File Keyword Monitor configuration

Plugin configuration Copied

The File Keyword Monitor or FKM plugin can be configured to run on any Netprobe host. Configuration should consist of at least one file to be monitored, which will provide basic statistics about the file. Key tables can optionally be configured for additional scanning of file lines for keys. To share key tables between multiple files, configure key tables in a static variables section and reference these for each file.

View Copied

This plug-in produces a single view that consists of all information which can be displayed by FKM. A customized list of columns can be specified via the Plugin Configuration setting.

Headline legend Copied

Table legend Copied

File configuration Copied

This section describes the FKM settings related to file configuration.

Caution

The FKM plug-in always opens and scans a file for reading, and scans each incoming line. The FKM plug-in performs these tasks even if you choose not to define search keys. Therefore, you should not use the FKM plug-in to detect core files, as it reads core files as if they were text files. Core file detection is better served by a toolkit.

files Copied

This section defines the files that will be monitored by the FKM plug-in. Files can either be defined directly in the sampler configuration, referenced as a static variable, or included from a sampler include.

Mandatory: No

files > file Copied

Specifies a single file to be monitored. The filename or alias should be unique so that this file can be uniquely identified in the published view, and to enable unique identification in gateway rules (for example).

files > file > path Copied

The full path to the file.

Example:

/usr/data/FileX.dat

If <today> (including the < > brackets) is specified as part of the file name, then it will result in the automatic substitution of the date in yyyymmdd format.

Additionally, you can include one or more formatting codes to format the date, such as <today%d%m%Y>.

Also, in place of the <today> keyword, you can use these keywords when specifying the filename:

Date keyword expansions

When using the +x or -x values into the date keywords to offset the date on the filename, note the following behaviours when introducing spaces (depicted as the ␣ character) in formatting:

The limitations for offset to today, previous_monitored_day-x, and next_monitored_day+x path keywords are set to:

• Lower bound: -3650
• Upper bound: 3650

The invalid offsets get an expanded value equivalent to the base tag. If you have <previous_monitored_day-3651>, then the date becomes <previous_monitored_day>.

Examples:

Mandatory: Yes

files > file > source Copied

The source setting specifies where the monitored file data comes from.

Mandatory: Yes

files > file > source > filename Copied

Selecting this setting specifies that the file monitored is a file on disk. The value of this setting specifies the location of the file. Relative paths will be evaluated from the Netprobe working directory.

If a filename contains wildcard characters, then FKM will automatically check for creation of newer files matching the wildcard pattern. When a new file is detected (provided the current file has been scanned to the end) FKM will then switch to monitor the newer file.

There are two types of wildcard specifications which can be used:

1. Globbing using \* and ? characters, as typically used in a UNIX shell session. e.g. apache\*.log
2. Filename date generation using the current date / time. e.g. app<today%Y%m%d>.log

If in case the monitored file is rolled-over, i.e. current monitored file has been renamed and a new file is created with the original filename, FKM will continue to read the renamed file to the end as long as a new file with the original filename exists. After reading the renamed file to the end, it will start reading the new file.

Note

File roll-over monitoring on Windows only works if netprobe is run with admin privileges and if the file is in an NTFS file system. Otherwise, FKM will not be able to follow the renamed file up to the end and may result to missing lines after the file has been rolled over.

Caution

When you use the * and ? wildcard expressions, the files > file > alias configuration does not work and the dataview displays the source name, instead.

files > file > multiline Copied

Specifies if a message should be matched across multiple lines. Messages that are on a single line will also be matched.

Mandatory: No

files > file > multiLine > startPattern Copied

A regular expression that matches the start of a multi line message.

files > file > multiLine > messageEnd > endPattern Copied

A regular expression that matches the end of a multi line message. The start and end pattern will scan single lines as well as multi line messages.

If a start and end pattern match on the same line, the start pattern must appear before the end pattern.

files > file > multiLine > messageEnd > maxNumberOfSamplesToWait Copied

A multi line message will considered to be complete if another start pattern is found e.g. the start pattern in this case is “Start” and 2 complete multi line messages have been found.

Start        Message 1        Message 2
Start        Message 3        Message 4

Or if the maximum number of samples to wait has been exceeded. This setting has been included to capture the last message in a file as there is no start pattern to end the last message.

files > file > source > stream Copied

Selecting this setting specifies that the file to be monitored is a stream. The stream can be from a Netprobe or a Collection Agent plugin.

The stream name should be in the following format:

If the sampler of the Netprobe or Collection Agent plugin is under the same Managed Entity as the FKM plugin sampler, then the managedEntity can be omitted in the stream name.

Wildcard expressions Copied

This configuration supports wildcard expressions for streams coming from any source such as REST API plugin and Collection Agent. Supported wildcard characters are * and ?. These wildcard characters can be used both on the sampler name and stream name.

If the special characters * and ? exist in a stream name, then the wildcard expression cannot detect those streams.

When you use wildcard expressions for stream names, then the stream rows are added to the FKM dataview as these are detected.

Caution

When you use the * and ? wildcard expressions, the files > file > alias configuration does not work and the dataview displays the source name, instead.

files > file > source > ntEventLog Copied

Selecting this setting specifies that the file monitored is an NT event log. Event logs are only available in Netprobes running on a Microsoft Windows system.

There are usually three default event logs present on a Windows system, named Application, Security and System. Other applications may install their own custom event logs, with a custom log name.

The drop down menu will only contain the three default event logs. To specify a custom event log, type in the full name of the event log into the drop down menu field. The name specified should match the full name of the event log found in the Properties window of the event log in the Windows event viewer.

files > file > source > processDescriptor Copied

Selecting this setting specifies that the file monitored is the log file for a process monitored by a PROCESSES plug-in. The value specified should be the name of a processDescriptor definition in the static variables section of the gateway setup. FKM will then monitor the file specified in the logFile setting of this process descriptor.

files > file > source > dynamicFiles Copied

The dynamicFiles file source type configures FKM to match groups of files based on the configured path, pattern, and optionally the alias.

When a new group is identified, an additional file row is created which behaves as a normal filename source. Settings for this new row are copied from the settings of the parent dynamicFiles row. The row will be removed when no files remain to create that grouping.

This feature is similar to using a normal filename source with the wildcardMonitorAllMatches setting, but the two features cannot be used in conjunction. FKM will report an error if you attempt to do this.

Groups are specified using the path setting, which should be a file path containing wildcard globbing characters (\* and ?). This path will be evaluated, and all files discovered will then be matched against the configured regex pattern.

The name of a row in the view is determined by evaluating the file alias. Any numbered inserts in the alias (identified by a % followed by a number, e.g. %4) will be replaced with the content of that capture group in the regex pattern, as matched against the filename. Capture groups that do not exist or have no content will be replaced with an empty string. A literal percent character can be produced escaping it as %%. When using a case-insensitive regular expression, insertions will be lowercased to ensure consistent row names.

