Targeting
The key to controlling the amount of data that is collected by Essentials 2007 is learning to correctly target your monitors and rules using classes and then using groups and overrides to narrow the focus of the monitor, rule, or view.
Target Monitors, Rules, and Views
When you create a rule, monitor, or view, you must define a target for it. Essentials 2007 uses object types as targets. You should always target a monitor or rule to the object that most specifically describes the objects that you want to monitor. In other words, target your monitor, rule, or view at the lowest level possible.
Groups and Overrides
After you target your monitor, rule, or view to an object type, you can narrow the scope of the monitoring data that is collected by using groups and overrides. Ideally, you need to create a group that contains only the objects that you want monitored by the monitor or rule.
If the group of objects that you want to monitor is not fixed, you can create a dynamic inclusion rule that identifies group members in the Create Group Wizard. To create a group that uses a dynamic inclusion rule, you should identify a common attribute for the objects that you want to monitor. Then you can build a formula (based on any attribute of an object type) that identifies this attribute in the Create Group Wizard. If no attribute is available, you can create an additional attribute by using the Create Attribute Wizard before you create the group.
For example, suppose that you have 10 Web servers and 5 of them are running a proprietary application that you want to monitor. Because the application on the Web servers is proprietary, no attribute exists that identifies this application. The following are the steps that solve this issue:
Create a custom attribute that is based on the entry in the registry that indicates this application is installed on a Web server.
Create a group whose membership is determined by your new attribute.
Create the monitor or rule that you want, and target it at the Web Server class.
Disable the monitor or rule.
Use overrides to enable the monitor or rule only for the group you created.
See Also
Tasks
How to Create a Custom Attribute
Concepts
Monitors
Groups
Overrides
Rules