About GoToManage® Crawler plugins

The GoToManage Crawler gathers information about your IT environment using a set of plugins. Each plugin discovers a specific type of data. Some plugins begin immediately discovering as soon as you install the Crawler. Others require some configuration on your part before they can gather data. See Crawler discovery for a breakdown of how the Crawler discovers your network information.

GoToManage continually develops additional plugins to extend the capabilities of your Crawler, as well as a Crawler API so that you and other third-party developers can create new plugins and make them available to the GoToManage community.


 

Configuring plugins

To configure Crawler plugins:

  1. In the lower right corner of the Status bar, right-click the GoToManage Crawler icon and click Configure Crawler.
  2. In the GoToManage Crawler Configuration dialog box, click the Plugins tab.
  3. On the Plugins tab, click the plugin of your choice:

 

Amazon CloudWatch Plugin

The Amazon CloudWatch plugin gathers various statistics from Amazon's Cloud Services via Amazon's CloudWatch.

To configure the Amazon CloudWatch plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring menu under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Amazon CloudWatch, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • AWS Access Key - Provide your Amazon Web Services Access Key ID.
    • Secret Access Key - Provide your Amazon Web Services Secret Access Key.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Directory Server

The Directory Server plugin gathers information from Directory servers using the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). It automatically discovers ActiveDirectory servers and gathers data from them, such as the names of users on your system, groups that users are members of, and so on. It sends this data to your GoToManage account so you can search it, and it displays how many Directory items it discovers.

This plugin depends on the information you provide on the Windows Credentials tab of your GoToManage Crawler. If a problem occurs, check to see that the WMI credentials on your Crawler's Windows Credentials tab are correct.

To configure the Directory Server plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select the plugin to configure, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Server URL - You do not need to provide a server URL if your Crawler is on a machine that is part of the ActiveDirectory domain. If it is not, or if you do not have ActiveDirectory, then configure a URL for it, such as LDAP://www.openidap.com.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it is disabled, it will never run.
  5. Click Save.

 

Discovery Plugin

The Discovery plugin collects basic discovery information about a device to help in classification.

To configure the Discovery plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Discovery, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Exchange WMI Plugin

The Exchange WMI plugin gathers performance, operational, and configuration data from Microsoft Exchange servers. Note: There is a small bug with gathering data from Exchange Server 2003 that can be easily fixed if you follow the instructions on the Microsoft website.

This plugin depends on the information you provide on the Windows Credentials tab of your GoToManage Crawler. If a problem occurs, check to see that the WMI credentials on your Crawler's Windows Credentials tab are correct.

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Exchange WMI, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

You can run the following query to verify that your Crawler is collecting Exchange data. If you get results of any kind, that indicates that your Crawler is set up and functioning properly. If you get no results, that indicates that the WMI credentials on your Crawler's Credentials tab are incorrect.

select * from /network/device/wmi/exchange_server

By default, the Crawler collects the Exchange data every 24 hours. If you want to see more recent, set the Rescan Hosts plugin to collect data from your Exchange server more often.

To configure the Exchange WMI plugin:

 

Interface Statistics Plugin

The Interface Statistics plugin gathers interface statistics from hosts using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). It accesses switches, routers, and other hosts to check for interface statistics such as in_octets, out_octets, errors, and so on. It sends this data to your GoToManage account where you can query it.

This plugin requires the hostname or IP address of the device in its field. If a problem occurs, check the plugin tab to make sure the correct information about your network equipment such as switches, routers, printers, and so on, is correct.

To configure the SNMP Interface Statistics plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Discovery, and click Edit Plugin Settings.

  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:

    • Hosts - Enter the IP addresses of the devices to extract statistics from. You can add multiple hinted hosts by clicking Add, and selecting from the list. If you add more than one, separate them by commas. To add single hosts, click Custom, and enter the IP address of the hosts to gather data from.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Periodic Remote Commands Plugin

The Periodic Remote Commands plugin runs user-selected remote command scripts via SSH against a user-selected set of hosts every five minutes.

To configure the Periodic Remote Commands plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Periodic Remote Commands, and click Edit Plugin Settings.

  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:

    • Hosts - Select the IP addresses of the hosts that you want to gather data from. You can add multiple hinted hosts by clicking Add, and selecting from the list. If you add more than one, separate them by commas. To add single hosts, click Custom, and enter the IP address of the hosts to gather data from.
    • Remote Commands - Select the remote command(s) to run. You can add multiple hinted Remote Commands by clicking Add, and selecting from the list. If you add more than one, separate them by commas. To add single Remote Commands, click Custom, and enter the IP address of the hosts to gather data from.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Registry Plugin

The Registry plugin gathers information from the Windows Registry about Windows systems on the network. It depends on the information you provide in the Windows Credentials tab of your Crawler configuration. If a problem occurs, check to see that the WMI credentials on your Crawler's Windows Credentials tab are current.

To configure the Registry plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Registry, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Remote Commands Plugin

The Remote Commands plugin runs a predefined set of remote command scripts against discovered hosts using SSH via the command line. It uses SSH to gather data about machines on your network that are accessible by SSH, including Unix, OSX, Macs, and so on. The plugin uses SSH to log in to these machines and runs remote commands to gather information about them, which it then sends to your GoToManage account so you can search it.

This plugin uses the remote commands stored in your GoToManage Crawler directory (at C:\Program Files\GoToManage\GoToManage Crawler\Plugins\remote_commands by default). If a problem occurs, make sure that this folder is intact.

To configure the Remote Commands plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Remote Commands, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

SNMP Get Plugin

The SNMP Get plugin communicates with a network entity using SNMP GET requests.

