Introduction
The TellUWhen Module for DotNetNuke can monitor web pages and notify you if the page goes down (and when it comes back up again.) Please take a few minutes to read this document, which will help you install and configure and use your new module.
Getting Started
This module is installed just like any other DotNetNuke module. Here are the basic steps:
- Log in to a host account on your DotNetNuke web server.
- Navigate to Host > Module Definitions and select Install New Module and then Choose File.
- Locate the module installer (e.g. CompanionSoftware.TellUWhen_01.00.00_Install.zip) and press Open.
- Select Install New Module and wait for the installer to complete. Check that there are no installation errors, then press Return.
Entering Your License Key
If you have purchased a license key for the TellUWhen module, you enter it in the Settings for the Monitor List Module once you have added this module to a page.
IMPORTANT: Setting Scheduler Mode to Timer Method
TellUWhen monitoring depends on the monitor manager to run periodically in the background on a regular basis (e.g. once every minute). For TellUWhen to be able to do this even when the website is inactive, you must:
- Navigate to the Host > Host Settings page.
- Scroll down on the page to Advanced Settings and open up the Other Settings section.
- Set Schedule Mode to Timer Method.
Adding the Modules to a Page
TellUWhen is comprised of three modules:
- TellUWhen Monitor List - the primary TellUWhen module.
- TellUWhen Monitor Details - gives more details about the selected item in the Monitor List.
- TellUWhen Monitor Summary - displays an overview of all the monitors in the list.
You add the modules on a page as you would any other DotNetNuke module - with one exception. Don't enter a Title for the module so each module will get an appropriate default name.
Once added, you should see a screen similar to this:
The three separate modules can be moved to different panes (or even deleted, if you don't need to see them all.)
Quick Start
To add a monitor:
- Select the Add Monitor button in the TellUWhen Monitor List.
- The Edit Monitor form will appear:
- Enter the Name and Web Address (URL) to be monitored. The Name can be anything and is your "friendly name" for the page.
- Select Update to add the monitor.
Now TellUWhen is monitoring this web page and will notify you if its status changes.
When you first add a monitor to TellUWhen its status is "No Data". Once the web page is found to be available, you will receive an email like this letting you know the monitored page is available:
For more details about each module, please see the Reference section of this document.
Uninstallation
If you wish to uninstall TellUWhen, you should:
- Navigate to Host > Module Definitions.
- Select the Edit (pencil) icon next to TellUWhen in the Module Name list. Then select Uninstall.
- Navigate to Host > Schedule.
- Select the Edit (pencil) icon next to CompanionSoftware.TellUWhen.MonitorManager. Then select Delete.
- Repeat step 4. for any other Schedule items that begins with CompanionSoftware.TellUWhen.
Below is a detailed reference for all the features of each TellUWhen module and schedule items.
The TellUWhen Monitor List module (hereafter referred to as simply the List module) is the core TellUWhen module. It is where you add, edit and delete monitors. It is also where you can control the primary settings for TellUWhen.
Main View
The main view of the Monitor List module displays all the web pages that are being monitored.
The Edit Form is used to add and edit monitors.
Name
The Name field is required (it cannot be empty) and may be any "friendly name" that you would like to give this monitor. This name is used in lists and emails.
Web Address
The Web Address is required and should be a URL for the web page to be monitored (e.g. "http://CompanionSoftware.com/Store.aspx"). Here are some hints for web address values:
- The web address should target an actual page instead of a folder. For example, the address:
http://CompanionSoftware.com/
may appear to always be "available" even if the site is down if the server delivers up a default page if the domain isn't running. Therefore, a better web address for the home page of this site would be:
http://CompanionSoftware.com/Home.aspx
- The web page being monitored will be requested frequently. This in turn could skew visitor statistics for the page. One solution is to monitor a special page that is not evaluated by the statistics. For example, on DotNetNuke (DNN) websites, a special file name KeepAlive.aspx is included for this purpose. So for a DNN site, you might monitor the following:
http://CompanionSoftware.com/KeepAlive.aspx
Interval
Interval controls how much time in minutes to wait between successive readings. This value is required and must be between 1 and 1440 minutes (1 day).
Note: The TellUWhen administrator may set a minimum value greater than 1 minute for certain groups of users via the TellUWhen Monitor List Settings form. The Edit Monitor form will tell you if the number you entered is valid or not given the settings for the module.
Enabled
You can disable (or enable) an individual monitor via the Enabled setting.
Each setting has help available for it in the form. Click the question mark icon next to the setting for help on an individual setting. A general overview of the settings and any other comments are listed below.
Display Columns
These settings control the display of columns in the Monitor List. If you would like to see more or fewer columns in the Monitor List, adjust these settings.
Email
These settings affect the email messages that are generated by the module. Be sure to customize these so that users know who the email is from and what site they should visit for more information.
License
This is where you enter your license information. If no license information is entered, the module will operate in "trial mode" (with a limit to the number of monitors that can be added) for a limited amount of time. Once the trial period has expired, no monitoring will occur. Once you enter a valid license, monitoring will be enabled again.
Limits
This is where you can set up limits for various groups of users based on DotNetNuke roles. If no limits are set, then all users will be free to add monitors without limitation.
Once at least one set of limits is defined, only users that fall into the one of the specified roles will be allowed to add monitors. Below is an example of typical limits:
Important Note: If more than one limit set is defined, the first set that has a role that the user belongs to is used. This means that your most permissive limits sets should be listed first.
Monitors
If you wish to temporarily disable all monitoring for all users of the active portal, uncheck "Enable Monitoring". (To temporarily disable monitoring for all portals, go to Host > Schedule and disable the CompanionSoftware.TellUWhen items in the list.)
Notifications
Use the Consecutive Status Count Threshold setting to control how many readings in a row of a given status are required to trigger an email notification. If you are using a low monitoring interval (e.g. 1 minute), you might not want to trigger an email if the site is down for just a few seconds when the reading is taken - so you might set the Consecutive Status Count Threshold to something like 3, so you are only notified if the site is down for 3 minutes in a row. Conversely, if you are only monitoring a page once every hour, you might want to be notified whenever it is if found to be unavailable - so you would set Consecutive Status Count Threshold to 1.
Readings
The Save Readings setting controls whether or not data for each reading is saved. Since this can result in a lot of data stored in the database, we recommend leaving this item unchecked unless you are investigating a monitoring problem.
Main View
The TellUWhen Summary Module gives a quick overview of all monitors. The status always displays the worst status of all monitors so you can quickly be alerted if any monitors detect a problem.
Settings
There are currently no special settings for the Summary module.
Main View
The TellUWhen Details Module displays the details of a selected monitor in the Monitor List.
Settings
There are currently no special settings for the Details module.
TellUWhen Schedule Items
TellUWhen depends on a number of scheduled items to run the service.
Important Note: As described in the Installation section, it is essential that the Host Scheduler Mode is set to Timer Method for TellUWhen to operate properly.
Monitor Manager
The Monitor Manager is the behind-the-scenes workhorse of the TellUWhen application. It runs on a regular basis to take readings and decide if any notifications need to be sent out. We recommend leaving it scheduled to run every minute to properly service all monitors.