Hard drives are essential, as are all other data storage solutions. Because hard drive failures almost always result in significant data loss, it’s crucial to monitor drive health to identify potential issues promptly. Several methods exist for this purpose; utilizing S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) is preferred whenever feasible, as it offers early warning capabilities to indicate an unhealthy drive status (e.g., excessive temperature). S.M.A.R.T. must be enabled for this functionality; consult your motherboard’s documentation for activation instructions. Modern operating systems provide utilities to query drive status via S.M.A.R.T. While sufficient for viewing the current overall status, manual review of drive health reports can be cumbersome, especially when managing numerous HDDs (potentially hundreds). IPNetwork Monitor offers ways to track drive health. We recommend employing custom SNMP monitors and SNMP Generic Traps for this task. Start by using a command similar to `smartctl -q silent -H /disk/device` (replace `/disk/device` with the actual drive device name; this utility is available for most common operating systems). This command returns an exit code reflecting the current and historical health status of the specified device. In many cases, creating a short (two-line) script and utilizing the SNMP ‘exec’ feature to execute this script and assign its return value to an SNMP value is necessary. A key consideration: the monitor’s return value is a bit mask. While the script could filter unnecessary bits (e.g., a historical record of a value exceeding a threshold persists indefinitely), it’s straightforward to configure checks for both warning and critical (down) states. A reported down state signifies a critical parameter has dropped below its threshold. This necessitates immediate and thorough drive health investigation, as the drive is either unhealthy or likely to fail soon. For faster problem detection, consider SNMP trap monitors. Traps trigger actions immediately upon meeting predefined conditions. Therefore, SNMP traps are better suited for immediate responses to down states, eliminating the delay of polling cycles. However, avoid excessively frequent polling: inquiries increase server load and, under certain circumstances, can significantly prolong disk response times while data is being read. Polling intervals of 3 to 5 minutes are generally recommended for these monitors. [interfaces_screenshot]

IPNetwork Monitor 1.0 build 141 of March 11, 2024. File size: 112MB