Monitoring a network is a combination of concerted polling functions and evaluation of event messages (syslog, trap). When critical events occur, Event Manager steps in to respond and/or alert accordingly.

Events require the intervention of the responsible administrator. Example: a server returns a status of "web service down" or the exceeding of a threshold signals the overloading of a WAN route. The Event Manager uses preset filter functions to evaluate the respective event and initiates a targeted response or a chain of reactions. The following actions are possible as responses:

 

• Entry in the system log (standard case)
• Triggering of an alarm (visual, acoustic)
• Forwarding of events to another management station (trap)
• Forwarding of events by email 
• Forwarding of events by SMS (pager)
• Forwarding of events to theGuard! ServiceCenter
• Forwarding of events to a HelpDesk (e.g. Remedy)
• Launching extraneous applications with parameter transfer
• Configurable database actions

 

The individual responses can also be compiled into so-called reaction sets. As with individual responses, filter conditions can also be placed on pre-configured reaction sets. Individual filter conditions can in turn be interlinked such that, for example, the on-duty administrator will be alerted at certain times.

Original event messages are often cryptic and complex. Event mapping functions convert original messages into “readable” messages, which can be used, for example, to start, stop or modify third-party applications as a reaction to specific events.

An alarm does not have to be generated for every event. Often a concatenation of individual events must first occur before leading to a critical event, because only at that point will triggering an alarm reaction make sense. theGuard! NetworkManager enables event correlation and thus the linking of individual alarm-triggering situations.

theGuard! NetworkManager makes a program available which can be integrated into third-party applications and/or called up by them parameterized. It thus becomes quite simple to send messages to theGuard! NetworkManager which are then evaluated by the Event Manager to lead to any desired reaction(s).