SysPulsar Server Monitor

SysPulsar Server Status Monitor Flexense Ltd.

1

User Manual

Version 1.8

May 2013

Flexense Ltd.

www.flexense.com www.syspulsar.com

SysPulsar Server Status Monitor


2

Product Overview

SysPulsar is a server status monitoring solution allowing one to monitor CPU usage, memory

usage, running processes, active users, disk space usage, disk activities, network activities,

etc. The product provides history statistics and multiple types of charts showing the activity

timeline, resource usage charts per process, resource usage charts per user, which disks and

directories were the most changed, etc.

SysPulsar Server is especially designed to run on production servers using a very small

amount of the system memory (6MB-8MB depending on the number and type of configured

system monitors) and CPU resources in order to minimize the performance impact on running

production applications.

SysPulsar Server runs as a service in the background and provides a web-based management

interface allowing one to control, configure and manage the product using a regular web

browser locally or through the network. The user is provided with an automated configuration

wizard allowing one to start monitoring a server in a single mouse click. In addition, advanced

users are provided with the ability to configure multiple types of system monitors, save PDF,

HTML, XML, text, Excel CSV reports, enable error logs and/or send E-Mail notifications when a

system monitor drops below or rises above a user-specified limit.


3

Product Installation Procedure

SysPulsar Server is especially designed to be as simple as possible. The product does not

require any third-party software applications and may be installed and configured within a

couple of minutes. A fully functional 30-days trial version of SysPulsar Server may be

downloaded from the following page: http://www.syspulsar.com/downloads.html.

The installation package is very small, 4MB - 5MB depending on the target operating system,

and the product requires just 10MB of the free disk space on the target server. In order to

install SysPulsar Server, start the setup program, select a destination directory and press the

'Next' button.

Optionally, enter custom server control and/or web access ports. The server control port is

used by the SysPulsar command line utility to connect to the server and the web access port is

the port for the web-based management interface allowing one to control SysPulsar Server

using a standard web browser. If SysPulsar Server should be controlled remotely through the

network, make sure one or both of these ports are open in the server's firewall.


4

Initial Product Configuration

SysPulsar Server provides a fully automatic configuration wizard allowing one configure the

product and start monitoring a server with a single mouse click. After finishing installing the

product, connect to the server using a standard Web browser, login into the web-based

management interface (default user name and password: admin/admin) and just press the

'Init Default Configuration' button.

SysPulsar will scan the server configuration and create a default set of system monitors

appropriate for the current server hardware configuration. In order to manually add one or

system monitors. press the 'Add Monitor' button located on the SysPulsar Server home page,

select an appropriate monitor type and press the 'Ok' button.

Some types of system monitors provide advanced options allowing one to configure how each

specific monitor is operating. In addition, SysPulsar allows one to send E-Mail notifications

and/or automatically generate reports when a system monitor raises above or drops below a

user-specified limit. In order to edit advanced configuration options for a system monitor, click

on the monitor's 'Edit' button located in the 'Tools' column. Once finished configuring system

monitors, press the 'Start All' button to start the monitoring process.


5

Web-Based Management Interface

SysPulsar Server provides a complete web-based management interface, which allows one to

fully control, manage and configure one or more SysPulsar servers locally or though the

network using a standard Web browser. By default, the web-based interface uses the TCP/IP

port 80, which is the standard TCP/IP port web browsers are using to connect to a web server.

In order to connect to SysPulsar Server, open a regular web browser, enter the host name of

the server to connect to and login using the default user name and password: admin/admin.

The SysPulsar web-based management interface is a dynamic web application, which shows

the current status of the server and the progress of performed operations without reloading

the currently displayed web page. In order to operate properly, the web-based interface

requires JavaScript to be enabled in the web browser.


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System Monitors

SysPulsar Server provides a number of different types of system monitors allowing one to

monitor the CPU usage, memory usage, running processes, active users, disk space usage,

disk activity, network activity, etc. The simplest way to setup SysPulsar Server is to use the

product configuration wizard, which is capable of automatically configuring the product

according to the server configuration.

The SysPulsar server configuration wizard scans the current server configuration, adds the

most important system monitors and configures default error actions for the free memory

monitor, the memory usage monitor and the free disk space monitor.

