To create a Collector, go to Configure > MetricsView Collectors and click the Add Collector button.

You will be prompted to adjust the following settings:

  • Name: Defines the collector’s name, and is listed as part of the MetricsView counter tasks configuration.
  • Collector Type: Selecting MetricsView Agent or Linux Collector will use the MetricsView software that you download to your computer. The Custom Collectors are available by pushing custom counter data to the Dotcom-Monitor platform using the REST API interface. Custom Collectors allow you to define and push data about anything that you can monitor. Selecting Customer Collector will require you to use the API to push your custom counter values to the system.
  • The Description field is optional.
  • Send Alerts to Group: The address that will receive notices about issues with the collector.
  • Alert frequency: Determines how often alerts are sent when the collector is in an alert state.
  • Switch to alert state if MetricsView agent is not accessible [X mins]: This specifies how long the system waits after detecting a collector is not accessible before sending an initial alert.  For example, it might be ok for some systems to not report in for 30 minutes at a time. For other systems you may want to know as soon as possible if it’s not reporting in.
  • Postpone MetricsView Collector: Select to activate the collector later.

Important Note:  If you create a new MetricsView Collector and set up an alert to be sent via email, and you do not have a MetricsView Agent installed on a computer using the new Collector ID, you will begin receiving alerts from the system once the alert state has been triggered.

Each Collector has a unique Collector ID. This Collector ID is used to address counter data to the correct collector using the MetricsView API interface. A Custom Collector ID can be regenerated at the Edit Collector page (Configure > MetricsView Collectors >  select Edit from the collector actions menu).

The next step is installing the MetricsView software (or to program an application to interact with the MetricsView API ) on your target device or server and connecting it to the Collector that you just set up.