2003-03-09 Netwiz Beta Testers

A new MonTel Monitor utility.

I have been asked from a number of places to provide a way of being able to tell if the MonTel server is still working. Failures, when they occur, are often due to bad path mapping or network failures. So therefore, probably the best way to tell if the MonTel Server is working is to check to see if the "Main Call Record Database" has been updated recently.

The new utility is called SerMon (for Server Monitor). SerMon.exe is available on the web in the usual place (the link Updates for Netwiz MonTel clients on the web page http://www.netwiz.com.au/customer.html) in SERVERCN.ZIP .

SerMon Provides a monitoring facility for the MonTel server running on the client computer independent of the MonTel Server itself. It does this by periodically (MontelDataRefresh x NumberOfDataRefreshesToCheckIni ) checking the last modified time and date of the PABXDCR.DAT file in the Main folder of the MonTel Data directory (the "Main Call Record Database") to see if the file is older than the number of "SecondsBeforeCheckMainDataFile".

By default it will announce a warning of a lack of change after 15 minutes in peak time, and 1 hour in non peak. Peaktime by default is between 800 and 1800 hours (8 and 18). These four values can be modified using EdDev32 in the MonTel Server section. Down load EDDEV32.zip to edit, or install all the files from alpha.zip. (EdIni32 2.9.58 is still in beta).

[MonTelServer]

PeakSecondsBeforeCheckMainDataFile = "900"

OffPeakSecondsBeforeCheckMainDataFile = "3600"

PeakStartHour = "8"

PeakEndHour = "18"

When Sermon is run it creates a small (blue) Icon in the system tray. This will flash (by default) each time a call record is received. Use the "right click context menu" to turn this off. While a the "Main Call Record Database" remains unchanged (not updated) it will slowly fill the blue icon with white in a clock timer style. When the time since the file was updated is greater than the "SecondsBeforeCheckMainDataFile" the now white icon will flash Red, and a popup message will display a warning.

This program is brand new... I have only worked on it properly for less than two days. But it is simple enough that it should work with out too many problems. But please test it first. It is small and fast (written in pure 'c' straight to the Windows API).

Please let me know how it goes.

I'll have some documentation available later. I'll send a another E-mail later with some links, plus news on other updates (I have fixed an old issue with the context menu in Notify32 not disappearing.)