For example, the value of capture group 1 for regex “app\_(.\*)\_\d+\.log$” matched against file “app_Apache_001.log” would be “Apache” (the contents of the .* portion of the regex).

Given the following configuration:

Path: /var/logs/app_*.log
Regex pattern: app_(.*)_\d+\.log$
Alias: App-%1

And the files:

/var/logs/app_Apache_001.log
/var/logs/app_Apache_002.log
/var/logs/app_Samba_1_01.log
/var/logs/app_Router.log

FKM creates two rows in the view:

"App-Apache" monitoring "app_Apache_002.log"
"App-Samba_1" monitoring "app_Samba_1_01.log".

The file app_Apache_002.log is selected over app_Apache_001.log because it has a more recent modification-time (it is assumed that Apache is rolling files by creating higher-numbered logs). The time used for this check can be controlled using the wildcardMatchTime setting. File “app_Router.log” is ignored as it does not pass the regex.

To use the Date generation function when the dynamicFiles option is selected, see Use date generation function when using dynamic files option in File Keyword Monitor (FKM) Plug-in User Guide.

files > file > obcervPublishing Copied

This setting is optional and is only applicable to Windows and Linux platforms.

• When enabled, messages are published to Obcerv.
• If filterOptions is present, then the filter options are applied. Otherwise, all log lines processed are sent to Obcerv.
• The configurations in the Obcerv Connection section of the Gateway setup are used by the Obcerv connection.

Note

The fileSize and laggingSize columns can switch between bytes and kibibytes based on the display mode. The default unit is kibibytes in the schema. If a different unit is required, a custom publishing configuration is needed. Refer to Data Schema for more information.

files > file > obcervPublishing > filterOptions Copied

Enables the following filter options: streamLinesMatchedByTriggerKey and streamLinesMatchedByIgnoreKey.

If the filterOptions section is enabled but the filter options are unticked, then the FKM plugin filters out all log lines, and therefore nothing is published to the outbound stream. A WARNING message will be displayed in the Netprobe log.

If this section is not present then all log lines are published to Obcerv

Mandatory: No

Default: Disabled

files > file > outboundStream > streamName Copied

Specifies the Publisher plugin where the FKM will publish the outbound stream. The outbound stream name must be a fully qualified stream name following the managedEntity-name.publisher-sampler(type) format, such as ME.publisher-instance.

By default, all log lines are published to the outbound stream whether or not there are matching keywords. Each outbound stream follows a source filename, stream, or NT event log.

Note

The name of the Managed Entity can be omitted if the sampler falls under the same managed entity as the FKM sampler.

The following source types can be published to the outbound stream: filename, stream, and ntEventLog. Other source types such as dynamic files and process descriptors are not supported and will be ignored.

FKM sends the stream messages to the Publisher plugin in JSON format. For example:

{
 "content":"Warning 3",
 "hostname":"MNLP074",
 "gatewayName":"Gateway",
 "managedEntity":"ME_Windows",
 "managedEntityAttributes":{"gateway_name":"Gateway","gateway_port":"7085"},
 "matchKey":"WARNING",
 "netprobe":"MNLP074:7036",
 "sampler":"FKM",
 "samplerType":"Type",
 "sourceAlias":"test.txt",
 "sourceName":".\\test.txt",
 "sourceType":"file",
 "status":"warning",
 "timestamp":"2021-06-17 06:00:04"
}

Elasticsearch Mapping Copied

If the outbound stream is published to an Elasticsearch server through the Publisher plug-in, then the stream messages follow an Elasticsearch explicit mapping to handle and index the JSON fields. For example:

{   "<index name>": {
  "mappings": {
   "properties": {
    "content": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "hostname": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "gatewayName": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "ignoreKey": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "managedEntity": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "managedEntityAttributes": {
     "type": "object",
     "dynamic": "true"
    },
    "matchKey": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "netprobe": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "sampler": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "samplerType": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "sourceAlias": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "sourceName": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "sourceType": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "status": {
     "type": "text"
    },
    "timestamp": {
     "type": "date",
     "format": "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"               }
   }
  }
 }
}

Note

If files > file > multiline is disabled, then the sampler publishes metadata for the match lines as separate objects.

Mandatory: No

Default: None

files > file > outboundStream > filterOptions Copied

Enables the following filter options: streamLinesMatchedByTriggerKey and streamLinesMatchedByIgnoreKey.

If the filterOptions section is enabled but the filter options are unticked, then the FKM plugin filters out all log lines, and therefore nothing is published to the outbound stream. A WARNING message will be displayed in the Netprobe log.

If this section is not present then all log lines are published to the outbound stream

Mandatory: No

Default: Disabled

files > file > outboundStream > filterOptions > streamLinesMatchedByTriggerKey Copied

By default, the FKM plugin publishes all log lines to the outbound stream. When the filterOptions section is enabled and this filter option is ticked, then the FKM plugin is set to filter and publish the stream lines that match the configured fkmTable > keys > key > setKey.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

Note

This setting will only be active if the filterOptions section is enabled.

files > file > outboundStream > filterOptions > streamLinesMatchedByIgnoreKey Copied

By default, the FKM plugin publishes all log lines to the outbound stream. When the filterOptions section is enabled and this filter option is ticked, then the FKM plugin is set to filter and publish the stream lines that match the configured fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

Note

This setting will only be active if the filterOptions section is enabled.

files > file > contentType Copied

The content type specifies how FKM will read the file. This setting only applies to files on disk, including process log files. This setting allows a file to be marked as BINARY or Unicode, which alters the way the file is read. See the Technical Reference section on binary files and Unicode files for more information.

Possible values are as follows:

Mandatory: No

Default: TEXT

files > file > clearTime Copied

The clear time setting specifies an optional time of day at which all triggers of a file will be cleared. It has the same effect as using the Accept this File dataview menu option on the file.

This setting may be used to ensure that all active triggers are cleared at the end of the business day.

The clear time should be specified using a 24-hour format, such as 18:30. However, this setting considers 00:00 as an invalid clear time.

Mandatory: No

Note

This setting follows the Netprobe server time and time zone.

files > file > defaultKeyClearTime Copied

Specifies a default value for the key clear time for trigger rows for this file. This will only apply to keys that do not specify a clearTime value, any keys that specify a clearTime value will override this setting.

Mandatory: No

files > file > rewind Copied

By default when FKM starts monitoring files all existing data in the file is ignored - i.e. monitoring starts from the current end of the file. Enabling this setting will instruct FKM to start monitoring from the start of the file, and process the existing file data.

Note

This setting only applies to files on disk. The FKM plug-in reads from the beginning of a file whenever it detects the file is new, specifically if the file’s inode (File ID in Windows) changes, regardless of the rewind option.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

files > file > alias Copied

By default, the name column in the FKM dataview displays the file source for each file. This can be overridden by specifying a file alias using this setting. This can be used to provide a description of the contents of the file, such as GL log, or to give files a unique name when monitoring the same file multiple times.