In order to configure a system monitor, click the monitor's 'Edit Monitor' button located in the

'Tools' column, In order to manually add one or more system monitors, press the 'Add

Monitor' button located on the SysPulsar home page, select an appropriate monitor type and

press the 'Ok' button.


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Error Logs and E-Mail Notifications

SysPulsar provides the ability to save error reports, send E-Mail notifications and/or send error

messages to the system event log when one or more system monitors rise above or drop

below user-specified limits. In order to setup an action for a system monitor, click the 'Edit

Monitor' button located in the 'Tools' column, press the 'Add Action' button, select an

appropriate action type, select the history time period and the type of value to evaluate, select

an operator and press the 'Ok' button.

SysPulsar provides the following two types of system monitors: single-counter monitors and

multi-counter monitors. For single-counter monitors such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk

space usage, etc. actions are applied to the monitor value itself. For multi-counter monitors,

such as the process monitor and the disk change monitor, the user is provided with the ability

to select an optional counter type and an object name to apply the action to.

For example, the process monitor provides the ability to check the memory usage, the thread

count and/or the handle count of a running process and send E-Mail notifications when the

selected counter in the process reaches the user-specified limit. In addition, in order to enable

E-Mail notifications, open the 'Settings' page and specify an SMTP E-Mail server to use to sent

notifications.


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CPU Usage Monitor

The CPU usage monitor shows the CPU usage for all CPUs and/or CPU cores in the server. The

user is provided with the ability to show the CPU usage history chart for the last minute, last

hour, last 24 hours, last 30 days and the last 12 months. The average, minimum and

maximum CPU usage are shown for the currently selected history time period.

Sometimes, a high CPU usage during extended periods of time may indicate a problem and for

such cases SysPulsar provides the ability to send E-Mail notifications, save reports and/or send

errors to the system event log.

In order to configure an action for the CPU usage monitor, press the 'Edit Monitor' button

located in the 'Tools' column and press the 'Add Action' on the CPU usage monitor page. On

the 'Add Action' page select a time period, select an operator, enter a CPU usage value, select

an action type and press the 'Add' button. In some situations, it may be useful to configure

multiple types of actions with different time periods, For example, if the CPU usage is too high

during one minute set the monitor status to 'Warning' and if the CPU usage is too high for one

hour, send an E-Mail notification with an attached PDF report.


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Memory Usage Monitor

The memory usage monitor shows the amount of used system memory in percents. The user

is provided with the ability to show the memory usage history chart for the last minute, last


maximum memory usage are shown for the currently selected history time period.

By default, the memory usage monitor shows a warning message when the average memory

usage for the last minute rises above 90%. In addition, the user is provided with the ability to

change the maximum allowed memory usage and/or set a different type of action to execute

or E-Mail notification to send when the memory usage rises above the user-specified limit.

In order to change the default action, click on the action link, enter the maximum allowed

memory usage limit, change the action type and press the 'Save' button. In addition, in order

to enable E-Mail notifications, the user needs to configure the destination e-mail address on

the 'Settings - Notifications' page and an SMTP E-Mail server to use to send notifications on

the 'Settings - E-Mail Server' page.


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Free Memory Monitor

The free memory monitor shows the amount of free system memory in Mega Bytes. The user

is provided with the ability to show the free system memory history chart for the last minute,

last hour, last 24 hours, last 30 days and the last 12 months. The average, minimum and

maximum memory usage are shown for the currently selected history time period.

By default, the free memory monitor shows a warning message when the average amount of

the free system memory for the last minute drops below 100MB. In addition, the user is

provided with the ability to change the minimum allowed amount of the free system memory

and/or set a different type of action to execute or E-Mail notification to send when the amount

of the free system memory drops below the user-specified limit.

In order to change the default action, click on the action link, enter the minimum allowed

amount of the free system memory usage limit, change the action type and press the 'Save'

button. In addition, in order to enable E-Mail notifications, the user needs to configure the

destination e-mail address on the 'Settings - Notifications' page and an SMTP E-Mail server to

use to send notifications on the 'Settings - E-Mail Server' page.


