The network monitoring tool for Windows!
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Device Properties

WhatsUp Gold needs basic information about a device in order to monitor it. When you create a map using any of the "discover and map" tools, WhatsUp Gold automatically determines the device's display name, host name, and IP address. This section describes why you might edit the default device properties that WhatsUp Gold assigns.

The Polling Method

By default, WhatsUp Gold uses the ICMP polling method for TCP/IP devices, IPX for IPX devices, and NetBIOS for NetBIOS devices. You can change the default polling method at the bottom of the General dialog box of the device properties.

Note: To scan and poll IPX devices, the system on which WhatsUp Gold is installed must have Microsoft NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport installed and running. For more information, see "System Requirements".

If the polling method for a device is NetBIOS or IPX, you will not be able to monitor TCP/IP services on this device.

Defining General Properties

On the General dialog box, you can make any changes to general properties, change the icon type for the device, and set the method WhatsUp Gold uses to poll the device.

To view or change device properties:

  1. Right-click the device and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click General.
  2. In the Display Name text box, enter a name. This is the name displayed on the network map.
  3. In the Type box, select the desired device type. This selection determines which icon is displayed on the network map.

Note: The subnet icon is a special type that is used to link a subnet map to a parent map. For more information, see "Creating a Subnet" .

  1. Under Polling Method, select the method to use for polling this device. For detailed information, see "The Polling Method" .
  2. The Poll Using will either be IP Address or Host Name.

Note: You can toggle between Host Name and IP Address.

  1. Host Name. If the polling method is ICMP or TCP/IP, enter either the Host Name here or the IP address in Step 5. If you enter a host name, it must be a name that can be resolved to an IP address. In other words, the host name must be in your system's host file or in your network's DNS server.

    If the polling method is NetBIOS or IPX, you must enter a valid NetBIOS or IPX name.

  2. In the IP Address text box, enter a valid IP address.

    If the polling method is ICMP or TCP/IP and you entered a Host Name in Step 5, you can leave this blank and WhatsUp Gold will use the Host Name to look up the IP address.

    If the polling method is NetBIOS or IPX, leave the address blank; WhatsUp Gold displays the hardware Ethernet address of the device after it completes one poll.

  3. In the Info Line 1 and Info Line 2 text boxes, enter any additional information about this device. This information can be included in notification messages. For example, you can enter a "point of contact" for a device or location. This information is also displayed on the Host Summary page in the web interface.
  4. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the dialog box.

Setting Up Monitoring

You use Monitor to turn monitoring on or off for a device, to specify how often to check the device, the number of seconds to wait for a response, and any up or down dependencies.

  1. In the device properties, click Monitor.
  2. Make sure Monitor This Device is selected.
  3. In the Poll Frequency text box, enter a value to determine how often this device should be checked. The Poll Frequency determines if this device is checked on every poll (value = 1), every second poll (value = 2), every third poll (value = 3), and so on. The default value is every poll (1), but you can use this property to poll a particular device less frequently.
  4. In the Poll Timeout text box, enter the number of seconds to wait for a response from a monitored device.

    You can enter a value from 1 to 20 seconds. The default value is 5 seconds. This timeout should be set to the smallest practical value. For a local network, a timeout of 2 seconds is usually sufficient. For a long-distance (or slow-path) network, this timeout may need to be as high as 10 seconds.

Note: For information on setting the default Poll Frequency and Poll Timeout for all devices in the map, see "Setting Map Polling Properties" .

  1. Set the Time Period options to specify when you want to monitor this device. Click the Change button to change the default setting of 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

    Select the Day of Week options: 7 days a week is the default. You can clear the 7 days a week option and then select the specific days of the week that you want to monitor this device.

    Select one of the three Time of Day options: Use 24 hours a day to monitor all day. Use Between to set the start and end time for monitoring. Use Not between to set the hours that monitoring is turned off.

