Terminology

Applications

An application in PATROL is any resource used or running on a computer. The Knowledge Module for Windows has a basic set of applications that monitor events  such as CPU, logical disk, and memory usage. Each running copy of an application discovered by PATROL is called an instance of the particular application class. Each application instance is represented by an icon in the COMPUTER window.

Application discovery

PATROL discovers applications using instructions provided by the Knowledge Module for Windows (KM). The instructions provided by the KM include application discovery rules that you have defined. 
When PATROL discovers an application, it represents the application with an icon either in the icon window for the monitored computer on which it runs or in an application window specified for all application instances of that class.
You can add a new application class to PATROL so that it will find all future instances of that application running on monitored computers.
PATROL periodically runs application discovery to discover new applications and to verify that previously discovered applications and files are still there.
If an application or file previously discovered is not found, PATROL triggers an alert, either audible or visual, for the missing resource.

Application discovery rules are defined using either

• simple discovery: uses simple pattern-matching to find instances of the application running on the monitored computer
• PSL discovery: uses scripts written in PATROL Script Language to find the application instances

Infoboxes

An InfoBox is a window that displays information about a monitored object. InfoBoxes are tables of attributes accessed from parameters and application class icons. The PATROL consoles and PATROL Agent populate all of the attributes that appear in the parameter InfoBoxes and some of the attributes, such as icon type or status, that appear in the application InfoBoxes.

 Most aplication classes provide additional information specific to the application or component being monitored. Standard fields are displayed near the top of an InfoBox, while fields that are defined by the application class are displayed near the bottom and may be identified by a check mark or by being below a horizontal rule, depending on your console type.

The following information is provided in the InfoBox for each application class:

• History Retention: (Length of time history is retained)
• Worst Parameter: (The name of the application parameter that is in a state of warning or alarm)
• Default Username: (The user name of the default user)
• Application Class: (Application Class name)
• State: (OK, alarm, warning, offline)
• Icon Type: (Application or Container icon)

Application classes or Monitor types

Application classes are the object classes to which an application instances belong; also, the representation of the class as a container in UNIX or folder in Windows on the PATROL Console. You can use the developer functionality of a PATROL Console to add or change application classes. In BMC ProactiveNet, monitor types are similar to application classes. Monitor types are a way of classifying the data that is to be collected.

Parameters or attributes

Parameters are the monitoring elements of a PATROL knowledge module. Parameters are run by the PATROL Agent, they periodically use data collection commands to obtain data on a system resource and then parse, process, and store the data on the computer that is running the PATROL Agent.  Parameters can display data in various formats, such as numeric, text, stoplight, and Boolean. Parameters have thresholds and can trigger warnings and alarms. In BMC ProactiveNet, attributes are similar to parameters. Attributes classify monitor types into types of data. 

Menu commands

In PATROL console, menu commands, also known as KM commands are a menu of commands for a monitored object. You can configure the knowledge module, discover hosts, add objects, and set thresholds of parameters using menu commands. Right-click an object to access its menu commands. 

Monitoring solutions

A monitoring solution is a pre-defined set of metrics that monitor the health and performance of a specific device or service. BMC monitoring solutions are composed of monitor types and attributes.

Monitoring profiles

In BMC ProactiveNet, monitoring profiles are profiles to which the monitor types you want to enable are associated. Each solution contains multiple monitoring profiles and help to reduce unnecessary monitoring. Each monitoring profile is associated with a group of monitor types. The monitor types that belong to a profile are pre-determined. You cannot add or remove monitor types from a profile.