Using the Device Investigator

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The Device Investigator page provides a view of detailed data for a specific device. This section describes the data that can be viewed on the Device Investigator page and its various tabs.

Use the following menu options to navigate the SL1 user interface:

  • To view a pop-out list of menu options, click the menu icon ().
  • To view a page containing all of the menu options, click the Advanced menu icon ().

What is the Device Investigator?

The Device Investigator displays a customizable, detailed set of data about a specific device.

From the Devices page, click the name of a particular device to open the Device Investigator page for that device.

A new metric in the Device Investigator

The tabs on the Device Investigator page provide access to all of the data associated with the device. The tabs are similar to the tabs on the Device Administration and Device Properties panels in the classic SL1 user interface.

Only tabs relevant to the selected device are available on the Device Investigator page. For example, the Agent and Machine Learning tabs do not display if the selected device does not use agents or machine learning-based anomaly detection.

The Device Investigator page can include the following menus and buttons:

  • Info. This drawer on the Investigator tab displays additional information about the device, along with the most recently updated values for uptime and collection time.
  • Report. This button lets you generate a detailed report on the device.
  • Tools. This button opens the Activity Center, where you can run a set of diagnostic tools or user-initiated actions, or to click on custom links that will open in a separate browser window.

The Device Investigator page contains the following tabs:

  • Investigator. Displays panels that provide basic information and metric data about a device. For most devices, the default panels include a Device Overview panel, Events, Logs, Availability, and combined charts for metrics such as utilization, discards, and errors. You can customize the panel layout on this page to meet your specific business needs, including select additional metrics to display.
  • Settings. Lets you manage your preferences for that device, such as whether to auto-clear events, accept all logs, run daily port scans, and more. You can also set user maintenance preferences and disable or enable collection on that device.
  • Anomaly Detection. Displays a list of anomaly detection metrics that are enabled for the device.
  • Attributes. Lists the custom descriptive fields that are currently aligned with this device. On this tab, you can add and remove extended custom attributes to this device.
  • Changes. Displays active and cleared Change Events for a device.
  • Collections. Lets you align or un-align Dynamic Applications with this device, enable or disable collection for the Dynamic Applications, and run a Dynamic Application. You can also change credentials and update the poll frequency for a Dynamic Application.
  • Configs. Displays configuration information collected from the device by Dynamic Applications. If this device does not have any configuration data, this tab does not appear.
  • Events. Displays a list of active and cleared events for the device. You can acknowledge events from this tab and add event notes.
  • Interfaces. Displays information about the interfaces used by the device. If this device does not use interfaces, this tab does not appear.
  • Journals. Displays journal entry information collected from the device by Dynamic Applications.
  • Logs. Displays all of the messages SL1 and the SL1 Agent, if applicable, have collected from the device.
  • Map. Opens a map of that device and the devices it is related to (for systems that have the Maps page enabled).
  • Monitors. This tab lets you define monitoring policies for the device.
  • Notes. Displays notes and attachments associated with the device. You can also edit and create notes.
  • Performance Metrics. Displays performance graphs for hardware, monitoring policies, and Dynamic Applications aligned with the device.
  • Ports. Displays a list of all open ports on the device.
  • Processes. Displays a list of system processes running on the device.
  • Redirects. Allows you to redirect logs entries from an IP-based device to the current device. This is most useful when the current device is a virtual device, but you can also redirect log entries from one IP-based device to another IP-based device.
  • Relationships. Displays information about parent-child relationships between devices.
  • Schedules. Allows you to view and manage all the scheduled processes you have defined in your system.
  • Services. Displays a list of all Windows services enabled on the device.
  • Software. Displays a list of all the software installed on the device.
  • Summary. Displays an overview of device details through device dashboards and widgets that display various metrics.
  • Thresholds. Lets you define space and performance thresholds for a device.
  • Tickets. Displays all open, pending, or working tickets associated with the device.
  • More. This drop-down lets you select additional tabs to display on the Device Investigator page by clicking the star icon next to the tab name. You can search for specific items on a tab, such as Device Class, Uptime, or Category, and the relevant tab will appear in the search results. You can also remove a tab by clicking the star icon again, turning it from blue to white. Your tab selections are saved and remain in place even after you log out:

The More drop-down menu

Click the forward-slash button (/) to open the More drop-down. You can highlight search results using the Up and Down Arrow keys on your keyboard, and select a result by pressing Enter. To close the drop-down, click the word More.

Using the Info Drawer on the Device Investigator Page

On the Device Investigator page, you can view read-only information about the device in the Info drawer:

The Device Information tab on the Device Investigator page

The Info drawer displays the following information for the device:

  • Status. The status of the device.
  • Collector. The Collector Group that was last used to collect data from the device. For All-In-One Appliances, this field will contain the name of the default, built-in Collector Group.
  • Collecting. Indicates that the device collection is "Collecting" with a green check mark icon (), meaning SL1 is periodically collecting data from the device, or "Not Collecting" with a prohibition icon (), meaning the SL1 is not currently collecting data from the device.

  • IP. IP address of the device.
  • Organization. The organization to which this device belongs. Click the organization name to view a detail page for the organization.
  • Device Class. Device class for the device. A device class usually describes the manufacturer of the device.
  • Category. The device category associated with the device. The device category usually describes the primary function of the device, such as a "server", "switch", or "router".
  • Device Type. Specifies whether the device is a physical device or a virtual device.
  • Collection Time. Date and time of the most recent collection.
  • Uptime. The number of days and hours that the device has been continuously up and communicating with SL1.
  • More Attributes. This lower section lists any custom attributes that might be aligned with this device.

Running a Device Report

On the Device Investigator page for a specific device, you can generate a detailed report on that device. You can specify the information to include in the report and the format that SL1 will use to generate the report, including HTML, PDF, XLS, and more.

