Hi Sara,
For all of what you ask - I would say it is possible - but not in an automated "auto generate map" way.
What we did:
- created maps for various views like
- DFS replication
- Internet and metro ethernet connection (world-wide LAN) and the components involved
- RDS/Terminalserver CPU/memory/etc. and amount of users
- switches and routers on site
- Active Directory
- printers
- helpdesk related objects
- etc..
- we then used an TV (actually an older one we had around) and connected it to a workstation
- the workstation is loading a special HTML file (see link further below)
- the HTML file rotates controlled through the maps - so we constantly see what is going on and if something is rather unusual
To have some fun we did go a bit further:
- we activated remote powershell commands on the Windows client on the TV and fire alarms via text-to-speech to it - eventually PRTG learned to talk to us - through the TV - some sensors where even implemented to just have some fun with that but that's a whole different story - text-to-speech link below
- we have little animated GIFs and videos as ester-eggs in between.. the maps might rotate through 5 times and then a little gimick shows up - this was done with the MAP link below as well..
Not saying that this necessarily answer all your questions - but yes you can create maps for your needs and auto-circle through them - weather your IT department is allowed to have a little bit of fun with it or not totally depends on the company you work for.. essentially this is a NOC - network operations center - and it really helps us seeing those maps and hearing PRTG informing us about things going on without even paying attention to some messages that might just have popped up on our screens (besides all the other one million messages we get).
What we still miss - but discussed
- a beacon - a rotating light or light a traffic light green, yellow and red - we think about it but no one did chime in yet - having that said there are cool articles on the PRTG web site for it - and there are some cool toys out there - ethernet beacons and USB beacons (cheaper).
Text-to-Speech:
https://www.it-admins.com/using-powershell-for-text-to-speech/
MAP auto-cycling:
https://www.it-admins.com/auto-cycle-through-urls/
To be clear - the content of both of the above links is posted here in the KB as well - just easier for me to find it in my own blog...
Regards
Florian Rossmark
www.it-admins.com
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