Packages

To monitor equipment with ServicePilot, the tool needs to be configured to tell it what to do. This involves provisioning ServicePilot to monitor resources using predefined packages. Resources can be added to the configuration in a number of ways:

Provisioning method	Description
Static provisioning	As soon as a new agent is discovered by ServicePilot, it may be used to provisioning new resources manually. See Add a manual resource below.
Dynamic provisioning	If a dynamic provisioning resource has been added to the ServicePilot configuration then when a new agent is connected to ServicePilot, new resources will be added to the configuraiton automatically. See Add an Auto-provisioning rule.
Programming provisioning	Resources can be managed using the ServicePilot API. See API for details.

To understand this terminology, some of the concepts are detailed below. Regardless of the provisioning method used, you will start by creating a number of views in the ServicePilot configuration, into which you will place the resources you wish to monitor.

Editing views

Add a view

It is best to place your monitored resources in to views and sub-views so that they can be categorized and managed.

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Views
Navigate the existing view hierarchy in the left hand pane and click on the view in which you wish to create your new view
Drag and drop the view icon into the view pane
Give the new view a unique name
Click OK
Finally, click Save all the changes

Modify view

There are 2 distinct parts to view settings. The first containing the settings of the icon used to access the view and the second containing the settings of the background of the view content.

View icon settings

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Views
Navigate the existing view hierarchy in the left hand pane and click on the view which contains the view to change
Press on the red wrench icon to change view icon properties
Click OK once changes have been made
Finally, click Save all the changes

View background settings

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Views
Navigate the existing view hierarchy in the left hand pane and click on the view to change
Press on the view background properties icon to change view background settings
Click OK once changes have been made
Finally, click Save all the changes

Editing resources

Once a view exists, a new resource can be placed inside it. Depending on the device to be monitored, it might be possible to tell ServicePilot to automatically add resources whenever a new ServicePilot Agent contacts ServicePilot. In this case add an Auto-provisioning rule. Alternatively, add a manually provisioned resource for more complex scenarios.

Add an Auto-provisioning rule

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Auto-provisioning
Click on Add a rule
Complete the Automatic provisioning rule dialog. Specify at least a Rule name and set the Discovery type based on the Agent installed.
Click OK
Finally, click Save

Add a manual resource

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Views
Navigate the existing view hierarchy in the left hand pane and click on the view in which to add the new resource
Select the type of monitoring package needed by category and use the filter to limit the options displayed
Drag and drop a package into the central view editor
Set the resource properties based on the package type selected. A unique resource name is always required as well as all fields highlighted with a (). The resource will make use of the default agent to obtain the data unless the Agent fields are completed with the agents from which the queries are to be made. The Ping SNMP Agent will be used for all Ping and SNMP queries while the Agent* will be used for all other queries.
To view package documentation, click on the question mark next to the package name
Click OK
Finally, click Save all the changes

Note: Many pacakges use SNMP queries to obtain information. You may need to specify an SNMP policy with the correct credentials to monitor the device. See the Policies documentation for details.

Edit a resource

Using a user with administrative privileges, log in to ServicePilot.
Open Settings
Click on Provisioning > Views
You have two different choices to edit a ressource

Option A	Option B
Navigate to the existing view hierarchy in the left hand pane and click on the view containing the resource	At the left side of the screen, write in the searchbar the ressource's name that you want to edit.
In the central view editor, select the ressource that you want to modify.	Click on the ressource that you want to modify
Press on the red wrench to change resource properties

Set the resource properties based on the package type selected. A unique resource name is always required as well as all fields highlighted with a . The resource will make use of the default agent to obtain the data unless the Agent fields are completed with the agents from which the queries are to be made. The Ping SNMP Agent will be used for all Ping and SNMP queries while the Agent* will be used for all other queries.
To view package documentation, click on the question mark next to the package name
Click OK
Finally, click Save all the changes

Concepts

What is a Package?

A deployment entity which contains definitions (classes, view, objects, dashboard, PDF reports)

A package is a collection of pre-configured elements that can be imported into a ServicePilot configuration. A number of parameters are applied to the package when importing it into the configuration to monitor equipment as desired. These parameters are package dependent but a graphical wizard presents the information requested.

ServicePilot provides a host of build-in packages to monitor different equipment types. If a package does not exist for a particular device, it is often possible to monitor this device using a collection of built-in packages to monitor different parts of the device's operation.

Example: A server-microsoft-windows-snmp package defines components of a Windows Server to monitor (Disk, CPU, Memory, Ethernet, etc) and how to discover and monitor each of these using SNMP.

What is a resource?

Use of package

A resource is one use of a package in the running configuration. The package definition plus the unique parameters applied in the package wizard result in a unique resource that helps build up the elements monitored by ServicePilot.

Example: A server-microsoft-windows-snmp package is added to the ServicePilot configuration and becomes a resource to be monitored by the provisioning of this package with specific package parameters such as SNMP access credentials.

What are Views?

Hierarchical containers to organize resources by location or business function

Objects containing statistics are added to ServicePilot by placing them in a logical hierarchy of elements called views. Each uniquely named view may contain other views or objects as well as other graphical elements. The nested views allow different hierarchies to be built up by ServicePilot administrators, possibly to present equipment by geographic location or service grouping.

The worst status of the monitored equipment percolates up from the indicators to their container objects and then on to the view in which the object is placed, all the way up the hierarchy to the root MAIN view.

Example: An Office A view might be created as a container in which to place all servers, network switches and applications that are based at this particular location.

What are Objects?

A collection of statistics

Objects are uniquely named collections of indicators, each indicator being a captured or calculated statistic. Each object will collect data from a single source. Based on the availability of source data, object availability over time is calculated. If any indicators exceed defined thresholds then the object will also take on the state of the worst performing indicator. Objects may therefore be in the following states:

State	Description
`?` - Unknown	The object's state has not been determined either because it has yet to collect data or it has specifically been told to ignore data by placing the object in an unmanaged state
`-` - Unavailable	The object source data is unreachable
`3` - Critical	At least one of the object's indicators has passed a critical threshold
`2` - Major	At least one of the object's indicators has passed a major threshold but none of the indicators are currently critical
`1` - Minor	At least one of the object's indicators has passed a minor threshold but none of the indicators are currently major or critical
`+` - OK	Object source data is available and all of the object's indicators are nominal or unknown

Example: An object named Server - eth0 collects data from a single Ethernet interface.

What are Indicators?

A single statistic

Each indicator in an object presents a single statistic over time. Each indicator might have up to 3 thresholds that will change the state of the indicator, and the object container, depending on the indicator's value.

Indicators are either collected from monitored equipment or calculated:

Indicator type	Source
Monitor	The indicator data is obtained by querying the monitored device
Complex	The indicator data is calculated based on the values of the monitored indicator data received

Example: An object named Server - eth0 includes indicators 'Status' and 'In Traffic'. Indicators like the 'In Load' percentage are then calculated.

Further information

The ServicePilot web interface contains texts and descriptions to help use the tool.

To view explainations, go to the built-in help pages:

Open the Help pop-up
Select one of the tabs

Get started Now