Las Vegas
Understanding & Using Spiceworks
Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting
Francis Sullivan
CTO & Co-founder, Spiceworks Inc.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Session Overview
• kinds of alerts and monitors
• default configuration
• reporting
• advanced topics
• Q&A
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
AntiVirus: Keep your machines up and running with current antivirus software.
Is not up-to-date: Be alerted when virus definitions need updating.
Has > 1 installed: Be alerted if more than one antivirus program is installed.
Having more than one antivirus program installed can slow down the performance of a
machine and actually leave it more vulnerable to an attack.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Device: A device is any computer connected to the network. You can monitor a specific
device, or monitor them all by typing \"Any Device\".
Is online: Be alerted if a device goes online.
Is offline: Be alerted if a device goes offline.
Is discovered: Be alerted if a new device is discovered on the network.
Offline for a time period: To avoid flutter, only be alerted if device stays offline.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Disk: Find out if there are issues with any disk on your system. You can keep an eye on every disk on
your system by typing \"Any Disk\", or pick one particular disk.
Was added: Be alerted when a hard drive is added.
Was removed: Be alerted when a hard drive is removed.
Is < x% free: Be alerted when diskspace falls below a certain percentage. Choices are 5, 10, 15,
20, and 25%.
Has < x MB/GB free: Be alerted when diskspace falls below a certain value. Choices are 50,
100, 250, 500 MB and 1, 5, 10 GB.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Software: Stay on top of software issues with this monitor. You can designate a specific
program to be monitored, or choose to monitor all software by typing \"Any Software\".
Is installed: Be alerted when programs are installed.
Is uninstalled: Be alerted when program are removed.
Is not compliant: Be alerted if too many copies of a program are installed.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Service: A service is a program that runs in the background of a computer to keep everything
else working right. You can monitor a specific service, or monitor them all by typing \"Any
Service\".
Is uninstalled: Be alerted when a service is uninstalled.
Is installed: Be alerted when a service is installed.
Is stopped: Be alerted when a service has stopped.
Is started: Be alerted when a service has started.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Hotfix: A hotfix is a patch that is downloaded to fix a program. You can decide to monitor all
hotfixes by typing \"Any Hotfix\", or choose to monitor one individual hotfix.
Is uninstalled: Be alerted when a hotfix is uninstalled.
Is installed: Be alerted when a hotfix is installed.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
User Account: Keep track of the user accounts on your network. You can monitor one specific
account or monitor them all by typing \"Any User Account\".
Is removed: Be alerted when a user account is deleted.
Is created: Be alerted when a new user account is added.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Printer Supply Level: Keep track of your printer supplies so you don't have to drop what you're
doing when you're out of toner.
Is < x%: Be alerted when the ink or toner in your network printers drop below a certain
level. Choices are 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
Event: You can find out when an event of your choosing happens such as a certain ID
logging in. Or you can monitor all events by typing \"Any Event\".
Is triggered: Be alerted when an event is triggered.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

What Can Be Monitored?
IT Service: Keep track of how long you have until an IT service end date.
Is < x Days: Be alerted when an IT service end date is approaching. Choices are 10,
30, and 60 days.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»On Inventory Summary
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»On Inventory Summary
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
» On Group Summary
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
» On Group Summary
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»On Summary View in 4.0
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»On Summary View in 4.0
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»email notification
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»email notification
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»email notification
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»on the device
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where Alerts Show Up
»on the device
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Default Configuration
• pre-configured monitors
• changing thresholds
• email configuration
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Default Out-of-the-box Monitors
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Changing Thresholds in 3.5
Thursday, May 21, 2009