If using a dynamicFiles source, the alias may optionally contain numbered capture groups from a regular expression for insertion, denoted by the %, such as %4 for the 4th capture group. A literal percent character can be produced using the character sequence %%. Empty or non-existent capture groups will be replaced with an empty string. Percent characters not followed by a number will be repeated verbatim.

Mandatory: No

Default: %0or the full filename when using a dynamicFiles source

Caution

When you use the * and ? wildcard expressions in files > file > source > filename or in wildcardMonitorAllMatches, the files > file > alias configuration does not work and the dataview displays the source name, instead.

files > file > activeTime Copied

The activeTime setting references an activeTime definition from elsewhere in the gateway setup. This time controls whether any keyword tables are checked for the file, as opposed to the keyTable activeTime setting which controls whether one particular keyword table is checked or the key activeTime setting which controls whether one particular keyword in a table is checked.

If the activeTime is inactive then file lines are not scanned for keywords (which includes set-keys, clear-keys and ignore-keys). File statistics such as the modification time or file size are updated however. The file status column will also be updated to display “INACTIVE” provided there are no outstanding conditions for the file.

This setting can be used in conjunction with activeTimes configured for individual keyword tables and keywords. This allows monitoring for a file to be restricted to the file active time, while allowing keyword tables to be enabled or disabled for active times within this period, and further it allows individual keywords to be enabled and disabled within the table’s active time period.

Mandatory: No

Default: No active time is set (keyword tables are always scanned).

files > file > ignoreFilePath Copied

This setting specifies the directory of where the plug-in should look to find ignore files for this monitored file. If this is not set, then the value of the ‘defaultIgnoreFilePath’ parameter is used instead. This functionality is only available for Gateway2. See ignore files feature for more details.

Mandatory: No

files > file > ignoreFileName Copied

This setting specifies the name of the ignore file for this monitored file. If this is not set, then the value of the ‘defaultIgnoreFileName’ parameter is used instead. This functionality is only available for Gateway2. See ignore files feature for more details.

Mandatory: No

files > file > readPartialLines Copied

This settings controls if partial lines are read and matched against. If it is on (which it is by default) the partial line will be read and matched against the keys.

If the setting is configured to be off then then only complete lines will be considered.

A complete line is one that is terminated a new line.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

Table and key configuration Copied

Each FKM file can be configured with a number of key tables, each of which contains a set of keys to search for in the file. Key tables can be configured specifically for a file in the file definition, or placed as a variable and shared between multiple files.

Key tables can have different associated severities. The severity controls what FKM displays when a match is found for a key in that table. Fail tables are typically checked before warning tables, although this can be controlled using the reorderKeywordTables setting.

files > file > tables Copied

The tables setting specifies the keyword tables to use for this file. Lines from the file are scanned for the first matching keyword in the keyword tables, which will trigger a new row in the dataview. The file status will also change to the table severity.

Mandatory: No

files > file > tables > table Copied

Specifies a single keyword table to use for the file.

Mandatory: No

files > file > tables > table > severity Copied

Specifies the severity of this table for the file. The severity controls the resulting file status when a keyword in this table is detected. It may also control which order the tables are checked in, depending upon the value of the reorderKeywordTables setting.

Possible values are as follows:

Mandatory: Yes

files > file > tables > table > keyTable Copied

The key table setting contains the actual table definition (the keywords). This setting can either reference an FKM table defined in the “static variables” section of the gateway setup, or a table can be defined here directly.

See the fkmTable setting for a full description of keyword configuration options.

Mandatory: Yes

files > file > tables > table > activeTime Copied

The activeTime setting references an activeTime definition from elsewhere in the gateway setup. When FKM checks a file for keywords, the activeTime for the keyword table is also checked. If the time is inactive, then the keyword table referencing this time is skipped (no keys defined within the table are checked for in the file).

This setting can be used to configure a file with different sets of keywords, allowing different conditions to be monitored during different periods of the day.

This setting can be used in conjunction with the keyword-level activeTime. If the time is active, then the keyword’s activeTime is further checked for scanning.

Inactive keyword tables can optionally be scanned for any clear-keys in the table using the checkInactiveClearKeys plug-in setting.

Mandatory: No

Default: No active time is set (the keyword table is always active).

files > file > failTable Copied

The fail table setting specifies an optional fail table of keys for the file. Any file lines which contain a key defined in this table will cause the file status to change to FAIL.

This setting has been deprecated in favour of the more general table setting. Please configure a table with a severity of “fail” rather than use this setting.

Mandatory: No

files > file > warningTable Copied

The warning table setting specifies an optional table of warning keys for the file. Any file lines which contain a key defined in this table will cause the file status to change to WARNING.

This setting has been deprecated in favour of the more general table setting. Please configure a table with a severity of “warning” rather than use this setting.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys Copied

This setting defines a set of keys to make up an FKM key table. This table will only be accessible for the specific file it is being configured for. To share a table definition between files, configure a table as a static variable and reference it using the fkmTable setting.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key Copied

Defines a single key in a set of keys.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > setKey Copied

A set key defines a key to search for. If this key matches, a trigger will be created.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > setKey > match Copied

A match set key specifies some text which must appear in the file line to cause a match.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keySearchString > key > setKey > match > searchString Copied

Specifies the string literal or regular expression to search for in the file line.

The search string may also contain a date expansion, which will be replaced with the formatted date on the first sample of each day. If the search string is a regex, then the expansion will be performed before the string is interpreted as a regex. Date expansions can be controlled using the expandDatesInKeywords plug-in setting.

Mandatory: Yes

fkmTable > keySearchString > key > setKey > match > originalSeverity Copied

This optional setting allows you to select the types of original severity events that you want to include in the event message matching process. The Original severity option can have the following values:

• NONE
• CRITICAL
• ERROR
• WARN
• INFO
• DEBUG
• TRACE

fkmTable > keys > key > setKey > match > rules Copied

Specifies the match mode to be used when matching.

Mandatory: No

Default: BASIC

fkmTable > keys > key > setKey > updated Copied

If an updated key is added to a key set, then this will trigger when the file is updated or changed in any way (including the creation of a new file with the same name). This can be used for example, to ensure that a system configuration file does not change.

If an updated key has been specified in a key table, then any notUpdatedIn keys will be ignored.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > setKey > notUpdatedIn Copied

The notUpdatedIn key type is the inverse of the updated key above. This key can be used to alert users if the associated file has not been updated for a period of time. The value of this setting specifies this period as a number of seconds.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey Copied

A clear key specifies an additional match for this key. If a file line matches the match key (creating a trigger) and a file line later match this clear key, the created trigger will be automatically removed.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey > match Copied

A match clear key specifies some text which must appear in the file line to cause a match.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey > match > searchString Copied

Specifies the string literal or regular expression to search for in the file line.

Search strings can refer to specific parts of the matching text to clear specific conditions. See Using dollar references and capture groups.