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Process Resource Monitor

SysPulsar provides an advanced process monitor allowing one to monitor the total number of

running processes, the memory usage per process, the number of threads per process and the

number of open file handles per process. The user is provided with the ability to configure

conditional actions and save reports and/or send E-Mail notifications when the total number of

processes reached a user-specified limit or a specific process uses too much system resources.

The process monitor displays statistics and the history chart showing the total number of

running processes for the currently selected history time period. Depending on the currently

selected counter type, the bottom side of the process monitor can show the memory usage

per process, the number of threads or the number of open file handles per process.

By default, the process monitor displays only the memory usage per process and in order to

enable monitoring of threads per process and file handles per process, the user needs to open

the process monitor configuration page and enable all the required counters.


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The process resource monitor provides the ability to save reports and/or send E-Mail

notifications when the total number of processes reaches a user-specified limit or a specific

process uses too much system resources. The process monitor allows one to define a number

of conditional actions, which may be applied to the total number of processes, a specific

process by specifying a process name or all processes by setting the process name to '*'.

In order to send notifications when a process uses too much system memory, open the

process monitor configuration page, press the 'Add Action' button, select a time period, enter

the amount of system memory in Mega Bytes to trigger the action, select the 'Memory Usage'

counter and enter the name of the process to monitor.

Another option is to send notifications when any of the currently running processes uses too

much system resources. For example, in order to send a notification when any process creates

too much threads, select the 'Thread Count' counter type and set the process name to '*',

which will indicate that SysPulsar should apply the action to all running system processes.


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The SysPulsar process resource monitor provides a flexible process filter allowing one to

exclude specific processes or monitor only user-specified processes. In order to exclude one or

more processes, open the process monitor configuration page, select the 'Exclude Selected'

process filter mode, press the 'Select' button and select processes to be excluded.

Sometimes, it may be required to monitor resource usage for a set of very specific processes.

In order to configure SysPulsar to monitor only user-selected processes, open the process

monitor configuration page, select the 'Include Selected' process filter mode, press the 'Select'

button and select one or more processes to be monitored.

If the process that should be monitored or excluded is not running and therefore cannot be

selected, the user can manually enter one or more process names in the process filter entry

while using the ';' character to separate multiple process names.


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User Resource Monitor

SysPulsar includes a user resource monitor allowing one to monitor the total number of active

users, memory usage per user, the number of processes per user, the number of threads per

user and the number of handles per user. The user resource monitor provides the ability to

send E-Mail notifications when a user uses too much system resources or the total number of

active users rises above a user-specified limit.

In order to enable the user resource monitor press the 'Add Monitor' button located on the

main status page, select the 'User Monitor' item and press the 'Add' button. By default, the

user monitor shows the total number of active users and the memory usage per user.

In addition, the user resource monitor allows one to monitor the number of processes per

user, the number of threads per user and the number of handles per user. In order to enable

or disable specific counters, open the user resource monitor configuration page.


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The user resource monitor generates multiple types of resource usage line charts and pie

charts in PDF reports. Summary PDF reports include a history line chart showing the total

number of active users over time and multiple pie charts showing the memory usage per user,

the number of processes per user, the number of threads per user and the number of handles

per user for all history time periods.

In addition, detailed PDF reports include history line charts showing the memory usage per

user, the number of processes per user, the number of threads per user and the number of

handles per user over time for all history time periods.

In order to save a detailed PDF report, press the 'Save Report' button located on the main

status page, select the 'Detailed Report' type, select the 'PDF Report' format and press the

'Save' button.


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SysPulsar allows one to send E-Mail notifications and/or save status reports when the total

number of active users rises above a user-specified limit. In order to configure E-Mail

notifications, open the user monitor configuration page, press the 'Add Action' button, select

the 'Maximum' value type, enter a value limit, select the 'User Count' counter type, select an

appropriate E-Mail notification action type and press the 'Save' button.

Another option is to send E-Mail notifications when a user uses too much system resources.

For example, in order to send E-Mail notifications when a user uses too much system memory,

add a new action, select the 'Average' value type, select the 'More Than' operator, enter a

value limit in MB, select the 'Memory Usage' counter and select an appropriate E-Mail

notification or status report action.

The 'Object Name' field may be set to a specific user name or a substring matching a number

of user names. In order to apply the action to all user names, the 'Object Name' should be set

to '*' or left empty.


