This criteria will pass only if the
polled device is a Cisco machine.
• NIC card brand name matches regular expression: Select to set
criteria that passes if the value of the device NIC card brand name
matches the specified regular expression value. For example,
SNMP is used to identify all NIC MAC addresses and they are
converted to NIC vendor strings. The criterion could use the
regular expression.*Intel to check for a criteria match on all Intel
NIC cards.
• TCP port is open: Select to set criteria that passes if the value of
the device port open is equal to the specified port open value.
For example, if you want to find devices that have TCP ports
1234 open, then enter the port number “1234” for the port check
criteria.
• Is always a successful match: Select to set all criteria to always
match when the option is selected: Device is a VMware host
server (ESX/ESXi): Select to set criteria that passes if the device
type is a VMware host server.
• VMware server is hosting a number of VMs greater than: Select
to set criteria that passes if the number of VMs hosted is greater
than the specified value.
• Name of VM hosted by VMware server is: Select to set criteria
that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the VMware server is
the specified name.
• Name of VM hosted by VMware server contains: Select to set
criteria that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the VMware
server contains the specified value.
 2-24

• Device is a VMware vCenter Server: Select to set criteria that

passes if the device type is a VMware vCenter Server.
• Device is a Hyper-V host server: Select to set criteria that passes if
the device type is a Hyper-V host server.
• Hyper-V server is hosting a number of VMs greater than: Select
to set criteria that passes if the number of VMs hosted is greater
than the specified value.
• Name of VM hosted by Hyper-V server is: Select to set criteria
that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the Hyper-V server is
the specified name.
• Name of VM hosted by Hyper-V server contains: Select to set
criteria that passes if the name of the VM hosted by the Hyper-V
server contains the specified value.
• Device is a member of the functional category: Check a device is a
member of a category.
• The information set was collected for the device: Checks for the
presence of an information set collected from a device with a
specified name.
• Matches the devices virtualization type: Checks a device’s
virtualization type matches.
• The information set was collected for the device that contains:
Checks for the presence of an information set collected from a
device containing a specified value.
• The information set was collected for the device that starts with:
Checks for the presences of an information set collected from a
device that starts with a specified value.
• Device is a virtual machine: checks if the device is a virtual
machine.
3
Discover
3.1 Network Discovery
Overview
3.2 New Scans
Scan Types
When to use/Best Practice
Configuration
3.3 Saved Scans
Overview
Preconfigured
3.4 Discover Map
Overview
Map Features
Grid View
 3-2

3.1 Network Discovery

Overview

Network discovery is the process WhatsUp Gold uses to identify devices

What is a Discovery on your network. Network discovery is based on the concept of query
and response, where one device will launch a query, and one or more
devices receiving this query will respond, in accordance to the protocol
used. This process scans each device to determine its IP address, host
name and possibly manufacturer, model, running software and services,
and displays this information in WhatsUp Gold’s interface. The various
scanning protocols will return different information.
3-3

WhatsUp Gold applies credentials and a sequence of steps to reveal,

learn about, and decide which monitors suit devices on your network.
Once a device is discovered, you choose if you want to manage/monitor
the discovered device by promoting it to the My Network map. Promoted
devices count against your license total.

Network discovery scans can uncover device and host attributes,

the device’s role within the network (for example, DNS, SMTP, FTP
server), and which other machines on the network the device shares
dependencies or frequent connections/conversations with.

Prior to initiating a discovery scan, first ensure your network devices can
be discovered and subsequently identified. WhatsUp Gold attempts to
discover devices on your network using ping (ICMP) and by scanning for
open TCP ports. Please check to see if network devices respond to one or
both of these request types before beginning discovery.

After WhatsUp Gold discovers a device on an IP address, it uses SNMP

and/or WMI data on that device to gather all available information
including the manufacturer and model, any installed components such
as fans, CPUs, and hard disks, the operating system, and specific services
(such as HTTP or DNS). Devices should be configured to respond to
SNMP requests whenever possible. Alternatively, WhatsUp Gold can also
gather information about Windows devices using WMI. In most cases,
the information available using WMI is also available using SNMP.

Due to SNMP requests being more efficient than WMI requests, Ipswitch
recommends using WMI only when SNMP cannot be enabled or does
not provide the same information as WMI.

If a firewall exists between WhatsUp Gold and the devices to be

discovered or if the Windows firewall is enabled on the computer
where WhatsUp Gold is installed, make sure the appropriate ports
are open to allow WhatsUp Gold to communicate via SNMP and WMI.

From the DISCOVER > New Scan page, select Advanced Setting >
Expand scan to any virtualization environments to control if Hyper-V
or VMware hosts or VMs will be included in the network discovery
process.
• VMware. Valid VMware credentials are used. VMware Tools are
also required.
• Hyper-V. Hyper-V devices are discovered when valid Windows
credentials are used. Groups and users for passing WMI
management objects must be in place. Host OS Application
firewalls must align with default Hyper-V firewall rules.
 3-4

3.2 New Scans

Scan Types

In WhatsUp Gold 2017 we have broken the network discovery down into
Overview two types of scans:
• IP address scan: Limit scans to check for specific ranges, subnets
or hosts File
• Seed address Scan: WhatsUp Gold “seeds” or builds an address
list from target device SNMP data. It
then continues to scan for additional
devices based on the SNMP responses
from these seed devices. This powerful
feature can be described as the ‘cast a
wide net’ approach. It also has useful
controls for limiting the expanse of
address boundaries and network hops.

Both scans types discover devices identically. The main difference the
The Difference seed address scan will crawl your devices to find other possible devices to
try and discover, while the IP Address scan is limited to the IP Addresses
you have configured in the scope of the scan.
 3-5

When to use/Best Practice

An IP address scan is best used when you need to limit the scope of
IP Address Scan the scan. Many times you may only want to scan a single subnet or IP
address without the fear of going beyond that

The Seed Address scan is the recommended way to discover your

Seed Address Scan network. For it will crawl and use information from the discovered
devices to find other possible devices, discovering everything on your
network. This allows you to find devices that you may not have known
existed.

Configuration

Your network may have been divided into many sub-networks, and
Scan Depth WhatsUp Gold can be configured to discover all devices on all your
subnets. The Seed address Scan will scan subnets recursively, starting
with the configured seed addresses.

The scan depth allows the user to define how deep into the network
the scan will go. WhatsUp allows a scan depth of
1-6. Setting the scan depth to 1 will scan for devices
that are 1 physical hope from the seed addresses.
So if you used a single seed address it would be
everything connected to that device.
 3-6

A scan depth of 2 would discover all devices that are within 2 physical
hops into the network of all the seed addresses

Moving the scan depth to 2, would allow WhatsUp Gold to look for
any additional devices that are within 2 physical hops from the seed
addresses.

Now, increasing the scan depth to 3 would allow WhatsUp Gold to look
even further into your Network, to find further unique devices.

This setting can be set even higher

than 3, with the understanding
that discovery will continue to
take longer the more devices are
scanned

Make sure you do not confuse

subnets with Physical Hops.
3-7

You can fine tune and customize your scan by modifying the
Settings configuration of the scan. There are three areas you can configure if you
are running an IP Address scan. A Seed Address scan has one additional
to fine tune your scan configuration.

Include
This section allows you to specify what IP address will be included in the
scan. By default the scan will include the Gateway and the local subnet
of the WhatsUp Gold.

Clicking on the (i) will display the information about that section.
(i.e. the gateway of your WhatsUp Gold server). This is what is listed
on the NIC configuration.

If your Subnet mask is wrong you could potentially attempt to discover

devices that are not even in your network. (Scan a Class A subnet
instead of a Class C)

The Select Groups option allows you to select

groups within WhatsUp Gold, letting you
rediscover the devices for Updates.

Host File option lets you add a txt file of a

list of IPs to scan. A better option is to just
enter your IPs in the text field below. You
will need to enter each IP on a separate line,
as you would in the host file. This area also
allows you to enter a range of IPs. Ranges
are entered with a “-” between the starting
and ending IP, or a full subnet with the
192.168.0.0/24 format

Exclude
This area is similar to the include text box, allowing you to enter single
IPs or ranges you want to exclude from your scan

Limit
This section only appears when running a Seed Address scan. In
this area is where you can set it to scan only private networks. It
also allows you to limit the scan to subnets that you are currently
monitoring. To further restrict what IPs to discover you have a
text box similar to the Include and Exclude sections. It will keep
WhatsUp Gold from discovering any devices that are not included in
the limit area.
 3-8

Maximum Number of Devices

To reduce the time a scan will take you can
determine the Maximum number of Devices.
When check it allows you to restrict the
number of devices discovered. This number
is the number of r of Devices discovered after all the IPs are merged
together.

Advanced Settings
The last set of configuration options you have is under the Advanced
Settings. Most of the options are checked by default but you may change
them if needed.

The Data Collection Settings lets you Expand scan to any virtualization
environments as well as wireless environments. Letting you discover
your VMware and Hyper-V guest and host association. Then it lets you
start collecting Wireless information from your Wireless infrastructure.

Under the Concurrent Information Collections

you can set the number of Maximum Threads
WhatsUp Gold will use during the discovery.
Lower the number the slower the discovery will
take, but if you raise this number just be aware it
could impact your network devices, as well as, set
off any security alerts

WhatsUp lets you determine how a device will

be named. Under the Device Naming section you
can choose to Resolve Hostnames, Checks with
DNS for the Host name and you can Use SNMP
SysNames to name devices

You have three different methods to discover

devices under the Advanced Discovery Checks:
Ping Only: The most basic. It will not discover
devices with ICMP turned off or blocked by a
firewall. It is also the fastest type of scan.
Ping & Credential Port Connectivity Checks
(Default): Checks for ICMP response and checks
to see if any of the three credential ports (80, 443, 143) are open,
Ping & Port Connectivity Checks: This type of scan Checks for ICMP
response and checks other ports are open to attempt to discover devices

This is also where you determine the Ping Timeouts and the number of
attempts WhatsUp Gold will ping the device.

The last option is the Load Monitored Devices. It will automatically

update devices you have set to allowed updates (Default configuration).
This option is used to automatically update devices details. You must
select a Group in the Include section for this option to take effect. By
default it uses the My Network Group.
3-9

After you have set up the configuration of your Discovery scan you need
Credentials to move on to the second task of the configuration; that is deciding what
credentials you want to use. You can get to this task by clicking next in
the upper right hand sight or just clicking 2. Credentials on the left.

You can add additional credentials by clicking on the Plus icon.

You can edit any existing credentials by clicking on the pencil icon.

There are a couple ways to select your credentials and deciding what
order to use them. At the top you will see a check box that allows you to
“Use all current and future credentials. This option allows you to use all
the credentials. Even if the scan is ran at a later date and you have added
additional credentials it will attempt to use them as well.

You can determine the order to check credential by checking them in the
order you want.

If you have not decided to use all credentials placing a check next to a
credential will allow you to use that credentials. To specify an order you
can move them up or down in the list. Using the arrow keys

After you have optimized the discovery settings for your network,
Schedule you can schedule discovery to run periodically. Either click next or
3. Schedule to go to the schedule configuration settings. Each time
discovery runs, it detects new devices on your
network and checks for changes on existing
devices to update. You can also configure email
notifications that distribute information about the
results of the scheduled discovery.
 3-10

Once in the Schedule area tab, place a check in the box next to schedule
to configure your settings. The scan can be configured to run Daily,
Weekly, Monthly, or a custom time frame. Under the daily
option it can be configure to run every weekday or recur every
so many days. Weekly allows you to determine what days of
the week it will run, with the ability to fine tune the scan to
run every so many weeks. Monthly allows the scan to run on
a certain day every so many months. The last option, custom,
lets the scan to be ran every so many minutes, hours, or days.

The scan can also be configured to expire after a certain date,

keeping it from running after that date.

In this area there is also the ability to configure the scan to send an email
when the discovery is finished. There are 2 buttons letting you configure
the Email settings and even test the email.

If you have configured your Email setting under Settings > System
Settings > Email Settings, it will automatically fill in the appropriate
settings by clicking on the
Email settings button.

