ConnectWise Automate Monitors

ConnectWise Automate Monitor Management

Overview

Monitors in ConnectWise Automate continuously evaluate conditions on managed endpoints and generate alerts when thresholds are exceeded. This skill covers monitor types, threshold configuration, template management, and assignment strategies.

Anti-triggers

• A monitor that has already fired — the resulting notification has its own lifecycle, acknowledgment and history; use connectwise-automate-alerts.
• Response and resolution targets — SLA clocks and escalation rules are ConnectWise PSA ticket behaviour, not Automate thresholds; use connectwise-psa-tickets.
• Mapping the network itself — Automate SNMP monitors evaluate a threshold on a device you point them at; discovering topology and watching links between devices is auvik-networks.

Key Concepts

Monitor Types

Monitor Categories

Alert Severity Levels

See references/fields.md for the complete Monitor, MonitorTemplate, and MonitorStatus field reference.

API Patterns

Monitors are created either from a template (POST /Computers/{computerID}/Monitors with TemplateID) or as a fully custom definition (POST /Monitors with the full threshold/assignment payload). Thresholds always use one of the short operator codes — eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le, contains, notcontains — not full words like "greater". Assignment targets a Group, Computer, or Client via AssignmentType + TargetID.

GET /cwa/api/v1/Monitors/Status?condition=Status ne 'OK'&pageSize=100
Authorization: Bearer {token}

See references/api.md for the complete endpoint catalog (templates, per-computer monitors, status, create/update/disable/delete, group assignment).

Workflows

Create Disk Space Monitor

async function createDiskSpaceMonitor(client, computerId, options = {}) {
  const {
    drive = 'C:',
    warningThreshold = 15,
    criticalThreshold = 5,
    checkInterval = 300
  } = options;

  const monitor = await client.request('/Monitors', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: JSON.stringify({
      Name: `Disk ${drive} Free Space`,
      MonitorType: 'Agent',
      Category: 'Performance',
      CheckInterval: checkInterval,
      FailAfter: 1,
      ResetAfter: 1,
      AlertSeverity: 2, // Warning
      Thresholds: [
        {
          Field: 'DiskFreePercent',
          Operator: 'lt',
          Value: String(warningThreshold),
          Duration: 0
        }
      ],
      AssignmentType: 'Computer',
      TargetID: computerId
    })
  });

  return monitor;
}

Create Service Monitor

async function createServiceMonitor(client, groupId, serviceName) {
  const monitor = await client.request('/Monitors', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: JSON.stringify({
      Name: `Service: ${serviceName}`,
      MonitorType: 'Agent',
      Category: 'Service',
      CheckInterval: 300,
      FailAfter: 2,
      ResetAfter: 1,
      AlertSeverity: 3, // Error
      AlertMessage: `Service ${serviceName} is not running on %computername%`,
      Thresholds: [
        {
          Field: 'ServiceStatus',
          Operator: 'ne',
          Value: 'Running'
        }
      ],
      AssignmentType: 'Group',
      TargetID: groupId
    })
  });

  return monitor;
}

Get Failing Monitors for Client

async function getFailingMonitors(client, clientId) {
  // Get all computers for client
  const computers = await client.request(
    `/Clients/${clientId}/Computers?pageSize=500`
  );

  const failingMonitors = [];

  for (const computer of computers) {
    const monitors = await client.request(
      `/Computers/${computer.ComputerID}/Monitors`
    );

    const failing = monitors.filter(m =>
      ['Warning', 'Error', 'Critical'].includes(m.Status)
    );

    if (failing.length > 0) {
      failingMonitors.push({
        computer: computer.Name,
        computerId: computer.ComputerID,
        monitors: failing.map(m => ({
          name: m.Name,
          status: m.Status,
          value: m.CurrentValue,
          lastCheck: m.LastCheck
        }))
      });
    }

    // Respect rate limits
    await sleep(100);
  }

  return failingMonitors;
}

Apply Template to All Servers

async function applyTemplateToServers(client, templateId) {
  // Get the template details
  const template = await client.request(`/Monitors/Templates/${templateId}`);

  // Get all servers
  const servers = await client.request(
    `/Computers?condition=OS contains 'Server'&pageSize=500`
  );

  const results = [];

  for (const server of servers) {
    try {
      await client.request(`/Computers/${server.ComputerID}/Monitors`, {
        method: 'POST',
        body: JSON.stringify({ TemplateID: templateId })
      });
      results.push({
        computer: server.Name,
        status: 'applied'
      });
    } catch (error) {
      results.push({
        computer: server.Name,
        status: 'failed',
        error: error.message
      });
    }

    await sleep(100);
  }

  return {
    template: template.Name,
    applied: results.filter(r => r.status === 'applied').length,
    failed: results.filter(r => r.status === 'failed').length,
    details: results
  };
}

Monitor Health Summary

async function getMonitorHealthSummary(client) {
  const statuses = await client.request('/Monitors/Status?pageSize=1000');

  const summary = {
    total: statuses.length,
    ok: 0,
    warning: 0,
    error: 0,
    critical: 0,
    unknown: 0,
    disabled: 0,
    byCategory: {}
  };

  for (const status of statuses) {
    switch (status.Status) {
      case 'OK': summary.ok++; break;
      case 'Warning': summary.warning++; break;
      case 'Error': summary.error++; break;
      case 'Critical': summary.critical++; break;
      case 'Unknown': summary.unknown++; break;
      case 'Disabled': summary.disabled++; break;
    }

    // Track by category
    const category = status.Category || 'Uncategorized';
    if (!summary.byCategory[category]) {
      summary.byCategory[category] = { ok: 0, issues: 0 };
    }

    if (status.Status === 'OK') {
      summary.byCategory[category].ok++;
    } else {
      summary.byCategory[category].issues++;
    }
  }

  summary.healthPercentage = Math.round(
    (summary.ok / (summary.total - summary.disabled)) * 100
  );

  return summary;
}

Error Handling

Common Monitor API Errors

See references/examples.md for a sample error response, a validateMonitorDefinition helper, and ready-made configurations for CPU, memory, service, and ping monitors.

Best Practices

1. Use templates - Standardize monitoring across environments
2. Set appropriate intervals - Balance responsiveness vs. load
3. Configure FailAfter - Avoid alert storms from transient issues
4. Use groups for assignment - Easier management than per-computer
5. Document thresholds - Record why specific values were chosen
6. Test monitors - Validate before broad deployment
7. Review regularly - Audit monitors for relevance
8. Layer severity - Warning before Error, Error before Critical
9. Include context in alerts - Use variables in alert messages
10. Plan for maintenance - Disable monitors during scheduled work

Related Skills

• ConnectWise Automate Computers - Monitored computers
• ConnectWise Automate Alerts - Monitor-generated alerts
• ConnectWise Automate Scripts - Script monitors
• ConnectWise Automate API Patterns - Authentication and pagination