Must "No answer" always = "Bad"?

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 1:25 pm

Forgive me if this has been answered here or in the Help file.

I monitor just one specific POP3 account and perform two separate tests: message count and total file size. I do them separately so that it sends me a different e-mail depending on which parameter has been exceeded.

Obviously, it cannot log two tests into the POP3 account simultaneously, or an error will be returned by the test that wasn't lucky enough to log in first. So I set the intervals to be slightly apart, one at 1 hour, and one at a few minutes less.

If another user is logged into that e-mail box, I'm afraid the testing will return a "no answer", which will be an undesired failure of the test. For my purposes, "no answer" is not necessarily a problem, and it's okay with me to wait until the next regular interval to elapse. By the way, the user will be unlikely to be logged into the account for more than about 15 minutes.

Thus my question: can I designate "no answer" as an "unknown", which can be ignored, or otherwise prevent "no answer" from creating the "bad" status which triggers the alert.

I hope I was clear!

Regards,
Doug

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 2:17 pm

"No answers" == "Bad". But I see nice workaround here - use "Repeat test" action to recheck mailbox when "no answer" status appears and trigger alert when "Bad" status appears:

1) you need to change "condition to start action" for your existing action. Change "standard mode" to "advanced mode" and provide expression ('%Status%'=='Bad') and ('%LastStatus%'<>'Bad')
In this case action will be executed when test changes status to 'Bad' (from any other). But action will not be executed when test becomes "no answer'

2) add new "Repeat test" action, use "advanced mode" and expression ('%Status%'=='No answer') and ('%LastStatus%'<>'No answer')

Regards
Alex

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 1:15 am

Thanks for the fast reply, Alex. I tried that but I can't tell if it worked. I'll experiment with it some more. Meanwhile, I am wondering if I could skip the repeat test by using the StatusID to exclude No Answer from the condition, i.e.:

('%SimpleStatus%'=='DOWN') and ('%StatusID%'<>02)

Is that an allowable expression?

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:34 pm

('%SimpleStatus%'=='DOWN') and ('%StatusID%'<>02)
Is that an allowable expression?

Yes, you can use this expression but
a) you don't need this to "skip the repeat test". I recommended to use "repeat test" action because sometime account is locked by user or another test. Use this action or not is up to you.
b) with this expression if mail box is full, you will receive alert EVERY TIME test performs

If you use expression('%Status%'=='Bad') and ('%LastStatus%'<>'Bad'), you will receive alert when mail box BECOMES full (just 1 alert).

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:40 pm

PS
Probably you do not understand difference:
- if you use "standard mode" action, Bad status term means ANY BAD status. E.g "No answer", "Bad Contents", "Bad"
- if you use "advanced mode" action, 'Bad' means EXACTLY 'Bad' status. So, with condition ('%Status%'=='Bad') action will not be triggered when status is "No answer"

Regards
Alex

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:34 am

Actually, I DO want to be notified on each subsequent test if the status remains bad (or rather, the value of the "reply" exceeds our predetermined threshold.) The alert is a call to action on our part to disable the auto-reply feature of the mailbox. Well, technically, any one of 150 other mailboxes which forwards into the monitored mailbox. So every test interval that follows in which the problem is not corrected brings us closer to a meltdown. If I happen to miss the alert the first time, I do need to get it at the next interval. Since the mail server hardware being monitored does not belong to us, there's not much we can do if it's down, offline, or otherwise playing hard to get. We simply are concerned if the "reply" value is in excess of, let's say, 3000 messages or the 'total size of the messages' is more than 75MB, and wish to exclude an inconclusive result.

I should add that these are merely refinements I'm chasing; the program as I have it set up now is performing very well for us and is exceeding my expectations. It's such a great, complex program, though. I feel like I'm using Photoshop just to scale and print pictures, not even touching on its true potential. Great job on HostMonitor!! Best $99 we've spent in ages!

Doug

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:20 pm

Oh, now I see. Looks like very simple alert condition ('%Status%'=='Bad') will suit your needs.
Thanks for software review

Regards
Alex

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:27 pm

Thanks, Alex! I'll give it a try and report back later.

Doug

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:12 pm

Alex, I tried it with simply the expression ('%Reply%'>20)

I tested it at less than 20 messages and got a Good status.
Then I logged in with The Bat and tied up the mailbox with a Dispatch, and received a bad status, but without an Alert. Once again, that's what I wanted.
Finally, I logged out of the account, then sent in some messages to push the count over 20, and it triggered an Alert. Perfect.

All I have to do now is set the >20 to the amount I need i.e. >2500, and I'm golden. Could it have been this simple? It seems to ignore eveything except the excess of a specific count.

Thanks for holding my hand on this.

Doug

dougowt · Post by **dougowt** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:59 pm

Whoops, I spoke too soon. That didn't work on the larger mailbox. I'll have to play around some more with it.

KS-Soft · Post by **KS-Soft** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 12:25 am

It doesn't work because you use quotes for %Reply%. If you use quotes, HostMonitor compares two values as strings (in this case '211'<'22').

However the same expression will work when you compare total size of the messages because it contains "Kb" specificator.

So, drop the quotes when you check number of the messages and keep quotes when you check size of the messages.

Regards
Alex