  1. On the Device Investigator page, click the Report button in the top navigation bar. The Device Report modal page appears.
  2. In the Type drop-down, select the type of report you want to generate. Your options include:
  • Full Report. Includes information about device status, status of all device policies, status of all monitors, status of hardware components, status of all thresholds defined for the device, a list of all active events associated with the device, and information about the last collection time and last entry to the device log.
  • Status. Includes information about device status, status of all monitors, status of hardware components, status of all thresholds defined for the device, and information about the last collection time and last entry to the device log.
  • Config. Includes status of all monitors, status of all thresholds defined for the device, and information about the last collection time and last entry to the device log.
  • Contact. Includes contact information for the device's organization and contact information for all vendors and warranty or support accounts.
  • Hardware. Includes overview of hardware components for the device.
  • Notes. Includes all notes created in the Notepad Editor page.
  • Software. Displays a list of software installed on the device.
  • Processes. Displays a list of all processes running on the device.
  • Network. Includes information about network ports and network configuration.
  • Events. Includes a list of all active events associated with the device.
  • Health. Includes information about device status, status of all monitors, status of all Dynamic Applications associated with the device, status of all thresholds defined for the device, and a list of all active events associated with the device.
  1. In the Format drop-down, select the format for the report. Your options include:
  • HTML. Create the report as an HTML document.
  • PDF. Create the report as a PDF document.
  • DOC. Create the report as a Microsoft Word document.
  • XLS. Create the report as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
  • CSV. Create the report using comma-separated values.
  1. Click Create Report to generate the report.

Using Device Tools in the Action Runner

On the Device Investigator page, you can click the Tools menu to display the Action Runner. The Action Runner enables you to run a set of diagnostic tools or user-initiated actions, or to click on custom links that will open in a separate browser window.

NOTE: The tools and actions that are available in the Action Runner are based on the device type and your user permissions, as determined by your organization assignment and access hooks. For example, if a device does not have an IP address, only the Availability tool will be available.

NOTE: For more information about user-initiated actions, see the section on User-Initiated Automations. For more information about custom links, see the section on Custom Links.

To use the Action Runner:

  1. Access the Action Runner for devices in one of the following ways:
  • On the Devices page, open the Device Drawer for a particular device. Click the search bar in the Tools pane.
  • On the Device Investigator page, click the Tools button in the top navigation bar.
  • Click Activity in the navigation bar at the top of any page in SL1. Click the search bar.
  1. When you click the search bar, a list appears of the default tools, actions, or custom links that are available for the selected device. Click one of these tools, actions, or custom links, or use the search bar to search for a tool or action that is not listed. The following default tools are available in the Action Runner:
  • Availability. Displays the results of an availability check of the device, using the port and protocol specified in the Availability Port and Availability Protocol fields on the Settings tab for this device.
  • Ping. Displays statistics returned by the ping tool. The ping tool sends a packet to the device's IP address (the one used by SL1 to communicate with the device) and waits for a reply. SL1 then displays the number of seconds it took to receive a reply from the device and the number of bytes returned from the device. If the device has an IPv6 address, SL1 uses the appropriate IPv6 ping command.
  • Who Is. Displays information about the device's IP, including the organization that registered the IP and contacts within that organization.
  • Port Scan. Displays a list of all open ports on the device at the time of the scan.
  • Deep Port Scan. Displays a list of all open ports and as much detail about each open port as the deep port scanner can retrieve.
  • ARP Lookup. Displays a list of IP addresses for the device and the resolved Ethernet physical address (MAC address) for each IP address.
  • ARP Ping. Displays the results from the ARP Ping tool. The ARP Ping tool is similar in function to ping, but it uses the ARP protocol instead of ICMP. The ARP Ping tool can be used only on the local network.
  • Trace Route. Displays the network route between SL1 and the device. The tool provides details on each hop to the endpoint. If the device has an IPv6 address, SL1 uses the appropriate IPv6 traceroute command.

The tools found in the Action Runner can also be found in the Device Toolbox in the classic SL1 user interface.

  1. If you clicked a custom link, the link opens in a new browser window. If you clicked on a tool or action, then as it runs, its progress and results appear in a log in the Activity Center.
  2. After the tool or action has run, if you want to run it again, click the Run Again button. This button appears only for activities completed during your current session.

The Activity Center

The left pane of the Activity Center displays a list of devices for which you have most recently used the Action Runner, with the current device at the top of the list. To use the Action Runner for any of the other recently used devices or to view historical logs for the tools or actions that have been run on those devices, click on the device name.

Overview of the Device Investigator Tabs

The following section provides an overview of how to use the tabs on the Device Investigator page for a selected device.

The Investigator Tab

The Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page displays a customizable set of metrics about the selected device.

A new metric in the Device Investigator

The device type determines which metrics appear in the Investigator tab. For most devices, the following panels appear by default:

  • Device Overview. Displays a panel that includes basic information about the device, including its current state, device class, IP address, uptime, collection status, unacknowledged event count, machine learning-based anomaly detection status, automated actions count, and configuration changes count.
  • Events. Displays a panel with the list of events aligned with this device. In the right-hand pane, you can click the ID or Message field to view the Event Investigator page for that event. You can also click the Events panel heading to go to the Events tab for that device.
  • If your device has Skylar Automated RCA suggestions, custom alerts, or accepted alerts, you can click the VIEW link on the banner that appears at the top of the Device Investigator page to go to the Events tab for that device to review the Skylar Automated RCA content.

    To open an event context panel where you can clear, acknowledge, or view causes and resolutions relating to an event, click the name of the device where the event has occurred on the Event Investigator or Service Investigator pages. You will be redirected to the Device Investigator page for that device, where the event context panel appears at the top of this page.

