I have been asked an odd one here, are there any guidelines as to how you should monitor web applications / web sites when it comes to the watcher nodes. So would you have a dedicated watcher server setup, use multiple ones if so how many and what would be the criteria for deciding which ones to use. I had assumed that you would probably use more than one server in more then one data center if possible. What extra load does it add to the watcher servers? Thanks for all your help. RRF

Hi Robin - The load is not excessive on a watcher node if just a few web sites are being checked from that watcher node, and not too frequently. If you loaded up an agent with dozens of sites that were checked every 1 or 2 minutes, that could start to generate a small load on the agent computer. Other tips: Remember you need to purchase a SCOM ML (management license) for each remotely monitored web site, if that web site is not hosted by a computer that already has a SCOM ML. What computer you select as the watcher node is important from the perspective aspect--from where do you want to measure the web site--from an internal LAN, a DMZ, or from the Internet? Selecting more than one watcher node per web site can be excessive, but doing so does add the ability to measure web site performance from multiple sites and identify issues as being localized or global. Good luck, John Joyner MVP-OpsMgr

Hi Robin - The load is not excessive on a watcher node if just a few web sites are being checked from that watcher node, and not too frequently. If you loaded up an agent with dozens of sites that were checked every 1 or 2 minutes, that could start to generate a small load on the agent computer. Other tips: Remember you need to purchase a SCOM ML (management license) for each remotely monitored web site, if that web site is not hosted by a computer that already has a SCOM ML. What computer you select as the watcher node is important from the perspective aspect--from where do you want to measure the web site--from an internal LAN, a DMZ, or from the Internet? Selecting more than one watcher node per web site can be excessive, but doing so does add the ability to measure web site performance from multiple sites and identify issues as being localized or global. Good luck, John Joyner MVP-OpsMgr

thank you very much for your great reply! :) RobinRF

thank you very much for your great reply! :) RobinRF