Overview

This event monitor can alert based on the number of files present, the total number of files, and the total size of all files. It can also optionally check for the presence of the directory. It monitors the size of the files that are present and alerts if the total amount of space used changes by more than a specified amount.

Use Cases

• Detecting when directory sizes change
• Detecting when files have been added or removed from the directory
• Finding large files that could be removed to free up space

Monitoring Options

This event monitor provides the following options:

Directory

Enter the instance name of the directory you want to monitor using UNC (Universal Naming Convention) syntax. Instead of specifying a device name, use [devicename] as a placeholder. When the event monitor runs, it will substitute "[devicename]" for the name of each selected network device. As an example, you might use \\[devicename]\c$\folder\subfolder to specify a directory to monitor.

Alert with [Info/Warning/Error/Critical] if the device cannot be contacted

This option is used to get alerts if FrameFlow could not contact the selected device when trying to access the directory.

Alert with [Info/Warning/Error/Critical] if the directory is [missing/present]

Use this option to get alerts based on whether the directory is present or missing. For example, if you have a critical folder that is usually empty but occasionally receives temporary data files you might want to get alerts if someone deletes it thinking it is not required because it is empty. Or if an application creates a directory and writes data to it when an unexpected condition is detected, you might want to get alerts when the directory is created.

Alert if the directory contains [more than / less than] a specified number of files

Use this option to set alerting thresholds based on the number of files found in the directory.

Alert if the directory contains [more than / less than] a specified number of subdirectories

This option sets alerting thresholds based on the number of subdirectories found in the target directory.

Alert if the directory contains more than a specified amount of data

Use this option to alert based on the total size of all files in the directory.

Alert if the size of all files [changes/increases/decreases] by a specified amount or more

With this option, the event monitor will remember the total size of all files it found on the previous run and compare it with what it finds on the current run. It will then alert based on the difference in size and the options you select.

Alert if the size of all files [changes/increases/decreases] by a specified percentage or more

With this option, the event monitor will remember the total size of all files it found on the previous run and compare it with what it finds on the current run. Like the previous option, it will then alert based on the difference in size but as a percentage instead of as an absolute value. For example, if the previous total file size was 2.0 GB and the new size is 3.0 GB, that is an increase of 50%.

Alert if [any/all] files are larger than a specified size

Use this option to get alerts about large files. The event monitor can alert based on the detected sizes of any or all files in the directory.

Alert if [any/all] files are smaller than a specified size

Use this option to get alerts about small files. The event monitor can alert based on the detected sizes of any or all files in the directory.

Alert if [any/all] files are [newer/older] than a specified time span

Use this option to get alerts about files based on their last modified date. For example, you may have an application that regularly updates files in a folder. If they have not been updated for more than an hour it may indicate that the application has crashed. Or you may have a directory that contains static data that is not to be modified. You can use this option to get alerts when changes have been made.

For tests in this section, scan subdirectories too

By default, the event monitor only checks for files in the specified directory. Use this option to tell it to scan the contents of subfolders as well.

For tests in this section, only check files matching a filter

By default, the event monitor will check all files in the directory. Use this option to specify a filter. For example, you might use *.log to only check for files ending with that extension.

For tests in this section, exclude files matching a filter

This option allows you to ignore files matching a pattern that you specify. For example, you might use *.tmp to tell the event monitor to skip any files that match that pattern.

Use the hostname instead of the IP address when performing checks

Most event monitors will take the device name to be checked, resolve it to an IP address and then connect using the IP address. For monitoring some types of shared folders, especially on Windows domain controllers, the connection must be established using the hostname. Use this option to tell the event monitor to use the hostname instead of the IP address.

Enable Date/Time Tokens in the directory name

Check this box to enable the use of tokens like %%YYYY%% in the directory name specification. Click the question mark next to this option in your event monitor settings for more information and a link to a list of all available date/time tokens.

Authentication and Security

The account used for authentication must have permission to access the directory and all its contents.

Protocols

Data Points

This event monitor generates the following data points:

Data Point	Description
Newest File	The newest file in the directory.
Number of Files	The total number of files in the directory.
Oldest File	The oldest file in the directory.
Directory Size	The size of the specified directory.

Sample Output

Tutorial

To view the tutorial for this event monitor, click here.