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This help page is for version 3.7. The latest available help is for version 9.4.

Terminology and Concepts of PA File Sight

PA File Sight runs on a Windows computer and monitors the file activity on that computer.

The PA File Sight product itself is composed of three parts: a graphical user interface that we call the Console, a background process called the monitoring service, and a file system driver that watches all file I/O on the machine. You see the Console when you launch PA File Sight from the desktop. The service is invisible and has no user interface of its own. The role of the Console program is to provide you with a convenient and effective way to work with PA File Sight.

The following diagram will give you a better idea of how the parts of PA File Sight work together.

The service is the part of the product that performs the file monitoring. The Console does not need to be running in order for monitoring to take place. When you start the workstation that has PA File Sight installed to it, monitoring will start.

The Console, service and driver are installed at the same time when you install PA File Sight from the setup application. The service is set up so that it runs automatically when Windows starts.

Product Terminology

PA File Sight is based on the concepts of Monitors and Actions.

The PA File Sight product contains File Sight monitors that watch file I/O activity. You can create multiple File Sight monitors to watch different directories and drives on a machine. These monitors trigger Actions (such as notifications or server operations) as well as record monitored data to a database for report generation.

Monitor

A File Sight monitor continuously scans file I/O activity and watches for activity that you have defined an interest in.

You can create a new Monitor by right-clicking on the computer and choosing Add New Monitor, and then filling in the required parameters.

Error Condition

An Error Condition happens when a file activity that you've specified an interest in happens. For example, if you're watching for file deletes, the deletion of a file would trigger an Error Condition.

Action

An Action is an activity that PA File Sight performs as part of its response to an Error Condition. All Actions are created from any of the available Action Types.

Examples of Action Types are sending e-mail, execution of a script, or writing text to a log file.

How Monitors And Actions Work Together

Monitors and Actions are always defined within PA File Sight as follows.

When an Error Condition occurs, the list of Actions that is attached to the Monitor is executed. Each Action in the list is executed, in the order in which it appears in the list. This list is called the Error Actions for the Monitor.

How Monitors and Actions are Created

Monitors and Actions may be created in two ways:

In addition, you can manually edit any of the existing Monitors, and you can manually edit the Actions that are attached to the Monitors. You can add Actions to existing Monitors or delete them, and you can delete unneeded Monitors (and their Actions) as necessary.

PA File Sight