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Sometimes, it may be required to exclude system user accounts from the monitoring process

and focus the monitoring operation on a very specific set of user accounts. The user resource

monitor provides the ability to configure a user name filter capable of excluding or including

specific user names.

In order to exclude specific user accounts from the monitoring process, open the user resource

monitor configuration page, press the 'Select' button, select one or more user accounts to be

excluded and press the 'Select' button.

In order to monitor user-selected accounts only, open the user resource monitor configuration

page, select the 'Include Selected' filter mode, press the 'Select' button, select user accounts

to be included in the monitoring process and press the 'Select' button.


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Disk Usage Monitor

The disk space usage monitor shows the amount of used disk space in percents. The user is

provided with the ability to show the disk space usage history chart for the last minute, last


maximum disk space usage are shown for the currently selected history time period.

By default, the disk space usage monitor shows statistics for the system disk. In addition, the

user is provided with the ability to add one or more additional disks to be monitored by the

disk space usage monitor. In order to change the configuration of the disk space usage

monitor, click on the monitor's 'Edit' button located in the 'Tools' column and specify one or

more disks (delimited by the semicolon character) to be monitored.

Another option is to add to the SysPulsar configuration multiple disk space usage monitors,

with each one configured to monitor a different disk. This way, SysPulsar will show individual

disk space usage statistics for each monitored disk.


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Network Transfer Rate Monitor

SysPulsar Server provides a number of network transfer rate monitors allowing one to show

the total network transfer rate, send transfer rate and receive transfer rate. All network

transfer rate monitors show the average network data transfer speed in MB/Sec. The user is

provided with the ability to show the network transfer rate history chart for the last minute,

last hour, last 24 hours, last 30 days and the last 12 months. The average, minimum and

maximum network transfer rates are shown for the currently selected history time period.

Disk Transfer Rate Monitor

SysPulsar provides a number of disk transfer rate monitors allowing one to show the total disk

transfer rate, read transfer rate and write transfer rate for all physical disks installed in the

server. All disk transfer rate monitors show the average disk data transfer speed in MB/Sec.

The user is provided with the ability to show the disk transfer rate history chart for the last

minute, last hour, last 24 hours, last 30 days and the last 12 months. The average, minimum

and maximum disk transfer rates are shown for the currently selected history time period.


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Real-Time Disk Change Monitor

The real-time disk change monitor is capable of showing various types of disk activity

statistics. The user is provided with the ability to see the total number of changes for the

currently selected period of time, the number of disk changes per change type, the number of

changes per user, the number of changes per directory, the number of changes per file

extension, etc.

In order to change the type of the displayed information, click on the left combo box and

select an appropriate display mode. In order to change the currently displayed history time

frame, click on the right combo box and select an appropriate period of time.

By default, the disk space usage monitor shows statistics for the system disk. In addition, the

user is provided with the ability to add one or more additional disks to be monitored by the

disk space usage monitor. In order to change the configuration of the disk space usage

monitor, click on the monitor's 'Edit' button located in the 'Tools' column and specify one or

more disks (delimited by the semicolon character) to be monitored.


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SysPulsar Server Reports

SysPulsar Server provides the ability to save server monitoring reports to a number of

standard formats including PDF, XML, HTML, text, Excel CSV and the SysPulsar native report

format. In order to save a report file, press the 'Save Report' button located on the SysPulsar

Server home page, select an appropriate report format and press the 'Save' button.

In addition, SysPulsar Server provides the ability to automatically save status reports every X

hours according to the user-specified time interval. In order to configure automatic generation

of status reports, open the 'Settings - Logs and Notifications' page, enable the 'Save Status

Reports' option and select an appropriate time interval.

Automatically generated status reports are saved in the SysPulsar reports directory and may

be accessed on the 'Reports' page. In order to open a previously saved status report, just click

on the report link displayed on the 'Reports' page. In order to save a report to one of the

standard report formats, click on the report's 'Save' button in the 'Tools' column.


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SysPulsar PDF Reports

SysPulsar provides extensive PDF reports, which include the overall status of the server, the

status of all system monitors, line charts for the last minute, last hour, last 24 hours, last 30

days and last 12 months activity histories and pie charts for all enabled real-time disk change

monitoring counters showing the disk activity per user, directory, file extension, file type, etc.