The last step is to review your settings, click next or 4. Summary. This
Summary tab allows you to reviews the Settings, Credentials, and Schedule options
of the scan. If you need to make changes click on the pencil icon
to the right of the applicable section. This is also where you can
enter a name and a description for the scan.
3-11

There are 2 options always available any time during the configuration of
Run/Save a discovery scan. Allows the scan to either be Save or Ran from a click of
a button upper right hand side.

Clicking save will let you save the

discovery. Once saved it can then be
ran from the Saved Scan Settings dialog
window.

Clicking run open a dialog very similar

to the save button, but gives an option to
save and run, by clicking Yes, or just run
the discovery, by clicking No-Just Run.
 3-12

3.3 Saved Scans

Overview

Under the Discover Menu you have an option labeled Saved Scan Setting
Overview (Discover > Saved Scan Settings). By highlighting a saved scan you have a
variety of option available to you.
Run Now: Launches the selected scans. You can have up to 4 scans
running at the same time.
New: Create a new scan that starts with the default discovery
template.
Modify: Edit existing saved scan. This button will not be active if
more than one scan is selected.
Copy: Copies the information from selected scan and put into a
new scan with the default name of “Copy of...” Again the button will
not be active if more than one scan is selected.
Set as Default: Selected scan becomes the default template when
all new scans are created. Like Modify and Copy this Button will not
be active if more than one scan is selected
 3-13

Preconfigured

WhatsUp Gold installs with 3 preconfigured scan the first being the
Scheduled Refresh Schedule Refresh. This scan goes out and rescans all of the current
discovered devices. As long as the devices have the “Keep Details
Current” checked, this scan will automatically update any devices being
monitored. If it is not checked it will keep the updated information in
the discovery portion of WhatsUp Gold. This allows for the ability to
update the device manually, at any given time.

So what does this scan update? It looks for new or better information
about a device, including but not limited to better fitting device roles,
device attributes and device properties.

If this is a clean install of WhatsUp gold and not an upgrade this scan is
scheduled by default to run every night at 1 am.

The “Keep Details

Current” is checked by
default on every device.
 3-14

The second of the preconfigured scans is the Scheduled Scan. This scan
Scheduled Discovery is a seed address scan with a scan depth of 3, using all current and future
credentials. This scan is not set to refresh and details of your monitored
devices

If this is a clean install of WhatsUp gold and not an upgrade this scan is
scheduled by default to run every night at 3 am.

The last of the preconfigured scans is the Default Discovery.

Default Discovery This scan is not scheduled to run by default, even on a clean
install of WhatsUp gold. This scan is used as a template when
you go to create a new scan.

If you need different scan settings for your template you can
either modify the Default template or set a different scan as the
default. Just highlight the scan and click Set as Default.
3-15
 3-16

3.4 Discover Map

Overview

As WhatsUp Gold discovers devices, it places them in the

The Map discover Map. Showing devices that are currently being
monitored and devices that are not being monitored. From the
Discovered Network Map, you can see a map of discovered
devices or perform a new scan to find additional network devices
to monitor, update connectivity data for existing devices already
being monitored by WhatsUp Gold, and access previously saved
discovery setting configurations and results.

The legend on the discovery map is found in the lower left hand corner.
Legend It explains the map icons:
• UnMonitored: Devices discovered but not monitored
• Monitored, Up
• Monitored, Down:
• Monitored, Maintenance
• Monitored Unknown

The legend can also be minimized by clicking on the down arrow ; click
the Up arrow to restore it to full size.
3-17

When WhatsUp Gold is performing a Discovery Scan, the

Active Scans progress of the scan will show up under the Discovery Legend. If
you are promoting devices to be monitored the progress of that
action will be shown here as well. You can run up to 4 scans or
one promotion action at any given time.

Map Features

The Discover Map has multiple way to zoom in and out. There are Map
Zooming controls in the lower right corner. Use the Plus sign to zoom in and
the Minus to zoom out. The Next Icon is the Zoom to Fit, Forces
the entire map to fit inside the displayed area. The Map also allows
you to zoom in and out with a simple turn of a wheel mouse. When
using the mouse it will center the zoom on the location of the map.

The Select Tool allow WhatsUp to toggle between pan and select
Selecting Device modes. Pan mode allows for moving the map around. In this mode
you can select single devices. To select multiple you will need to
hold the shift Key down while selecting each device

When in Select mode

you can draw a rectangle
around multiple device to
“capture” them.
 3-18

WhatsUp Gold allows for applying filters to the map so you can see\
Filters select just the devices you need. To access the filter you click on the
funnel icon in the upper left hand corner. Once it is selected the
menu will appear.

The filter menu is divided into four sections.

• The Filter text, Location or Name/IP Section: You enter an IP
address, Name or a location name to be used
• Credential Types-Dropdown menu: Shows available credentials
that can be applied
• Monitored Status-Dropdown menu: Selects desired status; Up,
Down, Maintenance, Unknown
• Roles: Dropdown menu: Select desired device roll status for the
filter. All rolls are displayed, the system defaults and those that
have been created

As you type the filter text box WhatsUp will

match what is being typed in the appropriate
fields. Selecting the filter type will apply the
filter. WhatsUp Gold allows for multiple
filters to be applied.

You can apply as many filters as you want until you run out of room on
the web page.

As filters are applied, the devices that do

not match will remain on the map but are
subdued nor are they selectable. All the
devices matching the filter will remain
normal, non-subdued, and selectable. To
remove the filters by clicking the X next to the
filter name or click the Clear All to remove all
the filters.
3-19

Hiding devices allows for removing devices from the discover map
without permanently deleting them. To hide a device(s), select the
device(s) you want hidden and click the down arrow and bar icon
in the information card. To unhide any device, Click Hidden
Devices Icon in upper left corner under filters.

In Hidden Devices dialog, select device(s) to be unhidden. Then click

Show Devices button.

Once a discovery has been run, any devices in the discover map can
Start Monitoring be promoted to start monitoring in WhatsUp gold. To promote your
device, select the devices you want to monitor then click Update\Start
Monitoring in the information card in the upper right hand corner.

Once Update\Start Monitoring is clicked you must wait for it to finish

before you can promote additional devices or kick off a discover scan.

If you delete devices out of the Discover Map, any devices that you are
currently monitoring will repopulate in the discover map.
 3-20

Grid View

When there is a need to view a list of devices instead of

Device List navigating the map, WhatsUp Gold allows for this view as
well. Click double arrow at the bottom of the map view to
show a list of devices. The device list will displayed on
the map at the bottom of the interface. Click the same icon
to expand the table to a full screen view. This device list
provides you with an alternate view of your discovery or
moni toring device inventory.

When viewing the list on the Discovered Network map, you

can select just one or multiple devices using the check boxes
at left, then click Start/Update Monitoring on the information
card that appears to begin monitoring or update applicable
information for the device(s) on the My Network map view.
Selecting devices on the grid also allows you to hide, delete,
or rescan connectivity from the information card using the
respective icons.

Click double down arrow to return to the hybrid view or the

singl e down arrow to hide the device list from view.
4
My Network
4.1 Interactive Map
Basic Features
Additional Features
Layout
4.2 Customizing the Map
Device Groups
Tools
4.3 Device Information
Information Cards
Device Properties
Monitor Setup
 4-2

4.1 Interactive Map

Basic Features

WhatsUp Gold 2017 has one Integrated Interactive Map, allowing for
The Map a quick overall view of what devices are connected to what as well as a
state of the network. This is the first thing you see anytime you login to
WhatsUp gold. It is very similar to the discover map; the legend is almost
identical, filter, zooming, selecting options, along with the grid viewing
options all work exactly the same as the Discover Map

As WhatsUp Gold starts monitoring devices, it creates a map of the

network. It can be modify other device groups created to group devices
as you see fit. Regardless of the groups for which you create maps, you
can change any map in a variety of ways:

• Organize devices into user-specified groups, for example, all

HTTP servers.
• Indicate relationships among devices by using annotation objects
such as rectangles, ellipses, text, network clouds, and “attached”
or “free” lines.
• Show the status of network links by creating connectivity maps.
4-3

The legend on the interactive map is very similar to the legend on the
Legend Discovery map. It is found in the lower left hand corner. It explains the
map icons:
Monitored, Up
Monitored, Down:
Monitored, Maintenance
Monitored Unknown

You should notice the only difference

is that it does not show unmonitored
devices.

The legend can also be minimized by clicking on the down arrow ; click
the Up arrow to restore it to full size.

Icon Device Description

A blue ring indicates the device is Up. It is
operating as expected per the specific monitors
assigned and enabled.
A red ring indicates the device is Down. One or
more assigned monitors has detected a problem
per the configured threshold(s).

A yellow ring indicates the device is currently

in Maintenance Mode. The device will not
be polled, actions will not be triggered, and
activity will not be logged until it is taken out of
maintenance mode.
A light gray ring indicates the status of
the device can not be determined because
WhatsUp Gold was unable to successfully
communicate with and/or gather useful data
from the device when polled.

Like the Discover Map, the interactive map has multiple way to zoom in
Zooming and out. There are Map controls in the lower right corner. Use the Plus
sign to zoom in and the Minus to zoom out. The Next Icon is
the Zoom to Fit , Forces the entire map to fit inside the displayed
area. The Map also allows you to zoom in and out with a simple turn of
a wheel mouse. When using the mouse it will center the zoom on the
location of the map.
 4-4

The Select Tool allows WhatsUp to toggle between pan and select
Selecting Device modes. Pan mode allows for moving the map around. In this mode
you can select single devices. To select multiple you will need to
hold the shift Key down while selecting each device

When in Select mode

you can draw a rectangle
around multiple device to
“capture” them.

When there is a need to view a list of devices instead of

Device List navigating the map, WhatsUp Gold allows for this view grid
view in the interactive map, as well. Click double arrow
at the bottom of the map view to show a list of devices.
The device list will displayed on the map at the bottom of the
interface. Click the same icon to expand the table to a full
screen view. This device list provides you with an alternate
view of your discovery or monitoring device inventory.

Selecting devices on the grid also allows you to preform

multiple task from the information card using the respective
icons.

Click double down arrow to return to the hybrid view or the

single down arrow to hide the device list from view.
4-5

The interactive map’s filters work exactly as they did in the discovery
Filters map, except you no longer have the option to filter on the Discovery
Status. To access the filter you click on the funnel icon
in the upper left hand corner. Once it is selected the
menu will appear.

The filter menu is divided into four sections.

• The Filter text, Location or Name/IP Section: You enter an IP
address, Name or a location name to be used
• Credential Types-Dropdown menu: Shows available credentials
that can be applied
• Monitored Status-Dropdown menu: Selects desired status; Up,
Down, Maintenance, Unknown
• Roles: Dropdown menu: Select desired device roll status for the
filter. All rolls are displayed, the system defaults and those that
have been created

As you type the filter text box WhatsUp

will match what is being typed in the
appropriate fields. Selecting the filter
type will apply the filter. WhatsUp Gold
allows for multiple filters to be applied.

You can apply as many filters as you

want until you run out of room on the
web page.

As filters are applied, the devices that do not match will remain on the
map but are subdued nor are they selectable. All the devices matching
the filter will remain normal, non-subdued, and selectable. To remove
the filters by clicking the X next to the filter name or click the Clear All to
remove all the filters.
 4-6

Additional Features

One of the biggest changes between the Discovery Map and the My
Overlays Network interactive map is the ability to use overlays. Overlays give
the ability to enhance the level of map detail by applying the different
overlays. There are four overlay options available:
• Device Connectivity
• Dependency and Link Status
• Wireless
• Virtual

You can have anywhere from 1-4 overlays selected. You must have at
least one overlay selected.

Icon Description
Network Connections Overlay displays devices
with their network connections, showing what devices
are connected to what devices. This is the default
overlay
Dependency and Link Status overlay actually
shows 2 different items. It will display the status of any
link that is being monitored. The line will show as Blue
for up, Red for down and Yellow for maintenance

This overlay will also show any decencies links, that

have been configured on your devices. The blue dashed
line will start on the device and point to the device it is
dependent on.

Wireless overlay displays the wireless network(s).

Showing the virtual connections between the wireless
controllers and access points, as well as, the connection
from access points and wireless clients.

