How to have audible alarms on a specific map for specific sensors?

Hi Krisbhan,

Actually - I have a very similar setup. We have a TV that scrolls / fades through some maps - more then 2 but that is a different story.

On top of it - the TV talks. What happens is - if a system goes down we immediately get it told by the TV.

For this setup we needed: - Windows workstation - TV

I then wrote a html-/javascript that rotates through my maps - I posted it in the PRTG KB here somewhere - search for it or go here Auto-Cycle through URLs what is my personal blog and where you can find the script as well.

Further did I write a PowerShell script that does text to speech, again this was somewhere posted in this forum here - search for it or follow this link to my blog Using PowerShell for Text-to-Speech. You will need to enable remote PowerShell execution on the target workstation that controls the TV - other then that - fire this as a notification script in PRTG and you actually hear what went down. We decided to keep those text-messages short, but that's up to you.

Be aware - the Text-to-Speech script as it is currently will fire asynchronous voice commands - it will not check if something is already talking. I like it this way - if I hear multiple overlapping voices I kinda "run" - in any case - it also avoids that the TV is talking for forever..

On a site note - we have little videos and jokes in between the PRTG map in the html-cycling script - some fun every 20 cycles or so for 10-15 seconds..

Besides that - we abused the Text to Speech for some other joke-notifications (with a different voice - two script files) - again - some fun makes life more easy and the days go by faster.. in the end it's still a NOC and we depend on the real information on the maps and the text to speech notifications help a lot more then any slack, email and PRTG GUI alerts...

Hope this helps - sorry for being lazy and not looking up the link in the PRTG forum here - I simply find them faster on my own blog...

Florian Rossmark

www.it-admins.com

Florian,

Out of curiosity, could you give me a picture of the dashboards your currently run? You always seem to have the most original ideas - and scripts.

Looking forward to seeing a picture, please delete any private information if you will ever send one.

Would like to hear from you,

Sven

Hmm... I don't think I have the best ideas - but thank you - much appreciated.

Dashboards - yeah - as you said - it is not so easy cause there is actual confidential stuff on it - besides that - I would need to explain what you actually see.

I think about it for a while and we will see if and what I can post.

Not sure what PRTG / Paessler has on e.g. examples and videos about this topic..

On top of it - I even work with R&D (Research and Development) on a project that might monitor a whole production machine in combination with sensors controlled by Raspberry that get processed by PRTG - the machine itself is on a map.. my point is - you don't have to just monitor you network - you might even be able to help gather manufacturing data and process it ....

Did you have anything specific in mind?

Florian

Hi Florian,

Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not looking for anything specific however, I thought if you might have some original ideas that I could use as well for our company that would be awesome.

I understand if you don't want to post the map, that's all fine. Just looking for some amazing ideas from customers that might be able to help us out as well.

Regards,

Sven

Well.. a basic concept is something I can give you easily:

• master map with just main groups - just a few icons and how they relate
• drill down maps in each of those groups or categories - with the main objects in those groups and how they might relate
  • possible some other external group icons if necessary
• identify the most important objects per group and see what you
  • already monitor
  • possibly should monitor due to the type of device and or application and it's business impact and duty
  • create a detailed map for this object that shows
    • it's overall health
    • details about the primary functions and duties and their status/performance
• create maps for interactions - like
  • all IDF switches to the core switch
    • overall status of all IDF switches
    • graphs for the interfaces and their load towards the core switch
    • internet bound interfaces and the firewall of course
    • netflow graphics - possible a separate map though...
• us Sensor Factory Sensor to collect and calculate or the Business Sensor to collect data from channels of various sensors, e.g.
  • all primary switchports
  • overall status of all SAN devices
  • total free space throughout all SAN devices (calculation)
  • display this in a MAP in e.g. a single table or single graph
  • those sensors are underestimated - they are actually very powerful!
• example terminal server / remote-desktop-server
  • all your hosts should show CPU and RAM usage in a graph
  • all the hosts should show the current amount of user sessions - active and total
  • all on a single map - possible even use a sensor factory sensor to summarize sessions in a single chart ?
• subsidiary map
  • show primary gateway devices and e.g. health of the local server-group as a single icon
  • show graphs of the primary interfaces that are related to the load of the connection between the subsidiaries
  • graph them out as they logically route - so you see how their connection look like and the load between them
  • graphs and devices as well as the town and building icons - keep it simple and clear - but put the necessary information there
• DFS backlog
  • show the servers involved in this one DFS namespace (2 or more)
  • put a table about the backlog - use the sensor factory sensor if you have more then 2x servers involved to put the data in a single table and graph
  • show a graph of the last 2 hours or 1 day to show visually how the backlog is doing and that it is resolving - you should always see some stuff going on - doesn't mean it is stuck - once it is stuck it is an issue..
• your CIO and CEO and other director or executive levels
  • they will sure see your maps
  • they might tend to ignore them cause they are to detailed
  • if you can - have a simple overall status map with the most relevant information to them
  • or design all you maps in a way that it is clear what it is and
  • less is more
  • executives don't have time for details - they just want to know - everything is working? if yes - good - if not - what is the impact to the business - meaning:
    • site A is fine
    • site B is fine
    • site C has a connection issue - status is unknown
    • site D has a minor outage in some infrastructure device
  • or
    • production is running smooth, as expected and within parameters
    • production is falling behind - relative to the time of day
  • or
    • ERP system has X amount of invoices send out today
    • X amount of invoices came in
    • X amount of product N was sold
    • X amount of pending open leads
    • X amount of cash flow from A to B
    • definitive talk with your CFO and accountants about what is the most important data for them to know in your ERP and see if you can write some e.g. SQL views / scripts that would report you this data back and you can provide either REPORTS to them or e.g. MAPs or give them read-only rights to this part of your PRTG installation - help them see data - they might just love it...

There is much more - I am not sure if there is a website here that has a collection of possible monitoring and usage ideas and how to take more advantage... high-level to detail and how it was done.. might be somewhere, never looked for it.. support might know :-) in any case - I hope this helps you already - if not - go to my website and use the contact form - or LinkedIn - we can chat privately as well... :-)

Regards

Florian Rossmark

www.it-admins.com