Monitor file on Collection Agent


You can create a data collector to collect logs from a particular host.

Note

This data collector does not work for mapped drives.

Related topics

To locally collect files from a host

  1. Navigate to Administration > Data Collectors > Add Data Collector Plus icon.jpg.
  2. In the Name box, provide a unique name to identify this data collector.
  3. From the Type list, select Monitor File on Collection Agent.
  4. Provide the following information, as appropriate:

    Field

    Description

    Target/Collection Host

    Collection Host (Agent)

    Type or select the collection host depending on whether you want to use the Collection Station or the Collection Agent to perform data collection.

    The collection host is the computer on which the Collection Station or the Collection Agent is located.

    By default, the Collection Station is already selected. You can either retain the default selection or select the Collection Agent.

    Note: For this type of data collector, the target host and collection host are expected to have the same values.

    Collector Inputs

    Directory Path

    Directory path must be an absolute path of the log file.

    You can also specify any system environment variable while configuring a path to a folder on the target host.

    To retrieve log files from subdirectories, provide the path up to the parent directory.

    Include subdirectories

    (Optional) Select this check box if you want to retrieve log files from subdirectories of the file path specified.

    Filename/Rollover Pattern

    Specify the file name only, or specify the file name with a rollover pattern to identify subsequent logs.

    You can use the following wild card characters:

    • Asterisk (*)—Can be used to substitute zero or more characters in the file name.
    • Question mark (?)—Can be used to substitute exactly one character in the file name.

    Specifying a rollover pattern can be useful to monitor rolling log files where the log files are saved with the same name but differentiated with some variable like the time stamp or a number.

    Note: Ensure that you specify a rollover pattern for identifying log files that follow the same data format (which means they will be indexed with the same data pattern).

    See examples

    Scenario 1

    Suppose you want to collect log files saved with succeeding numbers once they reach a certain size; for example:

    IAS0.log

    IAS1.log

    IAS2.log

    Rollover pattern: In this scenario, you can specify the rollover pattern as IAS?.log.

    Scenario 2

    Suppose you want to collect log files that roll over every hour and are saved with the same date but a different time stamp in the YYYY-MM-DD-HH format; for example:

    2013-10-01-11.log

    2013-10-01-12.log

    2013-10-01-13.log

    Rollover pattern: In this scenario, you can specify the rollover pattern as 2013-10-01-*.log.

    Time Zone

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    Data Pattern

    Pattern

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    Date Format

    When you select a data pattern, the matching date format is automatically updated. However, you can specifically find date formats matching the timestamp in your data file.

    Use one of the following methods to specify a date format:

    • Filter the relevant data formats: Click Auto-Detect to find automatically find a list of matching data patterns and date formats. If no matching data patterns are found, a list of matching date formats is displayed. You can click each of the date formats displayed on the left, to see a preview of the sample records.
      Note: Before filtering the relevant date formats by clicking Auto-Detect, under the Advanced Options section, ensure that the correct file encoding is set.
    • Manually select a date format: Manually scan through the list available, and select one of the date formats available. Click Preview to see the sample records parsed.
      Alternatively, from the Pattern list, select Free Text with Timestamp and click Preview to find the relevant data formats that match the file.
    • Create a new date format: If you are not satisfied with the results arising out of the date formats available, you can create a new date format. To do this, select the Create new Date Format option and manually enter the date format depending on the timestamp that you want to capture. For example, if your data file contains the timestamp, "28 Apr 2014 10:58:28", then your date format must be dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss.

    Notes:

    • If you select both – a pattern and a date format, then the date format specified takes precedence over the date format from the pattern that you selected. So the timestamp is indexed as per the specified date format, and the rest of the data is indexed as per the pattern.
    • If you select only a date format, then the date format is used for indexing the timestamp, while the rest of the data is displayed in a raw format in your search results.

    Date Locale

    You can use this setting to enable reading the date and time string based on the language selected. Note that this setting only applies to those portions of the date and time string that consist letters (digits are not considered).

    By default, this value is set to English.

    You can manually select a language to override the default locale. For a list of languages supported, see Language-information.

    Poll Interval (mins)

    Enter a number to specify the poll interval (in minutes) for the log collection.

    By default, this value is set to 1.

    Start/Stop Collection

    (Optional) Select this check box if you want to start the data collection immediately.

    The [expand] macro is a standalone macro and it cannot be used inline. Click on this message for details.

    Tags
    Inherit Host Level Tags From Target Host
    (Optional) Select this check box to inherit your tag selections associated with the target host that you selected earlier. This option is not applicable if you did not select a target host. Note: After selecting this check box, you can further manually select additional user groups. When you manually select additional user groups, both the inherited permissions as well as the manually assigned permissions are applied. To remove the inherited permissions, clear this check box.
    Select Tag name and corresponding value
    (Optional) Select a tag name and specify the corresponding value by which you want to categorize the data collected. Later while searching data, you can use these tags to narrow down your search results.Example: If your are collecting data from hosts located at Houston, you can select a tag name for "Location" and in the value specify "Houston". While searching the data, you can use the tag, Location="Houston" to filter data and see results associated with the Houston location.To be able to see tag names, you need to first add them by navigating to Administration > System Settings.To specify tag names and corresponding values, in the left box select a tag name and then type the corresponding tag value in the right box. While you type the value, you might see type-ahead suggestions based on values specified in the past. If you want to use one of the suggestions, click the suggestion. Click Add Plus icon.jpgto add the tag name and corresponding value to the list of added tags that follow. Click Remove Tag Delete icon.jpgto remove a tag.The tags saved while creating the data collector are displayed on the Search tab, under the Filters panel, and in the Tags section.Note: At a time, you can specify only one value for a tag name. To specify multiple values for the same tag name, each time you need to select the tag name, specify the corresponding value, and click Add.For more information about tags, see Understanding-fields.

    Group Access

    Inherit Host Level Access Groups From Target Host

    (Optional) Select this check box to inherit your group access configurations associated with the target host that you selected earlier. This option is not applicable if you did not select a target host.

    Note: After selecting this check box, you can further manually select additional user groups. When you manually select additional user groups, both the inherited permissions as well as the manually assigned permissions are applied. To remove the inherited permissions, clear this check box.

    Select All Groups

    (Optional) Select this option if you want to select all user groups. You can also manually select multiple user groups.

    Notes: You can access data retrieved by this data collector based on the following conditions.

    • If user groups are not selected and data access control is enabled: Only the creator of the data collector can access data retrieved by this data collector.
    • If user groups are not selected and if data access control is not enabled: All users can access data retrieved by this data collector. You can restrict access permissions by selecting the relevant user groups that must be given access permissions. To enable data access control, navigate to Administration > System Settings.

    For more information, see Managing-user-groups-in-IT-Data-Analytics.

  5. Click Create to save your changes.

 

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