Wireless clients will only show when wireless

overlay is selected
4-7

Icon Description
Virtual overlay displays virtual environment(s).
This includes virtual devices with both VMWare and
Hyper-V, their hosts and guests. When you zoom into
the map with the overlay enabled, there are additional
icons (called badges), that appear next to the device
icons. These badges depict the roll the device has
within the virtual environment.

Icon Description
VMWare VCenter

VMWare Data Center

VMWare Cluster

VMWare Host

VMWare Virtual Machine

HyperV Host

HyperV Virtual Machine

 4-8

At top right corner of the map are icons used to access the most
Library Icons common libraries used for WhatsUp Gold device management.
From here, you can not only access, but also apply both
credentials and monitors to devices displayed on the current
map. Simply select one or more existing credentials or monitors
along with any icon or icons shown, then click Apply to selected
devices to complete the assignment. With either the credentials or
monitors dialog open, click the plus icon to add a new credential or
monitor to the respective library directly from the Monitor map or the
library icon to open that library in full screen mode.
4-9

Layout

WhatsUp Gold’s interactive map allows for 2 different views. There

Overview is an Auto Layout, which automatically arranges devices based on
connectivity. Then there is a custom Layout allowing each map to be
customized in configuration, shapes and annotations.

Auto Layout is the default view and is the one you see when
Auto Layout you first log into WhatsUp Gold. The devices is automatically
arranged according to connectivity and other factors. Anytime
you re-click the Auto Layout icon the map will attempt to redraw the
map keeping any links lines from overlapping.

This layout gives you the option to view all the devices in subgroups.
This option is checked by default. When selected, the view shows
devices in the group selected and all of its subgroups, but will not show
any groups. When unselected the view shows only what is in the group
selected, be it devices and\or groups.

Custom Layout allows for full customization; arrangement

Custom Layout of devices, adding of shapes, images and annotations. This
layout allows to the addition of background images/maps then
placing each device on the map where it is located.
 4-10

4.2 Customizing the Map

Device Groups

Using device groups in WhatsUp Gold helps to quickly find and

Overview diagnose problems within the network environment. WhatsUp Gold
allows for as many device groups as needed to organize the network in
a way that is meaningful to the layout of the network and its monitoring
needs.

When WhatsUp Gold starts monitoring the devices it places them into 2
types of groups.
• Physical Groups (non-dynamic)
• Dynamic groups

Non-dynamic groups are referred to as “Physical groups,” or simply as

Physical “device groups.” When you start monitoring a device, you can select a
physical group to place the devices in. By default WhatsUp will place all
the device in the physical group “Discovered Devices”.

The Physical Groups icon, will show the worst state of any device
with in that group, in the lower right hand corner. This allows you
to get an indication of the status of your devices before even going into
the group.

Physical Groups also make use a group access rights allowing you to
restrict read and write access to the group and devices.

Since the inventory remains static, Physical Groups best used

for:
• Mapping
• Inventory
4-11

All devices discovered on your network are placed into a single dynamic
Dynamic group named ‘All devices’ by default. Additional groups are created
automatically when SQL queries search for devices based on user-
specified criteria during discovery. These are referred to as dynamic
groups because group membership can change automatically based on
the data WhatsUp Gold receives from the devices therein.
There are two types of dynamic groups that exist in WhatsUp Gold:
• Layer 2 dynamic groups
• WhatsUp Gold dynamic groups.

WhatsUp Gold Dynamic groups are created by SQL queries

based on user-specified criteria, or by WhatsUp Gold background
processes. By default, all devices discovered on your network are placed
into a dynamic group named “All devices (dynamic group)” and there are
also a number of examples of common devices sorted in a device group
named “Dynamic Group Examples.” These advanced dynamic groups do
not have customizable maps available, but allow you to specify rules for
dynamic membership of devices in the group.

As new devices are added to being monitored or updated by WhatsUp

Gold, each dynamic group may contain any number of the new devices
found by WhatsUp Gold depending on the criteria used by the group,
or may contain no devices at all. Dynamic groups can be created for
specific device types, device attributes, active monitors, or anything
else that is stored for individual devices in the database. They will also
update automatically showing the most current results

The WhatsUp Gold Dynamic Group Icon will not show the worst
state of the devices with in the group.

You can find dynamic groups built by other WhatsUp Gold users in the
forums. https://community.whatsupgold.com/library/dynamicgroups

Layer2 Groups currently use the same Icon as a physical group and
will show the worst state of any device within that group. During
the discovery process WhatsUp Gold gathers Layer 2 data: information
related to the physical connectivity between your network nodes.
Detailed information about your devices, their interfaces, connection
speeds, and addressing is all compiled into a set of results that allow
WhatsUp Gold to automatically generate integrated topology maps
showing both Layer 2 connectivity and Layer 3 addressing information.
With auto-discovery and dynamic mapping, you get accurate up-to-date
port-to-port connectivity and topology information at all times. This
helps in troubleshooting by making it easier to determine data paths. It
also helps ensure compliance with audits, such as PCI DSS, FIPS, and
HIPAA, by gathering and storing inventory information about your
devices.

You can use Map Devices and Connected Devices to build customized
Layer2 Groups. The filtering options allow you to dynamically choose
 4-12

which device types to display on your map, and to do so based on device

connectivity data.

Layer 2 groups share properties of both Physical and Dynamic Groups.

The Graphic below shows the shared aspects.

Physical Groups and Layer2 map groups show the worst state of any
device in the group on the Icon; they also make use of access rights to
control read and write access to the group.

Layer2 Map Groups and Dynamic Groups are updated automatically to

show the most current discovery results, as well as, make use of filters to
include and exclude devices.

At any time you can refresh the device details and its connectivity.
Just select the device(s) or group click on the Action Menu and select
refresh device Details or Refresh Connectivity.
4-13

Tools

WhatsUp Gold allows customization of the My Network map using a

Overview suite of drawing tools used to annotate and enhance the level of detail
to represent the network work environment more accurately. To begin
customizing the map, click the “Custom Layout” icon” to disable the
automatic map arrangement defined by WhatsUp Gold. Next click the
pencil icon, in the bottom right hand side of the map, to display the
map editing tools.

If you are still on “Auto Layout” the pencil will not be displayed

When in custom layout WhatsUp gold allows for the additional of

Shapes multiple shapes, images and annotations to the map.

Icon Description
Line Segment: Use the mouse to draw a line. Grab
the end of a selected line to rotate the line.

Rectangle: Click on the map for a starting point, then

drag the mouse to expand the rectangle. Use the guide
boxes to change height and width.
Circle: Click on the map for a starting point, then drag
the mouse to expand the circle. Use the guide boxes to
change height and width.
Network Cloud: Click on the map for a starting
point, then drag the mouse to expand the cloud. Use
the guide boxes to change height and width.
Polygon: Currently this feature is unavailable and is
just a place holder for future release.

Image: Opens a dialog box to select an image.

WhatsUp gold will then upload the file for use. Click
the mouse at the location for the upper left corner. Use
the guide boxes to change height and width
Text: Click on the map to select a starting point for the
text. Type your text in the Sample Text box in the Style
area.
 4-14

Style controls allow for changing the options of a selected Shape or text.
Style Many controls can be seen with any shape, while a few are dedicated to
certain shapes or Text.

Icon Description
Fill: Allows for changing of the fill
color of the shape

Fill None: Checking the box removes

any fill color

Line Width: Set the boarder width of

any shape, When on Text it is similar
to Bold increasing the thickness of
the lien weight.
Stroke: changes the corder color of
any shape
Corner Radius: This controls is
specific to the Rectangle shape and
will control the radius of the corners.
Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strike
Through: These controls are specific
when dealing with Text added to the
map. Allows the text to be Bolded,
Italicized, Underlined and\or Strike
through.
Size: Again specific when dealing
with the Text. Lets you set the font
size of any text.

The controls in this area allow the shape, image or text to brought to the
Edit Controls front, sent to the back , locked, unlocked, cloned, or deleted.

Icon Description
Bring to Front: Brings the Selected Shape forward

Send to Back: the selected shape back

Lock: Groups the selected images together to act as a

single image
UnLock: Separates the grouped images back into
individual images
4-15

Icon Description
Clone: makes a duplicate of the selected shape. This
control will not clone a device.

Delete: Deletes the selected shapes

 4-16

4.3 Device Information

Information Cards

Select any device icon on either map layout to display its Device
Overview Information card. When viewing the My Network map, the card displays
extensive information about the device’s identity, status, role, attributes,
group membership, and assigned monitors without obscuring the map
view. It also provides controls for accessing dialog screens for:
Device Properties
Device Status
Device Monitor
Action Menu gives a dropdown or basic actions related to a device.
Choosing an action from this menu performs that action to each selected
device.
4-17

When multiple devices on this map view are selected,

the action menu changes to display a dropdown of group
management actions.

When viewing the Discovered Network map, the card displays

information about the device, though the level of detail can vary
depending on if that device is currently being monitored by WhatsUp
Gold and how much data was gathered during the discovery scan. The
information card also provides controls for:
Hiding
Deleting
Rescanning the selected device
Start or Update Monitoring.
 4-18

Device Properties

Any device on the network will have certain properties associated with it,
Overview such as the configuration stored locally on the device and data associated
with the device’s hardware and software. In WhatsUp Gold, the concept
of device properties encompasses a wide array of information, including
generalized data pertaining to name, vendor, serial number, release
version, etc. provided by the vendor, as well as IP address, location,
contact, etc. configured by the network or server Administrator. In
addition, WhatsUp Gold assigns credentials, monitors, tasks, etc., as
configured by the WhatsUp Gold Administrator.

The Device Properties interface displays available data about the selected
device itself and its assignments. Upon accessing Device Properties,
identifying information for the selected device as well as its current
status and notes about its initial discovery can be seen at the center of the
interface.

More detailed information about specific areas of the selected device can
be found by expanding the sections at the bottom or navigating between
views at the top of the interface. The sections displayed are dependent
upon the device role and information gathered during discovery and do
not appear if not applicable to the selected device.

Device Summary lists basic information about the device. Clicking the
pencil icon allows for editing the aspect the pencil was next to (Display
Name or Notes). Use the following controls for common functions
applicable to device monitoring, located on the right:
Click to access Device Status.
Click to access Device Monitor Setup.
Click to access the Action Menu giving a dropdown or basic actions
related to a device.

Keep Details Current

checked to allow the
scheduled refresh to update
the devices automatically.
 4-19

Primary and Sub Roles lists the monitoring category, or role, in which
Roles the selected device was automatically placed by WhatsUp Gold based
on specific data gathered during discovery as well as any more tightly
defined categorization, or
sub roles, assigned during
discovery or defined by
the end-user. See Module
2, Lesson 3 for more
information on Device Roles

Attributes displays any additional information that can be gathered

Attributes about the selected. Attributes are assigned to a device by the discovery
process. These Attributes are made up of the vendor information and
device configuration retrieved by SNMP as well as identification data
that is stored on the device.

Custom Links presents any user-defined URLs associated with the

Custom Links selected device.

Device Information provides comprehensive inventory and configuration

Device Information information across your network devices and systems using SNMP, SSH,
WMI and Telnet as part of the Layer 2 discovery process. The drop
down provides access to this inventory data in a series of different repots
associated with the device.

WhatsUp Gold inventory capabilities provide support for many different

platforms and manufactures, including Cisco/Linksys, Nortel/Bay
Networks, Netgear, SMC, Foundry, 3COM, Dell PowerConnect, Juniper,
 4-20

VMWare, HP Procure, and many more.

Layer 2 data collection must

have been enabled during
device discovery for this
section to populate.

Configuration Management allows you to manage and run scheduled

Configuration Mgmt tasks as well as modify and compare configuration archives assigned to
the selected device. This option will only be available if you are licensed
for Configuration Manager,
default with Total View Plus

Virtual Monitoring indicates if the selected device is a virtual device and

Virtual if so it’s specific role and any additional virtualization data including
associated servers, hosts, and/or virtual devices. This section also allows
configuration of the events you would like to monitor.
4-21

Monitor Setup

The Device Monitor Setup interface displays all available data about how
Overview WhatsUp Gold gathers information from and reacts to status changes for
the selected device. Upon accessing Device Monitor Setup, identifying
information for the selected device can be seen at the center of the
interface.

