Using the SSH Monitor

This monitor connects to a remote device using SSH to execute commands or scripts. The success or failure of the monitor is dependant upon values returned by the commands or scripts that can be interpreted by WhatsUp Gold as Up or Down.

To configure the SSH Monitor:

  1. Go to the Active Monitor Library.
    • From the web interface, click GO. The GO menu appears.
    • If the WhatsUp section is not visible, click WhatsUp. The WhatsUp section of the GO menu appears.
    • Select Configure > Active Monitor Library. The Active Monitor Library appears.

      - or -

    • From the main menu bar of the console, select Configure > Active Monitor Library. The Active Monitor Library appears.
  2. In the Active Monitor Library, do one of the following:
    • Click New, then select SSH Monitor.

      - or -

    • Select an existing SSH Monitor, then click Edit. The monitor properties page appears.
  3. Enter or select the appropriate information in the following fields.
    • Name. Enter a name for the monitor. This name is displayed in the Active Monitor Library.
    • Description. Enter a short description for the monitor. This description is displayed next to the monitor name in the Active Monitor Library.
    • Command to run. Enter the command that is to be ran and executed on the remote device. This command can be anything that the device can interpret and run; for example, a basic Unix command or a Perl script.

    Note: If you create a script to run on the remote device, the script must be developed, tested, and/or debugged on the remote machine. WhatsUp Gold does not support manipulation of the remote script.

    • The monitor is considered up if the following output is ____. Either Contains or Does not contain. Select the appropriate output criteria. For example, if you are checking to see that a specific network connection is present on the remote device, you would select that the output contains that specific connection. If the network connection you specify is not present when the monitor checks, the monitor is considered down.
    • Use regular expression. Select this option to have WhatsUp Gold use regular expression when searching for the output of command or script. If you do not choose to use regular expression, WhatsUp Gold looks for specific text outputs, rather than outputs including a regular expression.
    • SSH credential. Select the appropriate SSH credential that WhatsUp Gold will use to connect to the remote device. If you select Use the device SSH credential, WhatsUp Gold uses the SSH credential assigned to the device to which the monitor is assigned. If the appropriate SSH credential is not listed, or the device has no SSH credentials are assigned, browse (...) to the WhatsUp Gold Credentials Library to configure a set of credentials.
  4. Click Advanced. The SSH Advanced Settings dialog appears.
  5. Enter or select the appropriate information in the following fields.
    • User prompt. Enter the exact user prompt used to login to the remote machine. After WhatsUp Gold sees the appropriate user prompt, it knows it is safe to send the username associated with the remote machine's SSH credentials. The default user prompt is login as:.

      Important: User prompts are specific to each machine. Verify the remote machine's user prompt before entering text in this field. If the text entered here varies from the user prompt used on the specific machine to which you are attempting to connect, WhatsUp Gold is unable to log in to the machine to perform the specified task.

    • Password prompt. Enter the exact password prompt used to login to the remote machine. After WhatsUp Gold sees the appropriate password prompt, it knows it is safe to send the password associated with the remote machine's SSH credentials. The default password prompt is password:.

      Important: Password prompts are specific to each machine. Verify the remote machine's password prompt before entering text in this field. If the text entered here varies from the password prompt used on the specific machine to which you are attempting to connect, WhatsUp Gold is unable to log in to the machine to perform the specified task.

    • Command prompt (regular expression). Enter the regular expression that signifies the command prompt for which WhatsUp Gold should look. When WhatsUp Gold sees the appropriate character, it knows that it is time to execute the command specified in the monitor or action. The default value is (>|#|]|\$|~\$), meaning, the last character in the command line prompt can end in ">" or "#" or "]" or "$" or "~$".
  6. Click OK to return to the monitor properties dialog.
  7. Click OK to save changes.