FRENDS RADON DOCUMENTATION

CONTENTS

• TERMS OF DELIVERY AND USE
• OVERVIEW
• SETTING FRENDS RADON TO RUN AS A SCHEDULED TASK WITH WINDOWS TASK SCHEDULER
  • On Microsoft Windows Server 2003
  • On Microsoft Windows Server 2008
• SETTING FRENDS RADON TO RUN WITH FRENDS IRON
• CONFIGURATION FILE CONTENTS
  • Configuration element descriptions
• FILTER STRINGS
• VERSION HISTORY

TERMS OF DELIVERY AND USE

OVERVIEW

FRENDS Radon is a light-weight tool that emails reports from events in Windows application event log.

FRENDS Radon works on Windows Server 2003 R2 / 2008 and requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 to run

To run FRENDS Radon, you first need to configure it, telling which events to report and where to send the report to. This is done by creating a configuration file named Frends.Radon.exe.config' and placing it in the same folder as the executable (Frends.Radon.exe).

The included example configuration file Frends.Radon.exe.exampleconfig directs FRENDS Radon to create HTML error report of Windows application log events and then sends the error report by email. The sample configuration uses the following settings that should be changed:

• The email is sent to 'john.doe@somedomain.com' and to 'jane.doe@somedomain.com'.
• 'smtp.somedomain.com' with port '25' is used as SMTP server for sending the event report.
• Default credentials (credentials of user logged on to machine) are being used with sending email.
• Email sender address is set to 'notification_noreply@somedomain.com', sender name is set to'NotificationService' and email subject is 'System event report'.
• All Error entries are reported, as described by the filter string EntryType = "Error"

SETTING FRENDS RADON TO RUN AS A SCHEDULED TASK WITH WINDOWS TASK SCHEDULER

On Microsoft Windows Server 2003

• Click 'Start' menu -> Open 'Control Panel -> Open 'Scheduled Tasks' -> Select 'Add Scheduled Task'.
• In the opening 'Scheduled Task Wizard' click 'Next'.
• Select Program to be run: navigate to Frends.Radon.exe by clicking the 'Browse' button.
• Enter name for task and select when task is wanted to be run. Click 'Next'
• Enter start time and start date for task and whether the task is to be run every day, every weekday or with some other day interval. Click 'Next'.
• Enter username and password for user who is used to run the task. Click 'Next'.
• Click 'Finish'.

Note that Frends.Radon.exe requires that the configuration file is placed in the same directory as the executable.

On Microsoft Windows Server 2008

• Click 'Start' menu -> Open 'Control Panel -> Open 'Administrative Tools' -> Open 'Task Scheduler'.
• Select 'Action' and then 'Create Task...' from menu bar or select 'Create Task...' from 'Actions' panel.
• Enter name for task and a description if you like to.
• Select 'Actions' tab and click 'New...'.
• Select Action: 'Start a program' and enter the location of Frends.Radon.exe in the 'Program/script:' textbox. you can also navigate to the Frends.Radon.exe file by clicking 'Browse'.
• On the 'Triggers' tab you can create schedules for task which control when the task will be run. New schedule is created by clicking 'New...'.
• Click 'OK' when you're done configuring the task.
• Select 'Task Scheduler Library' from the left navigation on 'Task Scheduler'. The task you created should now be shown on the task list.

SETTING FRENDS RADON TO RUN WITH FRENDS IRON

FRENDS Radon also comes as a Windows Workflow Foundation 3.5 version that can be run with FRENDS Iron, allowing more versatile scheduling and parameterization. The workflow version uses the same parameters as the standalone .exe version.

To set up the workflow with FRENDS Iron:

