10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor FAQ

• I cannot get the traffic data from a remote computer via WMI. How can I fix this?
• I am using Windows XP Home (Vista Home) and I cannot get the traffic data from a remote computer via WMI. How can I fix this?
• How can I install Agents on network computers remotely without visiting each computer?
• How do I check whether I have administrator privileges on a remote computer?
• The program fails sending alerts via e-mail and SMS messages. How can I fix this or configure the program properly? What is the SMS server?
• A WMI sensor does not work. The program fails getting the state of network adapters from a remote computer. But when I was configuring the traffic sensor, I saw the list of adapters in the program. What should I do?
• The program cannot connect to another computer via SNMP when I am adding an SNMP sensor. The SNMP service is running on the remote PC and the Community string is correct. What is wrong?
• The program scans very slowly or hangs when the "TCP ping" option is selected under Windows XP. Why?
• The bandwidth monitoring service does not start. The service state is "starting". Why does this happen?
• I have configured the monitoring checks on one computer and would like to move all the settings and checks to another PC. How can I do this?
• Where does the program store the statistics data, reports, and other data?
• Can the program count the internal (local) and external (Internet) traffic independently from each other?
• When I was scanning the network for computers, the program proposed me to install agents on the remote PCs. I agreed, but the program could not connect to the agents.
• The program cannot connect to a newly installed agent and the sensor creation is failed. How can I create the Agent sensor?
• How to create the Admin$ share for the remote agent installation if it is disabled?
• When installing the agent MSI package through Group Policy, the server gives the error "There is no software installation data object".

 

Q: I cannot get the traffic data from a remote computer via WMI. How can I fix this?

A: Please read the help topic WMI Troubleshooting Guide. Pay your attention to the network access model under Windows XP/2003/2008/2012/Vista/7/8/10, the firewall settings, and the administrator rights. If you cannot use WMI remotely, you can use SNMP sensors or remote agents installed on computers instead of it.

 

Q: I am using Windows XP Home (Vista Home) and I cannot get the traffic data from a remote computer via WMI. How can I fix this?

A: Home versions of Windows do not support the remote WMI operation (WMI works only locally). Use SNMP sensors or remote agents installed on computers instead.

 

Q: How can I install Agents on network computers remotely without visiting each computer?

A: Please read this topic: "How to install Agents".

 

Q: How do I check whether I have administrator privileges on a remote computer?

A: Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and then select “Manage”. Then, on the menu at the top, select "Action -> Connect to Remote Computer" and select the remote computer, which you want our software to collect data from, and then click OK. If the console has connected successfully, and you can manage the remote computer, you do have the administrator privileges.

 

Q: The program fails sending alerts via e-mail and SMS messages. How can I fix this or configure the program properly? What is the SMS server?

A: For sending e-mail alerts, you need to do the following:

1. In the E-mail section of the program settings, configure SMTP server address (for example, smtp.gmail.com), port (25 by default), login and password for sending e-mails. You also need to provide a subject line and sender's e-mail address. Some ISPs block the TCP port 25 so you cannot send e-mails using the standard SMTP port. In this case, you need to ask your e-mail provider (check their web site) whether they have alternative ports for connecting to their SMTP server (for example, 2525).

2. Select a sensor, bring up the properties window (Right-click on it and select Edit sensor). Go to the Alerts tab, select an alert, click Edit. Click Next>> until the Step 2 is displayed. Select the Show message, if condition is fulfilled option, and then select the Send e-mail message option. Specify the necessary e-mail address.

For sending SMS alerts, you need to do almost the same. Our program sends SMS via e-mail. The most of mobile operators have e-mail-to-SMS gateways. Ask your operator about it or search the Internet for "email to SMS gateways".

1. In the SMS section of the program settings, configure your operator's SMS gateway address (for example, sms.mygsmop.com). Enter your country code in the Prefix field. Select the Phone number in e-mail subject option if your operator's gateway requires this.

2. Configure the SMTP settings as described above for sending outgoing e-mails.

3. Select a sensor, bring up the properties window (Right-click on it and select Edit sensor). Go to the Alerts tab, select an alert, click Edit. Click Next>> until the Step 2 is displayed. Select the Show message, if condition is fulfilled option, and then select the Send SMS message option. Specify your mobile phone number without a country code. The code will be added automatically from the program SMS settings (the Prefix field).

 

Q: A WMI sensor does not work. The program fails getting the state of network adapters from a remote computer. But when I was configuring the traffic sensor, I saw the list of adapters. What should I do?

A: This is because the program (the GUI part) is started under your current account, but the monitoring service (10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Service) is started under the System account by default. Please perform the steps 1-6 below to fix this.

The steps 1-4 will force the monitoring service to start under your PC admin
account instead of the System account:

1. Open the Service Manager: "Start" -> "Run..." -> Type services.msc and click "OK".

2. Find the 10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Service and open its properties via a double mouse click.

3. Move to the "Log On" tab.

4. Select the "This account" option. Click "Browse...", "Advanced...", and then "Find Now". Select a necessary admin account (it should have the admin rights on your computer). Click "OK" and "OK" again. Below, in the "Password" and "Confirm password" fields, enter the password of this account. Click "OK" and restart the service and the program.

