What we use the SMS connector for

[adrien]

At Qbik, we think the SMS connector for WinGate is extremely cool. We use it for a number of things.

1. It sends me an SMS whenever certain things happen, such as whenever WinGate starts or stops. So if I'm remotely triggering a WinGate update, I get an SMS when it comes back up, including the new WinGate version number (so I know the update was successful).
2. It sends me an SMS whenever the rate of auth failures goes over 10 / minute.
3. It sends me an SMS whenever our MySQL daemon is using too much CPU or RAM for too long. Using Performance Counters in WinGate, tied to data monitoring and a notification plan with an initial delay, I get an SMS if our MySQL daemon uses more than 50% CPU for over 60s.
4. SMS when some node connects or disconnects from our VPN.

I can also get WinGate to do a number of things remotely by sending it an SMS. For instance restarting WinGate, triggering a WinGate update check, triggering an external program to run, or reporting back to me on operating conditions of the server (again gleaned from the performance counters plugin).

Since anything that is being monitored in Data Monitoring is available in script, by accessing the global Data object, then any time you get WinGate to generate an SMS or email, you can embed data. E.g. if you monitor system CPU and publish it as say Performance Counters: System CPU, then if you embed

{{Data.GetMonitor("PerfCounters", "System CPU").Current.Value}} in your SMS, it will send you the number.

Adrien