Note: When using Between and Not Between, the start time must be less than the end time. To set the period between an AM time and a PM time, you must use the 24 hour clock (0000 to 2400) or use the options together to set the hours.

Click OK to save your changes and exit the "Time Period" dialog box.

  1. To make this device an "up dependency" for another device (meaning it gets checked only if the other device is up), select the other device from the Check only if this device is up list.
  2. To make this device a "down dependency" for another device (meaning it gets checked only if the other device is down), select the other device from the Check only if this device is down list.
  3. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the dialog box.

Using the Right Mouse Menu

Select a device and then click the right mouse button to display the device pop-up menu. When you're in Edit Mode, the menu looks similar to the image shown here; in Monitor Mode, the menu has fewer commands. You can add menu commands that start applications.

To do so, see "Adding a Command to the Right Mouse Menu".

The default menu commands on the right mouse menu (in Edit Mode) are the following:

Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete lets you cut, copy, paste, or delete the selected device.

New Device lets you add devices to the map.

Attach to draws an attached line from the selected device to the next object you click. For information about using attached lines, see "Attached Lines".

Bring to Front. If the selected item is a drawn shape, such as a rectangle or circle, this command moves it in front of all other drawn shapes.

Send to Back. If the selected item is a drawn shape, such
as a rectangle or circle, this command moves it behind all other
drawn shapes.

Quick Status. Takes you to the quick status dialog box where you can view the Status, History, Up-Time and Log History for this device.

Properties shows you the device properties.

Adding a Command to the Right Mouse Menu

You can add commands that start applications to the menu that appears when you right-click a device; you create these commands using Menu of the device properties.

To add an item to the right mouse menu:

  1. Right-click a device, select Properties and click Menu.
  2. Click the Add button and the Edit Menu Item dialog box appears.
  3. In the Menu Name box, type the command as you want it to appear on the right-mouse menu.
  4. In the Command box, enter the program name you want to start when you choose this command. You can enter the name of any executable program, or you can use one of the following values:

    [telnet] - calls telnet.exe

    [ping] - calls the Ping tool

    [trace] - calls the Traceroute tool

    [browse] - starts the default browser using the IP address as the URL

  5. Following the program name, you can use arguments to pass parameters to the specified program. See the following section for a list of program variables you can use.

Program Variables

In WhatsUp Gold, you can call an external program:

You can pass parameters to the specified program by using the variables in the following table. The specific variables you use and the order in which you use them depends on the program you are calling.
Device Variable Returns
%1 Info Line 1 from General of device properties
%2 Info Line 2 from General of device properties
%a IP Address from General of device properties
%c Same as %T. Returns the device type. Use %T, %c was used in previous versions
%d Current Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
%h Display Name (from General)
%l (lower case L) Display Name from General of device properties
%L The Event Log file, EV-yyyy-mm-dd.tab (or %Lnn where nn=last nnlines of the log file)
%Ln Last n lines of the log file
%m SNMP trap text. (If the event is an SNMP trap, the full SNMP trap text is included).
%M SNMP Community
%N Notes. (Notes are from the device properties Notes).
%n Display Name from General of device properties
%O SNMP Object Identifier. Valid only for custom device types with an SNMP identifier. Returns SNMP Object identifier (from the View -> Device Types dialog box) or "unknown" if SNMP Object is blank.
%p Item parameter code from Add/Edit dialog box.
%R SNMP Read Community from SNMP of device properties
%S WhatsUp Gold status (such as "timed out" or "did not respond")
%s Winsock error code
%T Device Type from General of device properties.
%t Current time (hh:mm:ss)
%u The word "UP" or "DOWN"
%V Names of down services, followed by the word "services".
%v Names of down services
%W SNMP Write Community from SNMP of device properties


System Variable Returns
%C Down Service Names
%D # of Down Hosts
%e Down Hosts Names
%o # of Down Services
%P Up Host Names
%U # of Up Hosts


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