Examining a Computer

The NxTop Administrator can examine any registered computer from NxTop Center, and receive information about its disk use and hardware assets. Several types of information are available for a computer on the tabs of the main panel:

• Summary
• Diagnostics
• Disk resource use
• Software Version
• Hardware assets
• Events related to the computer

Summary

The Summary tab displays detail about the computer: the registered owner, make, model, and asset tag number,  IP address, NxTop Engine version, and overview of the CPU and RAM available.

Disk Resource Use

Current use of a computer's hard drive can be examined, including the space allocated on the physical disk for each disk partition (system, user, local) of each virtual machine (VM) on the computer, and the actual amount in use. This is updated when the computer contacts NxTop Center.

To see the current disk use on a computer:

1. Open Computers on the navigation panel and select the computer to examine.

2. Click the Resources tab in the main panel.

The total capacity, allocated space, and current use are displayed, both as numbers and in a graphic if a current network connection is available, or just the last reported numbers if no network connection to the client computer is available.

Diagnostics

The NxTop Administrator can request diagnostic data from a client computer registered on NxTop Center. The computer will prepare a selection of log files for the NxTop Engine, VMs, and operating system to help diagnose issues on the computer, and pack it in a zip file. The zip file can then be opened and the contents examined from NxTop Center.

Virtual Computer technical support also has the ability to enable a remote support capability to connect to the NxTop Engine during a support case.

To request a diagnostics packet from a computer:

Steps

1. On NxTop Center, click Computer on the navigation panel and select the computer to be examined.
2. Click the (Request Diagnostic) action.
    
   The request is sent to the selected computer when it next contacts NxTop Center.
3. Click on the Diagnostics tab on the main panel for the selected computer. The tab displays:
   • the date of the last pending diagnostics request (if there is an unanswered request), or that there is pending request
   • the date of the last diagnostic response sent is listed
   • a link to the latest diagnostic packet received

   

4. Click the link to open the zip file into a folder view. The log files can then be examined.

Canceling Pending requests

The administrator can cancel pending requests using the Cancel Diagnostics action. This action is only available for a computer after a Diagnostic request has been made while that request is outstanding.

Software Version

NxTop Engine updates can be deployed centrally from the NxTop Center. The Software Version tab lists which version of the NxTop Engine are available on the computer.

Specific versions of the NxTop Engine can be assigned to individual computers. See Modifying a Computer for more information.

Hardware Assets

When a computer is registered, it sends a file listing its hardware assets (including memory size, processor and chip sets, on-board peripherals) to NxTop Center.

This list can be viewed from NxTop Center by:

1. Open Computers on the navigation panel and select the computer to examine

2. Click the Hardware tab in the main panel.

The list appears in XML format:

Events

NxTop Center records all events to all objects managed in the NxTop environment and these are viewable at each level of the NxTop management hierarchy. The Events tab for a computer lists the events that have occurred on that specific computer, including completing backups, NxTop preparation, upgrading the NxTop Engine upgrades, and so on. Events can be just informational or indicate errors if failures occur on a computer. See Events for more information.