Mandatory: Yes

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey > match > originalSeverity Copied

This optional setting allows you to select the types of original severity events that you want to include in the event message matching process. The Original severity option can have the following values:

• NONE
• CRITICAL
• ERROR
• WARN
• INFO
• DEBUG
• TRACE

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey > match > rules Copied

Specifies whether the searchString will be matched using case-insensitive matching (BASIC) or regular expressions (REGEXP). See the match key rules setting for more information.

Mandatory: No

Default: BASIC

fkmTable > keys > key > clearKey > mode Copied

The mode setting controls what rows are cleared when a clear key match is found. This setting overrides the plug-in default value (as specified by the defaultClearMode setting) for a particular key.

Mandatory: No

Default: latest

fkmTable > keys > key > clearTime Copied

This setting controls the length of time a trigger row will remain in the dataview after it is first detected. The setting value specifies the number of seconds the row will remain. If this setting is not specified the trigger row will remain in the view until manually accepted by the user, or is removed as part of accepting (or clearing) a file.

Mandatory: No

Default: 0 seconds (trigger row is never removed)

fkmTable > keys > key > message Copied

Specifies an optional message which is displayed in the triggerDetails column of the created trigger row (in addition to the normal trigger details).

The message can refer to specific parts of the matching text to provide additional information. See Using dollar references and capture groups.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > tags Copied

This setting specifies start and end tags which can be used to parse the triggerDetails output for a line matching this key. This can be helpful for extracting useful information from a long file line.

Tags specified at key level override those specified in the plug-in tags setting. The parseTriggerDetails setting must be enabled for this to take effect.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > extractors Copied

This section allows you to specify a list of extractors for your keyword. An extractor is a regex pattern which is applied to the file line after the line is found to match the keyword.

The extractor regex is then matched against the file line and used to extract a piece of text, which is displayed in a dataview column against the trigger row created for the key. These columns can give hints to users of AC as to important parts of a message, and are also passed to action scripts if an action fires for that row.

Mandatory: No

fkmTable > keys > key > extractors > extractor > name Copied

This setting sets the name of the extractor - this name is also used as the column name in FKM and so must not be the same as any existing FKM columns. The name should also be different to any other extractors defined in the key, but the same name can be used across multiple keys.

Mandatory: Yes

fkmTable > keys > key > extractors > extractor > regex Copied

Specifies the regex pattern used to extract part of the file line. This regex pattern must contain only one grouping (parentheses), which will then be used as the extracted value.

e.g. For the extractor “Connectionerror#([0-9]\*)” the extracted part of the message is the part which matches the parenthesised part of the pattern “[0-9]\*”. Given the file line “Connection error #2058 - check queue manager name”, the extracted string is then “2058”.

Mandatory: Yes

fkmTable > keys > key > severity Copied

This severity setting allows the user to override the severity of a table for a particular key definition. For example using this setting you could configure a “warning” key inside a table which is defined with a “fail” severity (i.e. a fail table). If this setting is not specified then the key inherits the table severity.

Possible values are described below:

Mandatory: No

Default: Key inherits the table severity if setting is not specified.

fkmTable > keys > key > activeTime Copied

The activeTime setting references an activeTime definition from elsewhere in the gateway setup. This time controls whether a keyword defined in the keyword table for a file is enabled or disabled.

If the activeTime for the file-level and keyword table-level is active or not configured, then the time for the keyword is scanned. If the time is inactive then file lines are not scanned for the keyword (which includes set-key and ignore-key).

Mandatory: No

Default: No active time is set (keyword is always active).

fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey Copied

An ignore key works in the same was as a match key. However rather than creating a trigger row when the key is detected, an ignore key silently ignores the line.

Ignore keys are typically used to filter out file lines which would otherwise match a key and create a trigger. For example, a server log may contain several lines starting “Failed to …” where some of these messages are innocuous. An ignore key could be used to ignore the known messages, and a match key configured to catch all other failures.

As keys in a key table are checked against a file line in order of definition, an ignore key must be specified earlier in the table than the key(s) which it is protecting.

Note

Ignore keys will have no effect if continue trigger scan is set.

Mandatory: No

The maximum number of characters per line that the FKM can process is 32,768. If a line exceeds this length, the remaining characters will be processed on the next iteration as another set of lines. For example, the ignore key is on the 20th character and the match key is on the 35,000th character, the FKM will split and process the file as follows.

First line:

<some characters to 20th character> <IGNORE KEY> <some characters up to 32,768th line>

Second line:

<32,769th up to 35,000th characters> <MATCH KEY>

The second line will be matched by the FKM because the ignore key is missing.

fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey > searchString Copied

Specifies the string literal or regular expression to search for in the file line.

Mandatory: Yes

fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey > match > originalSeverity Copied

This optional setting allows you to select the types of original severity events that you want to include in the event message matching process. The Original severity option can have the following values:

• NONE
• CRITICAL
• ERROR
• WARN
• INFO
• DEBUG
• TRACE

fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey > rules Copied

Specifies whether the searchString will be matched using case-insensitive matching (BASIC) or regular expressions (REGEXP). See the match key rules setting for more information.

Mandatory: No

Default: BASIC

fkmTable > keys > ignoreKey > activeTime Copied

The activeTime setting references an activeTime definition from elsewhere in the gateway setup. This time controls whether a keyword defined in the keyword table for a file is enabled or disabled.

If the activeTime for the file-level and keyword table-level is active or not configured, then the time for the keyword is scanned. If the time is inactive then file lines are not scanned for the keyword (which includes set-key and ignore-key).

Mandatory: No

Default: No active time is set (keyword is always active).

Display configuration Copied

The settings described in this section affect how data is displayed by FKM in the published dataview. Values in the dataview are transmitted to gateway in this form, and so changes to display settings will also alter the data that gateway receives (and so possibly the result of rule evaluations).

display Copied

This section is used to configure display-related settings. These settings change how data is displayed by FKM in the published dataview, and so affects the whole plug-in rather than a particular file.

Mandatory: No

display > columns Copied

The columns setting allows users to configure the list of columns displayed by FKM in the dataview. The contents of these columns are described in more detail in the example view table legend above.

Possible values are as follows:

Note

The name column is always displayed as the first column in the dataview.

Mandatory: No

Default: status, permissions, lastModificationTime, fileSize, updateRate, triggerDetails, laggingSize, filename.

display > triggerMode Copied

The trigger mode describes how multiple triggers are displayed by FKM. Trigger rows in a dataview always appear with the name indented, underneath the file row.

