• Article

TCP Port Template

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager

The TCP Port template lets you monitor the availability of an application that is accessible over TCP.

The application that is being tested can reside on any computer whether an agent for Operations Manager installed or not. Each watcher node must have an Operations Manager agent installed.

Scenarios

Use the TCP Port template in scenarios where applications rely on a service accessible over TCP. You can define each client as a watcher node. The monitors created by the template attempt to connect to the application from each client at the defined interval. The monitors verify that each client can connect successfully. In addition to validating the availability of the application itself, any network connections and other required features between the watcher node and the application are also validated.

Monitoring Performed by the TCP Port Template

The monitoring performed by the monitors and rules created by the TCP Port template can include any of the following settings.

Type

Description

Enabled?

Monitors

Target host reachable

Enabled

Connection accepted

Enabled

Connection timeout

Enabled

DNS resolution

Enabled

Collection Rules

Connection time

Enabled

Viewing Monitoring Data

All data collected by the TCP Port template is available in the TCP Port Checks State view located in the Synthetic Transaction folder. In this view, an object represents each of the watcher nodes. The state of each object represents the worst state of the set of TCP Port monitors running on that node. If one or more of the nodes is shown with an error while at least one other node is healthy, it could indicate a problem with that particular node accessing the specified computer, for example, a network issue. If all of the nodes are unhealthy, it could indicate a problem with the application itself, either the computer being offline or the application not responding on the specified port.

You can view the state of the individual TCP Port monitors by opening the Operations Manager Health Explorer for each object. You can view performance data by opening the Performance view for each of these objects.

Wizard Options

When you run the TCP Port template, you have to provide values for options in the following tables. Each table represents a single page in the wizard.

General Options

The following options are available on the General Options page of the wizard.

Option

Description

Name

The name used for the template. This name is displayed in the Operations console.

Description

Optional description of the service.

Management Pack

Management pack to store the class and monitors that the template created. If you create any additional monitors or rules by using the service as a target class, you must store them in the same management pack.

For more information about management packs, see Selecting a Management Pack File.

Target and Port

The following options are available on the Target and Port page of the wizard.

Option

Description

Computer or device name

The name of the computer or device to connect to. This can be a name or an IP address. It must be resolved by and accessible to each watcher node that you specify.

Port

The number of the port on which the application is listening.

Watcher Nodes

The following options are available on the Watcher Nodes page of the wizard.

Option

Description

Select one or more agent managed computers

Specify one or more computers to run the monitors and rules. For more information, see Watcher Nodes.

Run this query every

The frequency to attempt the connection to the specified computer and port.

Creating and Modifying TCP Port Templates

To run the TCP Port data source wizard

  1. Start the Operations console with an account that has Author credentials in the management group.

  2. Open the Authoring workspace.

  3. In the Authoring navigation pane, right-click Management Pack Templates, and then select Add Monitoring Wizard.

  4. On the Select Monitoring Type page, select TCP Port, and then click Next.

  5. On the General Properties page, in the Name and Description boxes, type a name and an optional description.

  6. Select a management pack in which to save the monitor, or click New to create a new management pack. For more information, see Selecting a Management Pack File.

  7. Click Next.

  8. In the Computer or device name box, type the name or IP address of the computer or device to connect to.

  9. In the Port box, type the port number on which the application is listening.

  10. Click Test to perform a test connection by using the connection string and query that you just provided.

    Note

    The test is performed on the workstation that you are using to run the template. If this workstation cannot access the computer or device, this test fails. When the template is completed, the test is run from the watcher nodes that you specify.

  11. Click Next when you have validated your connection.

  12. Select one or more Watcher Nodes to run the monitor.

  13. Specify the frequency to run the monitor in the Run this query box. Click Next.

  14. Review the summary of the monitor, and then click Create.

To modify an existing TPC Port template

  1. Open the Operations console with a user account that has Author credentials.

  2. Open the Authoring workspace.

  3. In the Authoring navigation pane, expand Management Pack Templates, and then select TCP Port.

  4. In the TCP Port pane, locate the template to change.

  5. Right-click the monitor, and then select Properties.

  6. Enter the changes that you want, and then click OK.

Viewing TCP Port Monitors and Collected Data

To view all TCP Port monitors

  1. Open the Operations console.

  2. Open the Monitoring workspace.

  3. In the Monitoring navigation pane, select Synthetic Transaction, and then click TCP Port Checks State.

To view the state of each monitor

  1. In the TCP Port Checks State pane, right-click an object. Select Open, and then click Health Explorer.

  2. Expand the Availability and Performance nodes to view the individual monitors.

To view the performance collected for a monitor

  1. In the TCP Port Checks State pane, right-click an object. Select Open, and then click Performance.

  2. In the Legend pane, select the counters you want to view.

  3. Use options in the Actions pane to modify the Performance view.