  • Logs. Displays a panel with a list of the logs for the device, sorted from newest to oldest by default. You can use the Search field to search device logs for specific event messages, event IDs, date ranges, source types, and other relevant text for troubleshooting. You can also click on the column headers for Date/Time, Source, Event ID, Severity, and Message to sort by that column.
  • Relationships and Membership. Displays a panel that includes details about the other devices that have relationships to the selected device, as well as the device groups and services to which the device belongs or has membership.
    • The Device Relationship tab displays the name, relationship type, relationship discovery method, and health for each device that has a relationship with the selected device. You can click the hyperlink in the Device Name column to go to the Device Investigator for the related device.
    • The Device Groups tab displays the name, device count, and ID for each device group to which the selected device belongs or has membership.
    • The Services tab displays the name, type, status, description, health, availability, and risk for each service to which the selected device belongs or has membership. You can click the hyperlink in the Service Name column to go to the Service Investigator for the related service.
  • Map. Displays a panel with a map of the device and all of the devices with which the device has relationships. You can also click the Map panel heading to go to the Map tab for that device. This panel is disabled by default, but can be enabled by clicking the Edit button, and then selecting the Map checkbox.

You can customize the appearance of the widgets on the page, including changing their height or width. For more information, see the section on Customizing the Appearance of Widgets on the Investigator Tab.

The Device Investigator page also includes the following sidebar buttons:

Select the Always display raw data checkbox at the top of the timespan selector to ensure that the metric data that appears in the panels on the Investigator tab always includes the most recent data available. If you do not select that checkbox, SL1 will still display raw data when you select a timespan of less than 2 days, but will automatically display rolled up hourly data for timespan selections of 2-45 days and rolled up daily data for timespan selections of more than 45 days.

You can view Skylar Automated RCA suggestions and alerts in the A.I./M.L. section of the Device Overview pane and the Events pane of the Investigator tab. For SL1 12.2.0 and later, you will need to set up the connection between Skylar Automated RCA and SL1. For more information, see Configuring the Skylar Automated RCA Connector for SL1.

Customizing the Appearance of Widgets on the Investigator Tab

The Investigator tab panel layout is responsive. Panels are automatically resized or relocated whenever you add or remove a pane, rearrange the panels on the page, or change the size of the the browser window.

You can customize a widget's appearance on the Investigator tab by clicking the menu icon () for that widget and then doing one of the following:

  • To change the widget's name, select Edit Widget Name and then enter a new name.
  • To change the widget's height, select Small, Medium, or Large.
  • To change the widget's width, select either Columns or Full width.

You can also click the contract icon () in the widget header to display only the header or click the expand icon () to display the widget's full contents.

For leaderboard widgets for interfaces, file systems, and Dynamic Applications, you can click the Leaderboard Bar Chart icon () to switch from a bar chart to a line chart, or click the Line Chart icon () to switch from a line chart to a leaderboard bar chart. 

Adding and Removing Metrics on the Investigator Tab

Optionally, you can add metrics to the Investigator tab for Dynamic Applications, interfaces, and the SL1 Agent (if applicable), among other things. You can also remove metrics from the Investigator tab.

To add and remove metrics on the Investigator tab:

  1. To add a metric panel that is not currently on the Investigator tab, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel, click Edit Panels, and then click the Add a metric field. A list of metrics appears:
  2. Select a metric from the list, or type the name of a metric and select it from the list. The metric is added to the right pane, and a corresponding widget appears in the left pane.
  3. Some metrics might require you to make additional selections, such as the network interfaces associated with a device. Click the field and add one or more additional metrics, as needed.

    You can select up to eight additional metrics per widget.

  4. To remove a metric panel from the Investigator tab, uncheck the corresponding box in the right panel. The metric remains listed in the right panel, but the panel is removed from the Investigator tab.
  5. To completely remove the metric and its corresponding panel from the Investigator tab, click the Remove from Layout button (Image of the Close button) for that metric in the right panel.

The Investigator tab retains any changes you made to the set of device metrics displayed for each device, on a per-user basis. To reset these changes to their default settings, click the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel. Optionally, you can apply these changes to other Device Categories, Device Classes, or devices. For more information, see the section on Applying a Custom Device Investigator Layout to Other Devices.

Editing the Metric Panel Order on the Investigator Tab

On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, the order in which the metric panels appear in the right panel when you click the Edit button mirrors the order in which the corresponding metric panel widgets appear in the left panel. You can drag and drop the panels up or down in the right panel to edit the order in which the metric panels appear on the left panel. This enables you to prioritize the information that appears on the page.

To edit the order in which widgets appear on the Investigator tab:

  1. On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel and then click Edit Panels.
  2. Hover your mouse over the "Panel" heading of the panel that you want to move until you see an open hand icon appear.
  3. Click and hold down the left button on your mouse to grab the panel, and then use your mouse to drag the panel to a different location in the list. When you do so, the open hand icon becomes a closed hand icon, and a blue dotted box appears around the panel.
  4. Release the left mouse button to drop the panel in your desired location. The new right-hand panel order will be reflected in the left-hand widget panel.

The Investigator tab retains any changes you made to the set of device metrics displayed for each device, on a per-user basis. To reset these changes to their default settings, click the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel. Optionally, you can apply these changes to other Device Categories, Device Classes, or devices. For more information, see the section on Applying a Custom Device Investigator Layout to Other Devices.

Combining Charts on the Investigator Tab

On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, you can combine charts for different time-series metrics to see all of the combined data for those metrics in a single chart. 

To combine charts:

  1. On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel, and then click Edit Panels.
  2. Hover your mouse over a time-series metric name until you see an open hand icon appear.
  3. Click and hold down the left button on your mouse to grab the metric, and then use your mouse to drag the metric into the panel of a different time-series metric in the list. When you do so, the open hand icon becomes a closed hand icon, and the panel containing the combined metrics turns blue.
  4. Release the left mouse button to drop the metric into the desired panel. The newly combined metric panel will be reflected in a "Combined Charts" widget in the left-hand widget panel.

