HelpMaster Service Management Software Blog

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Practical tips and information about running an efficient service desk. News and information about HelpMaster, PRD Software and the ITSM industry.

This week whilst doing an on-site demonstration of HelpMaster Pro at the PRD Software office here in Canberra, the question was asked, "Does HelpMaster Pro do SNMP traps?".

The quick answer was "No" - HelpMaster Pro is not a network monitoring tool, however, after discussing the issue further, we found that the real issue was "Can HelpMaster Pro record SNMP alert information?", to which the answer is a resounding "Yes".

SNMP is a protocol that used to monitor the behaviour of electronic things.

Things like...

  • is the temperature too hot...
  • is the fan speed too low...
  • is the disk spinning too slow
  • Has my server just died?

SNMP monitoring is usually performed by dedicated network / hardward scanning software such as Solar Winds Orion, Ipswitch What's Up Gold, Argent and the like.

A common feature in this type of monitoring software is its ability to send an email when an SNMP threshold has been exceeded, and this is where HelpMaster Pro Email Manager comes in.

 


The sole purpose of the HelpMaster Pro Email Manager is to convert email into helpdesk tickets, or jobs.  Therefore, when you have some dedicated SNMP software scanning all of your mission critical devices for operational thresholds, configure it to send an email as part of the error condition.  Then configure the HelpMaster Pro Email Manager to scan that email inbox and convert the email into a helpdesk ticket.  From there you can use the integration workflow and service level agreement mangement capabilities of the Priority Manager to ensure that the SNMP breach receives timely response and resolution.

So in tech terms, you use your SNMP software to send mail via SMTP to HMP where you can manage your SLAs and KPIs.  Easy!




 


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