Introduction

Download this manual as a PDF file

This section describes how to monitor Windows systems in Skylar One (formerly SL1) using SNMP and PowerShell credentials and Dynamic Applications.

Use the following menu options to navigate the Skylar One 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 ().

Monitoring Windows Devices in Skylar One

Skylar One can monitor a Windows device using the following methods:

  • Requesting information from the Windows SNMP agent
  • Requesting information by executing a remote PowerShell command
  • Requesting information from the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) agent
  • Requesting information using the Skylar One agent

This section describes how to monitor Windows with SNMP and PowerShell. For more information about using WMI to monitor Windows devices, see the section on Monitoring Windows with WMI.

What is SNMP?

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a set of standard protocols for managing diverse computer hardware and software within a TCP/IP network. SNMP is the most common network protocol used by network monitoring and management applications to exchange management information between devices. Skylar One uses this protocol and other protocols to collect availability and performance information.

SNMP uses a server-client structure. Clients are called agents. Devices and software that run SNMP are agents. The server is called the management system. Skylar One is the management system.

Most network hardware is configured for SNMP and can be SNMP-enabled. Many enterprise software applications are also SNMP-compliant. When SNMP is running on a device, it uses a standard format to collect and store data about the device and/or software. For example, SNMP might collect information on each network interface and the traffic for each interface. Skylar One can then query the device to retrieve the stored data.

What is PowerShell?

Windows PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language for administration of Windows systems. Skylar One can execute PowerShell requests on target Windows devices via WinRM (Windows Remote Management). For an overview of Windows PowerShell, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/overview?view=powershell-7.3.

Skylar One supports the following PowerShell versions for monitoring Windows devices:

  • PowerShell 3.0
  • PowerShell 4.0
  • PowerShell 5.1

PowerPacks

This manual describes content from the following PowerPack versions:

  • Microsoft: Active Directory Server, version 102
  • Microsoft: DHCP Server, version 101
  • Microsoft: DNS Server, version 100
  • Microsoft: Exchange Server, version 103
  • Microsoft: Exchange Server 2010, version 1.2
  • Microsoft: Hyper-V Server, version 103
  • Microsoft: IIS Server, version 103
  • Microsoft: Lync Server 2010, version 1.0
  • Microsoft: SharePoint Server, version 1.0
  • Microsoft: SQL Server, version 102
  • Microsoft: Windows Event Logs, version 101
  • Microsoft: Windows Server, version 118
  • Microsoft: Windows Server Cluster, version 104
  • Skylar One: Concurrent PowerShell Monitoring, version 102