Monitor Internet Application

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator

The Monitor Internet Application activity will invoke a runbook when an internet application server becomes unavailable or becomes available. You can monitor a Web, Email (POP3 or SMTP), FTP, or DNS server. You can also configure your external FTP or Web servers to be reachable through the internet and then automatically restart the server if it is found to be unavailable.

Configuring the Monitor Internet Application Activity

Use the following information to configure the Monitor Internet Application activity.

Note

You cannot set individual security credentials for this activity. It will run under the service account configured for the Runbook Service on the Runbook server where the instance of the activity is running. This account must have the authority to access the resources and perform the actions required by this activity.

General Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Name Type a descriptive name for the activity.
Description Type a detailed description of the actions of the activity.
Type Select the Type that matches the server that you want to monitor. The options include the following:

- Web (HTTP)
- E-mail (SMTP)
- E-mail (POP3)
- FTP
- DNS

Configuration instructions for each Details tab Type are listed in the following tables.

Web (HTTP) Details Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
URL Type the URL that will be used to contact the web server.
Port Select to specify a port to use to connect to the web server. The default port is 80.
Timeout Type the number of seconds to wait for a response from the web server. If the timeout expires without a response, the server will be considered unavailable.
Test frequency Specify the amount of time to wait between each connection test to the server.
Check that the page contains this string Select and type a string to search for when the page is retrieved from the web server. When this option is selected, the server is only considered available if the string can be found on the page that is specified by the URL.
Search is case sensitive Select to make the string search case sensitive.

Email (SMTP) Details Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Computer Type the name of the computer where the SMTP server is located. You can also browse for the computer using the ellipsis (...) button.
Port Select to specify a port to use to connect to the SMTP server. The default port is 25.
Timeout Type the number of seconds to wait for a response from the server. If the timeout expires without a response, the server will be considered unavailable.
Test frequency Specify the amount of time to wait between each connection test to the server.
Send test email Select to send a test email using the SMTP server. When this option is selected, the server is only considered available if the email can be sent to the server.
To Type the address to send the email to.
From Type the address that the email is being sent from.

Email (POP3) Details Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Computer Type the name of the computer where the POP3 server is located. You can also browse for the computer using the ellipsis (...) button.
Port Select to specify a port to use to connect to the POP3 server. The default port is 110.
Timeout Type the number of seconds to wait for a response from the server. If the timeout expires without a response, the server will be considered unavailable.
Test frequency Specify the amount of time to wait between each connection test to the server.
Test connection Select to use a username and password to test the connection to the POP3 server. When this option is selected, the server is only considered available if the credentials are successfully used to log into the server.
Username Type the username to use to log into the POP3 server.
Password Type the password that is associated with the Username that you have specified.

FTP Details Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Computer Enter the name of the computer where the FTP server is located. You can also browse for the computer using the ellipsis (...) button.
Port Select to specify a port to use to connect to the FTP server. The default port is 21.
Timeout Type the number of seconds to wait for a response from the server. If the timeout expires without a response, the server will be considered unavailable.
Test frequency Specify the amount of time to wait between each connection test to the server.
Test connection Select to use a username and password to test the connection to the FTP server. When this option is selected, the server is only considered available if the credentials are successfully used to log into the server.
Username Type the username to use to log into the FTP server.
Password Type the password that is associated with the Username that you have specified.

DNS Details Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Computer Type the name of the computer where the DNS server is located. You can also browse for the computer using the ellipsis (...) button. This field is not required to test the availability of a DNS server.
Port Select to use the default port of 53 to connect to the DNS server.
Port Select to specify the port to use to connect to the DNS server.
Test DNS table IP Address Select to specify a computer name and the IP address that should be associated with that IP address. When this option is selected, the server is only considered available if the IP address is assigned to the computer that you specify.
Test frequency Specify the amount of time to wait between each connection test to the server.

Advanced Tab

Settings Configuration Instructions
Trigger if test succeeds Select to invoke the Monitor Internet Application activity when the server that you are checking becomes available.
Trigger if test fails Select to invoke the Monitor Internet Application activity when the server that you are checking becomes unavailable.

Published Data

The following table lists the published data items.

Item Description
Computer The name of the computer where the Internet application resides.
Port The port used to communicate with the Internet application.
Protocol The protocol of the Internet application. For example, HTTP or FTP.
Server Greeting The greeting message received from the Internet application.
Web page The HTML of the web page that was retrieved when in Web (HTTP) mode.