5. In the "Service state", "Process existence", "File/folder existence", "File size", "Disk space", "MS SQL Server" (with Windows authorization) check properties, enable the "Authorization required" option and type login and password of a user that has can connect to the remote computer you want to monitor and has admin rights on that remote PC.

6. The remote computer should have the Classic access model selected. If you use a domain, the Classic model will be selected by default and you should not change it (otherwise, the Guest model will be used).

How to check or change the access model on your PC:

• Open the "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Administrative Tools" - "Local Security Policy" console on the remote PC.
• Open the "Local Policies" - "Security Options" (in Windows 7: "Security Settings" - "Local Policies" - "Security Options") item.
• Find the "Network Access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" in the right column.
• Open the item properties and select the "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves" access model setting. Apply the changes.

You can also try to provide the remote administrator username in this format: PC_NAME\username.

 

Q: The program cannot connect to another computer via SNMP when I am adding an SNMP sensor. The SNMP service is running on the remote PC and the Community string is correct. What is wrong?

A: Probably, the Windows Firewall is blocking the SNMP protocol on your and on the remote PC.
You can try disabling the Firewall and see if this helps. If the Firewall is blocking SNMP, you can add the SNMP service on the remote PC to the Exceptions
in the Windows Firewall settings. To do this, open the "Control Panel" -> "Windows Firewall". Move to the Exceptions tab. Click "Add Program" -> "Browse...". In the "Filename" field, enter the SNMP service path. For example, it can be C:\WINDOWS\System32\snmp.exe. You can see the correct path in the SNMP service properties.

On your local PC, you should also add our program c:\Program files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor\BandMonitor.exe and the monitoring service c:\Program files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor\BMsvc.exe to the Exception list of your Firewall.

Try to get the list of network interfaces again after doing this.

 

Q: The program scans very slowly or hangs when the "TCP ping" option is selected under Windows XP. Why?

A: This is due to Windows limitations on number of allowed simultaneous outgoing half-open TCP connections in Windows XP SP2(x86,x64)/SP3, 2003 Server SP1(x86)/SP2(x86,x64), Vista without SP(x86,x64) and with SP1(x86,x64). Learn more about this issue...

 

Q: The bandwidth monitoring service does not start. The service state is "starting". Why does this happen?

A: Please change the service starting account to an account having administrator rights. To do this, you can start the program executable file with the install command line parameter:

BandMonitor.exe /install

Or open the service properties in the Service Manager, click the "Log On" tab, select the "This account" option, and specify the username. For example, ".\username". You can use the "Browse..." button. Specify the password and click OK.

The service needs to be restarted after that. If it is hanging since the system start, it will be better to restart the PC. This is not the program error, this is a peculiarity of some Windows services. We also recommend you to clear the statistics database gathered by the program if you do not use the auto-clearing options in the program settings.

 

Q: I have configured the monitoring checks on one computer and would like to move all the settings and checks to another PC. How can I do this?

A: Use the backup and restore options. 1) On your old PC, select the "File - Backup Settings..." menu item. 2) Save settings to a folder. 3) Copy it to your new PC. 4) Install the program on the new PC. 5) On the new PC, select the "File - Restore Settings..." menu item and select the saved settings folder.

 

Q: Where does the program store the statistics data, reports, and other data?

A: The monitoring database and stats are stored in the following folder

C:\ProgramData\10-Strike\Bandwidth Monitor\ (for Windows Vista, 7, and newer) or

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\10-Strike\Bandwidth Monitor\ (for Windows XP).

The database folder has the following directory structure:

• The TStat subfolder contains the traffic data statistics. The stats files are stored in a proprietary format. You cannot read it using 3rd-party programs. If you need to export stats, please use the exporting to CSV file. You can import CSV files into MS Excel, MS Access, and other software.
• The Logs subfolder contains the program operation log file (BandMonitor.log) and the monitoring log (BMAlerts.log).
• The Reports subfolder is a default folder for saving generated reports. You can save reports to another folder.
• The Saved subfolder contains backup copies of the statistics data. You can backup the stats data in the program manually.
• .Ini files contain the program's settings (BandMonitor.ini and BMAlerts.ini). The .ini files are stored in the text format.

 

Q: Can the program count the internal (local) and external (Internet) traffic independently from each other?

A: Yes, the program can count the Internet traffic without considering the local traffic exchange. It can even not counting traffic from some exact IP addresses. To enable the traffic filtering mode, you need to install the Agent service on computers of your network. The Agent installation file is located in the program folder c:\Program Files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor\Agent\bandwidth-monitor-agent.exe.

After installing the agent service on a remote PC, create a sensor for that PC address and select the "Use Remote Agent" type. Select a necessary network interface and click the "Do not count local traffic..." button on the bottom of the window. Configure the filter parameters and finish the sensor creation process.

After a while, when the sensor is operating some time, you can check its statistics (the IP addresses section) and see that the local traffic (or traffic with the specified addresses) is not counted.