The Investigator tab retains any changes you made to the set of device metrics displayed for each device, on a per-user basis. To reset these changes to their default settings, click the Reset button at the bottom of the right panel. Optionally, you can apply these changes to other Device Categories, Device Classes, or devices. For more information, see the section on Applying a Custom Device Investigator Layout to Other Devices.

Applying a Custom Device Investigator Layout to Other Devices

The device Investigator tab has a default layout that includes Device Overview, Events, and Logs widgets. Initially, this layout is assigned to all devices.

You can also create custom Investigator tab layouts and apply those layouts to individual devices, entire device classes, or entire device categories, and then apply those updates either to only yourself or to all system users.

To apply a custom device Investigator layout to other devices:

  1. On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel. When you do so, the Investigator tab name will appear at the top of the layout panel, along with one of the following labels:
  • Default. Indicates the layout has not been changed from the default settings.
  • Private. Indicates the layout has been changed from the default settings but only applied to the logged in user.
  • Public. Indicates the layout has been changed from the default settings and has been applied to all system users.
  1. From this panel, you can do one or more of the following:

Creating a New Custom Investigator Layout

To create a new custom device Investigator layout:

  1. On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel and then click Edit Panels.
  2. Make updates to the Investigator layout as needed, such as by adding or removing metrics, editing the metric panel order, or combining one or more charts into a single panel. When you do so, the label at the top of the layout panel will change to "Private", if it was not already labeled as such.
  3. To save the custom Investigator layout for other devices, device classes, or device categories, and/or to save the layout for all system users, click the Apply To... button, and then proceed to step 4. Otherwise, do one of the following:
  • To save the custom Investigator layout for only the current device and your user account, leave the page. When you do so, SL1 automatically saves the custom layout, and will display the custom layout when you return to the Investigator for that device.
  • To revert your Investigator layout changes to the default settings, click the Reset button.
  1. On the Apply "Custom Investigator" to... modal, use the following tabs and fields to specify the devices and users to which you want to apply the custom Investigator layout, as well as its name:
  • Categories, Classes, and Devices tabs. Click the appropriate tab or tabs at the top of the modal page and then use the search field to locate the specific Device Categories, Device Classes, or individual devices to which you want to apply the custom Investigator layout. Select the checkbox for each category, class, or device that you want to select.
  • Name. Type a new name for the custom Investigator layout.
  • Apply Investigator for. Select one of the following options:
    • Myself. Applies the custom Investigator layout to only your user account.
    • All System Users. Applies the custom Investigator layout to all users in your SL1 system.
  1. Click Review. A summary of your selections appears.
  2. To confirm your selections, click Apply To Selected Types.

Selecting an Existing Custom Device Investigator Layout

To select an existing custom device Investigator layout:

  1. On the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page, click the Edit button on the right sidebar to expand the layout panel and then click Choose Layout. The Choose Layout tab displays a list of Investigator layouts that you have access to or own.
  2. Click the radio button for the layout that you want to select. When you do, the Investigator page automatically updates to use that layout.

Managing Custom Device Investigator Layouts

You can view and manage the list of custom device Investigator layouts that you own or have access to on the Device Investigator Layouts page.

To view the Device Investigator Layouts page, your user account must be aligned to an access key that includes the DEV_VIEW access hook. To delete layouts from this page, your user account must have an access key that includes the DEVICE_INVESTIGATOR_REMOVE or DEVICE_DASH_EDIT access hooks.

To manage the list of custom device Investigator layouts:

  1. Go to the Device Investigator Layouts page (Devices > Device Investigator Layouts).

    You can also access this page by from the Investigator tab of the Device Investigator page by clicking the Edit button on the right sidebar and then clicking Choose Layout > Manage Layouts.

  2. For each layout, the following information displays:
    • Layout Name. The name assigned to the layout. This name displays as a hyperlink. Click the hyperlink to view or update the list of devices, device classes, and device categories to which the layout is aligned.
    • ID. The unique ID for the layout, generated by SL1.
    • Owner. The owner of the layout. Typically, the creator of the layout is the owner.
    • Categories. The number of device categories aligned to the layout.
    • Classes. The number of device classes aligned to the layout.
    • Devices. The number of devices aligned to the layout.
    • Alignment Last Edited By. The user who configured or last edited the layout alignment.
    • Alignment Last Edited. The date and time the layout alignment was configured or last edited.

    You can filter the items on this inventory page by typing filter text or selecting filter options in one or more of the filters found above the columns on the page. For more information, see Filtering Inventory Pages.

    You can adjust the size of the rows and the size of the row text on this inventory page. For more information, see the section on Adjusting the Row Density.

  3. From the Device Investigator Layouts page, you can take the following actions:
    • You can view or edit the device, device class, or device category alignment for layouts that you own. Proceed to steps 4-7.
    • You can delete layouts that you own. When you do so, any devices that are currently using the selected layouts will default to the next applicable layout. Proceed to steps 8-9.
  4. To view or update the list of devices, device classes, and device categories to which a layout is aligned, click the hyperlink in the Layout Name field for that layout on the Device Investigator Layouts page. On the layout page that appears, you can click the Categories, Classes, and Devices tabs to view the layout's current alignments in read-only format.
  5. To update the layout's current alignments, click Edit and then select the checkbox next to any device category, device class, or device that you want to align to the selected layout.

    You can select the checkbox at the top of the table to select all of the rows in that table.

