- 7 minutes to read

Manage SMB Folders Monitoring

Monitor files on SMB shares using MFT systems integration solutions. The Folders to monitor are Windows Folders and/or SMB network shares.

The Nodinite File and FTP Folder Monitoring Agent monitors the count, age, and allowed size range for files in one or more folders (using the SMB protocol). Apply other filters to include and/or exclude files and folders.
Where included, each configuration manifests as a unique Resource within Monitor Views.

SMB Resources as seen in a Nodinite Monitor View.

The documentation for the different Monitoring states is available in the Overview.

Remote Configuration

As a Nodinite Administrator, click on the 'Configuration' button to open a modal to configure the agent:

Here's an example of the Configuration button as available in the Monitoring Agent Configuration administration page.

Tip
End-users with the grant to perform Remote Actions in a Monitor View can also perform minor configuration changes directly on the Resource.

Note
You must be a Nodinite Administrator to Manage the global SMB configuration on the agent level.

Add SMB folder to Monitor

The SMB/Windows tab holds an array with one or more SMB folder Monitoring entries.

Add your SMB shares and folders to Monitor.

Press the Add button to add a new configuration:

Here's an example of an SMB folder Monitoring configuration, one accordion per configuration.
Repeat this step for each configuration to Monitor.

Manage configuration

In the configuration accordion, there are multiple tabs with properties that can be set that determine what the File Monitoring Agent should monitor:

Here's an example of the SMB Monitoring configuration tab.

Enabled - When checked, monitor this SMB/Windows File/Folder configuration.
Display name is the Resource name as presented in Nodinite Monitor Views.
Note
If you change the name; Where included, the Resource also changes its name; hence it gets unavailable for end-users from existing Monitor Views. You must reconfigure and validate these Monitor Views.
Description (optional) A description of the monitored folder.
Application ID (optional) This is the correspondent Id for an Application under the Applications tab. Set the value to 0 to skip the use of the Application pairing.
Category Id (optional) is the correspondent Id for a Category under the Categories tab and is used to tag your resources and make them easier to understand. Set the value to 0 to skip pairing with a Category.

An example with essential configuration options.

Basic Tab

Next, from within the Basic tab, you need to enter some essential details:

Here's an example of the essential information required for SMB Monitoring.

Folder - The full path (local or UNC)
- You can also use a RegEx expression as part of the folder configuration (i.e. support for non-static folder names): For example: Use ...SomeRootFolder\\TheFileFolder\\\d+\\Invoices to exclude all folders where there are numbers between TheFileFolder and Invoices.
Filter - RegEx based filter that files need to match. The filter is case-insensitive and ignores multiple whitespaces.

Note
The use of Windows-style filter *.txt is not supported!.

Below is a table with some common filter RegEx examples:

Filter	Example	Comment
`\.xml$`	XML Files	All XML files with the suffix ".xml"
`\.txt$`	Text Files	All text files with the suffix ".txt"
`^ONLYME\.data$`	Specific file	Only this file "ONLYME.data"
`^PrefixedFileName.*\.csv$`	Matching a file name pattern	Files with prefix `^PrefixedFileName`, and suffix `.csv`

Advanced tab

Next, you can manage some optional advanced threshold-related properties available in the Advanced tab:

Example with advanced options for SMB Monitoring.

Filter on size
- Min
- Max

Note
To exclude a range of files; Set Max < MIN

Here's an example of the filter by size feature.

Return all file names in the Log Text for the Resource - When checked, the Log Text includes the filenames.
Include child folders - When checked, all the subfolders are included in the Monitoring except for optionally excluded child folders (and consequently child folders of that child folder)
Exclude child folders - This is the list of folders to exclude from Monitoring. You need to provide the full path to the folder to exclude

Here's an example of the exclude child folders feature.
Exclude child folders by RegEx - List of matched child folders to exclude from Monitoring if the 'Include child folders' option is checked.

Here's an example of the configuration and net result

To remove all folders beginning with the name NotMe; you can use \\NotMe as the RegEx.
RegEx example to remove the NotMe folders from Monitoring.

Thresholds tab

Next, you can manage the thresholds for file Monitoring. These fields are available in the Thresholds tab.

Here's an example of the thresholds Monitoring options.

Time evaluation type - Evaluate the Resource state according to the Created or Modified timestamp.
Warning Time-Span - Enter the longest allowed time-span before the Warning state is set. Use the following format (days.hours:minutes:seconds, e.g. 7.12:30:59).

Tip
Use the same time as Errors (or higher) to disable the use of Warnings.

Error Time-Span - Enter the longest allowed time-span before the Error state is set. Use the following format (days.hours:minutes:seconds, e.g. 7.12:30:59).
Enable count evaluation - When checked, evaluate the number of files
- Warning Count - Set the threshold for the maximum number of allowed files
- Error Count - Set the threshold for the maximum number of allowed files

Here's an example of the alert on count feature.

Scheduling tab

From within the Scheduling tab, you can manage the following schedule-related Monitoring properties:

Here's an example of the scheduling options.

You can use two different evaluation types:

Single range - monitor the specified time-interval
Multiple days - recurring time, multiple days

click the Add button to add one or more schedules:

Here's an example of the scheduling feature.

The Remote Action 'List files', show the current set of filtered files according to Monitoring thresholds, however, the alert on configuration level is muted according to the schedule.

Authentication tab

From within the Authentication tab, you can opt between two different authentication mechanisms:

Here's an example of the authentication options.

Quite obviously, to Monitor folders and shares, the Agent requires read-rights.

Use Windows impersonation

Example using Windows impersonation.

Use Windows impersonation - Flag to impersonate or use the default service account
Domain User - The name of the Windows user account. Format: DOMAIN\User
Password - The password for the account

Info
Use this authentication option when the folder/share is part of the same domain/forest where the instance of this Monitoring agent is running.

Use network credentials

Example using basic authentication.

Use network credentials - When checked, use the network credential to access the folder
Network User - The name of the user account. Common formats: 'User', 'DOMAIN\User' or 'HOST\User'
Password - The password for the provided network user

Info
Use this option when the folder/share is not part of the same domain/forest where this Monitoring agent is running or if a Windows Active Directory does not control the SMB share

Save

You must click 'Save' or 'Save and close' for changes to persist. The new settings/thresholds are evaluated on the next synchronization.

Here's an example of the Save options.

Note
The delay in presenting the new evaluated state depends on the agent's synchronization interval. Click the Sync Now button to force an immediate synchronization.

Save and close, save, and close the dialogue.

Cancel, closes the dialogue without saving any changes.

Remote Actions

	Resource Name	Monitoring	Actions	Metrics/Statistics
	%As configured%		List files Edit	-

All operations that you and other Users perform are being logged to an Audit Log, ensuring you stay compliant with policies and even applicable regulations.

List files

The file content of monitored SMB folders can be listed using the List files Remote Action.

Here's an example of the List files Action menu item.

Here's an example of the List files feature available in a Nodinite Monitor View.

You can download a file by opening the Actions button and clicking the Download menu item.

Here's an example of the Download files Action menu item.

Edit thresholds

You can manage the Monitoring thresholds by opening the Actions button and clicking the Edit menu item.

Here's an example of the Edit thresholds feature available in a Nodinite Monitor View.