Gadget for access to remote machine

[simonsoft]

I'd like to see an official sidebar gadget for monitoring a remote machine.

I made a crappy one by my self using exported xml data. Could you make something official and better?

this is an image of my gadget connected to the remote eeebox machine

[hdsentinel]

Hi !

Thanks for the idea, I like it so much!
I sent a private message and email about it.

[kramttocs]

I know this post is close to a year old but I really like the idea of a remote gadget. simonsoft (if you're still around) - would it be possible for you to post your gadget for us? Or hdsentinal - did simonsoft happen to give you the code back when you emailed him about it?

[kramttocs]

First off, as this thread shows, the credit for the initial concept and gadget that sparked my interest goes to simonsoft.
Because I was interested in a feature such as this, I have updated simonsofts gadget to work for my needs.
Use:
Extract the zip file (see the post below this one) and double click on the gadget file to install it
Through the settings screen, enter the url of the server (without the http://) running hdsentinel (make sure you have the web integration turned on) Ex: someservername:port
If you have security enabled, check the Password required box and enter your password. Leave the username as is or put anything in there (this will most likely be removed from the settings screen in the future since it isn't used by hdsentinel)
Adjust the thresholds and refresh time to your liking.

Screenshots:
Default View

3.PNG (9.58 KiB) Viewed 121131 times

CPU Cores Expanded (by clicking on 'Total CPU X%')

4.PNG (11.76 KiB) Viewed 121130 times

Drive Detail (by clicking on the Disk #, Temp, or Status)

5.PNG (32.22 KiB) Viewed 121130 times

Any feedback would be great as testing has been limited with only one server available to me.
Please let me know of any feature requests you may have - I have included the information important to me and thus possibly missed some that others use.

[kramttocs]

**SEE NEWER VERSION**

Attached is the zip file for the gadget

Updates
1.1 - updated credits *non-critical update

[kramttocs]

**SEE NEWER VERSION**

Attached is the zip file for the gadget v1.2

Updates
1.2 *Recommended update

Interface updates
New settings menu
Several bug fixes
Customization of gadget colors
Themes (some are ugly as sin, I know, but you get the idea and possibilities) - email me the hex codes if you create a good one and I will add it.
Code optimization

[jsyjr]

Just discovered this gadget via a post on mediasmartserver.net. It looks nearly perfect for the level of monitoring I want in front of me all the time. My one request would be access to the temperatures of the CPU cores (just as you already provide per disk). In the unexpanded display I would opt for the max over all cores.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message.
Yes, this is nice idea, however, the main priority is to diagnose hard disks and SSDs.
Anyway, it is possible that Hard Disk Sentinel will have a such feature and then the gadget may provide this information also.

[the1poet]

I'm running HDSentinal (latest version 3.7) and this gadget version 1.2, but am unable to see the statistics from the server.
I can access the xml version from my web browser, but the gadget seems to have no luck.
Has 1.2 been tested to work with HD Sentinel version 3.7?

[hdsentinel]

Yes of course, it should without problems.

Can you access the XML version from this remote computer or you tried from the same system? It is possible that there's a firewall issue.
Do you see some kind of error or message or partial information displayed in the gadget?

You may use Report -> Send test report to developer option in HD Sentinel so I can check the actual status. May help to see what can cause issues.

[the1poet]

Yes, I can access the XML from another computer. It's got me baffled.
After some thinking, the only other thing I can think of that may be causing the problem is the drive pooling software I'm using called "Drive Bender" (http://www.drivebender.com/ if you haven't heard of it before)
Basically it "pools" my drives together to make one virtual drive.
As this is not a real physical drive, HD Sentinel doesn't fill a lot of information, as explained there is nothing to fill.
Is it possible to tell HD Sentinel to NOT monitor a particular drive and not produce information in the report? Perhaps if I could ignore the "drive" all together it may solve my problem.
Let me know what you think.

Thanks

Josh

P.S. I'll also send you a Status Report as per request

EDIT: Windows Home Server 2011 uses Server restrictions like the full version where it restricts Internet Explorer by default. I'll have to manually send you the report via e-mail.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the information and the report!
If possible, please save the XML file in the browser on this remote computer and send it also in email to info@hdsentinel.com
Then I can check what happens if the gadget directly load that, to verify what can cause the problem.
As you may know, this remote access gadget is not really made by myself but made by kramttocs, brilliant developer, so we'll try to investigate the issue together, and the XML file would surely help in testing.

At the moment, it is not possible to exclude drive(s) from monitoring. You may any time hide that virtual drive from the main window (just right click on the list of drives in the upper left section), but the report/XML file contains information for that also.
Not sure, but it is possible that it caused the issue, if so, it will be fixed of course.

Thanks for your attention and excuse me for the troubles.

[the1poet]

Big thanks to Scott and Jonas for fixing the Gadget.
Not sure what magic they worked, but it's all good now.

Cheers

Josh

[hdsentinel]

BIG thanks to Scott for his excellent work, I'm sure the updated version of the gadget will be soon available here

Big thanks to Scott and Jonas for fixing the Gadget.
Not sure what magic they worked, but it's all good now.

Cheers

Josh

[kramttocs]

**SEE NEWER VERSION**

Hi all,
Here is the latest version (1.5) of the gadget - sorry it took so long to get it out here
This one fixes the issue that Josh found as well as some other small changes/fixes.
Let me know if you have any issues or requests.
Thanks!

[FuriousK]

Thanks for posting that updated version kramttocs (and to anyone else who helped out with this thing).
Really useful gadget!
I love being able to see the status of the server drives on my desktop.

[alex_uk]

Just wanted to say thanks!

This is the most useful gadget I have ever found!

Cheers
Alex

[klauzser]

Nice. This really is a great idea!

[kramttocs]

**I have removed this version just because I've got some more features in 1.7 that are almost ready**

Attached is the zip file for the gadget v1.6

Updates
1.6 *Optional Update

New: Ability to save settings to file so they don't have to be reentered after closing the gadget
New: A new XL style that doubles the size of the gadget
Fix: the hdd detail screen wasn't showing the partition bar percent if the drive was low on space

!!NOTES!!

1. In order to use the file storage, you MUST create a text file called HDSentinelRemote in your My Documents folder. The gadget will see this file and save to it or read from it the next time Settings is opened.

2. When changing from the XL style to the default style, it will take about 12 intervals (server checks) before it shrinks itself down to the correct size



Thanks

[kramttocs]

Attached is the zip file for the gadget v1.7

Updates
1.7 *Optional Update

New: It now saves settings to file so they don't have to be reentered after closing and reopening the gadget
New: A new XL style that doubles the size of the gadget
New: You now have the option (on the Thresholds tab) to show 'drives' that are missing Temp or Health attributes. It's possible that this may not work correctly on all drives. An issue with a drive usually manifests itself as the drive detail flyout showing as a small empty square
Fix: the hdd detail screen wasn't showing the partition bar percent if the drive was low on space
Appearance: The title of the gadget is now the name of your server. This cleans up the interface and saves a little space


!!NOTES!!

1. The gadget saves the settings file to: C:\Users\YOURUSERNAMEHERE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\hdsentinel_remote.gadget\HDSentinelRemote.txt. An upgrade will clear out this file so you will want to back it up prior to taking an upgrade and replace it after the upgrade.

2. When changing from the XL style to the default style, it will take about 12 intervals (server checks) before it shrinks itself down to the correct size



Thanks