  6. If you are the layout owner and you want to edit the layout's name, click its name at the top of the page and then type a new name.
  7. To save your changes, click Save.
  8. To delete one or more layouts that you own, select their checkboxes on the Device Investigator Layouts page and then click Delete Layouts. When you do so, a warning appears informing you that any devices that are currently using the selected layouts will default to the next applicable layout.
  9. To confirm that you want to delete the selected layouts, click Delete.

The Settings Tab

On the Settings tab of the Device Investigator page, you can manage your preferences for that device, such as whether to auto-clear events, accept all logs, run daily port scans, and more.

The Settings tab in the Device Investigator

Click the Edit button to change your settings. When you are done making changes, click Save.

The Agent section appears only for agent-type devices.

Set the following Agent data collection preferences:

  • Disk Space. Specify the amount of disk space in MB that the agent can use to store data. If the agent loses connectivity to SL1, this disk space will be used to store collected data until the connection to SL1 is restored. When connectivity is re-established, the agent uploads all of its stored data.
  • Excludes. Type a list of processes and directories, separated by semi-colons, that you do not want the agent to monitor.
  • Includes. Type a list of processes and directories, separated by semi-colons, that you want the agent to monitor. This field ensures that specific processes are monitored.

    If a process or directory is included in both the Excludes field and the Includes field, the item in the Includes field will override the item in the Excludes field.

  • Collect File Information. Select this option if you want the agent to report the names of files accessed by each monitored process.
  • Collect Named Pipe Information. Select this option if you want the agent to collect named pipe information.
  • Collect Socket Information. Select this option if you want the agent to collect socket information.
  • Collect Thread Information. Select this option if you want the agent to collect thread information.
  • Collect Non-Intercepted Processes. Select this option if you want the agent to collect limited information for processes that do not contain the agent library.
  • Processes Aggregation. Specify how you want the agent to collect limited information for processes that do not have the agent library in them, and how to aggregate short-lived processes. Your options include the following:
  • All: Aggregate every short-lived process into its parent.
  • None: Do not aggregate any short-lived process.
  • Without Sockets: Aggregate short-lived processes unless those processes have sockets.
  • Upload Interval. Specify how often the agent should upload data. Your options include the following:
  • 20 Seconds. Upload a data snapshot every 20 seconds.
  • 60 Seconds. Upload a data summary every 60 seconds. This is the default setting starting with SL1 version 11.1.0, and version 174 of the Linux agent and version 133 for the Windows agent. This option uses an improved data format that requires fewer SL1 resources. The SL1 agent continues to internally collect and poll data every 20 seconds, but the agent summarizes and uploads that data every 60 seconds. There is no data loss even though the data is uploaded less frequently.

    Starting with SL1 version 11.3.0, if you specify 60 seconds for the upload interval, the summary upload now will include "watched" or "monitored" files, just like the snapshot upload does.

Set the following Collection preferences:

  • Enable Collection. Select this option to enable collection using the collector group specified in the following field.
  • Collection Poller. Select the name of collector group you want to use for collection on this device.
  • Collection Type. Select the type of collection you want to use on this device. Your options include Standard or DHCP.

Set the following Monitoring preferences:

  • SNMP Read. Select the community string for read-only access to SNMP information on the device.
  • SNMP Write. Select the community string for read-and-write access to SNMP information on the device.
  • Availability Protocol. Select the protocol to monitor that determines if the device is available.
  • Availability Port. Select the port to monitor that determines if the device is available.
  • Latency Protocol. Select the protocol to monitor that determines latency for the device.
  • Latency Port. Select the port to monitor that determines latency for the device.
  • Auto-Update. This checkbox specifies whether or not you want SL1 to perform a nightly discovery of the device and update records with changes to the device. If this field is unchecked, SL1 will not perform nightly discovery. Changes to the device, including newly opened ports, will not be recorded by SL1.
  • Scan All IPs. If the device uses multiple IP Addresses, SL1 will scan for open ports on all IPs during initial discovery and nightly discovery.

Set the following User Maintenance preferences:

  • Enable User Maintenance. Specifies whether the device is in user maintenance mode. User maintenance is an option that allows a user to manually put a device in to "maintenance mode". During maintenance mode, for the selected devices, SL1 generate only events with a severity less than the system-wide Maintenance Minimum Severity setting. If you select Enabled, the device is put in user maintenance mode, and the device will remain in this state until you or another user disables user maintenance mode.
  • Enable Collection During Maintenance . Specifies whether SL1 will poll the device when user maintenance mode is enabled. If you select Enabled, SL1 will continue to poll and collect data from this device during user maintenance mode.

Set the following Alerts and Events preferences:

  • Event Mask. Specify the time frame for masking events. When a device uses the Event Mask setting, SL1 groups together events that occur on that device within the specified span of time.
  • Always Create Latency Alert. Select this option to generate two alerts when availability and latency checks fail. Deselect to generate only an availability alert and suppress latency alerts.
  • Allow Events to Auto-Clear. Deselect this option to override an event policy's auto-clear setting for this device.
  • Critical Ping. Pings the device and creates an event if the device does not respond. When enabled you can select between 5 and 120 seconds.

Set the following Other device preferences:

  • Accept All Logs. This checkbox specifies whether or not you want to keep and save all logs for this device. If you want to retain only logs associated with events, uncheck this field.
  • Daily Port Scans. This checkbox specifies whether or not you want SL1 to perform a daily scan of the device for open ports.
  • Preserve Device Name. If selected, the name of the device in SL1 will remain the same, even if the name of the actual device is changed. If unselected, the SL1 name for the device will be updated if the name of the actual device is changed.
  • Disable Asset Update. If selected, SL1 will not automatically create a new asset record for the device or update the existing asset record for the device. For the single device, this checkbox over-rides any settings defined in the Asset Automation page (System > Settings > Assets).
  • Bypass Interface Inventory. Specifies whether or not the discovery session should discover network interfaces. Your options include:

  • Selected. SL1 will not attempt to discover interfaces for this device during re-discovery and nightly auto-discovery.
  • Not Selected. SL1 will attempt to discover network interfaces for this device during re-discovery and nightly auto-discovery using the Interface Inventory Timeout value and Maximum Allowed Interfaces value specified in the Device Thresholds page.
  • Dynamic Discovery. If selected, SL1 will automatically assign the appropriate dynamic applications to the device during discovery.

