Monitoring Sharing Services

Mac OS X Server provides a variety of statistics for monitoring sharing services. Using the Server Admin tool, you can monitor each file-sharing protocol in real time. The information provided by the monitoring tools is invaluable for troubleshooting connection problems and determining if resources are being properly used.

To configure sharing service connections

1.	Launch Server Admin and select the file-sharing service you wish to monitor in the Computers & Services list. You can choose to monitor service connections to AFP, FTP, and Windows services.
2.	Click the Connections tab at the bottom of the window (Figure 5.45). Figure 5.45. The connections frame shows currently connected users for the selected service. A connections frame appears, showing currently connected users for the selected service. AFP is the most extensive of all the file services. Note that idle connections appear grayed out compared to active connections.
3.	Click Refresh to force Server Admin to refresh the connected user list immediately.
4.	Click a user in the connected user list or Shift- or Command-click to select multiple users.
5.	To send a message to a selected user in the AFP connections frame, click Send Message.
6.	In the dialog that appears, enter a message to the user (Figure 5.46). Figure 5.46. Send a message to any user you wish.
7.	Click Send, and the user will be presented with a Message dialog (Figure 5.47). Figure 5.47. This is the Message dialog that the client sees.
8.	To disconnect a selected user, in both the AFP and SMB connections lists, click Disconnect.
9.	In the dialog that appears, enter the amount of time before the user is disconnected along with a message to the user (Figure 5.48). Figure 5.48. You can set the disconnect time and disconnect message.
10.	When you click Send, the user will see the message, and the server will disconnect after the allotted time (Figure 5.49). Figure 5.49. The client sees this Disconnect message.

Monitoring AFP share service throughput

The Server Admin tool provides a graphical interface for monitoring AFP service throughput (kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes per second). These graphs provide a visual reference that you can use to monitor your server's resource utilization.

To measure AFP share service throughput

1.	Launch Server Admin and select the AFP service for your server in the Computers & Services list. You can choose to monitor service connections to AFP, FTP, and Windows services.
2.	Click the Graphs tab to display a graph of the Average Connected Users (Figure 5.50). Figure 5.50. Select the service you want to monitor, such as AFP, and use the graph to view your connected user totals.
3.	Use the slider below the graph to manipulate the graph's sample timeframe.
4.	From the pop-up menu, select Throughput. The resulting graph shows average AFP service network throughput (Figure 5.51). Figure 5.51. This graph shows average AFP service network throughput.
5.	Click the Refresh button to force Server Admin to refresh the connected user list immediately.