Collecting data by using a Windows Share connection
If your environment consists of all Windows servers, you can create the Monitor over Windows Share data collector.
To use this capability, you must ensure that you have access to the appropriate network drives.
The following video (6:42) illustrates the process of creating this data collector for collecting data from a custom file. To see the detailed instructions for creating this data collector, see Procedure of collecting data by using a Windows Share connection.The [confluence_iframe] macro is a standalone macro and it cannot be used inline. Click on this message for details. https://youtu.be/RZatSlpGjGY
To collect data by using a Windows Share connection
- Navigate to Administration > Data Collectors > Add Data Collector
.
- In the Name box, provide a unique name to identify this data collector.
- From the Type list, select Monitor over Windows Share.
Provide the following information, as appropriate:
Field
Description
Target/Collection Host
Target 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 different values.
Collector Inputs
Server Name
Credentials
(Optional) Select one of the following options:
- Apply security credential to automatically populate the user name and password fields.
Then select the appropriate credential (profile) from the Available Credential list that you already configured under Administration > Credentials. - Provide Credential to manually add user name and password credentials.
Then enter the credentials in the User Name, Password, and Domain fields.
You can also create a credential that uses the manually entered details by clicking Add Credentialnext to the Domain field.
User Name
Provide the user name for connecting with the server from which you want to retrieve the data.
Note: This field is disabled if you applied a security profile earlier.
Password
Provide the password for connecting with the server from which you want to retrieve the data.
Domain
Provide the domain of the Windows user with which you want to connect to retrieve the data files.
Click Add Credential, provide a credential name, and click OK to create a new credential profile from the credentials that you provided in the user name, password, and domain fields. Once this profile is created, it is displayed under Administration > Credentials.
Directory Path
Provide the Windows share path in the format \\serverName\shareName\directoryLocationPath.
To retrieve data files from subdirectories, specify two asterisks (**) as the wildcard at the end of the directory path.
For example, you can specify \\server\itdashare\local\**\ to collect the following logs:
- \\server\itdashare\local\stats_log
- \\server\itdashare\local\logs/login_log/
- \\server\itdashare\local\mailman/log
Notes:
- You cannot use wildcards in place of a file share name in the directory path.
When creating a data collector template as a part of the collection profile, you need to provide the path in the following format:
\shareName\directoryLocationPathThe host name is added as a prefix to the preceding path when the collection profile is applied to a host.
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 wildcard 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. Specifying a wildcard can also be useful when you remember the file name only partially.
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).
Time Zone
Data Pattern
Pattern
Date Format
Date Locale
(Optional) 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.
File Encoding
If your data file uses a character set encoding other than UTF-8 (default), then do one of the following:
- Filter the relevant character set encodings that match the file.
To do this, click Filter relevant charset encodingnext to this field.
- Manually scan through the list available and select an appropriate option.
- Allow TrueSight IT Data Analytics to use a relevant character set encoding for your file by manually select the AUTO option.
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.
- Apply security credential to automatically populate the user name and password fields.
- Click Create to save your changes.