Inside Hardware Sentry

Architecture

Hardware Sentry is principally composed of:

•	A common hardware monitoring engine: MS_HW_.km KM classes and ms_hw_.lib PSL libraries that run with the PATROL Agent of each monitored computer and,

•	Several connector files (MS_HW_*.hdf) that are platform-specific.

Upon startup, Hardware Sentry tests each connector in order to detect what hardware information sources are available (vendor-specific hardware agents, standards instrumentation layers, etc.). This is called the "detection process".

Once Hardware Sentry knows what hardware information sources are available and can be connected to, it tries to discover the hardware environment by querying these selected hardware information sources, as described in the corresponding *.hdf files. This is called the "discovery process".

Finally, when the detection and discovery processes are complete, Hardware Sentry starts collecting data about the discovered hardware environment (status, temperatures, voltages, etc.) by querying the detected hardware information sources. This is called the "collection process".

Here is a synopsis of the actions performed by Hardware Sentry:

•	Activation: Activates the MS_HW_MAIN class. Corresponding PATROL process: PRE-DISCOVERY process of the MS_HW_MAIN class. Executed once on the PATROL Agent.

•	Initialization phase: Reads and interprets agent configuration, creates the main Hardware Sentry icon and activates all of the Hardware Sentry classes. When in debug mode, performs some local diagnostic tests.

•	Detection Process: Tests each connector in order to detect which hardware information sources are available and can be connected to. Corresponding PATROL process: DETECTION process of the MS_HW_MAIN class.

•	Discovery Process: Discovers the hardware environment by querying previously detected hardware information sources. Creates the other class instances (MS_HW_TEMPERATURE, MS_HW_FAN etc.). Corresponding PATROL process: DISCOVERY process of the MS_HW_MAIN class. Executed every hour (default period).

•	Collection Process: Polls previously detected hardware information sources to gather data about the hardware environment. Corresponding PATROL process: Collector parameters of the MS_HW_MAIN class: fan Col, logicalDisk Coll etc. Executed every two minutes (default period).