Events

 

In addition to integration with the Windows NT native Event Viewer utility, Hyena also incorporates its own event viewing mechanism. The event log for a server or workstation can be accessed several different ways:

 

By double-clicking or right clicking on the Events object under any computer displayed in the left tree window.

 

By expanding the Events object (clicking on the 'plus' sign next to Events) and selecting the event log to view.

 

By selecting one or more computers in the right list window, right clicking, and then selecting the View Events option.

 

By selecting a computer in the left tree window, right clicking, and then selecting the View Events option.

 

Selecting the Event Viewer option from Hyena's popup context menu will run the native Windows NT event viewer (Eventvwr.exe) for the selected computer. Selecting the View Events option or double-clicking on the Events object will display Hyena's event viewer dialog. The remainder of this help section describes the options available when using Hyena's integrated event viewing options.

 

To view the details of a specific event, simply double-click an event. The event properties window will display all of the event details, and allow going to the previous/next event.

 

Event Viewing Options

 

Event Log – Select the event log(s) to view.  Hyena's event viewer supports all of Window's event logs.  Multiple logs can be viewed as well.

 

Event Order – Select whether to view the oldest or newest events first, that is, either in forward or reverse chronological order.

 

Date Range - Select the beginning and ending dates (or all event dates)

 

Note: When any of the filtering options are enabled or if more than one event log is viewed, Hyena will retrieve ALL of the events from the selected computer(s) and evaluate them against the filter criteria. This will result in some additional event processing time. When no filter criteria has been entered, Hyena will only retrieve a small block of events to improve performance. However, if any of the display columns are sorted on, the remaining events will be retrieved automatically in order to perform the sort operation.

 

Filtering Options

 

Leave the filter fields blank to retrieve all events.  When events are filtered, the title bar of the list window will contain the word "(filtered)".

 

Event ID(s) – Enter the event ID(s) to filter against. If multiple event Ids are needed, separate them with commas (“,”).  To only show events with the filter ID(s) entered, select the option "Only show these events".  To show events other than the event ID(s) entered, select the "Exclude these events" option.

 

Source – Enter the source name for the event.

 

User/Group Name – Enter the user or group name. The entered user or group must match what would normally be displayed in the event view window, including the preceding domain name, for example, “Domain Name\Administrator”.

 

Description – Enter the characters to search in the description field. If this option is disabled, see the information below concerning “Event Description Handling”.

 

Event Types – Enter the event type(s) to filter for, if desired. Select ALL of the event types to disable event type filtering.

 

Event Description Handling

 

Due to how the event reporting mechanism is implemented in Windows, a lot of intensive processing is required to actually create the event description field. By default, Hyena will not display the event description until the event’s properties are viewed (by double clicking on the event). However, Hyena can be configured to display the event description for all events in the list window, by adding the Description column to the list of display fields. This is done by selecting Tools->Settings->Display on the menu, and adding the Description field to the list of event fields to display. This will also enable the option to filter by event description. However, when the description field is enabled for the list window, note that there can be a significant reduction in performance when viewing the events. Use individual preference for performance vs. the advantage of seeing all of the event information at one time, when determining whether to enable this option.

 

Viewing Events on Multiple Computers

 

Events can be viewed and filtered for multiple computers at the same time.  To do this, first display the computers in the list window.  Then, select the desired computers, right click, and select Events from the context menu.  Options for filtering, etc are identical to those available when viewing the events for a single computer.

 

Sorting and Viewing Event Information

 

Event information is displayed in Hyena's list window.  Events can be sorted by simply clicking on any column header.  To view the event detail information, including the description, simply double click on the event.    The event view can be customized under the Tools->Settings->Display dialog.

 

Opening and Backing Up Event Logs

 

Selecting the Open Log File... option will allow selecting and viewing an existing saved event log file.  Selecting Backup Event Log... permits saving a selected event log to an external file.