Default Parameters for SPSCSitesTest

This test captures the total number of site collections and sites on the Sharepoint server / farm and reports whether/not these numbers exceed the permissible limits. In addition, the test also tracks changes in the size of the site collections and sites over time, and promptly intimates administrators if the actual size is about to reach/exceed the size quota set for the site collection. In the process, the test points you to those site collections that are growing rapidly and the sites that may be contributing to their growth. If administrators initiate measures to curb the abnormal growth in the number or the size of the site collections and sites, they can once again take the help of this test to understand which sites and site collections are the least popular, so that such sites and site collections can be marked as probable targets for deletion or trimming.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the SPSCSitesTest.

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• If a site collection is not modified for a duration exceeding the value (in days) specified in the LEAST ACTIVE SITE COLLECTION DAYS text box, then this test will count that site collection as a Least active site collection.

• If a site is not modified for a duration exceeding the value (in days) specified in the LEAST ACTIVE SITE DAYS text box, then this test will count that site as a Least active site.

• Typically, farm-level metrics - eg., metrics on farm status, site collections, usage analytics - will not vary from one SharePoint server in the farm to another. If these metrics are collected and stored in the eG database for each monitored server in the SharePoint farm, it is bound to unnecessarily consume space in the database and increase processing overheads. To avoid this, farm-level metrics collection is by default switched off for the member servers in the SharePoint farm, and enabled only if the server being monitored is provisioned as the Central Administration site. Accordingly, the FETCH FARM MEASURES is set to If Central Administration by default. This default setting ensures that farm-level metrics are collected from and stored in the database for only a single SharePoint server in the farm.  

  If you want to completely switch-off farm-level metrics collection for a SharePoint farm, then set this parameter to No.

  Some high-security environments may not allow an eG agent to be deployed on the Central Administration site. Administrators of such environments may however require farm-level insights into status and performance. To provide these insights for such environments, you can optionally enable farm-level metrics collection from any monitored member server in the farm, even if that server is not provisioned as the Central Administration site. For this, set this parameter to Yes when configuring this test for that member server. 

• When monitoring a SharePoint 2010 server, this test has to be configured with the credentials of a domain user with the following privileges:

  • The user should be part of the SharePoint Farm Administrators group. To know how to add a user to this group, click here.

  • The user should have shell admin access to all databases in SharePoint. To know how to grant this privilege to a user, click here.

  • The user should be part of the following groups on the eG agent host:

    • Administrators

    • WSS_ADMIN_WPG

    • IIS_USRS

    • Performance Monitor Users

    • WSS_WPG

    • Users

    To know how to add a user to one of these groups, click here.

  • The user should have full control access to each web application that needs to be monitored on the Sharepoint server. To know how to grant this level of access to a user, click here.

  • The user should have read and execute access to the eG agent install directory. To know how to grant this level of access to a user, click here.

  It is recommended that you create a special user for this purpose and assign the aforesaid privileges to him/her. Once such a user is created, specify the domain to which that user belongs in the DOMAIN text box, and then, enter the credentials of the user in the DOMAIN USER and PASSWORD text boxes. To confirm the password, retype it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• The DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing default configurations of tests, the values with “$” indicate variables that will be replaced by the eG system according to the specific server being managed - for instance, $hostName is the host/nickname of the target host, $port is the port number of the server being monitored. E.g., for a server xyz:80, $hostName will be changed automatically by the eG manager to “xyz” and $port will be changed to “80” when configuring a test.