alternative for NET SEND

[ron]

This does not work on Windows 7.

How about an option to run a specified program w/parms?

[hdsentinel]

Hi Ron,

Yes - NET SEND is one of the functions removed by Microsoft.

Anyway, independently from the NET SEND, you can configure Hard Disk Sentinel to perform any action (including execution of specified program with parameters) upon any issues, just configure it on Configuration -> Operations (define the project) and assign as Panic Backup project.

[ron]

It looks like all I can do is run a program if an alert is triggered. There's no way the context of the alert can be conveyed to the program I'm running. So it doesn't know if the panic was triggered due to space or temperature.

[hdsentinel]

Yes, it is 100% correct.

The e-mail alert or the message sent through NET SEND (on Windows 2000, XP, 2003) contains the cause of the alert in textual format.

[ron]

Would be nice if I could use %CAUSE% in the argument to my program. Then it could display the same text as the email. With the free NET SEND solutions that are available for Windows 7 (www.winsentmessenger.com/sent) that functionality could once again be used in HDS.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check and this may be available in a later version!

[klauzser]

Any update for Windows 8 version?

[hdsentinel]

Hard Disk Sentinel (Pro) is compatible with Windows 8.
You can create a "backup project" to be executed on specific events and configure it to be launched (instead of NET SEND).

Any update for Windows 8 version?

[ron]

But the context of the alert is still not available

[hdsentinel]

But the context of the alert is still not available

Please tell me the source OS type (where Hard Disk Sentinel is installed and running) and the target OS (where do you prefer to send the message).
The best is always to use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, to check the actual situation.

The "Messenger" service should run on both systems in order to work.

[Vas]

Hello,

first of all, HD Sentinel is an ingenuous application. Thanks for all the hard work! I've just purchased a family license pack.

Now, I would like to also vote for the feature of having variables containing exact alert or warning wordings as well as parts of the big report. This is the top feature that I'm currently missing. Background is that I would like to use a custom command ("curl" HTTP client in my case) to push HD Sentinel alerts and warnings to my smartphone via Android notifications. I can set it up for running, but currently there is no way of transferring the context information of what EXACTLY happened.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks so much for your message, kind words and support !

Yes, it is planned to have alternative methods too to improve the usability and add alternative methods to transfer messages / alerts, just until now, did not find the best solution which could be effective.

Please contact me directly on info@hdsentinel.com and let me know your ideas, thoughts, what methods would be the best - and will make things to meet the requirements and used exactly as preferred.

[Vas]

Hi,

I believe it would be better to keep the discussion here in case other people have some brilliant suggestions.

To make life easier I would split the feature requests into several steps, each next one having a lower priority than the previous one:

1) Implement environment variable (or variables) that would be available to the command from the environment/shell it is executing in. The example of current format of HD Sentinel display alerts is as follows:

Temperature threshold setting: 50 C
Disk: #0: Hitachi NNNNNN: 35 C
Disk: #1: Seagate NNNNNN: 54 C (Overheat)

Alerts are logged in this format:

8/12/2016 11:25:27 PM,"Temperature: 34 °C, Limit: 32 °C : Yellow temperature level reached."

The exact names and values of the variables are up to you as you know the program design much better. A good example are smartd enviroment variables used for custom notification command. Obviously the following information would be essential:

- Timestamp
- Host name
- Disk ID(s)/name(s) affected by the alerts (for example "Disk: #1: Seagate NNNNNNN")
- What exactly happened (for example, "Overheat")
- What the threshold value and actual value is (for example, "32 C" and "34 C" respectively)

The values should of course be plain text. As a first iteration I think it would be sufficient to put all details of the alert(s) into a single variable, for example %HDS_ALL%. Please note that the "noise" not belonging to the alert itself (such as partitioning info or info about the healthy non-affected disks) is not needed here, as the custom command might submit the message to systems with limited message lengths like Google notifications or SMPP/SMS. This "noise" should be put into a separate variable, which could be queried if needed.


2) Add an option to run custom command under "Message settings".

The current way via "Alerts" -> "Panic backup", and then "Operations" -> "Projects" and "Operations" -> "Panic backup" is a possible, but not very obvious and comfortable one. It would be much more logical if "custom command" would also be one of the ways to send a message, e.g. located under "Message settings". This is also the current logic of smartd.

Hope this helps to clarify.

Cheers

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the details and the idea!

Yes, I agree that if it is possible to specify any external command / tool in Configuration -> Message Settings to be invoked upon such alert, it may be useful and would make configuration easier - plus independent from the projects / operations.

Yes, and this external tool can use the variables set by Hard Disk Sentinel to process the alert message in any ways.
I'm sure the most useful is to create new variable for the items you suggested:

- Timestamp
- Host name
- Disk ID(s)/name(s) affected by the alerts (for example "Disk: #1: Seagate NNNNNNN")
- What exactly happened (for example, "Overheat")
- What the threshold value and actual value is (for example, "32 C" and "34 C" respectively)

as then the external tool can use them in any combination and context, for example by creating a text message to be sent.

> Google notifications or SMPP/SMS.

Not sure, but if possible (after this feature completed / available) can you please share some ideas, thoughts, or a how-to-use example?
I'm sure this would help other users to maximise the usability and get the most from the alert system.
Thanks!

[Vas]

> Google notifications or SMPP/SMS.

Not sure, but if possible (after this feature completed / available) can you please share some ideas, thoughts, or a how-to-use example?
I'm sure this would help other users to maximise the usability and get the most from the alert system.
Thanks!

Don't worry, such things would be done by the command/script, not by HD Sentinel. The latter would just to run the command and make sure the env variable(s) is/are accessible.

In my specific example, I would be sending the alerts to Pushover via HTTP by calling something like this:

d:\install\curl.exe --cacert d:\install\curl\cacert.pem --form-string "token=<mytoken>" --form-string "user=<user_token>" --form-string "message=%HDS_ALL%" https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json

I highlighted the place where the env variable comes into play, as it would essentially provide the payload of the message.

[Vas]

Hi,

I was finaally able to test the 5.x version where this feature request was implemented. And I should say - it works PERFECTLY. Calling external batch script which utilizes HDS environment variables works beautifully.

I'm using the following contents of the .bat file:

D:\soft\curl\curl.exe -s --cacert D:\soft\curl\cacert.pem --form-string token=<token> --form-string user=<user> --form-string message="%HDS_TimeStampClean% %HDS_Host% %HDS_Disk% %HDS_Threshold%. Health Information: %HDS_Health%" https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json

Now I'm getting real-time alerts via Google Notifications on my smartphone if HDS detects an alert!

Many thanks for making it happen!

[hdsentinel]

Thanks so much for your confirmation, glad to hear things are working correctly

Thanks also for the details, I believe this may help users to set up Hard Disk Sentinel alerts with Google Notifications by this function.