The Anomaly Detection Tab

On the Anomaly Detection tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of anomaly detection metrics that are enabled for the device.

The Machine Learning tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Device Anomalies.

The Attributes Tab

On the Attributes tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of list of custom attributes that are already aligned with that device, and you can also add and remove extended custom attributes for the device:

The Attribute tab of the Device Investigator

For more information about this tab, see the section on Adding Custom Attributes for a Device.

The Changes Tab

On the Changes tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of the active and cleared change events for a device.

The Changes tab of the Devices page

SL1 PowerFlow users can use the Changes tab to view a list of events that are created when PowerFlow pulls change data from ServiceNow and Restorepoint SyncPacks.

Based on your third-party integrations, the tab displays the following information:

  • ServiceNow planned change events
  • ServiceNow emergency change events
  • Restorepoint configuration change events

About the Changes Widget

The Changes tab uses data from the Changes widget, which is also used on the Service Investigator page to show change events for Business Services.

The Changes widget is available to customers who have purchased Configuration and Change Management as part of their SL1 Standard or Premium subscription. This widget displays a list of events that are created when PowerFlow pulls change data from ServiceNow or Restorepoint, including both active and cleared change events.

The Changes widget appears only if it has been properly configured and enabled.

The Changes widget tile displays the number of active change events that are impacting the service. Events on the widget will automatically clear after 30 minutes.

From the Changes widget, you can do the following:

  • Use the drop-down menu to choose which type of change events display in the widget: Active Events or Cleared Events.
  • Filter and search for events by their date; either by 5, 7, 14, 30 days, or more than 30 days.
  • Use the Search field to search for specific change events.
  • For active events that are aligned to devices, click the down-arrow icon () next to the event to open the Event Drawer panel, which displays the following panes:
  • Vitals. A widget displaying the past 24 hours of CPU and memory usage for the device related to the event. You can zoom in on a shorter time frame by clicking and dragging, and you can go back to the original timespan by clicking the Reset zoom button.
  • Tools. A set of network diagnostic tools or user-initiated actions that you can run on the device associated with the event. Click the search bar to search for a tool or action to run, or click one of the default tools or actions that are available based on the device type and your user permissions.
  • Logs. A list of the log entries from the device's log file, sorted from newest to oldest by default.
  • View the Organizational Summary page for the organization aligned with an active event by clicking the link in the Organization column.
  • View the Service Investigator or Device Investigator page for the service or device aligned with an active event by clicking the link in the Name column.
  • View the Event Investigator page for an active event by clicking the link in the Message column.
  • For ServiceNow integrations, view the ServiceNow ticket associated with an active event by clicking the link in the Ticket External Reference column.
  • For ServiceNow integrations, view the ServiceNow ticket associated with a cleared event by clicking the link in the External Ticket column.
  • Acknowledge an active event by clicking the Acknowledge button. When you acknowledge an event, you let other users know that you are aware of that event, and you are working on a response.
  • Clear an active event by clicking the Clear button. When you clear an event, you let other users know that the event has been addressed.
  • Create a ticket from an active event.
  • View the event policy for an active event.
  • Select multiple active events for action using the check boxes next to the events.

Configuring and Enabling the Changes Widget

To use the Changes widget, you must first configure and enable the widget. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Ensure that you are running SL1 version 11.2.0 or later and have Business Services Base Pack PowerPack version 2.2.0 or later installed in SL1. For more information, see the section on Installing a PowerPack.
  2. Ensure that you are running SL1 PowerFlow Platform version 2.2.2 or greater and one or more of the following PowerPacks, depending on your integration:
  • For a ServiceNow integration:
  • ServiceNow CMDB SyncPack version 3.2.0 or later installed in PowerFlow. For more information, see the section on the ServiceNow CMDB SyncPack.
  • ServiceNow Change Management SyncPack version 3.2.1 or later installed in PowerFlow. For more information, see the section on the ServiceNow Change Management SyncPack.
  • For a Restorepoint integration:
  • Restorepoint SyncPack version 1.2.0 or later installed in PowerFlow.
  • Restorepoint PowerPack version 102 or later installed in SL1.
  • Restorepoint Automation PowerPack version 102 or later installed in SL1. For more information, see the section on Restorepoint Integrations.
  1. In SL1, create a SOAP/XML credential to connect with PowerFlow and make note of its credential ID.
  2. For a ServiceNow integration:  

    1. In PowerFlow, sync SL1 devices with ServiceNow and make note of the Configuration field value in the Sync Devices from SL1 to ServiceNow application.
    2. In SL1, open the "ServiceNow: Send Change Request Event to PowerFlow" Run Book Action (which is included in the Business Services Base Pack PowerPack v2.1 and greater) and edit the input parameters to include the credential ID from step 3 and the Configuration field value from step 4.
  3. For a Restorepoint integration, follow the steps in sync SL1 devices with Restorepoint in PowerFlow.

  4. Finally, do one of the following:

Creating a SOAP/XML Credential for PowerFlow

To create a SOAP/XML credential to connect SL1 with PowerFlow:

  1. Follow the steps in the section Creating a SOAP/XML Credential for PowerFlow.
  2. After saving the credential, make note of the credential ID. This number can be found at the top of the Edit SOAP/XML Credential modal or in the ID column on the Credentials page (Manage > Credentials) or Credential Management page (System > Manage > Credentials).