In addition to the ability to manually save PDF reports, SysPulsar allows one to periodically

send status reports to an E-Mail address. Each status E-Mail message includes an HTML status

summary and an attached PDF report file. In order to enable periodical status PDF reports,

open the 'Settings - Logs and Notifications' page, select a time interval, specify an E-Mail

address to send reports to and configure an SMTP server to use to send reports.


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Configuring SysPulsar Server

SysPulsar Server provides a variety of configuration options allowing one to easily integrate

the product into a user-specific network environment. In order to open the main settings

page, click on the 'Settings' link located on the top menu bar.

Configuring User Name and Password

The SysPulsar Server web-based management console, requires users to login with a

SysPulsar user name and password. The default user name and password is set to:

admin/admin. In addition, SysPulsar Server provides the ability to set a custom user name

and/or password for the SysPulsar web-based management interface and the command line

utility, which may be used to automate configuration and management tasks.

In order to set a custom user name and password, click on the 'Configure Server Login' link

located on the main settings page, enter a new user name and password and press the 'Save'

button.


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Configuring Error Logs and E-Mail Notifications

SysPulsar Server provides a number of advanced error logging, reporting and E-Mail

notification options. In order to open the error logs and notifications page, go to the main

settings page and click on the 'Logs and Notifications' link.

• Save Error Logs To - this option enables error reports and controls the destination

directory for automatically saved error reports. For any system monitor, the user is

provided with the ability to automatically generate an error report when the monitor's

value drops below or rises above a user-specified limit. When SysPulsar detects an

error, a report file is generated and saved in the specified directory.

• Send Notifications To - this option enables error notifications and controls the

destination E-Mail address to send notifications to. In addition, the user needs to open

the 'Settings - E-Mail Server' page and configure an SMTP E-Mail server to be used to

send E-Mail notifications.

• Send Status Reports - this option enables periodic status E-Mail notifications and

controls the status notifications time interval. Each status notification E-Mail includes a

summary of the current server status and an additional attachment with a PDF report

showing extended information and various types of charts for all system monitors. In

addition, the user needs to open the 'Settings - E-Mail Server' page and configure an

SMTP E-Mail server to be used to send E-Mail notifications.

• Save Status Reports - this option enables periodic generation of status reports and

controls the status reports time interval. By default, status reports are saved in the

SysPulsar reports directory and accessible on the 'Reports' page. SysPulsar keeps a

history of status reports in the reports directory and automatically deletes old reports

when new reports are saved.

• Check System Monitors - this option enables periodic evaluation of monitoring

actions and controls the monitoring time interval.


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Configuring E-Mail Server

SysPulsar Server provides the ability to send status reports and E-Mail notifications when a

system monitor drops below or rises above a user-specified value. In order to configure an

SMTP E-Mail server to use to send E-Mail notifications, click on the 'Configure E-Mail Server'

link located on the main settings page, enter the SMTP server host name, SMTP server port,

SMTP user name, password and the source E-Mail address to use to send E-Mail notifications.

Configuring Server Control and Web Access Ports

SysPulsar Server uses the TCP/IP port 9146 as the default server control port and the TCP/IP

port 80 as the default web access port. Sometimes, these ports may be in use by some other

software products or system services. If one or both of these ports are in use, SysPulsar will

be unable to operate properly and the user needs to change the SysPulsar server control port

and/or web access port.

In order to set a custom server control port and/or web access port, click on the 'Setup Server

Ports' link located on the main settings page, select the 'Use Custom Port' option and enter a

custom port number to use. If the SysPulsar server should be controlled through the network,

make sure the custom ports are open in the server's firewall.


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Using SysPulsar Command Line Utility

In addition to the web-based management interface, SysPulsar Server provides a command

line utility, which may be used to control, manage and configure one or more SysPulsar

Servers locally or through the network. By default, the SysPulsar command line utility is

located in the '<Product Dir>\bin' directory.

The command line utility may be executed with a variety of command line parameters and

options allowing one to automate control, configuration and management of one or more

SysPulsar Servers using batch files or shell scripts. For detailed information about available

command line options, execute the command line utility with the '-help' command line

parameter.