Device Summary, similar to the Device summary in the Device

properties, lists basic information about the device, without the ability
to edit. Use the following controls for common functions applicable to
device monitoring at right:
Click to access Device Status.
Click to access Device Properties.
Click to access the Action Menu giving a dropdown or basic actions
related to a device.

More detailed information

about access, monitoring, and
associated actions specific
to the selected device can
be found by expanding the
sections at the bottom of the
interface.

Credentials displays a table of credentials currently assigned to the

Credentials selected device. Select any credential name displayed to access a list of
credentials of the same type which currently reside in the Credentials
Library and change the assignment for that credential type. This section
also provides access to the Credentials Library by clicking the Credential
Library button.
 4-22

Monitors displays a table of active, passive, and performance monitors

Monitors currently assigned to the selected device. Assign or remove monitors
using the controls at the top of this section or click elements within the
table to view current monitor status, assign credentials for the monitor
to use to access the selected device, and configure associated alerts and
actions.

Polling and Maintenance contains controls for configuring polling

Polling frequency, method, and communication type as well as any dependencies
and maintenance schedules for the selected device.

Actions and Actions Policies contains controls for applying existing

Actions action policies and assigning individual actions to the selected device.
This section also provides access to the Action Policies Library by
clicking the Manage Action Policies button.
5
Monitors
5.1 Monitors
Overview
5.2 Active Monitors
Overview
Hardware, Chassis and Wireless
Network Management
Application
File and Folder
Critical Services
5.3 Passive Monitors
Overview
SNMP Traps
Syslogs
Windows Event
5.4 Performance Monitors
Overview
Default
Custom
Thresholds
 5-2

5.1 Monitors

Overview

While the discovery process learns what devices are on your network, the
Overview next step is to monitor the condition, state and/or performance of devices
that make up your network. WhatsUp Gold has tools that accomplish
that task, which are referred to as monitors.

Monitoring the status of the devices on your network requires making or

accepting connection to and from each network location, gathering data
about the device, and determining if the data is acceptable in terms of
what you would expect to see in a healthy environment. In some cases it
is useful to compare the data against a range of acceptable responses to
see if the device is operating as it should. In other cases, you may want to
rely on the device to monitor itself and send data to the WhatsUp Gold
server passively, or to simply collect and store data for long-term analysis.
Each of these scenarios may require a different connection method and
monitoring solution, and the Monitor Library in WhatsUp Gold allows
you to configure a set of monitors to accomplish each task.

There at three types of monitors in WhatsUp Gold:

Monitor Types Active Monitors – Actively monitor your device. They determine if
your device are Up or down
Passive Monitors – sit back and wait for your devices to report to
them
Performance Monitors – check how your devices are performing
(CPU, drive space, memory, etc…)

Each monitor type offers unique functionality, with different options and
configuration needs, and the data you collect with each monitor type can
be used in a distinctly different way
5-3

5.2 Active Monitors

Overview

As its name implies, an Active Monitor actively polls your

Active Monitors devices. It will interact with a target device for specific
information, such as a ping reply, SNMP response or service
status request. After a device is added to the database, WhatsUp
Gold begins monitoring that device using
ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) and any other active monitors
established for that specific device role, such as Interface SNMP active
monitors on a Router or Switch.

There are approximately 20 Active

Monitors available in the default
instance of WhatsUp Gold, ranging
from fan, temperature and power
supply monitoring to basic TCP-
based service monitors such as
HTTP, SMTP, DNS and Radius. You
can create your own custom Active
Monitors as well, ranging from very
basic port monitors to advanced
synthetic transaction monitors.

Active Monitors simulate user events

and actively poll for specific metrics
such as MIB values or other sorts
of instrumentation, service and
application availability and latency,
apply queries and exercise APIs. To
accomplish this WhatsUp Gold has 5
types or areas of monitors.
• Hardware, Chassis and Wireless
• Network Management and Instrumentation
• Application
• File system and Storage
• Critical Service

Many of the monitors in the Critical service area are better suited to
monitor as an application, instead of on individual devices.
 5-4

For Active monitors to determine the state of the target device it must
Poll Characteristics first poll that device. Polling is the active watching, or monitoring, of
your network by WhatsUp Gold. In the polling process, WhatsUp Gold
sends a message to the device, and expects an appropriate response.
If a response is either not received or is not the expected response, the
monitor is considered down. When an Active monitor reports down it
will initiate a state change. No other type of monitor can initiate a state
change. Meaning only active monitors determine if a monitor or device
is up or down

Polling is done in a variety of ways, depending on the types of

monitors you have configured on your devices. The default
polling method (Ping) is done through Internet Control
Message Protocol (ICMP), with a default polling interval of 60
seconds.

When adding a monitor to your device there are multiple option you
Options have to configure each monitor to fit the environment. The first option is
which interface the monitor should be applied to. By default this is the
primary or default interface. If a device has multiple IPs make sure it is
assigned to monitor on the correct one.
5-5

There are multiple options available Under the Advanced Button, which
brings up the active monitor advanced properties
• Argument. Enter text to append to the OID for the interface on
the selected device. By default, it identifies the number used by
the SNMP interface.
• Comment. Enter user defined text to appear in the Active
Monitors list.
• Use independent poll frequency for this monitor. Select this
option to have the selected device polled based on the Poll
frequency.
• Poll frequency. Enter the amount of time (in seconds) between
polls for the selected device. This setting is not displayed unless
you select the Use independent poll frequency for this monitor
option.

Independent poll frequency for all monitors

is ignored when an active monitor is
specified as critical.

Hardware, Chassis and Wireless

The APC UPS monitor watches your American Power

APC UPS Conversion Uninterruptible Power Supply (APC UPS) device
and alerts you when selected thresholds are met or exceeded,
output states are reached, and/or abnormal conditions are met.
 5-6

• Thresholds. Select which thresholds to monitor. Click Configure

to set individual threshold settings if desired.
• Monitor the following output states. Select the output state(s) on
which you want to be alerted.
• Monitor the following abnormal conditions. Select the abnormal
condition(s) on which you want to be alerted.

Example: An alert can be sent when the UPS

battery capacity is below 20%, when the
battery temperature is high, when the battery
is in bypass mode due to a battery overload
state, and many other UPS alert conditions.

The Fan Monitor checks manufacturer-specific device fans

Fan and cooling devices, such as active and passive cooling
components, to see if they are enabled and returning
values signalling they are working properly. The monitor
first checks if the monitored device is manufactured
by Dell, Cisco, or HP. Then, it checks for any enabled fans and other
cooling devices. If a fan is disabled, the monitor ignores it. The monitor is
considered down when it does not return one of the following values:
• Normal (for Cisco devices or Dell PowerConnect switches and
routers)
• OK (for ProLiant switches and routers)
• OK (for Dell Servers)
• OK (for HP ProCurve Servers)
5-7

The Power Supply monitor checks manufacturer-specific

Power Supply power supplies devices to see if they are enabled and returning
values signalling they are in an Up state. The monitor first
checks if the monitored device is manufactured by Dell, Cisco,
or HP. Then, it checks for any enabled power supply devices.
If a power supply is disabled, the monitor ignores it. The monitor is
considered down when it does not return one of the following values:
• Normal (for Cisco switches/routers)
• OK (for Dell switches/routers)
• OK (for HP ProLiant servers)
• OK (for Dell server devices)
• Good (for HP ProCurve switches/routers)

The Printer monitor uses SNMP to collect data on SNMP-

Printer enabled network printers. If a failure criteria is met, any
associated actions fire.

Warning In order for the Printer active monitor to work, in addition to

being SNMP-enabled, the printer you are attempting to monitor must
also support the Standard Printer MIB.

Enter or select the appropriate information in the Failure Criteria

section:
If the ink level in any of the cartridges falls below___%. Enter a numerical
value for the threshold. If the ink level of any printer ink cartridge falls
below this percentage, the monitor is considered down. By default,
this option is not selected.
If the printer registers any of the following alerts. By default, the
monitor watches for all of the listed printer alerts. If you do not
want to monitor a particular alert, clear its selection in the list.
If the printer registers one of the selected alerts, the monitor is
considered down.

Some printers may not support all of the SNMP objects

associated with the available monitor alert checks.

Example, you can monitor for printer ink levels, for a

paper jam, for low input media (paper), for a fuse that is
over temperature, and more.
 5-8

The Temperature monitor checks manufacturer-specific

Temperature temperature probes to see if they return a value signaling
they are in an Up state. First, the monitor first checks if the
monitored device is manufactured by Cisco, Dell, HP, or
Ravica. Then, it checks for any enabled temperature probes.
If a temperature probe is disabled, the monitor ignores it. The monitor is
considered down when it does not return one of the following values:
• Normal (for Cisco switches and routers)
• OK (for HP ProLiant servers)
• Normal (for Ravica
temperature probes)
• OK (for Dell Servers)
• Good (for HP ProCurve
switches and routers)

The WAP Radio monitor uses SNMP authentication

WAP Radio to determine the status of a Cisco Aironet wireless
access point. The monitor first checks the ifType (OID
1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.3) value. The ifType value of 71 - IEEE 80211
must be present for the monitor to continue checking the WAP radio
device status. Then, if the ifType value is true, the ifAdminStatus (OID:
1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.7) value is checked. If the ifAdminStatus value for the
interface is in the Down or Testing state, the active monitor is considered
Down and the ifOperStatus
(OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.8) value is
checked. If the ifOperStatus
value is 1 - Up or 5 - Dormant,
the WAP radio is determined
to be in the Up state.
Otherwise, the device is
considered to be in the Down
state
5-9

Network Management

Ping monitor sends an ICMP (ping) command to a device.

Ping This is the default monitor added to all devices during
discovery. If the device does not respond, the monitor is
considered Down.

• Timeout. Enter the length of time

WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect
to the selected device. When the
specified time is exceeded without
connecting, a timeout occurs
and WhatsUp Gold stops trying
to connect to the server. This is
considered a failed connection.
• Retries. Enter the number of times
WhatsUp Gold attempts to send
the command before the device is
considered Down.
• Payload size. Enter the length in
bytes of each packet sent by the
ping command.
• Use in rescan. Enable this option to have the monitor appear
in Device Properties. If enabled, clicking Refresh Connectivity
within the Device Properties interface adds the monitor to the
selected de-vice if the applicable protocol or service is active on
that device.

Tip If getting multiple false negatives create a second ping with

• Timeout = 2
• Retries=5

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

SNMP monitor gathers information about the functions of an
SNMP-enabled network devices by querying it to verify
it returns an expected value. Depending on the specific
configuration, the monitor can be considered either Up or Down
depending upon the returned value.

• ObjectID/Instance. Select the target device and required

credentials, then select the specific SNMP object to monitor in
the SNMP MIB Browser.
 5-10

• Check Type. Select one of the following check types:

• When Constant Value is selected:
• Value. Depending on the Object ID you selected, enter the
appropriate value.
• If the value matches, then the monitor is: select Up or Down.
• When Range of Values is selected:
• Low Value. Depending on the Object ID you selected, enter the
appropriate value.
• High Value. Depending on the Object ID you selected, enter the
appropriate value.
• When Rate of Change in Value is selected:
• Rate of Change (in variable units per second). Enter the desired
value.
• If the value is above the rate, then the monitor is: select Up or
Down.

SNMP Extended monitor utilizes SNMP to gather specific

SNMP Extended information about the functions of multiple OIDs by
querying the group to verify they return an expected
value and allows you to monitor all devices using SNMP.
While the standard SNMP monitor checks a single OID against a single
threshold, the SNMP Extended monitor checks multiple OIDs against
multiple thresholds using an .xml file and predefined values for each
supported device type to determine if the monitor is considered either up
or down according to the returned value.