Syncing SL1 Devices with ServiceNow

To sync SL1 devices with ServiceNow:

  1. Follow the steps in the section Running a Device Sync.
  2. In the Configuration pane of the "Sync Devices from SL1 to ServiceNow" application, make note of the value in the Configuration field.

Editing the Run Book Action (ServiceNow Integrations only)

To edit the input parameters in the "ServiceNow: Send Change Request Event to PowerFlow" Run Book Action:

  1. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks).
  2. Locate the Business Services Base Pack PowerPack and click its wrench icon (). The Editing PowerPack modal appears.
  3. In the Editing PowerPack modal, click Run Book Actions in the left Navbar. The Embedded Run Book Actions page appears in the modal.
  4. Click the wrench icon () for the "ServiceNow: Send Change Request Event to PowerFlow" Run Book Action. The Policy Editor modal appears.
  5. In the Policy Editor modal, make the following edits to the Input Parameters field:
  1. Click Save, then exit the Policy Editor modal.
  2. Exit the Editing PowerPack modal.

Syncing SL1 Devices with Restorepoint

To sync SL1 devices with Restorepoint:

  1. Follow the steps in the section Running a Device Sync.
  2. In PowerFlow, open the Configuration pane for the "Restorepoint: Sync Devices" application and select Enable for the restorepoint_config field to allow device change detection.
  3. Make a note of the restorepoint_id value on the Configuration pane for the "Restorepoint: Sync Devices" application.
  4. In SL1, make sure that the same restorepoint_id value was added to the Values column on the Attributes tab on the Device Investigator page for the devices synced from Restorepoint.

Permanently Enabling the Widget

To permanently enable the Changes widgetusing the NextUI configuration file, run the following steps on all appliances, including the Administration Portal, the Data Collector, the Database Server, the Data Engine, and the All-In-One Appliance.

To permanently enable the Changes widget:

  1. Start an SSH session into one of the SL1 appliances.

  2. Using vi or another text editor, edit the /opt/em7/nextui/nextui.conf file. To do so, enter the following at the shell prompt: 

    sudo vi /opt/em7/nextui/nextui.conf

  3. Add the following line at the bottom of the NextUI configuration file: 

    BUSINESS_SERVICES_CHANGE_EVENTS_TAB=enabled

  4. Save your changes, and then restart the NextUI service by running the following command:

    sudo systemctl restart nextui

  5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the remaining SL1 appliances.

Temporarily Enabling the Widget

To temporarily enable the Changes widget using GraphQL:

  1. To access the GraphiQL interface, type the URL or IP address for SL1 in a browser, add /gql to the end of the URL or IP address, and press Enter. The GraphiQL interface appears.

  2. In the main query pane, type the following mutation:

    mutation updateChangeEventsTab {
    	updateFeatureToggle(
    		id: "system:BUSINESS_SERVICES_CHANGE_EVENTS_TAB"
    		value: "enabled"
    	) {
    		id
    		value
    	}
    }

    Click the Prettify button to format the mutation and to add syntax highlighting to make the mutation easier to read. Note that the Prettify process removes the query syntax if only one query is present in the main query pane.

  3. Click the Execute Query (Play) button. The mutation executes, and the results appear in the pane on the right side.

    If the Changes widget does not appear in SL1 after executing the mutation, refresh the page using the F5 key or by clicking the refresh button in your web browser.

    For more information about GraphQL, see the GraphQL documentation. For more information about the GraphiQL user interface, see the GraphiQL user interface documentation.

The Collections Tab

On the Collections tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of the Dynamic Applications associated with the device.

The Collections tab of the Device Investigator

For more information about this tab, see the section on Managing the Dynamic Applications Associated with a Device.

Even if you turn off data collection for a device, that device still consumes a single ScienceLogic device license. For more information, see the Non-billable Devices section.

The Configs Tab

On the Configs tab of the Device Investigator, you can view configuration information that has been collected from the device by Dynamic Applications. You can also view a list of all changes that occurred with a Dynamic Application between two specific snapshot reference points.

Image of the Device Information tab on the Device Investigator page

All objects of type "config" are included on the Configs tab. Usually, "config" objects contain static information about hardware and configuration settings, such as serial numbers, version numbers, and hardware status.

You can also see all changes between two snapshots of a Dynamic Application in the Configs tab of the Device Investigator page. For more information, see the the section on Viewing Device Snapshot Data.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Device Configuration Data.

The Events Tab

On the Events tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of events associated with the device.

The Events tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Events for a Single Device.

The Interfaces Tab

On the Interfaces tab of the Device Investigator, you can view information about the various interfaces used by the device, including Port, Hardware Description, MAC Address, Connection Speed, and other details for each interface.

The Interfaces tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Interfaces for a Single Device.

The Journals Tab

On the Journals tab of the Device Investigator, you can view journal entry information that has been collected from the device by journal Dynamic Applications.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Device Journal Data.

The Logs Tab

You can view logs and messages for a device in the Logs tab of the Device Investigator page. This is the same set of logs that display on the Investigator tab for this device.

The Logs tab of the Device Investigator page

The Logs tab displays all of the messages SL1 and the SL1 Agent, if applicable, have collected from the device. You might find it helpful to view these log entries during troubleshooting or to manually check on the status of a device.

You can filter the items on this inventory page by typing filter text or selecting filter options in one or more of the filters found above the columns on the page. For more information, see Filtering Inventory Pages.

You can adjust the size of the rows and the size of the row text on this inventory page. For more information, see the section on Adjusting the Row Density.

For more information about machine learning and anomaly detection, see the section on Anomaly Detection. For more information about this tab, see the section on Enabling Machine Learning-based Anomaly Detection.

The Map Tab

On the Map tab in the Device Investigator, you can view a map of the selected device and all of the devices with which the device has relationships.

The Map tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Device Topology settings. For more information about maps, see the section on Maps.