SysPulsar Command Line Utility Usage:

syspulsar -status

This command shows the status of all system monitors.

syspulsar -init_default_configuration

This command initializes the default system configuration.

syspulsar -start_all

This command starts all system monitors.

syspulsar -stop_all

This command stops all active system monitors.

syspulsar -delete_all

This command deletes all system monitors from the product configuration.


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syspulsar -save_pdf_report [ File Name or Directory ]

This command saves the current server status to a PDF report file. If the file name is not

specified, SysPulsar will generate a file name containing the current date and time and save

the report in the user's home directory. If an existing directory is specified, SysPulsar will

generate a file name containing the current date and time and save the report in the specified

directory.

syspulsar -save_xml_report [ File Name or Directory ]

This command saves the current server status to an XML report file. If the file name is not




directory.

syspulsar -save_html_report [ File Name or Directory ]

This command saves the current server status to an HTML report file. If the file name is not




directory.

syspulsar -save_text_report [ File Name or Directory ]

This command saves the current server status to a text report file. If the file name is not




directory.

syspulsar -save_csv_report [ File Name or Directory ]

This command saves the current server status to an Excel CSV report file. If the file name is

not specified, SysPulsar will generate a file name containing the current date and time and

save the report in the user's home directory. If an existing directory is specified, SysPulsar will


directory.

syspulsar -server_status

This command shows the status of the SysPulsar service.

syspulsar -server_log

This command shows the SysPulsar server message log.

syspulsar -clear_server_log

This command clears the SysPulsar server message log.

syspulsar -about

This command shows version information for the SysPulsar server.

syspulsar -help

This command shows the command line utility usage information.

syspulsar -v

This command shows version information for the SysPulsar command line utility.


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Product Update Procedure

Flexense develops SysPulsar Server using a fast release cycle with minor product versions,

updates and bug fixes released almost every month and major product versions released

every year. New product versions and product updates are published on the product web site

and may be downloaded from the following page: http://www.syspulsar.com/downloads.html.

Due to the fact that the product is especially designed for servers running in production

environments where stability is a major decision factor, SysPulsar Server updates should be

manually performed by the user. In order to update an existing product installation, download

the latest product version and just execute the setup program, which will detect the currently

installed product version and perform a proper update procedure while keeping the current

product configuration and product registration intact.

The SysPulsar Server setup program will properly shutdown the running SysPulsar Server,

update the product and restart the SysPulsar service after finishing the update procedure. All

product configuration files, configured system monitors and product registration will remain

valid and there is nothing to reconfigure or manage after the update.


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Product Registration Procedure

Within a couple of hours after purchasing a product license, the customer will receive two e-

mail messages: the first one confirming the payment and the second one containing an unlock

key, which should be used to register the product. If you will not receive your unlock key

within 24 hours, please check your spam box and if the unlock key is not in the spam box

contact our support team: [email protected].

If the computer where SysPulsar Server is installed on is connected to the Internet, login to

the SysPulsar web-based management interface (default user name and password:

admin/admin) using a standard web browser, click on the 'About' link located on the top

menu bar, press the 'Register' button, enter your name or your company name, enter the

received unlock key and press the 'Register' button.

If the computer is not connected to the Internet, press the 'Manual Registration' button,

export the product ID file and send the product ID file to [email protected] as an

attachment. Within a couple of hours, you will receive an unlock file, which should be imported

in order to finish the registration procedure.


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Supported Operating Systems

32-Bit Operating Systems

• Windows XP

• Windows Vista

• Windows 7

• Windows 8

• Windows Server 2003



64-Bit Operating Systems

• Windows XP 64-Bit

• Windows Vista 64-Bit

• Windows 7 64-Bit

• Windows 8 64-Bit

• Windows Server 2003 64-Bit



SysPulsar Server System Requirements

Minimal System Configuration

• Supported Operating System

• Single Core 1 GHz or better CPU

• 512 MB of system memory

• 25 MB of free disk space

Recommended System Configuration

• Supported Operating System

• Dual Core 2 GHz or better CPU

• 1 GB of system memory

• 25 MB of free disk space

* Internet Explorer v9, FireFox v12 or Chrome v17 or newer is required for proper operation of

the web-based management interface.

Documents

SysPulsar Server Monitor