To configure the SNMP Get plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select SNMP Get, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:

    • OIDs - Select from the list of numerical object identifiers (OIDs) to retrieve from devices. A good place to find OIDs is Mibsearch.com.

    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Scan Switches Plugin

The Scan Switches plugin captures performance, operational, and configuration data from switches and routers.

To configure the Scan Switches plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Scan Switches, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Server Health Plugin

The Server Health plugin monitors the health of one or more services that are running on a server.

To configure the Server Health plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Server Health, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

SNMP Printer Plugin

The SNMP Printer plugin reads configuration and status information from SNMP-capable printers.

To configure the SNMP Printer plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select SNMP Printer, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

SNMP Traffic Plugin

The SNMP Traffic plugin reads network traffic information from any SNMP capable device like switches, routers, printers and servers.

To configure the SNMP Traffic plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select SNMP Traffic, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

XenServer Configuration

The XenServer Configuration plugin gathers configuration data about your XenServer hosts, Virtual Machines, pools and other related data. No configuration is needed directly for this plugin. Consult the configuration for the XenServer application for how to set up this plugin to gather data.

XenServer Performance

The XenServer Performance plugin gathers performance information about your XenServer hosts, Virtual Machines and other related data. No configuration is needed directly for this plugin. Consult the configuration for the XenServer application for how to set up this plugin to gather performance data.

VMware Plugin

The VMware plugin gathers information from VMware hosts using the HTTPS protocol.

To configure the VMware plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select VMware, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Account - Ignore this field. This setting is obsolete. Credentials should now be set in the Credentials tab of the Crawler Windows UI.
    • Password - Ignore this field. This setting is obsolete. Credentials should now be set in the Credentials tab of the Crawler Windows UI.
    • Port - Indicate the port to use to communicate with your VMware ESXi or Virtual Center.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

WMI Event Log

The WMI Event Log fetches Windows event log messages over WMI.

To configure the WMI Event Log:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select WMI Event Log, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Severity - From the pull-down list, select the minimum level of severity at which the events should be collected.
    • Filter - Input a regular expression which each event is checked against. Only matching events will be collected.
    • Log files - Choose the log sources to collect events from. Leave this field blank to collect events from all log sources.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
    • Add custom - To add a single log file, indicate the log sources to collect events from.
    • Remove selected - To remove log files from the list, click to select and then click Remove selected.
  5. Click Save.

 

WMI Performance Plugin

The WMI Performance plugin captures performance and operational data from Windows machines via the Windows Management Interface (WMI).

To configure the WMI Performance plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select WMI Performance, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

WMI Plugin

The WMI plugin captures configuration data from Windows machines via the Windows Management Interface (WMI).

To configure the WMI plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select WMI, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

WSUS Plugin

The WSUS plugin gathers patch information from a WSUS server. To use this plugin, there are some configuration prerequisites on the computer where the Crawler is installed, which you can do by editing the GoToManage Crawler service in the Services control panel and having the Crawler service run as an administrator.

Prerequisites:

  • A WSUS 3.0 administrative console must be installed on the machine with the Crawler.
  • The local machine and the WSUS server must have a trust relationship; for example, they should belong to the same domain.
  • The Crawler service must run under an account that belongs to the WSUS Administrators group on the WSUS server.

To configure the WSUS plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select WSUS, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Server Name - Indicate the DNS name of the WSUS server.
    • Server Port - Indicate the port number WSUS server is listening on.
    • Use HTTPS - Indicate whether or not to use HTTPS rather than HTTP when communicating with the WSUS server.
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Windows License Keys Plugin

The Windows License Keys plugin collects software and operating system license keys from Windows machines.

To configure the Windows License Keys plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Windows License Keys, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Windows Server Monitor Plugin

The Windows Server Monitor plugin captures performance and operational data from Windows machines via the Windows Management Interface (WMI). This plugin is optimized to minimize the load on the machine by only collecting the metrics necessary for standard charts and monitors. Use the general WMI Performance plugin to collect full Windows performance metrics.

To configure the Windows Server Monitor plugin:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select Windows Server Monitor, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, provide the following information:
    • Plugin Enabled - Check the checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Managing plugins

 

Adding and removing plugins

You can add or remove plugins by placing them or removing them from the Plugins directory where you installed your GoToManage Crawler. By default, this is at:
C:\Program Files\GoToManage\GoToManage Crawler\Plugins. You can also disable any plugin without removing it.

To disable plugins without removing them:

  1. In the Monitoring pull-down menu, under Applications, click the Crawler app.
  2. In the Crawler app, click the Crawler of choice, and then click the Plugins tab.
  3. Under Name, select a plugin, and click Edit Plugin Settings.
  4. In the Edit Plugin Settings window, check the Plugin Disabled checkbox to disable the plugin. Note that if it will never run if disabled.
  5. Click Save.

 

Verifying plugins

To verify that a plugin has the correct configuration, you can check your crawler.conf file in the Plugins directory where you installed your Crawler. By default, this is at: C:\Program Files\Citrix\GoToManage Crawler\crawler.conf. Any configurations that you added is listed at the end of this file. For example, the configurations for Directory and Interface Statistics plugins appear in pink in the following crawler.conf file:

 

Verifying Exchange data

You can run the following query to verify that your Crawler is collecting Exchange data: 

select * from /network/device/wmi/exchange_server

If you get any results, that indicates that your Crawler is set up properly. If you get no results, that indicates that the WMI credentials on your Crawler's Windows Credentials tab are incorrect.

 

Writing your own plugins

If you are a developer, you may have data that you want to add to your GoToManage database so that you can search it. Or, you may have existing data-gathering systems and you want to make that data searchable. If GoToManage hasn't created a plugin to search a specific type of data, you can write a plugin yourself using the GoToManage Crawler API.

 

Related topics

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