When you create a monitor, rule, or task and when you create certain management pack templates, you have to specify a target class. The target determines on which agent the monitor or rule runs.

Selecting a target for a monitor or rule

The monitor or rule that you create is deployed to any agent with at least one instance of the target object. One copy of the monitor or rule is loaded for each instance of the target object on the agent. You can check what instances of each class of object exist by using the Discovered Inventory view in the Operations console.

Examples

  • If you want the monitor or rule to run on all Windows computers in your management group, select Microsoft Windows Computer.

  • If you want the monitor or rule to run on all UNIX computers in your management group, select Unix Computer.

  • If you want the monitor or rule to run on all computers running SQL Server 2008 in your management group, select SQL 2008 DB Engine.

  • If you want the monitor or rule to run on all computers running any version of SQL Server in your management group, select SQL DB Engine.

  • If you want the monitor or rule to run against all logical disks on all Windows servers in your management group, select Logical Disk (Server).

Targeting a group

You should not select a group as the target of a monitor or rule. The rule runs against the group itself, not against the members of the group. If you want the monitor or rule to only be applied to the targets in a particular group, use the following procedure.

  1. Select a broad target, such as Microsoft Windows Computer.

  2. In the wizard, specify that the monitor or rule should be disabled.

  3. After the monitor or rule is created, create an override to enable it for the specific group.

Selecting a group for a management pack template

Certain management pack templates require a group to be specified. This specifies the group of computers that will be searched to determine if they have the feature that the wizard is monitoring. For example, if you run the Windows Service monitoring wizard, you specify the name of a service to monitor. The wizard searches all computers in the target group that have the service installed. Only those computers with the service are monitored.

Examples

  • If you want the wizard to include all Windows agents in your management group, select All Windows Computers.

  • If you want the wizard to include all UNIX agents in your management group, select Unix Computer Group.

  • If you want the wizard to include all computers running SQL Server 2008 in your management group, select SQL 2008 Computers.

  • If you want the wizard to include all computers running any version of SQL Server in your management group, select SQL Computers.

Selecting a target for a view

Views have a target and an optional group. The target is selected in the Show data related to box, and the group is selected in the Show data contained in specific group box. If no group is specified, the view includes data for all instances of the object. If a group is specified, the view includes data for all instances of the object that are in the group.

Examples

  • If you want the view to include all objects in a particular group regardless of what kind of object they are, select Object as the target.

  • If you want the view to include all instances of a particular class, select that class and (All) for the group.

  • If you want the view to include all objects in a particular group that are instances of a particular class, select both the target and the group.

For More Information

See Understanding Classes and Objects and Selecting a Target in the Authoring Guide.

See Also