e-mail configuration
Thursday, May 21, 2009

e-mail configuration
Thursday, May 21, 2009

e-mail configuration
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Alert / Monitoring Questions?
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Reporting
•accessing reports
•out of the box reports
•creating or editing your own report
•reoccurring reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Accessing Reports
Two levels of access when it come to reports in Spiceworks:
Admin access: This is the normal level of access that you have as the
administrator of Spiceworks. You have complete control over all
reporting functions, including granting \"Reporting\" access to others.
Reporting access: People with reporting access are allowed to open
Spiceworks and run reports designated \"public\". Reporting users
cannot create their own reports nor access any other Spiceworks
features.
You can designate reporting access to anyone who might regularly need
reports. A convenient way to save yourself a little work!
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Viewing Reports
Actions:
Click column headings to sort the report information.
Click the Print, PDF, CSV or Excel links to print or save the report in the desired
format.
When saving a report to Excel, you must open the document with Microsoft Office
2003 or later. If you are using Open Office, you should try saving as a .CSV file and
then importing it.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Default Out-of-the-box Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Default Out-of-the-box Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Creating or Editing a Report
name and description
type
conditions
display
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Types of Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Conditions
auto-complete
and / or
Strings
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Date Conditions
explicit date
relative dates
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Example Relative Dates
• 3 years ago
!•! 5 months before now
!•! 7 days from now
!•! next month
!•! 1 year ago tomorrow
!•! 3 months ago saturday
!•! 3rd wednesday in november
!•! 4th day last week
!•! last week tuesday
!•! tomorrow at 6 a.m.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Display
add new columns
first column
defines sort order
drag-and-drop to
reorder columns
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sharing Custom Reports
Have you written a cool report? Share it with the Spiceworks Community. Your report may
save someone else like you a lot of time. You'll also earn a nifty badge for your profile.
To share a report:
Click the Reporting link on the left panel from anywhere in Spiceworks.
Select the report you want to share.
Click on the Share button.
Enter more details about the report you've shared and click the Submit button.
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Import Reports that Other Users have Shared
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Import Reports that Other Users have Shared
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Reoccurring Reports
Monday Morning “Coffee” Report:
shows what had changed in the last week
- you can configure the time and period from advanced email settings
for example: tomorrow at 6 a.m. would make this a daily report
Script Interface:
run_report.rb - http://community.spiceworks.com/education/projects/Scripting_Spiceworks_Reports
- list available reports
- run report and save output as CSV, PDF, or XSL
- can be hooked into Windows at or task scheduler to run on a schedule
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Reporting Questions?
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Advanced Topics
behind the scenes:
•online/offline checking
•network health check
•network scanning
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Online/Offline Checking
Spiceworks
scanner
Main App
http
Sqlite DB
IT Admin
Spicedesk
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Network Health Check
Spiceworks
scanner
Main App
http
Sqlite DB
IT Admin
Spicedesk
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Network Scanning
Spiceworks
scanner
Main App
http
Sqlite DB
IT Admin
Spicedesk
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Network Scanning
Spiceworks
scanner
Main App
http
Sqlite DB
IT Admin
Spicedesk
Thursday, May 21, 2009

More Advanced Topics
• tricks with email
• SQL Reports and Widgets
• APIs
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Nagios Example
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Reports
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Report as a Widget
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Report as a Widget
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Report as a Widget
Thursday, May 21, 2009

SQL Tools
Firefox addon SQLite Manager
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5817
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Alert API’s - Web REST Interface
POST /api/alerts.json?title=AlertTitle&hostname=HOST&...
- create a new external monitor alert
GET /api/alerts.json
- array of all monitor alerts
GET /api/alerts/{id}.json
- details for the alert with the specified id
GET /api/alerts.json?data_monitor_id={id}
- array of all monitor alerts for the data monitor with the specified id
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Alert API’s - Web REST Interface
filtered
GET /api/alerts.json?filter=active
- array of all active monitor alerts
GET /api/alerts.json?filter=recent
- array of all alerts generated in the last 7 days
GET /api/alerts.json?filter=recent&date=2008-10-20
- array of all alerts generated since the specified date
GET /api/alerts.json?filter=external
- array of all external alerts
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Questions?
Thursday, May 21, 2009