- 4 minutes to read

Automate monitoring of content-based files

This guide will teach you how to monitor content-based files using the Nodinite Log File Parser Monitoring Agent.

graph LR subgraph "Nodinite" N[Nodinite Log File Parser Monitoring] end subgraph "File shares" N -->|Inspect content| roFolder1(fal:fa-folder Some folder) N -->|Inspect content| roFolder2(fal:fa-folder Some other folder) roFolder1 --> |Matching content| roE(fal:fa-times-circle Error) roFolder2 --> |No match| roOK(fal:fa-check OK) end

To get you started, let's look at a quick example to help you understand a use case. Below is a sample XML file where the system has rejected the Order Response. A rejected Order Response is probably inadequate for your business, and you should get an alert that this situation exists. In your real-world scenario, you might have other entities that you would like to monitor, and since the Nodinite Log File Parser Monitoring Agent uses RegEx expressions, most use cases should be possible to cover.

<ns0:OrderResponse xmlns:ns0="Common.Schemas/Nodinite/1.0">
    <Order>
        <Id>101</Id>
        <Status>OK</Status>        
    </Order>
    <Order>
        <Id>102</Id>
        <Status statusCode="1337">REJECTED</Status>                
    </Order>
</ns0:OrderResponse>

Before you begin

Ensure you comply with the prerequisites and install the Nodinite Log File Parser Monitoring Agent.

Step 1: Add a new monitoring configuration

To add a new monitoring entry, click the Add button from the Log File Events tab.
Content tab

  1. Name the configuration
  2. Provide an optional description
  3. Set the Application ID (You must have a matching entry in the Applications Tab)

General Tab

Step 2: Set the monitor path

Next, enter the path to where the log files with events to correlate are located (for example, C:\Temp\BizTalk\INT001 Orders\Out).

  1. Enter the path
  2. Enter the RegEx-based filter (\.xml$)

Path

Below is a table with some common RegEx file filter examples:

Filter Example Comment
\.xml$ XML Files All XML files with suffix ".xml"
\.txt$ Text Files All text files with 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

Step 3: Set the start match

Next, enter the start match configuration.

  1. The files with arbitrary content do not need a date-time; hence, you can safely uncheck the 'Lines have a DateTime' checkbox
  2. In this case, we are looking for a line that contains a statusCode - statusCode="[0-9]+"

Start match

  1. Leave the Clear Date Time field empty for now. This field is populated by the system when an end-user is clearing previous problems.
  2. Select the time option (Modified after clear date-time)
  3. Uncheck the 'Lines have a DateTime' checkbox

Save

You must click 'Save' or 'Save and close' for changes to persist. The new settings/thresholds are evaluated on the next synchronization.
Save and Close buttons
Here's an example of the Save options.

Note

The delay in presenting the new evaluated state depends on the monitoring agent's synchronization interval

Save and close, save, and close the dialogue. Cancel, closes the dialogue without saving any changes.

Step 5: Configure the Monitor View

Next, add the named Resource to a Monitor View.

Errors detected
Here's an example of a Monitor View with errors detected in correlated log files

You can further review the details about the errors by clicking on the Actions button and then clicking on the Error Report menu item.
error action

This action opens a new modal with a list of all log files with an active error (> last clear date-time).
Error Report
Do note that the monitoring may span multiple files(!)

Additional information is available if you expand the row.
Details

Tip

You can ignore old errors by clicking on the Clear Errors menu item in the Actions button. The Resource is then OK until a new entry matches the configuration.

Next Step

Nodinite File Monitoring Agent