 

Q: When I was scanning the network for computers, the program proposed me to install agents on the remote PCs. I agreed, but the program could not connect to the agents.

A: It looks like the program could not install the agents remotely over the network. This can happen if you do not have the administrator rights or the admin$ share is missing on the remote PC (the program draws red crosses on the agent installation window in this case). Please fix the problems or install the agents manually on each computer:

1. Use the agent installation file located on this path c:\Program Files (x86)\10-?????? ???? ???????\Agent\bandwidth-monitor-agent.exe on the PC where the main program is installed (your PC). Copy this file to a USB drive or to that remote computer's share.
2. Run the bandwidth-monitor-agent.exe file and install the agent service.
3. In the main program on your PC, select the remote host where you have installed the agent, and create a sensor of the "Use Remote Agent" type.

To check that everything was done correctly, open the BMAgent.ini file (stored here c:\Program Files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Agent\) on the remote PC. It should contain a record like this:

IFaceNAME=\Device\NPF_{1F9AA03E-9C80-414E-AEC1-EDA822C3472C}
IFaceMASK=255.255.255.0
IFaceIP=192.168.1.151

 

Q: The program cannot connect to a newly installed agent and the sensor creation is failed. How can I create the Agent sensor?

A: Please check the following:

1. Is the 10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Agent Service running on the remote PC? Please check the agent log file on the remote PC (c:\Program Files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Agent\BMAgent.log). It should contain a record like this:
   20.01.2015 11:12:08: Agent started. ver=x.x; IP=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; Port=54231 (vx.xx)
2. Possibly, the agent is blocked by an antivirus program or the Firewall. Add the program files (the BMsvc.exe service and the main program BandMonitor.exe on your PC, and the agent service file BMAgent.exe on the remote PC) to the list of exceptions.
3. On the agent computer, the agent's TCP port (54231 by default) should be opened. The program's bandwidth monitoring service connects to this open port on the agent and polls network interfaces. In order to check that the agent is up and running, create a sensor based of the agent type but with the disabled the packet sniffing option. If the program fails to connect to the agent in this case too, this will mean that the opened TCP port problem exists. You can use any 3rd party port scanner program to check the opened TCP port availability. For example, you can use our free utility 10-Strike Network Scanner: https://www.10-strike.com/network-scanner/. Install it on your computer, add addresses of the agent computers to the list, select the "System Information" item on the menu, and go to the Ports section. Add the default port number 54231 to both fields Scan from... and click Start. If the agent port will be displayed in the result list, the agent will be accessible. If it does not, this will mean the agent port is closed.
4. Please check that the WinPCap driver is available in the list of installed applications on the remote computer. This step is actual when you want to create the sniffing packets type of sensor.

You can also send the program and the agent log file to our technical support team so we could help you. It's free! :) Please send the following files to us:

• c:\Program Files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Agent\BMAgent.log and c:\Program Files\10-Strike Bandwidth Monitor Agent\BMAgent.ini - on the remote PC
• c:\ProgramData\10-Strike\Bandwidth Monitor\Logs\BandMonitor.log (or c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\10-Strike\Bandwidth Monitor\Logs\BandMonitor.log in Windows XP) - on your PC where the main program is installed.

 

Q: How to create the Admin$ share for the remote agent installation if it is disabled?

A: Please do the following: (you can find a shorter instruction for Windows 7 below these steps):

1. On the remote PC, please start the Registry Editor: "Start > Run... -> regedit.exe" (or regedt32.exe), find path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters".

2. Please check whether the following value exists on the opened path:

• For Windows Server: AutoShareServer of the REG_DWORD type with the value "1". If the value does not exist, please create it manually. If the value is set to 0 (zero), set it to 1.
• For Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10: AutoShareWks of the REG_DWORD type with the value "1". If the value does not exist, please create it manually. If the value is set to 0 (zero), set it to 1.

3. Enable the classic access model of the network access and restart the computer:

• Open the "Control Panel".
• Go to "Administration > Local policies > Security options ".
• Select the policy: "Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts".
• If this is set to "Guest only", change it to "Classic".
• Click OK and restart the computer.

For Windows 7, the Admin$ share can be enabled this way:

• 1) Open the "Control Panel", select "Network and Internet", then "Network and Sharing Center".
• 2) On the left part of the window, click "Change Advanced Sharing Settings".
• 3) Then click on "Turn on file and printer sharing" and save settings.
• 4) Open the Registry Editor,
  find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System",
  create a value of the DWORD type named LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy,
  set it to "1" and restart the computer.

 

Q: When installing the agent MSI package through Group Policy, the server gives the error "There is no software installation data object"?

A: Most likely, there are problems with access rights for remote installation. The "There is no software installation data object..." error can occur when you are adding a new software package MSI to Windows Server 20XX. To solve this problem, you need to open the properties of the folder containing the MSI package and go to the Security tab. Next, you need to add to the list of allowed groups and users DOMAIN COMPUTERS, AUTHENTICATED USERS, and DOMAIN USERS with the "Full Control" rights.

 

 

Please send your questions to our technical support team. We are ready to help!