Add Custom Health Events to Enhance Device Monitoring

Use Advanced Collection to view, configure or add almost any device health event you are interested to monitor in Aternity dashboards. This requires creating monitoring files, such as XML files or PowerShell scripts.

In addition to out-of-the-box health events, you can create and add to Aternity any health event to troubleshoot issues with one device or view common symptoms across multiple devices in your organization.

Procedure

  1. Step 1 Open a browser and sign in to Aternity.
  2. Step 2 View the list of out-of-the-box as well as predefined custom health events already being monitored by Aternity by selecting the Gear Icon > Advanced Collection.
    You can add new custom health events you are interested to monitor if they do not already appear here.
    List of custom predefined health events
    The table displays the full list of health events added to Aternity.
    Field Description

    Health Event

    Displays the name of a Health Event as entered in the Add Monitor window and as it appears in the dashboards.
    Description

    Displays a short description of a new health event you want to add to Aternity.
    Monitor Type
    Displays the type of monitor out of those technologies Aternity uses to collect data:

    • Registry: Monitor that checks Windows property in device's registry

    • WMI: Monitor that queries operating systems database that includes information about devices

    • Event Log: Monitor that gets notifications from Windows Event Viewer that includes information about application, system crashes, and more

    • PowerShell: Microsoft automation solution

    • Generic Plugin: Agent plugin that collects data from monitored devices

    • Dump Analyzer: Monitor that explores what caused a blue screen on the device
    Category
    Displays the category of a health event added to Aternity. There are several supported categories:
    Subcategory

    Displays the Subcategory for the new health event. Under the main categories of health events: Application, Background Process, Hardware and System, there are sub-categories like Windows Background Process, MobileApp, DotNet, Network, Battery and so on.
    Severity

    Displays the Severity level of your new health event. For example, if a background process crashes, its severity is minor , if an application crashes, it is major , while a system crash is critical .
    Frequency

    Displays frequency of the check interval. How often the Agent will run the monitor and will query the WMI, Registry, Event Log or PowerShell.

    Frequency for Event Log is predefined to 60 seconds.
    Rollout
    Displays the group of devices which monitor this entry:

    • Test Group indicates that Aternity only monitors this entry for users or devices in the test group.

    • All Users indicates that Aternity monitors this entry for all reporting devices.

    • Custom indicates that Aternity monitors this entry for users or devices in a custom group.
    Last Modified

    Displays the time stamp when someone last changed anything in the XML, CSV, or PowerShell file.
  3. Step 3 Define and add health events to Aternity in order to monitor device health.

    For example, monitor hard disk failures or the battery charge level. Once the attributes are collected, you can troubleshoot hardware, system, and application issues on the Device Health dashboard.

    1. a Select Add Monitor.
      Field Description
      Advanced Monitor

      Use Advanced Monitor to add to Aternity a monitoring XML file that queries Windows Event Log, WMI, or Device Registry and collects health events.

      Once the monitor is set, view the triggered events in the Device Health dashboard.
      PowerShell

      Use PowerShell to add a PowerShell script to Aternity in order to collect new health events.

      You can detect anything with PowerShell scripts. For example, whether the recycle bin or any other folder on the PC exceeds its allowed size, if there are too many very large messages in Outlook, the BitLocker Status, or anything else you want to detect.

      Note

      Uploading PowerShell scrips is available only for Windows devices with Agent 12.0.1 or later.
    2. b Select either Advanced Monitor or PowerShell.
      Fill in all the fields. When adding PowerShell, upload the script as well.
      Create Health Event
    3. c Select Save.
    4. d To edit a monitor, select the row's context menu on the right > and then Edit.

      To download and edit the XML file, select the row's context menu on the right > and then Download XML.

      Edit the required fields and save the changes by selecting Update.

    5. e To disable monitor, select the row's context menu on the right > and then Disable.
    6. f To remove a health event from the list, select the row's context menu on the right > and then Delete.