All questions related to installations, configurations and maintenance of Advanced Host Monitor (including additional tools such as RMA for Windows, RMA Manager, Web Servie, RCC).
we have the following problem: We are monitoring an application suit (Cognos BI software). Some of the components are services (e.g. Impromptu Web Server) some of them are processes, which must be checked if they alive and working. We are using HostMonitor to get an Alert, if the service/process is not available or/and working, but it seems, that HM checks only the availability of the service. Our customers expect, that we are informing them, if the service is not available adn that we are performing actions to fix that problem, but the reality is, that the customers are inform us, when something isn't working and this is not good for us.
What can we do, to check services and processes in the correct way, so that we get the right information?
customers are inform us, when something isn't working
What exactly means something isn't working in relation to process that you are monitoring? Process hunged? Process terminated? Process works but does not perform operations that should be performed?
Quote from the manual
HostMonitor can control specified process on local or remote computer and start alert actions if number of instances of the specified process is out of the defined range.
It means Process test checks how many processes started on the system. But Process test method cannot check what application doing, does it work correctly or incorrectly. Because term "application works correctly" depends on what do you need from that application. You should know what application must do and check specific parameters, e.g. some application should respond to TCP connection (use TCP test method), some application should produce logs every 5 min (use File Availability test method), and so on.
BTW: appstatus.exe utility that included in the package can sends a message to each window of the specified process and returns "Bad" status and ExitCode 2 when the application does not respond. This way you may detect "hunged" applications