• As of FRENDS Iron version 2.4, FRENDS Radon samples can be imported during the FRENDS Iron Configuration process. For more information on the configuration process, see FRENDS Iron Configuration documentation.
• FRENDS Radon samples can also be imported manually, if for some reason the samples don't exist or they have been deleted.
  • Copy the Frends.Radon.Core.dll, as well as the Frends.Radon.WF.Activities.dll and Frends.Radon.WF.dll files from the FRENDSIronExample directory to the FRENDS Iron installation folder (by default under \Program Files\Frends Technology)
  • Import the ready-made 'FRENDS Radon Sample' routine from the FRENDSRadon-Routine.xml file using the FRENDS Iron management console (see FRENDS Iron documentation for details on the import process). Importing the routine also imports the FRENDS Radon task
    The routine has all the necessary parameters set up. It expects to get all filter and mail sending configuration from a connection point, the 'FRENDS Radon Sample CP' is included with the routine. To really use the workflow, you need to create your own connection point, as the sample CP has the same dummy data as in the sample config file.
  • Create a new connection point using the ready-made schema FRENDSRadon-CPSchema.xsd (again, see the FRENDS Iron documentation for more details on this).
    Assign this CP to the routine to run it. You can also create multiple CPs and create a CP group from them to send out different email reports to multiple people
  • To schedule the routine, just create a new schedule for it as described in the FRENDS Iron documentation.

• Filter parameters
  • filterString - Filter settings/FilterString.
  • maxTimespan - Filter settings/TimeLimitFilter.
  • maxMessages - Filter settings/MaxMessages.
  • remoteMachine - Filter settings/RemoteMachine.
  • eventLogName - Filter settings/EventLogName.
• Config parameters
  • smtpServerName - SMTP settings/SmtpServerName.
  • portNumber - SMTP settings/PortNumber.
  • subject - Email details/Subject.
  • senderName - Email details/SenderName.
  • senderAddress - Email details/SenderAddress.
  • recipients - Email details/Recipients. This parameters differs from executable-version parameters as in workflow several recipients must be delimitered with a semicolon, like: 'john.doe@example.org;jane.doe@example.org'.
  • useWindowsCredentials - SMTP settings/UseWindowsCredentials.
  • username - SMTP settings/Username -optional.
  • password - SMTP settings/Password -optional. When entering a password you may not want it to be shown in the user interface, and for that purpose you can use encrypted connection point fields. For more information on encrypted connection point fields, see FRENDS Iron documentation.
  • maxIdleTime - SMTP settings/MaxIdleTime.

Updating FRENDS Radon

Updating with the FRENDS Iron Configuration:

• Run FRENDS Iron Configuration
• Check the checkbox 'Import FRENDS Radon and FRENDS Cobalt sample routines and assemblies' box on the Service Configuration page
• You will be warned about overwriting the assemblies, read the warning and press yes
• The old assemblies will be overwritten and new tasks and connection points will be imported.
• If you have old versions of the Radon connection points, task or routine and wish to still use them, you need to update them manually

Updating existing tasks manually:

• Update the connection points: Load the new schema and fill in the new parameters if needed
• Update the task from the Task properties:
  • reselect 'Workflow Assembly'
  • reselect 'Workflow class'
  • add the new 'Parameters'
• Update the Routine's 'Task Arguments' from the Routine properties

Refer to the FRENDSRadonTutorial.htm for more information on how to accomplish the tasks above.

The old tasks and connection points should work with the new assemblies. Note that when updating from versions prior to 1.3, you will have to update the task. This is because the assembly has been strong named and it cannot be referenced by previous assembly type name. You can fix this from the Radon task properties by reselecting the Frends.Radon.WF.dll

CONFIGURATION FILE CONTENTS

FRENDS Radon comes with a example config file Frends.Radon.exe.exampleconfig with the following contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="Frends.Radon.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
    </configSections>
    <applicationSettings>
        <Frends.Radon.Properties.Settings>
	    <!-- Mail sending settings -->
            <setting name="SmtpServerName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>smtp.somedomain.com</value>
            </setting>
            
            <setting name="PortNumber" serializeAs="String">
                <value>25</value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- Time in milliseconds the SMTP connection can be idle before it is closed -->
            <setting name="MaxIdleTime" serializeAs="String">
                <value>100000</value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- email address to be used as sender address 
	    NOTE: Some SMTP servers filter the sent messages based on the sender address, so make sure your server accepts this address -->
            <setting name="SenderAddress" serializeAs="String">
                <value>notification_noreply@somedomain.com</value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- The email recipients -->
            <setting name="Recipients" serializeAs="Xml">
                <value>
                    <ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
                        <string>john.doe@somedomain.com</string>
                        <string>jane.doe@somedomain.com</string>
                    </ArrayOfString>
                </value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- Text to be displayed as email aubject -->
            <setting name="Subject" serializeAs="String">
                <value>System event report</value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- text to be displayed as email sender name -->
            <setting name="SenderName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>FRENDS Radon</value>
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- Some SMTP servers require mail clients to be authenticated. 
	    If you set this setting true, the credentials for the user account running the exe will be provided. 
	    If this is false, the Username and Password settings below are used. If those are left empty, the email is sent anonymously.-->
	    <setting name="UseWindowsCredentials" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            
            <setting name="Username" serializeAs="String">
                <value />
            </setting>
            
