topic Monitor HDD free space on windows systems in Getting Data In

Monitor HDD free space on windows systems

rapmancz — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 21:27:37 GMT

Hello, I am using single Splunk Enterprise instance on Windows server to collect data on TCP/IP port and monitor csv log files.
The server is an active directory member.

I would like to extend the functionality to monitor free space (in %) on client windows 7 machines (ca 150 hosts), also active directory members, all logged with same domain user.

I am confused from Splunk documentation, which all steps I should perform.

Is it necessary to install universal forwarder on each host?
Is it necessary to install additional Splunk for Windows app?

Seems to be more complicated than I expected.

For me it would be enough to to send the information once after login (part of the login script).

How do you collect the data from Windows machines?

Re: Monitor HDD free space on windows systems

adonio — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:22:34 GMT

hello @rapmancz,
i feel the word "necessary" is pretty strong.
i would say, it is recommended, and will add, that there is so much more to collect then the free space in percentage from clients
having said that, read here about bringing windows data in:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.6.2/Data/AboutWindowsdataandSplunk
if disk usage is all you need, then only enable the perfmon disk input and set the desired interval.
regarding "complicated", installing a forwarder is very straight forward, read here:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/6.6.2/Forwarder/InstallaWindowsuniversalforwarderfromaninstaller
then you can silently install fast via simple script on all your hosts, read here:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Forwarder/6.6.2/Forwarder/InstallaWindowsuniversalforwarderfromaninstaller
then you can actually controll all the inputs of all your forwarders from a single interface using Forwarder Management, start reading here:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.6.2/Updating/Aboutdeploymentserver
to your last question, 99% of the Splunk environments that i have seen leverage the Universal Forwarder and TA for windows (or msad, exchange, whatever) to collect windows data.

p.s. if it takes you more than a work day to bring that data in, ping us here and i am positive the community will give you the boost you need to accomplish your task

good luck and happy splunking

Re: Monitor HDD free space on windows systems

rapmancz — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 14:38:52 GMT

Thank you for your comment.

I installed Universal forwarder 6.6.2 on one test machine (Windows 7 32bit) and activated checkboxes to send event log data and performance data.

In Splunk Enterprise 6.6.2, I can see windows event log entries, but no performance data. When searching for events from this machine, I can see it writes only to main index, no entries in perfmon index.

Re: Monitor HDD free space on windows systems

adonio — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 14:41:56 GMT

start here:
http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.6.2/Troubleshooting/Cantfinddata