• Import. Click to select the desired .xml file from the list
containing applicable OIDs to monitor, then click OK to return
to the monitor configuration dialog. The Thresholds to monitor
section of the dialog displays the OIDs from the imported .xml
file as parameters.
• Configure. Click to specify the request type for the selected
parameter.
• value is. When monitoring for a specific value, determine when
the monitor should the report the device as Down by specifying
if the response is greater than, less than, equal to, or contains the
entered numer-ic or string value.
• value is outside the range of. When monitoring a range, enter the
minimum and maximum values the re-sponse must fall within
for the monitor to report the device as Down.
5-11

• rate of change between two polls is. When monitoring for a range
of change, determine when the monitor should the report the
device as Down by specifying if the response is
greater than, less than, or equal to the entered
value in seconds.

You can create your own xml files to

import. Place the file in the <install
directo-ry>\data\SNMPExtended

The WMI monitor checks for specific values on WMI-

WMI enabled devices. Monitored metrics include systems
resources like CPU, disk, and memory utilization, as well as
specific process performance counters.

• Performance Counter/Instance. Select the target device,

performance object, counter, and instance to monitor.
• Check Type. Select one of the following check types:
• When Constant Value is selected:
• Value. Depending on the performance counter
selected, enter the appropriate value.
• If the value matches, then the monitor is: select Up or
Down.
• When Range of Values is selected:
• Low Value. Depending on the performance counter
selected, enter the appropriate value.
• High Value. Depending on the performance counter
selected, enter the appropriate value.
• When Rate of Change in Value is selected:
• Rate of Change (in variable units per second). Enter
the desired value.
• If the value is above the rate, then the monitor is:
select Up or Down.
 5-12

The WMI Formatted monitor checks for specific values on

WMI Formatted WMI-enabled devices. Monitored metrics include systems
resources like CPU, disk, and memory utilization, as well
as specific process performance counters. While similar to
the WMI monitor that uses raw data, the WMI Formatted
active monitor uses calculated counter data. The difference
between the WMI and WMI formatted monitor is the formatted monitor
will be rounded, instead of using a floating point decimal. It may also be
in Gigabyte or Megabyte instead of byte

• Performance Counter/Instance. Select the target device,

performance object, counter, and instance to monitor.
• Check Type. Select one of the following check types:
• When Constant Value is selected:
• Value. Depending on the performance counter selected, enter the
appropriate value.
• If the value matches, then the monitor is: select Up or Down.
• When Range of Values is selected:
• Low Value. Depending on the performance counter selected,
enter the appropriate value.
• High Value. Depending on the performance counter selected,
enter the appropriate value.
• When Rate of Change in Value is selected:
• Rate of Change (in variable units per second). Enter the desired
value.
• If the value is above the rate, then the monitor is: select Up or
Down

Application

The JMX Active Monitor allows you to monitor any server

JMX that supports JMX by requesting one or more JMX attributes
the server supports and allows you to easily browse and add
available attributes to the monitoring list.

• Port. Enter the port number on the server that WhatsUp Gold
should use to communicate with the JMX service.
• Use SSL with RMI Registry. Enable this option to use the JMX
active monitor secured by SSL.
• Click Add to launch the JMX Credentials dialog.
• Enter the IP address or host name of the target device to browse.
5-13

You can also click the Browse button (...) to select a device from
the device list.
• Ensure the Port and Use SSL with RMI Registry settings reflect
your selections made in the previous dialog.
• If needed, select an existing JMX credential from the list or click
the Browse button (...) to access the Credentials Library, then
create a new one.
• Click OK to proceed to the JMX Browser which you can use
to select the target device, domain/path, and attribute(s) to
monitor. The monitor configuration dialog should now display
the attributes you selected in the JMX Browser.
• Select one or more attributes, then click Configure to launch the
Comparison Definition dialog.

Multiple attributes can be selected and configured at once as long as

they are of the same type. You can also select multiple attributes, then
click Copy to configure multiple comparison types and values for
those attributes simultaneously using the same monitor.

• Specify the Comparison Type and Comparison Value for the

selected attribute(s).
• Click OK to return to the monitor configuration dialog.
• Repeat procedure steps as needed to configure comparison
settings for other attributes to be monitored.
 5-14

Process monitor determines if a process running and issues

Process state changes for the device as needed.

• Protocol to use. Select either SNMP or WMI as the

protocol for the monitor to use to connect to the selected
device. If using SNMP, click Advanced to set the SNMP timeout
and number of retries if desired.
• Process Name. Enter name of a process or click Browse (...) to
navigate and connect to a device from which to select a process to
monitor.
• Down if the process is. Specify if the selected process is either not
loaded or is running for the monitor to report a Down status.

The NT Service monitor checks the status of a service

NT Service on a Windows machine and attempts a restart of that
service. Service restart can only occur if the appropriate
administrator permissions exist.

• Protocol. Select either SNMP or WMI as the protocol for the

monitor to use to connect to the selected device. If using SNMP,
click Advanced to set the SNMP timeout and number of retries if
desired.
• Service Name. Click browse (...) to specify a server or workstation
running the service by entering an IP address or hostname and
selecting applicable SNMP credentials.
• Restart on failure. Enable this option to attempt to restart the
service when it enters a Down state.
5-15

If you change protocols the service must be selected in the Service

Name field for the monitor to work.

PowerShell provides a platform for performing a wide

PowerShell variety of monitoring tasks through direct access to script
component libraries, including the .NET Framework.

Prerequisites:
• WhatsUp Gold uses a 32-bit (i.e. x86) PowerShell engine.
Therefore, only 32-bit PowerShell snap-ins are supported and
64-bit only snap-ins will not function properly. Snap-ins that
work on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems are configured
for 64-bit systems by default and must be manually con-figured
for 32-bit PowerShell engine to function properly with WhatsUp
Gold.
• The PowerShell Scripting active monitor requires the use of
windows credential

Configure
• Timeout (Seconds). Enter the length of time
WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect to the selected
de-vice. When the time you enter is exceeded
without connecting, a timeout occurs and
WhatsUp Gold stops trying to connect to the SMTP
server. This is considered a failed connection.
Although the de-fault timeout is 60 seconds, you
are discouraged from using a timeout longer than
10 seconds. Use the shortest timeout possible.
• Run under device credentials. Enable this
check box to execute the script using the Windows
credentials for the affected device.
• Script text. Enter your monitor code.
 5-16

The Telnet monitor checks for a Telnet server on port 23. If

Telnet no telnet service responds on this port, then the service is
considered Down.

• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts

to connect to the selected device. When the specified time is
exceeded without connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp
Gold stops trying to connect to the server. This is considered a
failed connection.
• Use in rescan. Enable this option to have the monitor appear
in Device Properties. If enabled, click-ing Refresh Connectivity
within the Device Properties interface adds the monitor to the
selected de-vice if the applicable protocol or service is active on
that device.

The SSH monitor uses SSH authentication to connect to

SSH a remote device to execute commands or scripts which
can be either embedded in the monitor or placed as
an executable script file on the remote machine with a
command embedded in the monitor to run the script. The
success or failure of the monitor is dependent upon values returned by
the commands or scripts that can be interpreted by WhatsUp Gold as Up
or Down.

• Command to run. Enter the command to run and execute on the

remote device. The command can be anything the device can
interpret and run; for example, a Unix shell command or a perl
script. The command or script must return a string value. Please
note, if you create a script to run on the remote device, it must be
developed, tested, and/or debugged on the remote machine.
• Line end character. Select the appropriate line end type: None,
Linefeed, Carriage return, or Carriage return linefeed. Multiline
scripts are entered and persisted on a Windows operating system
and include line-ending characters that may not be recognized
on the target device. This configuration feature instructs
WhatsUp Gold to replace the line-ending characters with the
selected characters prior to connection and command execution.
• The monitor is considered Up if the following output. Select the
appropriate output criteria. For example, if you are checking to
see that a specific network connection is present on the remote
device, ensure the output contains the specific connection. If the
network connection you specify is not present when the monitor
checks, the monitor is considered Down.
• Use regular expression. Enable this option to apply the target
string as a regular expression as it searches the output from the
command and considers the selected output criteria. The target
5-17

string is evaluated as simple text if this option is disabled.

• SSH credential. Select the appropriate SSH credential WhatsUp
Gold uses to connect to the remote device. WhatsUp Gold uses
the SSH credential assigned to the monitored device if Use the
device SSH credential is selected.

The SQL Query monitor uses WMI or ADO authentication

SQL Query to determine if specific conditions exist in a Microsoft SQL,
MySQL, or ORACLE database by querying the database. If
the configured conditions are present, the monitor is Up. If
changes made to the database since the last query cause data
to no longer fall within the defined criteria, the monitor is Down.

• Server Type. Select Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, or ORACLE

as the database server type. Please note, MySQL database is
supported and listed as a server type option only if the MySQL
5.2.5 Connector is installed.
• Connection Timeout. Enter the amount of time WhatsUp Gold
waits for the server to respond before terminating the connection
and returning the timeout error. The minimum allowed value
is 1 second whereas maximum allowed value is 120. Please note,
this setting only applies to polling whereas the query builder
 5-18

assumes a default of 15 seconds for the connection timeout.

• Server Address. Enter the server address
in the applicable format:
• ServerName\Instance format for
Microsoft SQL Server. Example:
WUGServer\SQLEXPRESS
• ServerName for MySQL. Example:
WUGServer
• ServerName/ServiceName for Oracle.
Example: WUGServer/Oracle.
• Port. Enter the database server port
number.
• SQL Query to Run. Enter the query to
run against the specified database to check
for certain database conditions.

Click Build to launch the SQL Query

Builder for assistance with developing
proper query syntax. Only SELECT
queries are allowed.

The SQL query you enter must return

a single numeric value. Specifically, a
single record that has just one column. If
the query returns more than one record,
the monitor fails to store the data. If the
query returns a single record but there are
multiple columns in the record returned,
then the monitor will pick the first column
as the value to store and this first column
has to be numeric, otherwise the monitor will fail to store the data.

Click Verify to test if the entered database query is valid.

• Number of rows returned is. Select this option to determine the

success or failure of the monitor scan based on rows returned by
the SQL query. All database rows must match the criteria settings
for the monitor to be considered Up.
• Content of each retrieved row matches the following criteria.
Select this option to determine the success or failure of the
monitor scan based on criteria which each database row must
match. If multiple threshold criteria are used, all thresholds must
match the criteria in each row for the monitor to be considered
Up.

Click Add, Edit, and Delete as needed to create, modify, and remove
database column values and conditions, respectively.

To monitor a MySQL database, download and install the MySQL

.NET Connector on the WhatsUp Gold machine. Please note, only
MySQL version 5.2.5 is supported due to potential compatibility
5-19

issues. MySQL .NET Connector version 5.2.5 can be downloaded directly

from the WhatsUp Gold website (http://www.whatsupgold.com/
MySQL525Connector).

When connecting to a remote SQL instance, WhatsUp Gold only

supports the TCP/IP network library.

The HTTP Content monitor requests a URL and checks

HTTP Content the HTTP response against the expected content. If
the response does not return the expected content, the
monitor fails. Use this monitor to ensure web page/
web server availability, to check if a page renders properly on specific
browsers, or even to check for the presence/absence of specific content.
If the monitor does not find the specified content, the monitor is
considered Down.

• URL. Location to check for HTTP content. The URL must begin
with a proper URI, such as http:// or https://. The URL can
include the full path to the document including the document’s
file name and any query string parameters. For example, http://
www.example.com/reports.htm?ReportID=100.
• Authentication username. Username the web site uses for
authentication if applicable.
• Authentication password. Password that coincides with the
username the web site uses for authentication if applicable.

This monitor only supports basic authentication.

• Proxy server. If the specified content is behind a proxy server,

enter the IP address of the proxy server.
• Proxy port. Port on which the proxy server listens.
• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts
to connect to the selected device. When the specified time is
exceeded without connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp
Gold stops trying to connect to the server. This is considered a
failed connection.
• Web page content to find. Content to search for on the specified
website as either plain text or a regular expression. Enable Use
regular expression when using a regular expression. Please note,
this monitor uses standard regular expression processing as
supported by the .NET framework.
• Request URL contents. Click to populate the dialog box with the
Web page contents of the URL you entered above.

Click Advanced to configure the user agent and custom headers if

desired:
• User agent. Select a browser from the list. The user agent string
identifies which web browser is making an HTTP request. Use
this feature to imitate your website being visited by various
 5-20

browsers. The user agent from the latest version of the browser is
populated for the browser you select.
• Custom headers. Specify any headers for which you want to
check. Enter a header as Field:Value.