Mandatory: No

Default: SINGLE

display > lastTriggerInStatus Copied

When FKM detects a new trigger, the file status is to include the file line of the latest-detected trigger. This setting enables users to disable this behaviour (by setting the value to false), so that the file status is displayed only as FAIL or WARNING.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

display > notFoundMessage Copied

When a file could not be opened, FKM changes the status to NOT\_FOUND and also displays an additional information message on why the file could not be opened. Typically this is because the file does not exist, but can sometimes be due to other errors such as insufficient permissions. These additional messages can be disabled by changing this setting to false.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

display > triggerMessages Copied

If a message has been configured for a key, the triggerDetails column of the trigger row for this key will display the text <message>(<line>) where line is the line of the file in which the key was detected. Setting the value of this setting to false will omit the message text from this column.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

display > showLastModificationTimeInSeconds Copied

The last modification time as displayed in the lastModificationTime column is shown in a human-readable format. Setting this setting to true will show this time as the number of seconds since Jan 1 1970 (aka Unix time) which allows for numerical comparisons in rules.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

display > showSecondsSinceLastTrigger Copied

Adds the secondsSinceLastTrigger column to the list of columns displayed by default. This column can also be displayed by setting it explicitly using the display columns setting.

The behaviour of this column can be affected by the Trigger Count Mode setting.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

display > showControlCharsAsSpaces Copied

When monitoring binary file, the contents of a file line can sometimes contain non-printing binary (control) characters. If a key is detected on this line the triggerDetails column will display the line but any control characters will not be displayed, leading to a compacted line which can be hard to read. This is particularly relevant for files containing FIX messages.

Enabling this setting will cause FKM to replace all control characters with spaces when data is published in a dataview. This is done after the file line has been scanned for trigger keys. Control characters are also replaced when using the “View File” and “View File near Trigger” right-click menu commands so that the output appears as expected.

Whitespace characters such as spaces, tabs or newline characters are not counted as control characters for the purposes of replacement.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

display > showControlCharsAsChar Copied

This setting is similar to the showControlCharsAsSpaces above, however it allows the user to configure the character which will be used to replace non-printing control characters. Characters are replaced prior to the file line being displayed in the FKM dataview, and also in the results of any “view file” right-click menu command options.

Characters can be specified by entering a single replacement character. Alternatively, it can also be specified using the hexadecimal character code in the form 0xHH where HH is a hexadecimal number. E.g. 0x20 specifies the space character. A list of characters and their codes can be found on the ASCII table website.

Whitespace characters such as spaces, tabs or newline characters are not counted as control characters for the purposes of replacement.

Mandatory: No

Default: no characters are replaced

display > triggerCountMode Copied

The trigger count mode setting controls the contents displayed in the triggerCount and secondsSinceLastTrigger columns. This setting only takes effect if the triggerMode setting is set to MULTIPLE\_GROUPED\_TRIGGER or MULTIPLE.

The following values can be specified for this setting:

Mandatory: No

Default: SUM

display > useFullPathInRowNames Copied

If set, causes the full path of the file to be used in the rowName. This prevents duplicate rows when monitoring files of the same name in different directories using wildcard filenames, with the wildcardMonitorAllMatches setting enabled. By default, only filenames are used as row names when displaying wildcard matches with wildcardMonitorAllMatches enabled.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

display > fileSizeDisplayMode Copied

This setting controls how the fileSize and laggingSizecolumns in the dataview are formatted. By default, the selected format is in kibibytes.

The following values can be specified for this setting:

Mandatory: No

Default: KIBIBYTES

File scan settings Copied

The settings described in this section control various options which affect how FKM will scan the monitored log files.

isPCREMode Copied

If enabled, allows the FKM sampler to use Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE).

If disabled, then the FKM uses the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) extended regular expressions, instead.

Beginning Geneos 5.4.x, the FKM plugin uses Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) by default. Be aware that this may introduce breaking changes in your implementation.

For more information on using regular expressions on the FKM, see the following:

• Regular Expressions
• Notable differences between POSIX and PCRE

Mandatory: No

Default: true

maxSamplesLagging Copied

This setting determines how many samples a file can lag for before the file is ignored as updating too fast. A file is counted as lagging if the last line processed for the file in a sample is not (currently) the last line in the file. This will typically occur because the limit of lines to process has been reached (see maxLinesProcessed below).

If a file is lagging for more than the maximum number of samples, it will then be ignored until a user manually accepts the file. An alert to this effect is displayed in the status column for the file.

Mandatory: No

Default: 20

maxLinesProcessed Copied

This setting controls how many lines (per file) will be processed in a single sample. This works in conjunction with the maxSamplesLagging setting (above) to determine if a file is updating too fast.

Mandatory: No

Default: 20000

excessiveUpdatesTimeout Copied

If a file is updating at a very fast rate, this indicates that a process is malfunctioning. FKM reads a maximum of 20,000 lines per sample. If more than this limit is written to the file for 20 consecutive samples, then the processing of this file stops. The FKM file displays the WARNING: FKM stopped on this file - excessive update rate detected. error message in the status column.

It is possible by enabling this setting to automatically accept an excessive update rate error. When this option is enabled and FKM detects a file that grows rapidly, it skips to the end of a file, and generates a condition (as if a keyword was detected) to display a warning error message. After the specified period of time, the system removes this condition. If you do not wish to manually remove the condition, set the timeout to 0.

The WARNING: FKM stopped on this file - excessive update rate detected. error is not a message contained in the files you are monitoring with FKM. Therefore, you cannot use the ignore key to ignore this error.

To clear the warning status, do any of the following:

• Manually accept the file.
• Configure a timeout for the sampler to automatically accept it. The timeout setting is in the FKM sampler > Advanced tab > excessiveUpdatesTimeout (in seconds). This makes the sampler accept the warning, and start reading the file from the end automatically.
• Modify other FKM settings such as maxLinesProcessed to allow it to read more than 20,000 lines.
• Increase the maxSamplesLagging to determine the number of samples a file can lag for before the file is ignored, as it updates too fast. Adjusting these settings and lowering the FKM sample interval enable the Netprobe to perform frequent sampling, and read more lines each time.

Mandatory: No

Default: None

Units: seconds

maxConditionsPerSample Copied

This setting controls how many trigger rows (conditions) are recorded in a single sample. This is used primarily in multiple trigger mode (see triggerMode above) to limit the number of triggers which will be created. Triggers created after this limit is reached are displayed in the next sample.

Mandatory: No

Default: 1000

maxConditionsPerFile Copied

This setting controls how many trigger rows (conditions) are recorded per file. This is used primarily in multiple trigger mode (see triggerMode above) to limit the number of triggers which will be created. Triggers created after this limit is reached are lost.

Mandatory: No

Default: 1000

maxConditionsPerKey Copied

This setting controls how many trigger rows (conditions) are recorded per file, for a particular key which generated them. This is used primarily in multiple trigger mode and single grouped message mode (see triggerMode above) to limit the number of triggers which will be created.

This setting gives finer-grained control than the maxConditionsPerFile setting, since it ensures that a lot of one type of detected key cannot prevent a different key from being displayed.

If a new trigger arrives after this limit has been reached, the oldest trigger for the key will be removed, and replaced with the new trigger.

Mandatory: No

Default: 1000

maxConditionID Copied

This setting controls the numbering of trigger rows (conditions) when using multiple trigger mode (see triggerMode above). Successive triggers are numbered in increasing order, until this limit is reached at which point numbering starts again from 0. Numbering is also reset when accepting a file.