            <setting name="Password" serializeAs="String">
                <value />
            </setting>
			
	    <!-- Filter settings -->
	    <!-- From how long from the past we want to report entries? 
	    This setting should match the schedule, i.e. if you send the report every hour, you should set the time limit to 1:00:00, or one hour -->
            <setting name="TimeLimitFilter" serializeAs="String">
                <value>1.00:00:00</value> <!-- reports entries from the past 24 hours -->
            </setting>
            
	    <!--  The maximum number of messages to include in a report 
	    200 by default if you don't give anything. To return all, set this to 0 -->
            <setting name="MaxMessages" serializeAs="String">
	        <value>200</value> 
            </setting>
            
	    <!-- The filter string. If empty, all entries will be reported -->
            <setting name="FilterString" serializeAs="String">
                <value>EntryType = "Error"</value> <!-- reports only Error entries -->
            </setting>
			
	    <!-- The name of the remote computer whose event log to read, if required, leave empty if local -->
            <setting name="RemoteMachine" serializeAs="String">
                <value></value>
            </setting>
			
	    <!-- The name of the event log to read, if required. Defaults to Application when left empty -->
            <setting name="EventLogName" serializeAs="String">
                <value></value>
            </setting>

	    </Frends.Radon.Properties.Settings>
    </applicationSettings>
</configuration>

Configuration element descriptions

SMTP settings

SmtpServerName

Server name or IP address of host to be used for SMTP actions.

PortNumber

Port number for SMTP actions. Should be 25 by default

MaxIdleTime

Sets up a time (in milliseconds), enclosed in value-tags, how long connection can remain idle before it is closed.

UseWindowsCredentials

If SMTP server requires authentication and default credentials of currently logged user's are wanted to use, set this value to 'True'. If this value is set to 'False' and no username and password are not given in elements below, email is being sen Anonymously.
NOTE: If credentials are used, they are being sent in clear text to the server.

Username -optional

SMTP username for sending email. If default credentials are being used or anonymous access is allowed on server an is used, username and password configuration elements can be left blank.
NOTE: Username is being sent in clear text to the server.

Password -optional

Password for SMTP user.
NOTE: Password is being sent in clear text to the server.

Email details

SenderAddress

Email address to be used with sent emails. NOTE: Some SMTP servers filter the sent messages based on the sender address, so make sure your server accepts this address

SenderName

Display name for email address, which is shown as the sender name in emails.

Recipients

Recipient(s) to whom the event report should be sent. Each recipient must be enclosed in separate string-tags

Subject

Text to be displayed on email subject line.

Filter settings

TimeLimitFilter

From how long from the past we want to report entries? This setting should match the schedule, i.e. if you send the report every hour, you should set the time limit to 1:00:00, or one hour
NOTE: This is parsed to a Timespan, the format is d.HH:mm:ss

MaxMessages

The maximum number of messages to include in a report. 200 by default if you don't give anything. To return all, set this to 0.

RemoteMachine

The name of the machine whose event log will be read. Leave this empty if the target machine is the local machine.
NOTE: Reading a remote eventlog is much slower than reading a local eventlog.
Additionally the user with which FRENDS Radon is run must be able to read the event log, this can be achieved by adding the user to the target computer's Event Log Readers group.

EventLogName

The name of the event log which will be read, e.g. Application or Security. Defaults to Application if left empty.

FilterString

The filter string to use. See the section Filter string below for details and examples

FILTER STRINGS

The filter string can be used to choose which events are reported. If the string is empty, all entries will be returned.

The filter string is essentially a simple condition string a bit like SQL WHERE -clause. You define the filters using entry properties and operators (And, Or, Not, =, >, <, <> etc.). All strings need to be enclosed in double quotation marks ("). For the string-valued properties, like Message, you can call methods like Contains(), StartsWith(), EndsWith() etc.

The following table shows some examples of filter strings and what they will return.

The table below shows the entry properties you can use in your queries.

VERSION HISTORY