Errors can result when using invalid custom headers or when

modifying headers which do not allow modification, such as the HTTP
Host header. Click Request URL contents in the monitor configuration
interface to test custom headers. If a problem with the header exists,
WhatsUp Gold displays an error message. For example, the message
“An error occurred with the requested website. Error: The ‘Host’ header
cannot be modified directly. Parameter name: name.” indicates the user
entered Host:myhost.com as a custom header when the Host header
cannot be modified.

Example Content URLs

To check content for the default page of a newly installed IIS
server:
• http://<em class=”emphasis”>my-device</em>/iisstart.htm
—where my-device is the hostname or IP address where a fresh instance
of IIS is running.
To see how the HTTP Content monitor works, you can test it against one
of the example documentation pages hosted by the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA):
• http://www.example.com

The Active Script monitor allows you write either VBScript

Active Script or JScript code to perform specific customized checks on
a device. If the script returns an error code, the monitor is
considered Down.

• Script Type. Select either VBScript or JScript.

• Script text. Enter the actual script code for the monitor to run.
• Execution Model: Select mode to run the Script
• Use the “Direct Data Access” execution model
• Allows direct database access via Context.GetDB
• Script failures may the Poller Engine to crash
• Use the “Isolated Process” execution model
• No access to the WUG database
• Variables can still be passed to the script
• Poller Engine is protected from dangerous scripts

To set the result in WhatsUp gold use the command Context.SetResult

• Format is Context.SetResult(0, Comment)
• 0 for Success (up)
• 1 for failure (down)
5-21

The TCP/IP monitor determines the status of a TCP/IP

TCP/IP service that either does not appear in the list of standard
services or uses a non-standard port. In essence this a port
check monitor

• Network type. Select the network type for the FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) service is TCP; the network type for the RADIUS
(Remote Authentication and Dial-In User Service) service is
UDP; the HTTPS monitor uses the SSL type.
• Port number. Enter the TCP or UDP port that you want to
monitor.
• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts
to connect to the selected device. When the specified time is
exceeded without connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp
Gold stops trying to connect to the server. This is considered a
failed connection.
• Script. Enter your script using as many Send, Expect,
SimpleExpect, and Flow Control keywords as you would like. For
more information, see Script Syntax.
• Click Expect to open the Rules Expression editor if desired. Any
text placed in the Expression box appends to the end of the script
as an Expect expression.
 5-22

File and Folder

The File Properties monitor checks to see if a file in a local

Files Properties folder or on a network share meets the conditions specified
in the monitor’s configuration. This monitor supports percent
variables (%Device.Address or %Device.HostName) allowing
you to use a macro for applying multiple devices to a monitor.

The File Properties monitor only checks files that are accessible from
the WhatsUp Gold server.

• Path of the file to monitor. Enter the Universal Naming

Convention (UNC) file path that WhatsUp Gold uses to access
the file. For example: \\192.168.3.1\website\product\index.htm for
a file on a single device. If you provide the value for File size,
File checksum using, or File modified within options, you can
also use percent variables for the path of the file to monitor.
For example, \\%Device.Address\website\product\index.htm
or \\%Device.HostName\website\product\index.htm for a file
located on multiple machines with the same file path name.
Please note, mapped drive paths are not permitted.
• File. Enable this option to specify if the file exists or does not
exist for the monitor to report as Up.
• File size is. Enable this option to determine the success or failure
of the monitor scan based on the size of the
specified file.
• File was last modified. Enable this option to
determine the success or failure of the monitor
scan based on the date on which the file was last
modified.
• File checksum using. Enable this option to
determine the success or failure of the monitor
scan based on the file’s checksum and specified
algorithm used to calculate the checksum.

Selecting this option can greatly increase

the amount of time it takes to complete the
monitor scan and degrade or lag WhatsUp
Gold performance. The probability of lengthy
monitor scans and slower performance increases
when you use algorithms other than SHA1 when
you are scanning large files or when you scan files
located on network shares.
5-23

• File was/was not modified within X before polling time. Enable

this option to specify if the file has or has not been modified
within the selected interval for the monitor to report as Up.

The Folder monitor uses the Windows credentials assigned

Folder to the device to determine if a local or network share folder
meets the conditions specified in the monitor configuration.
This monitor supports percent variables (%Device.Address
or %Device.HostName), allowing you to use a macro for
applying multiple devices to a monitor. If the target folder or directory
contents change during a poll, the change is ignored and is not counted
toward folder/file size specified in the monitor configuration.

The Folder monitor only checks files that are accessible from the
WhatsUp Gold server.

• Path of the folder to monitor. Enter the Universal Naming

Convention (UNC) path that WhatsUp Gold uses to access the
folder. For example: \\192.168.3.1\website\product for a folder on a
single device. If you provide the value for File size, File checksum
using, or File modified within options, you can also use percent
variables for the path of the folder to monitor. For example,
\\%Device.Address\website\product or \\%Device.HostName\
website\product for a folder located on multiple machines with
the same folder path name. Enable Include sub-folders to scan
folders under the selection for the specified content.

Selecting this option can greatly increase the amount of time

it takes to complete the monitor scan and possibly have an
adverse impact on WhatsUp Gold performance.

• Include all files. Select this option to configure the monitor to

scan all accessible files.
• Include files with names matching the following wildcard
expression. Select this option to specify a wildcard expression
WhatsUp Gold should use to determine which files to scan. For
example, enter *.exe to check for executable (.exe) files in the
selected folder. Please note, this option only works using a single
wildcard expression. If multiple expressions are entered in this
field, the monitor reads the entry as one wildcard expression.

When enabled, this option can significantly slow performance

dependent on the wildcard expression specified. The
probability of slower performance increases when this option
is used in conjunction with the Include sub-folders option.

• Folder. Enable this option to specify if the folder exists or does

not exist for the monitor to report as Up.
 5-24

• Actual folder size is. Enable this option to determine

the success or failure of the monitor scan based on the
actual size of the specified folder.
• Folder size on disk is. Enable this option to determine
the success or failure of the monitor scan based on the
size of the specified folder as it resides on disk.
• Number of files is. Enable this option to determine
the success or failure of the monitor scan based on the
number of files within specified folder.

Critical Services

The Email monitor checks a mail server by first sending

Email the server an email via SMTP. The monitor then attempts
to delete previously sent emails using either POP3 or
IMAP. If any step in the process fails then the monitored is
considered Down.

The email monitor supports encryption with SSL/TLS and SMTP

Authentication which ensures that the monitor sends emails to a
secure email account.
5-25

You must use a separate email account for every email monitor created.
Failure to do so will result in false negatives. For example, if you want to
check both IMAP and POP3 on the same server, and create two instances of
the monitor, one configured with POP3 and one with IMAP, you must use two
separate email accounts. Otherwise, one monitor deletes all emails previously
sent from both instances of the monitor and incorrectly reports the mail server
as Down.

Outgoing mail
• SMTP server. Enter the address of the server on which
SMTP is running. Use the default, %Device.Address, to use
the device IP address on which the monitor is attached.
• Port. Enter the port on which the SMTP service is listening.
The standard SMTP port is 25.
• Mail to. Enter the address to which the Email Monitor sends
email.
• Mail from. Enter the address you want listed as “From” in
the email sent by the Email Monitor.
•
• Incoming mail
• Mail server. Enter the address of the server on which the
POP3 or IMAP service is running.
• Account type. Enter the protocol (POP3 or IMAP) you want
the monitor to use to check for correct email delivery.
• Username. Enter the username of the account in which the
monitor uses to log in.
• Password. Enter the password for the account in which the
monitor uses to log in.

• Click Advanced to set the following additional advanced properties for the
monitor if desired:

SMTP advanced properties

• SMTP server requires authentication. Enable this option if the specified
SMTP server requires authentication. Please note, this monitor
supports CRAM-MD5, LOGIN and PLAIN authentication methods.
The authentication method is not configurable. It is negotiated with
the SMTP server automatically using the strongest mutually-supported
authentication method.
• Username. Enter the username to be used for SMTP authentication.
• Password. Enter the password to be used for SMTP authentication.
• Use an encrypted connection (SSL/TLS). Enable this option to encrypt
SMTP traffic if your SMTP server supports encrypting data over a
TLS connection. Please note, WhatsUp Gold only supports explicit
SSL sessions negotiated using the STARTTLS command for SMTP
connections.
• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect
to the selected device. When the specified time is exceeded without
 5-26

connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp Gold stops trying to

connect to the server. This is considered a failed connection.

POP3 advanced properties

• Port. Enter the port number where the POP3 or IMAP server
listens.
• Use an encrypted connection. Enable this option to connect to
a POP3 or IMAP server in an encrypted mode. Select one of the
following encryption methods:
• Use implicit SSL. Select this option to login to your POP3 or
IMAP server in an encrypted mode.
• Use SSL with STLS. Select this option to login to your POP3
or IMAP server in an unencrypted mode, and then switch to a
TLS connection by sending STARTTLS or STLS command to
the server.

WhatsUp Gold only supports clear text authentication for retrieving

mail. To protect your username and password when retrieving mail,
you must use an SSL encryption method. When connecting using
STARTTLS, the connection is encrypted before any authentication
information is sent or any mail is retrieved.

• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts

to connect to the selected device. When the specified time is
exceeded without connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp
Gold stops trying to connect to the server. This is considered a
failed connection.

If your IMAP server is configured to move the test message sent by

the monitor to any folder other than the Inbox, the monitor fails.
WhatsUp Gold only detects messages in the Inbox folder on an IMAP
server.

The Domain Name Server (DNS) monitor is a simple service

DNS monitor that checks for the DNS on port 53. If a DNS service
does not respond on this port, the service is considered
Down.

• Timeout. Enter the length of time

WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect
to the selected device. When the
specified time is exceeded without
connecting, a timeout occurs
and WhatsUp Gold stops trying
to connect to the server. This is
considered a failed connection.
5-27

The FTP monitor performs upload, download, and

FTP delete tasks on designated FTP servers to ensure they are
functioning properly. You can configure a single monitor
to perform all three tasks. However, if any one of the tasks
fails, the entire monitor is considered Down.

Ipswitch recommends creating a separate FTP monitor for each

FTP server you are monitoring, unless the same username and
password are used for each of the servers.

• FTP Server. Enter the device address of the FTP server for
which the FTP monitor is configured and on which the monitor
performs associated tasks.
• Port. Enter the port the monitor should use to communicate with
the FTP server.
• Username. Enter the username used to access the FTP server for
which the monitor is configured.
• Password. Enter the password used to access the FTP server for
which the monitor is configured.

Specify a username and password for an account with the appropriate

user permissions for the file actions you select. To upload files to the
server, the account must have write permissions. To download files
from the server, the account must have read permissions. And, to delete
files from the server, the account must have delete permissions.

• Use Passive Mode. Enable this option to use passive (PASV) mode
rather than active mode when attempting to connect to the FTP
server and to perform the subsequent tasks.
• Upload. Enable this option to have the active monitor upload a
file to the designated FTP server. Please note, this option must be
enabled to use the Download and/or Delete tasks.
• Download. Select this option to have the active monitor
download a file from the designated FTP server.
• Delete. Select this option to have the active monitor delete a file
from the designated FTP server.
• Timeout. Enter the length of time WhatsUp Gold attempts
to connect to the selected device. When the specified time is
exceeded without connecting, a timeout occurs and WhatsUp
Gold stops trying to connect to the server. This is considered a
failed connection.

The Network Statistics monitor uses Simple Network

Network Statistics Management Protocol (SNMP) to query a device to collect
data on three device protocols, Internet Protocol (IP),
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram
 5-28

Protocol (UDP) and alerts you when configured thresholds are met or
exceeded.

• Thresholds to monitor. Select the IP, TCP, and/or UDP thresholds

to monitor. Click on any individual threshold to highlight it,
then click Configure to specify Down conditions for the selected
threshold. The OID and a description of the selected parameter
can be found at the bottom of the configuration dialog. Please
note, conditions for only one threshold may be configured at a
time.