Mandatory: No

Default: 10000

checkIgnoreFiles Copied

Setting this setting to true instructs FKM plug-in to check monitored files for the presence of an ignore file, which is required when using the ignore file feature. This feature is disabled by default, since it increases CPU usage by a small (but unnecessary for most users) amount.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

defaultIgnoreFilePath Copied

By default the netprobe looks in the current working directory for ignore files. This option allows the user to configure an alternate location. This functionality is only available for Gateway2.

Mandatory: No

Default: .

defaultIgnoreFileName Copied

Specifies the default ignore file to reference for all files monitored by the sampler. This functionality is only available for Gateway2.

Mandatory: No

continueTriggerScan Copied

By default FKM will stop scanning a file line for matching keys as soon as the first match is found, at which point a trigger is created. By enabling this option, FKM will match a file line against every configured key and display a trigger for each one that matched. This also therefore means that ignore keys will have no effect.

This option should only be used when absolutely required, as it will increase the processing requirements of the FKM plug-in (and hence increase CPU usage).

Mandatory: No

Default: false

singleTriggerCleartimes Copied

In single trigger mode, enabling this option will cause the triggerCount column to display a total count of triggers currently detected, for the key associated with that trigger row.

This count will also be affected by a clearTime configured for that key, so that as a keys are cleared this count decreases, which is not the case if this setting is disabled.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

wildcardMonitorAllMatches Copied

This setting controls how FKM treats files containing wildcard characters, such as * and ?. By default, only the latest file is monitored. For more information, see wildcardMatchTime setting below.

If this option is enabled, then all the files matching the pattern are monitored, and new file rows are created in the dataview for each of these files. The settings for these files are copied from their wild-carded file settings. These rows are removed when the file is no longer found or does not match the pattern. For example, if the file is deleted, or if the filename contains a <today> expansion and the date changed.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

Caution

When you use the * and ? wildcard expressions in files > file > source > filename or in wildcardMonitorAllMatches, the files > file > alias configuration does not work and the dataview displays the source name, instead.

wildcardMatchTime Copied

This setting controls which file timestamp is used to determine the file to monitor, when a filename is configured that contains wildcard characters (\* and ?). Possible values are as follows:

Mandatory: No

Default: changed

tags Copied

This setting defines trigger parsing tags used in conjunction with the parseTriggerDetails setting. If trigger parsing is enabled, then the text displayed in the triggerDetails column is parsed according to the startTag and endTag settings. This feature can be used to reduce the file line displayed, allowing the user to quickly focus on the important information.

If a startTag has been configured and is contained within the line, the result will be the text following the first instance of the startTag (if found) - the text from the start to the first startTag (inclusive) will be removed.

An endTag works similarly, except that the text from the last instance of an endTag (if found) until the end of the line is removed.

For example:

Either or both of these tags can be overridden by tags in a key definition for more specific parsing.

Mandatory: No

parseTriggerDetails Copied

This setting controls whether the values that appear in the triggerDetails column will be parsed using start and end tags. These tags can be defined either globally for the FKM plug-in instance (see tags above), or selectively for specific keys via the key tags setting.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

wrapViewFileNearTriggerLines Copied

This option controls the wrapping of lines in the output of a View file near trigger command.

When enabled, line wrapping will be performed when a line reaches approximately 130 characters in length. If disabled, lines will be displayed in the Active Console at their full length.

Mandatory: No

Default: True (to maintain expected behaviour)

reorderKeywordTables Copied

By default, file lines are checked for external ignore keys, then keywords from any fail tables, and finally keywords from warning tables. This is done by reordering the keyword tables for a file to be in this order.

The reorderKeywordTables setting controls whether this reordering is performed. If disabled (set to false) the keyword tables will be checked in the order they are defined in the file configuration.

Mandatory: No

Default: true

checkInactiveClearKeys Copied

This setting controls whether clear keys inside an inactive keyword table are checked against a file.

A keyword table is made up of several keywords types; keys, ignore keys, and clear keys. An activeTime can be configured on a file, keyword table or on a keyword itself.

• For a keyword: When this time is inactive, the keyword will not be scanned.
• For a keyword table: When this time is inactive, then the whole table is not used for scanning.
• For a file: When this time is inactive, no file content will be scanned.

If this option is enabled, then only the active clear keys in an inactive keyword table will still be checked. Inactive keywords will not be checked.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

defaultClearMode Copied

The default clear mode specifies how clear keys operate on a plug-in global basis. All clear keys will use this behaviour, unless specifically overridden for the key by the clearKey mode setting.

Mandatory: No

Default: latest

expandDatesInKeywords Copied

FKM keywords may be configured with a date expansion string, e.g. < today >. This string updated each day with the current date. This feature can be controlled by means of this setting.

Mandatory: No

Default: true (dates are expanded)

monitoredDays Copied

This setting allows the FKM to resolve date expansion codes used in file names based only on certain days of the week. For example, this can be set to resolve date codes based only on weekdays, i.e. yesterday resolves to last Friday if the current day is a Monday or a weekend, and tomorrow resolves to next Monday if the current day is a Friday or a weekend. Check the appropriate day boxes to mark them as monitored. The today code always resolves to the current day, even if the current day is not marked as monitored.

Note

This setting is only used for resolving file names with date codes. It does not affect the monitoring of the plug-in on a certain day. See Date generation for more details on using date expansion codes in file names.

Mandatory: No

Default: Every day

internalTextEncoding Copied

The internal text encoding is used by FKM when reading Unicode files. The value of this setting is passed to the iconv library (used for Unicode conversion) as the target encoding for text conversion. It is not recommended to change the value of this setting unless advised to do so by ITRS Support.

Mandatory: No

Default: “//TRANSLIT”

ignoreIfNotInActiveTime Copied

Allows a user to suppress updates to the STATUS column for a file if the file is outside the configured activetime if this option has been enabled.

Mandatory: No

Default: false

defaultFileActiveTime Copied

Specifies a default for the file active time setting. Files with no individual file active time specified will use this setting, files that do specify an active time override this setting.

Mandatory: No

extendedNTEventLogOutput Copied

If set, FKM will output the event text using an extended format containing additional fields for each event, rather than just the defaults. The fields output are prefixed with the field name in extended mode, but not in default mode.

The mapping of the fields Geneos logs to the Event Viewer Windows application is as follows:

Example:

Date:07/11/2011 13:02:32 Type:Information event Source
Source:MSSQL$EXPRESS_2008_X86 EventID:26059 User:N/A Category:Server
Computer:ITRSPC139.ldn.itrs Description:The SQL Server Network Interface
library successfully registered the Service Principal Name (SPN) [
MSSQLSvc/ITRSPC139.ldn.itrs:EXPRESS_2008_X86 ] for the SQL Server
service.

These additional fields will also be present in the triggerDetails column.