The Monitors Tab

On the Monitors tab of the Device Investigator, you can define monitoring policies for a device.

The Monitors tab of the Device Investigator page

The Monitors tab allows you to define policies that monitor:

  • System processes. Monitors the device and look for the specified system process. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Device Processes.
  • Domain-name availability and lookup speed. Monitors the availability and lookup time for a specific domain-name server and a specific record on a domain name server. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Domain Servers and DNS Records.
  • Email round-trip speed. Monitor the amount of time it takes to send an email message from SL1 to an external mail server and then back to SL1. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Email Round-Trips.
  • SOAP and XML transaction speeds. Monitors any server-to-server transactions that use HTTP and can post files or forms. (for example, SOAP/XML or email). Periodically, SL1 sends a request and some data and then examines the result of the transaction and compares it to a specified expression match. For more information, see the section on Monitoring SOAP and XML Transactions.
  • TCP/IP port availability. Monitors ports for availability every 5 minutes. If a port is not available, SL1 creates an event. The data gathered by the port policy is used to create port-availability reports. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Ports.
  • Web-content availability. Monitors a website for specific content. SL1 will periodically check the website for specified content. If the content cannot be found on the website, SL1 will generate an event. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Web Content.
  • Windows services. Monitors the device and look for the specified service. For more information, see the section on Monitoring Windows Services.

NOTE: All of these monitoring policies can generate events. SL1 uses the data collected by these policies to create performance reports and graphs.

The Notes Tab

On the Notes tab of the Device Investigator, you can add and view notes and other attachments associated with the device.

To add a note to a device:

  1. Go to the Notes tab of the Device Investigator.
  2. Click the Actions button and then select Notepad Editor. The Notepad Editor modal page appears.
  3. In the Notepad Editor modal page , you can enter notes or comments about the device. 
  • You can format the text and include links, images, and videos in the note.
  • You can also include a document template (System > Customize > Document Templates) in the field.
  1. When you are finished adding content to the note, click Save. The note will appear in the Notes tab, along with any other notes about the device. Each note includes the username, date and time, and text of the comment. You can perform the following on each note entry:
  • To view a note's attachment, click the paperclip icon ().
  • To edit the content of a note, click the wrench icon (). The Notepad Editor modal page appears. You can update the note; format the text; insert content from a saved template; and add an attachment, image, or video to the note. Click the Save button to save your changes.
  • To delete a note, click its bomb icon ().

For information about adding a note to a device in the classic SL1 user interface, see the section on Adding a Note in the Device Administration Panel.

The Performance Metrics Tab

On the Performance Metrics tab of the Device Investigator, you can view performance graphs for hardware, monitoring policies, and Dynamic Applications aligned with the device.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Performance Graphs.

The Ports Tab

On the Ports tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of all open ports on a device:

The Ports tab of the Device Investigator page

Every night, SL1 scans all the ports of each managed device. If any new ports are opened, SL1 adds the port to the list on the Ports tab.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Monitoring Ports.

The Processes Tab

A process is a program that is currently running on a monitored device or has been run in the past and is currently idle. Sometimes a process is called a task.

On the Processes tab of the Device Investigator, you can view information about the processes running on the device. The Processes tab displays a combined list of processes collected via SNMP and the agent, where applicable.

The Processes tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Monitoring Device Processes.

The Redirects Tab

On the Redirects tab of the Device Investigator, you can redirect log entries from one IP-based device to another IP-based device, or from an IP-based device to a virtual device.

The Redirects tab of the Device Investigator page

For more information about this tab, see the section on Redirecting Logs from One Device to Another.

The Relationships Tab

On the Relationships tab of the Device Investigator, you can view information about parent-child relationships between the selected device and other devices.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing Relationships for a Single Device.

The Schedules Tab

On the Schedules tab of the Device Investigator, you can manage all the scheduled process you have defined in your system. You can define scheduled tasks for a number of things, such as backup management, dashboards, devices, and Run Book Automation policies.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Scheduling Maintenance for a Single Device.

The Services Tab

On the Services tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of all Windows services enabled on the device.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Viewing a List of Windows Services on a Single Device.

The Software Tab

On the Software tab of the Device Investigator, you can view a list of all the software installed on the device.

The Software tab of the Device Investigator page

For each installed software title, the Software tab displays the following information:

  • Name. Name of the software.
  • Install Date. Date and time the software was installed on the device.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Monitoring Hardware and Software.

The Summary Tab

On the Summary tab of the Device Investigator, you can view an overview of device details through device dashboards and widgets that display various metrics.

For more information about this tab, see the section on The Default Device Summary Page.

The Thresholds Tab

On the Thresholds tab of the Device Investigator, you can define usage and performance thresholds and data retention thresholds for a device.

The Thresholds tab of the Device Investigator page

When performance thresholds are exceeded, SL1 will generate an event for the device. When space thresholds are exceeded, SL1 will remove the oldest data from the database. For each of these thresholds, SL1 defines a default value. You can edit the thresholds to meet your needs.

For more information about this tab, see the section on Device Thresholds.

The Tickets Tab

On the Tickets tab of the Device Investigator, you can view all tickets associated with the device and create new tickets to associate with the device.

The Tickets tab displays critical information about each ticket. If you require more detail, you can access the Ticket Editor from this page by clicking on the ticketing icon () for that ticket.

You can also create a new ticket from this page.

To create a new ticket for a device:

  1. Go to the Tickets tab of the Device Investigator.

  2. Click the Actions button and then select Create a Ticket. The Ticket Editor page appears.

  3. On the Ticket Editor page that appears, define the basic parameters for the ticket. For information about the fields on this page, see the section on Creating and Editing Tickets.

    The Description and Element fields are automatically populated with information about the device.

  4. When you are finished, click Save.