While there are Active monitors for Exchange, and SQL server
Others these type of applications are best monitored with the Application
Monitor feature
5-29

5.3 Passive Monitors

Overview

Passive monitors are responsible for listening for device events.

Overview Whereas active monitors poll devices for data, passive monitors
passively listen for device events. Because passive monitors do
not poll devices, they use less network bandwidth than active monitors.

Passive monitors are useful because they gather information that goes
beyond simple Up or Down by listening for a variety of events.

Example, if you want to know when someone with improper

credentials tries to access one of your SNMP-enabled devices, you
can assign the default Authentication Failure passive monitor.
The monitor listens for an authentication failure trap on the
SNMP device, and logs these events to the SNMP Trap Log. If you
assign an action to the monitor, every time the authentication failure trap
is received, you are notified as soon as it happens.

Although passive monitors are useful, you should not rely on them
solely to monitor a device or service—passive monitors should be used in
conjunction with active monitors. When used together, active and passive
monitors make up a powerful and crucial component of 360-degree
network management.

Passive Monitor types are specific configurations of SNMP traps,

Windows Log Events, or Syslog Events. Though you can create any of
these three types of passive monitors, SNMP traps are most widely used
on network-type devices and Windows Event Logs are used solely on
Windows devices. In all, there are about a dozen Passive Monitors in the
default instance of WhatsUp Gold Premium.
 5-30

A Passive Monitor Listener runs continuously on the WhatsUp Gold

Listener server listening for events to occur. WhatsUp Gold is installed with three
Passive Monitor Listeners:
• SNMP Trap Listener. This listens for SNMP traps, or unsolicited
SNMP messages, that are sent from a device to indicate a change
in status.
• Syslog Listener. This listens for Syslog messages forwarded from
devices regarding a specific record and/or text within a record.
• Windows Event Log Listener. This listens for any WinEvent; for
example a service start or stop, or logon failures.

When an event occurs and is sent to WhatsUp Gold the appropriate

Passive Monitor Listener first checks the contents of the event to verify
it is an item you have defined as important and worth collecting. This
is done by checking the event for specific key words and configuration
information that must match the configuration of the monitor assigned
to the device in WhatsUp Gold. Then the listener logs the event,
notifies WhatsUp Gold, and any associated actions assigned to the
passive monitor are fired. If the contents of the event do not match
the configuration of the passive monitor the event is discarded and no
logging or actions take place.

In the case of Syslog and SNMP Trap passive monitors you can also
choose to accept and log unsolicited events, which do not require a
matching passive monitor to be assigned to a device and are stored
immediately to the database upon receipt. Take care when implementing
this option, however, as collecting too many unsolicited events can very
quickly lead to a large database table.

SNMP Traps

SNMP traps are commonly used on network devices

Overview such as routers and switches, as well as some server-
level devices, hardware devices, and appliances. SNMP
traps can be generated for a variety of situations, both for
standardized events like an interface going down and for
more specialized situations like a period of high CPU utilization. Most
devices can be configured to send this data to up to two separate IP
addresses using the default UDP data port of 162, or to a non-standard
port number of your choice. In order to receive these events in WhatsUp
Gold you must have the SNMP Trap Listener running on the appropriate
port, and have the remote device configured to send the trap to the IP
address and port number in use by WhatsUp Gold.
5-31

You can configure SNMP Traps using 2 different methods:

• Automatically using the Trap Definition Import Tool
• Manually using the Passive monitor Library

The easiest and simplest way to get your SNMP trap passive monitors
Import Tool created is using the “Trap Definition Tool” found in the Admin console
(Tools > Import Trap Definitions). It will allow you to search for a
specific trap you need WhatsUp Gold to listen for, and then import it into
the Passive Monitor library. After you have imported the trap, you can
make and configuration changes to the monitor in the Passive Monitor
Library using the Rules Expression Editor dialog.

Select the trap you want to import and click Import to

passive monitor library.

If the Trap already exists in the database it will

not be imported a second time.
 5-32

Syslogs

Syslog messages are widely used amongst Unix and Unix-

Overview based systems as well as network devices, and even simple
devices such as printers and power supplies. Because
of this they are a very popular method of collecting and
storing events from multiple device types into a single
depository of data for compliance purposes.

Syslogs are passed to UDP

port 514 by default and can
make use of varying severity
levels in the content
of the event, making
them a handy utility for
very specialized passive
monitoring and alerting.
5-33

Windows Event

Windows devices make use of event logs to store and track information,
Overview warning, and error events logged by the local operating system. These
event logs can also be monitored from a remote location, allowing a
network administrator to browse the Windows Event Logs on a remote
server on their network. Windows events include many different
parameters in a single event, including an event ID, description, type, and
source.

Windows Event Log passive monitors in WhatsUp Gold make use of

these parameters by allowing you to configure collection of events
that meet a certain criteria, such as events of a Warning type that come
from a specific Source,
or collecting all events
that share a common
Event ID. Once this
configuration is set in
a passive monitor and
that monitor is saved to
a device, WhatsUp Gold
connects to that remote
server and registers for
that set of events on the
remote machine. From
thereafter, any time the
remote device logs an
event that matches your
criteria the event is sent
to the WhatsUp Gold
server and logged by
the Windows Event Log
Listener.

As a best practice, we recommend keeping conditions simple

by opting for multiple Passive Monitors over complex sets of
conditions. When complex conditions are unavoidable, we
recommend grouping all OR conditions together at the beginning
of the set of conditions, followed by the ANDs
 5-34

5.4 Performance Monitors

Overview

Performance Monitors are responsible for gathering data about

Overview the performance of the devices running on your network for
long-term analysis and reporting purposes. There are many
components that can be collected with performance monitors;
for example, CPU and memory utilization. This data is collected and
stored in raw format, and is then used to create reports that trend
utilization and availability of these device components over time.

A selection of performance monitors are available in a fresh installation

of WhatsUp Gold, making use of SNMP and ICMP to collect common
performance statistics from a variety of device types. Additionally, you
can create custom performance monitors to track performance metrics
for APC UPS devices and Printers, as well as create custom monitors
based on Active Script, SNMP, SSH, and WMI to query performance
counters on any type of device.

Performance monitors are added to individual devices through the

Device Properties dialog. You can add:

• Default Performance Monitors

• Device-specific (Custom) Performance Monitors
5-35

Default

There are five default performance monitors to track device performance

Overview by checking and reporting on device resources. These monitors are:

• CPU utilization
• Disk utilization
• Interface utilization
• Memory utilization
• Ping Latency and Availability

Each of these default performance monitors includes a specialized set

of reports and utilities geared towards getting up and running with
performance reporting very quickly. By simply selecting these monitors
for collection on your devices you can immediately make use of these
built-in utilities, giving you the ability to track long-term performance on
your network with almost no setup or configuration required.

The five default performance monitors cannot be edited, copied or

deleted: CPU utilization, Disk utilization, Interface utilization, and
Ping Latency and Availability

The default performance monitors all use SNMP

to connect to the device and verify its performance.
The only exception is the Disk utilization monitor
can be configured to use WMI instead of SNMP
on a Device by device basis. The advantage of
using WMI is it gives the ability to monitor “Mount
points” on your windows devices.
 5-36

Custom

In Addition to the default custom monitors you can create custom

Overview monitors to track specific performance metric. The additional monitors
can be split into 4 categories Hardware, Application/OS, Network
Management and Instrumentation, and Disk I/O and Throughput.
These additional monitors are:

• Hardware
• APC UPS
• Printer
• Application/OS
• Active Script
• JMX
• PowerShell Scripting
• SQL Query
• SSH
• Windows Performance Counter
• Hyper-V Event Log
• Hyper-V Host VM
• Network Management and Instrumentation
• SNMP
• WMI
• WMI Formatted
• Disk I/O and Throughput
• VMWare Datastore IOPS
• Hyper-V Disk Activity

The APC UPS monitor collects statistical output power usage

APC UPS information and graphs APC UPS power utilization over time.
This monitor detects when a monitored UPS device is close
to maximum performance level as well as the time of day
networking devices connected to the UPS device are using
the most power indicating the need to
equally distribute the load across several
UPS devices. Only a unique name and
description are required to successfully
configure this monitor.
5-37

The Printer monitor uses SNMP to collect data on SNMP-enabled

Printer network printers. The target printer must be SNMP-enabled and support
the Standard Printer MIB for this monitor to work properly. Use this
monitor to check for potential issues such as ink levels, paper jams, and
low input media (e.g., paper). The monitored printer must support the
Standard Printer MIB.

Ink/Toner Cartridge. Select the ink/toner cartridge from which to collect

ink/toner level data. Please note, you must create a Printer performance
monitor for each color ink/toner cartridge you want to monitor.
Collection interval. Specify how often data should be collected from the
selected toner cartridge.

Please note, all SNMP objects may or may not be supported by the
specific printer being monitored depending on its manufacturer and
model.

The Active Script Performance monitor enables you to

Active Script write VBScript and JScript to easily poll one or more
SNMP and/or WMI values, perform math or other
operations on those values, and graph a single output
value. You should only use the Active Script Performance
Monitor when you need to perform calculations on the polled values.

Keep in mind that although you can poll multiple values using the
feature, only one value will be stored to the database: the outcome of
your scripted calculation.

The Active Script performance monitor requires one or more of the

following credentials:
• SNMPv1
• SNMPv2
• SNMPv3
• WMI

Configure the Active Script performance

monitor using the following boxes:

• Script type. Select either JSCRIPT or

VBSCRIPT.
• Timeout (sec). Enter the length of time
WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect to
the selected device. When the time you
enter is exceeded without connecting, a
timeout occurs and WhatsUp Gold stops
trying to connect to the SMTP server. This
is considered a failed connection. Please
note, the maximum timeout allowed is
60 seconds. However, Ipswtich does not
 5-38

recommend setting a timeout that exceeds 10 seconds. Use the

shortest timeout possible.
• Reference variables. Add, Edit, or Remove SNMP and WMI
reference variables using the respective buttons on the right
of the dialog. Please note, the use of reference variables in the
Active Script performance monitor is optional. For additional
information, please see Using Reference Variables with Script
Monitors in the help files.
• Script text. Enter your monitor code.

To configure an SNMP Active Script performance monitor:

• Click Add from the Add Active Script Performance Monitor
dialog to add a new variable to the Reference variables field. The
Add New Reference Variable dialog appears.
• Enter the appropriate information:
• Variable name. Enter a unique name for the variable.
• Description. (Optional) Enter a short description for the
variable.
• Select SNMP from the Object type list.
• Enter the Timeout and Retries count for connection to the device.
These are optional field entries.
• Click browse (...) next to Instance. The MIB Browser dialog
appears.
• Enter the name or IP address of the computer you are you are
trying to connect to in the Select counters from computer box.
You can click browse (...) to select a device from a list.
• Select the SNMP Credential used to connect to the device. You
can also click browse (...) to access the Credentials Library to
create a new credential.
• Adjust the length of time and the number of retries for the
computer you are trying to connect to in the Timeout and
Number of retries boxes.
• Click OK. The SNMP MIB Browser appears.
• Use the navigation tree in the left panel to select the specific MIB
you want to monitor. You can view more information about the
property/value at the bottom of the dialog.
• Click OK to add the OID to the Performance counter and
Instance fields in the Add New Reference Variable dialog.
• Verify the configuration and click OK to add the variable to the
Reference variables list in the Add Active Script Performance
Monitor dialog.
• Write or paste your monitor code in the Script text field.
• Click OK to save changes.

To configure a WMI Active Script performance monitor:

• Click Add from the Add Active Script Performance Monitor
dialog to add a new variable to the Reference variables field. The
Add New Reference Variable dialog appears.
• Enter the appropriate information:
• Variable name. Enter a unique name for the variable.
• Description. (Optional) Enter a short description for the
5-39

variable.
• Select WMI from the Object Type list.
• Click browse (...) next to Instance. The Performance Counters
dialog appears.
• Enter the Name or IP address of the computer you are trying to
connect. You can click browse (...) to select a device from a list.
• Select the Windows Credential used to connect to the device.
You can also click browse (...) to access the Credentials Library to
create a new credential.
• Click OK to connect to the computer.
• Use the performance counter tree to navigate to the Performance
Counter you want to monitor.
• Select the specific Performance Instance you want to monitor.
• Click OK to add the variable to the Performance counter field in
the Add New Reference Variable dialog.
• Click OK to add the variable to the Reference variable list on the
Add Active Script Performance Monitor dialog.
• Enter your monitor code into the Script text field.
• Click OK to save changes.