If this option is not enabled the output would be in this format:

Mon Nov 07 13:02:32  INFO  MSSQL$EXPRESS_2008_X86    The SQL Server Network Interface
library successfully registered the Service Principal Name (SPN)
[ MSSQLSvc/ITRSPC139.ldn.itrs:EXPRESS_2008_X86 ] for the SQL Server service.

Mandatory: No

Default: False

lockFilePath Copied

By default the netprobe looks in the current working directory for sampler and netprobe lock files. This option allows the user to configure an alternate location shared by both types of lock files. This option though does not apply to single lock files (see Suspending File Sampling).

Mandatory: No

Default: .

Additional details Copied

Date generation Copied

File Keyword Monitor file definitions can be configured to generate a filename using the current date and time. The target filename is generated every sample, and if a file exists which matches this name the file will be monitored by FKM (once the current file has been processed to the end).

To use the Date generation function when the dynamicFiles option is selected, see Use date generation function when using dynamic files option in File Keyword Monitor (FKM) Plug-in User Guide.

Filenames can be generated using one of five date codes; yesterday, today, tomorrow, previous\_monitored\_day, andnext\_monitored\_day. These are replaced in the filename using the appropriate date.

For example, if the current date is 22 August, 2018, then the following will be produced:

The output format for dates can be controlled by placing format codes in the date tag. Examples of this usage are shown below.

The following formatting codes can be used with this feature.

Note

It is possible but not recommended to use a seconds (%S) or minutes (%M) time format code in a filename. This is because the generated filename will contain the time at which FKM performed a sample, which is not guaranteed to occur at an exact number of seconds apart.

Monitoring files containing binary data Copied

Some log files may contain a mixture of text and binary data. This may cause a problem monitoring the file if the binary data contains a NUL character (ASCII 0), as the file line is truncated at the first occurrence of this character.

FKM can read these lines correctly, provided it knows the file contains binary data. This is slightly more CPU intensive than ordinary reading of pure text-files, and so is not enabled by default. Files can be marked as binary using the file contentType setting.

Note

As of gateway 2 it is no longer possible to set the file contentType setting using the FKM table. This must now always be set on the file.

In addition, the showControlCharsAsSpaces display setting may also be useful when monitoring binary files. This setting replaces control characters (non-printing characters) with spaces which can help to spread out FKM output making it easier to read.

Unicode files Copied

FKM can monitor Unicode files, by using the iconv library (available on most Unix boxes by default) to convert the text from Unicode to the native system encoding. Because of this conversion, Unicode characters which cannot be represented by the native encoding will be skipped, and are therefore not available in FKM for keyword scanning or viewing.

To use this feature configure the file contentType setting to the encoding of the file. If you do not know the encoding FKM can attempt to detect this for you. Users can also specify the iconv encoding name directly, rather than using the drop-down menu to select an option.

Ignore files feature Copied

Ignore files provide a mechanism for configuring ignore keys for an FKM file externally to the gateway setup. This allows users to dynamically ignore known problems (perhaps on a single machine) without reconfiguring the plug-in.

FKM will check for an ignore file once per sample, for each file. If the ignore file has been created (or the last modification time altered) the ignore file will be read. This file should contain a number of ignore keys, one key per file line. Ignore keys can be written as string literals or regular expressions. To specify regular expressions in an ignore file and differentiate them from string literals, they must be prefixed by “$$$RE " for case-sensitive expressions, or “$$$NCRE " if the case should be ignored.

ex.

$$$RE KEY_\d\d$

This ignores strings with “KEY_” at the end, such as. “KEY_01”

$$$NCRE KEY_\d\d$

Using $$$NCRE ignores the case of “KEY”, so “key_01” would also be ignored.

Ignore keys are processed before keys defined in a fail or warning table. If the ignore file is removed, all ignore keys from that file will also be removed.

The steps to configure this feature are below:

1. Enable the ignore files feature by enabling the checkIgnoreFiles setting.

2. Set the ignore file name to look up:

   • Using file alias - Configure an FKM file you wish to monitor with an alias that is different to the filename. This alias then forms the base of the filename for the ignore file., with .ignore as the file extension (E.g. If the alias is myAlias then the expected ignore filename becomes myAlias.ignore).

   • Set ignore file name directly using ignoreFileName to specify an ignore file for a monitored file, or defaultIgnoreFileName to specify a default ignore file for an entire ampler.

3. Create an ignore file with the appropriate name in the Netprobe working directory, and add any desired ignore keys to the file, one per line.

4. FKM will detect when this file is created, updated or deleted. All previously added ignore keywords will be removed and the file contents re-read on these events. A message indicating this will be shown in the Netprobe log file.

Note

It is possible to specify alternate locations for a plug-in to search in to locate ignore files. See defaultIgnoreFilePath and ignoreFilePath for more details.

Regular Expressions Copied

Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) can be used if isPCREMode is selected, please see isPCREMode for how to enable it. Using PCRE allows for more powerful and succinct regexs to be written. Examples are presented below:

A great source for common Regular Expressions is http://www.regular-expressions.info/.

Some online tools which may also be helpful are http://www.regexpal.com or https://regexr.com/.

If isPCREMode isn’t enabled Regular Expressions in FKM use the POSIX extended regular expression syntax, and is typically implemented by system libraries. More information about these expressions can be found at Wikipedia or from the command line by typing “man7 regex”.

A regular expression specifies a pattern of text to match, which can appear anywhere in the file line. This behaviour can be altered by using the special anchor characters ^ and $ (see below). Unless using these characters, it is not necessary to specify a pattern which matches the whole file line, since this will reduce matching speed.

Once a regular expression has been configured, it is highly recommended that the expression be tested by echoing the intended match text into a monitored file, to ensure that a match is detected.

Regular expressions match sequences of literal characters exactly. A character is a literal character if it is not a special character below.

Some example regular expressions are listed below.

Expression:end$

Matches: A file line which ends with the word “end”.

Expression:^starts

Matches: A file line starting with the word “starts”.

Expression:^[A-Z]\\*word[^A-Z]\\*i

Matches: A line starting with a (possibly empty) sequence of capital letters, then “word” followed by a (possibly empty) sequence of characters with no capital letters, followed by an “i”.

Expression:...[0-9]

Matches: A line containing any three characters and then a digit.

Expression:X.[.][0-9]+

Matches: A line containing an X followed by any single character, then a dot and at least one digit.

Warning

Beginning Geneos 5.4.x, the FKM plugin uses Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) by default. Be aware that this may introduce breaking changes in your implementation.

Character classes Copied

Character classes in POSIX would require extra brackets in PCRE.

For example, if you use [:alpha:] on PCRE, this expression will be evaluated as single characters. To define the character class in PCRE, use [[:alpha:]].

The following table illustrates more character classes to contrast POSIX and PCRE:

Backslash Copied

The backslash is not a metacharacter in a POSIX bracket expression.

For example, the expressions [\d] or \d would not match anything in POSIX, even if numbers are present in the string.

Non-capturing group expression Copied

The non-capturing group expression (?..) is not allowed in POSIX or any other grouping prefix.