• You need to include error handling in your monitor script. Your

script either needs a value to graph by using Context.SetValue, or
you must use Context.SetResult to tell WhatsUp Gold that the script
failed.
• Context.GetReferenceVariable will return ‘null’ if the poll fails for
any reason.
• If you do not have a call to SetValue or SetResult, the script does not
report any errors and no data is graphed.
• If SetValue is used, it is not necessary to use SetResult, as SetValue
implicitly sets SetResult to 0, or “good.”
• Results from this performance monitor are displayed on Custom
Performance Monitors full and dashboard reports.
• Errors from this performance monitor are displayed in the
Performance Monitor Error log, as well as EventViewer.exe.

The first time that you poll a WMI reference variable that requires two
polls in order to calculate an average (such as “Processor\% Processor
Time”), it returns “Null.”

The JMX Performance Monitor allows you to monitor

JMX any server that supports JMX by requesting a single JMX
performance counter the server supports and allows you to
easily browse and add available counters to the monitoring
list.

• Object Path/Attribute. Select the target device, domain/path,

and attribute to monitor. See the following procedure steps for
additional details about selecting the object path and attribute.
 5-40

• Port. Enter the port number WhatsUp Gold should use to

communicate with the JMX object.
• Use SSL. Select this option to use Secure Socket Layer connection
for communication with the JMX object.
• Click the Browse button (...) to launch the JMX Credentials dialog.
• Enter the IP address or host name of the target device to browse.
You can also click the Browse button (...) to select a device from
the device list.
• Ensure the Port and Use SSL with RMI Registry settings reflect
your selections made in the previous dialog.
• If needed, select an existing JMX credential from the list or click
the Browse button (...) to access the Credentials Library, then
create a new one.
• Click OK to proceed to the JMX Browser which you can use to
select the target device, domain/path, and attribute to monitor.
• The monitor configuration dialog should now display the
attribute you selected in the JMX Browser.

PowerShell Scripting enables you to create custom performance

Power Shell monitors using Windows PowerShell.

Warning: WhatsUp Gold uses a 32-bit (i.e. x86) PowerShell engine.

Therefore, only 32-bit PowerShell snap-ins are supported and 64-bit only
snap-ins will not function properly. Snap-ins usable in both 32-bit and
64-bit operating systems are configured for 64-bit systems by default and
must be manually configured for 32-bit PowerShell engine to function
properly with WhatsUp Gold.
The PowerShell Scripting performance monitor uses credential
Windows credentials to pull the performance information.

• Timeout (sec.) Duration WhatsUp Gold attempts to connect to

the selected device. This is considered a failed connection.
Though the maximum timeout allowed is 60 seconds,
Ipswitch does not recommend setting a timeout exceeding
10 seconds. You are encouraged to use the shortest timeout
possible.
• Reference variables. Add, edit, or remove SNMP and WMI
reference variables using the respective buttons on the right of
the dialog. See steps below to configure either an SNMP or WMI
PowerShell Scripting Performance monitor.
The use of reference variables in the PowerShell performance
monitor is optional. If you do use them, you must useContext.
GetReferenceVariable, for reference variables to be polled
and their data graphed. Reference variables simplify your
scripting code and enable you to write scripts efficiently,
without having to use a list of device properties, as with the
5-41

Script Action and Script Active Monitor. They manage the

underlying SNMP or WMI mechanisms you would normally
have to manage in order to access SNMP or WMI counters on
a remote device.
By using the Context.GetReferenceVariable (variable name),
you only need to specify the name of a pre-defined variable.
WhatsUp Gold uses device credentials and connects to the
target device using SNMP or WMI to retrieve the requested
information. This information is stored in a variable that you
can use later in your script. For more information, see Using
the Context Object with Performance Monitors in the help
files.
• Run under device credentials. Click to execute the script using
the Windows credentials for the affected device.
• Script text. Enter your monitor code.

The first time that you poll a WMI reference variable that requires two
polls in order to calculate an average (such as “Processor\% Processor
Time”), it returns “Null.”

The SQL Query monitor uses WMI or ADO authentication

SQL Query to determine if specific conditions exist in a Microsoft SQL,
MySQL, or ORACLE database by querying the database. If
the configured conditions are present, the monitor is Up. If
changes made to the database since the last query cause data
to no longer fall within the defined criteria, the monitor is Down.

To monitor a MySQL database, download and install the MySQL

.NET Connector on the WhatsUp Gold machine. Please note, only
MySQL version 5.2.5 is supported due to potential compatibility
issues. MySQL .NET Connector version 5.2.5 can be downloaded directly
from the WhatsUp Gold website (http://www.whatsupgold.com/
MySQL525Connector).

When connecting to a remote SQL instance, WhatsUp Gold only

supports the TCP/IP network library.

• Server Type. Select Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, or ORACLE

as the database server type. Please note, MySQL database is
supported and listed as a server type option only if the MySQL
5.2.5 Connector is installed.
• Connection Timeout. Enter the amount of time WhatsUp Gold
waits for the server to respond before terminating the connection
and returning the timeout error. The minimum allowed value
is 1 second whereas maximum allowed value is 120. Please note,
this setting only applies to polling whereas the query builder
assumes a default of 15 seconds for the connection timeout.
• Server Address. Enter the server address in the applicable format:
• ServerName\Instance format for Microsoft SQL Server. Example:
WUGServer\SQLEXPRESS
 5-42

• ServerName for MySQL. Example: WUGServer

• ServerName/ServiceName for Oracle. Example: WUGServer/
Oracle.
• Port. Enter the database server port number.
• SQL Query to Run. Enter the query to run against the specified
database to check for certain database conditions. .
• Click Build to launch the SQL Query Builder for assistance
with developing proper query syntax. Only SELECT queries are
allowed.
Reminder: The SQL query you enter must return a single
numeric value. Specifically, a single record that has just
one column. If the query returns more than one record, the
monitor fails to store the data. If the query returns a single
record but there are multiple columns in the record returned,
then the monitor will pick the first column as the value to
store and this first column has to be numeric, otherwise the
monitor will fail to store the data.
• Click Verify to test if the entered database query is valid.
• Number of rows returned is. Select this option to determine the
success or failure of the monitor scan based on rows returned by
the SQL query. All database rows must match the criteria settings
for the monitor to be considered Up.
• Content of each retrieved row matches the following criteria.
Select this option to determine the success or failure of the
monitor scan based on criteria which each database row must
match. If multiple threshold criteria are used, all thresholds must
match the criteria in each row for the monitor to be considered
Up.
• Click Add, Edit, and Delete as needed
to create, modify, and remove database
column values and conditions, respectively.
5-43

The SSH monitor uses SSH authentication to connect to

SSH a remote device to execute commands or scripts which
can be either embedded in the monitor or placed as
an executable script file on the remote machine with a
command embedded in the monitor to run the script. Each
monitor returns a single numeric value which is recorded in the database
and then used later by other WhatsUp Gold functions as needed.

• Command to run. Enter the command to run and execute on the

remote device. The command can be anything the device can
interpret and run; for example, a UNIX shell command or a perl
script. Please note, if you create a script to run on the remote
device, it must be developed, tested, and/or debugged on the
remote machine. Select one of the following script options:
• Numeric. The command or script must return a single
numeric value. The script can be as complex as required, but
MUST only return a numeric value. For example, old, single-
line UNIX-style:
• free -m | awk ‘NR==2{print $3}’
• This is the script format required prior to WhatsUp Gold
16.2.3.
• Shell Interactive. This script is not constrained to only
returning single numeric values; however, the output MUST
contain the string ‘Result=xxxx’ where xxxx represents a
numeric value. For example, new multi-line Linux-style:
• echo Result=$(free -m | awk ‘NR==2{print $3}’)
• This newer script format supports all the features of the
target script interpreters without burdening the script
developer to limit the output to a single
numeric value.
• Line end character. Select the
appropriate line end type:None, Linefeed,
Carriage return, or Carriage return
linefeed. Multiline scripts are entered
and persisted on a Windows operating
system and include line-ending characters
that may not be recognized on the target
device. This configuration feature instructs
WhatsUp Gold to replace the line-ending
characters with the selected characters
prior to connection and command
execution.
• SSH credential. Select the appropriate
SSH credential WhatsUp Gold uses to
connect to the remote device. WhatsUp
Gold uses the SSH credential assigned to
the monitored device if Use the device SSH
credential is selected.
 5-44

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

SNMP monitor accesses SNMP-supported network devices and
graphs performance output.

• Performance counter/Instance. Select the target device and

required credentials, then select the specific SNMP object to
monitor in the SNMP MIB Browser.
• Plot raw values. Enable this option to monitor the current polled
value instead of tracking the rate of change over time. Use this
feature to graph the current value of the SNMP object.

The WMI performance monitor watches for specific

WMI values on Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
enabled devices. WMI is a Microsoft Windows standard
for retrieving information from computer systems running
Windows and is installed by default on most Windows
operating systems.

• Performance Counter and Instance. Enter the OID and

instance in the respective fields or click browse (...) to access the
Performance Counters dialog. The Performance Counters dialog
appears.
• Use the navigation tree in the left panel to select the specific
performance counter you want to monitor. You can view
more information about the property/value at the bottom of
the dialog.
• In the right pane, select the specific performance instance of
the selected counter you want to monitor.
• Click OK to add the appropriate values to the Performance
counter and Instance boxes on the Add WMI Performance
Monitor dialog. The Add WMI Performance Monitor dialog
appears.
5-45

Configuring WMI Formatted Counter monitors collects

WMI Formatted performance data on devices using the Windows
Management Instrumentation (WMI) technology. WMI
is Microsoft Windows standard for retrieving information
Windows platforms.
WMI Formatted Counter performance monitor uses calculated counter
data.

• Performance Counter and Instance. Enter the OID and

instance in the respective fields or click browse (...) to access the
Performance Counters dialog. The Performance Counters dialog
appears.
• Computer name. Name or IP address of the computer you are
trying to connect to and gather instrumentation from. You can
click browse (...) to select a device from a list.
• Windows Credential. Select a credential to connect to the device
you want to monitor. Click browse (...) if you need to access the
Credentials Library.

Add WMI Formatted Performance Monitor Dialog

• Performance Counter. Select the WMI object to monitor.
• Performance Instance. Select the instance of the counter.
• Performance counter and Instance boxes on the Add WMI
Formatted Performance Monitor dialog.

The difference between the WMI and WMI formatted monitors is the
formatted monitor will be rounded, instead of using a floating point
decimal. It may also be in Gigabyte or Megabyte instead of byte

Thresholds

You can set Threshold on any of your performance monitors and more
Overview with in Alert Center. Alert Center has five major types of thresholds
available out of the box: Performance, Passive, System, Wireless and
Network Traffic Analysis. Each category includes a number of different
thresholds.

• Alert Center Performance thresholds notify you about

performance monitors that have exceeded or dropped below
threshold limits. These thresholds make use of data collected by
your default and custom performance monitors and saved to the
WhatsUp Gold database.
 5-46

• Alert Center Passive thresholds notify you when passive monitors

fall out of the parameters of the thresholds you configure. This
threshold type looks at the passive monitors that have been
logged by the various Passive Monitor Listeners.
• Alert Center Network Traffic Analysis thresholds notify you on
WhatsUp Gold Network Traffic Analysis feature aspects that
fall out of the parameters of the thresholds you create. These
thresholds make use of standard and custom filters available
within Network Traffic Analysis.
• Alert Center System thresholds alert you on aspects of your
WhatsUp Gold system according to the threshold parameters you
configure. Virtualization and Configuration Manager Thresholds
are also shown as System thresholds.
• Alert Center Wireless thresholds relate to your wireless devices
and aspects of these devices that fall out of threshold, including
wireless access point and client data.
5-47