For example, consider the string hello@yahoo.com, with the following regex with PCRE enabled:

`^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$`

This regex would have a match for hello@yahoo.com in PCRE, but not in POSIX.

In POSIX, this expression would result in an error:

WARN: FKM2[fkm posix test] Failed to compile regex '^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`\\{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]\{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]\{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$' for keyword. Error #13 - Invalid preceding regular expression. This key will not be added.

Multi Line Variables In Actions Copied

Outputting multi line messages stored in environment variables are not supported by any of the built-in echo commands for Windowsand Linux. To work around this issue you could use the following examples to output multi line messages from an environment variable.

Windows Copied

VBScript has been used for this example as it is present in Windows 2000 and later.

Option Explicit

Dim objWindowsShell
Dim objEnvironment

Set objWindowsShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

For Each objEnvironment In objWindowsShell.Environment("PROCESS")        WScript.Echo objEnvironment
Next

Set objWindowsShell = Nothing
Solaris

Linux Copied

#!/bin/sh

/bin/echo _ACTION         = "${_ACTION}"
/bin/echo _SEVERITY       = "${_SEVERITY}"
/bin/echo _VARIABLEPATH   = "${_VARIABLEPATH}"
/bin/echo _GATEWAY        = "${_GATEWAY}"
/bin/echo _PROBE          = "${_PROBE}"
/bin/echo _NETPROBE_HOST  = "${_NETPROBE_HOST}"
/bin/echo _MANAGED_ENTITY = "${_MANAGED_ENTITY}"
/bin/echo _SAMPLER        = "${_SAMPLER}"
/bin/echo _DATAVIEW       = "${_DATAVIEW}"
/bin/echo _VARIABLE       = "${_VARIABLE}"
/bin/echo _REPEATCOUNT    = "${_REPEATCOUNT}"
/bin/echo _VALUE          = "${_VALUE}"

Using dollar references and capture groups Copied

The set key search string can be a regular expression. In a regular expression, you can use parentheses to denote a numbered sub-expression, called a capturing group or capture group. Capture group zero denotes the entire matching text, capture group one is the first parenthesised expression, and so on.

The clear key search string and message settings can refer to capture groups in the set key regular expression to include text from the set key result. This is achieved using dollar references, in the form of $ or ${}:

• $1
• $2
• ${3}

An example for clear keys follows.

Suppose that your monitored file contained messages that looked something like:

Error machine A: Some details about the error
...
Error machine B: Some details about the error

Your set key search string could look like:

Errormachine(\w+)

And your clear key search string could look like:

Fixed machine ${1}

This allows you to clear errors specific to results from a particular match. If you have errors reported on machines A, B, and C when the matching message for machine A is received, your error condition for machine A will be cleared.

Be sure when writing your clear key search strings or messages that the dollar reference number actually matches a capture group in the set key search string regular expression. Otherwise, your clear key or message may not match.

Suspending File Sampling Copied

FKM file access and sampling can be temporarily suspended to allow users to perform cleanup or housekeeping of monitored files without encountering possible file access conflicts with the plugin. This is done through the use of “lock files”, which may correspond to suspending the sampling of a single file, an entire FKM sampler, or all FKM samplers configured in a netprobe at once. FKM checks for the existence of lock files on every sample. When the plugin detects a lock file, it suspends its operation based on the scope of the lock. File operations remain suspended until the lock file is removed. The plugin then resumes sampling based on where it left off before the lock was applied. This behavior is similar to when active times are used to deactivate and reactivate a plugin.

Lock File Name Format and Usage Copied

Lock files follow specific naming formats depending on their intended scope. They all use the “.geneos-lock” extension to differentiate themselves from other files. The user is responsible for creating and destroying the lock files accordingly.

To suspend the sampling of individual files, a lock file must be created using the name of the target file as the base name, followed by the extension.

Ex. For a file named example.log, the corresponding lock file should be named example.log.geneos-lock

The user must create the lock file in the same directory as the target file to ensure that FKM matches the lock file to the correct target file. When a file is locked, the status field for that file is updated. The lock file can contain the name of the lock creator/owner, which would be displayed in the status message.

If the lock file is empty, the status would read SUSPENDED: Sampling locked by unknown user instead.

To suspend the sampling of a FKM sampler, a lock file must be created with the format _fkm.geneos-lock.

Ex. For a FKM sampler named “Log Sampler”, the corresponding lock file should be named “LogSampler\_fkm.geneos-lock”

By default the user must create the sampler lock file in the current working directory of the netprobe. The user though has an option to set a different path where the plugin should look for the lock file. The Fkm lock file path setting is located in the Advanced tab of the probe settings section in the gateway setup. When this setting is used, All FKM samplers defined in the probe will look for sampler and netprobe lock files in the specified path.

When a sampler is locked, the sampling status headline is updated. Other fields in the view remain as they are from the last sample. The sampler lock file can contain the name of the lock creator/owner, which would be displayed in the status message. If the file is empty, “unknown user” would be displayed by default, as described earlier.

To suspend the sampling of all FKM samplers configured in a netprobe, a lock file must be created with the format netprobe__fkm.geneos-lock, with the port number being used to identify the target netprobe.

Ex. For a netprobe using port number 7036, the corresponding lock file should be named netprobe\_7036\_fkm.geneos-lock

As with sampler lock files, the user must create the netprobe lock file in the current working directory of the netprobe by default, but has an option to set a different path through the Fkm lock filepath setting. When a netprobe is locked, the views for all FKM samplers in the netprobe are updated the same way as when a single FKM sampler is locked.

Extended Audit Details Copied

FKM provides extended audit details if this feature is enabled in the Gateway.

Commands Copied

The following commands executed on the FKM sampler dataview will result in extended audit details being provided:

• All Snooze related commands.
• All User-assignment related commands.
• All FKM specific commands (accept, clear, etc.)

Contents Copied

The audit details will consist of information about the triggers that pertain to a particular command execution.

For each trigger, the trigger message and the original file line will be provided as values. With reference to the audit details format, each trigger will be a separate item, with each item having two field-value pairs for the message and file line respectively. E.g.:

Targets Copied

The set of triggers that information is provided on will depend on the execution target:

Special Case: ‘Accept file’ and ‘Accept this file’ commands Copied

In this case information will be provided about all the triggers under the particular files, regardless of whether the command was executed on a file or trigger row.

Special Case: Single Grouped Message trigger mode Copied

Under this mode, for each trigger row, information about each actual trigger that pertains to the visible row will be provided as audit details. The set of triggers in this case will be the same as shown in the output of the Trigger Details command executed against that trigger row. See Trigger Details Command for more information.

Note

Similar to the Trigger Details command, the number of trigger lines provided as audit details will be limited by the maxConditionsPerKey setting. In situations where large numbers of triggers can be active at any given time, it may be practical to reduce the amount of extended audit detail recorded against auditable events by lowering the value of this setting, especially considering the fact that, under single grouped message trigger mode, the amount of audit details collected by running a command against any given trigger row is not immediately obvious.