Watchman Monitoring is a cross-platform solution with agents for the Mac, Linux, Windows, and Synology NAS platforms. Synology NAS DSM 6 or greater is required for the Monitoring Client.
Installation
Installation is currently only available as a Manual Install in the Package Center. Please download the .spk
package available within your dashboard to upload through the Manual Install process wizard.

Features
The following services are monitored:
Apache
- Reports error logs for enabled websites.
Beacon Downtime Reporting
- Reports when a Synology NAS goes offline for a subscriber selectable time period of 2-30 minutes.
Failed Logins
- Reports the amount of failed logins to the server
- Warns if a users failed login attempts exceeds a specified value (adjustable. Default: User_Threshold=10)
- Warns if the total amount of failed login attempts exceeds a specified value (adjustable. Default: Total_Threshold=20)
Frameworks
- Reports Shellshock vulnerability
MySQL
- Reports error logs for MySQL.
Network Status
- Reports send and receive errors on network interfaces
- Warns (by default, optional) when the amount of new errors passes a certain amount (adjustable. Default: ErrThreshold=0).
RAM
- Reports amount of total and available physical and swap memory.
- Warns (by default, optional) if the amount of memory changes.
Reboot Notification
- Reports the last reboot time of the machine.
- Warns (optional, off by default) if the machine has been rebooted.
Volume Capacity Presence
- Reports if the root volume fills to 90% (default) capacity.
- Optionally configure the monitoring of additional volumes.
Updating
The main configuration file is client_settings.conf
and is located
/etc/monitoringclient/client_settings.conf
Plugins will create settings files as-needed in the plugin-support folder
/etc/monitoringclient/plugin-support/
Configuration
The main configuration file is client_settings.conf
and is located
/etc/monitoringclient/client_settings.conf
Plugins will create settings files as-needed in the plugin-support folder
/etc/monitoringclient/plugin-support/
Open configuration files for editing using vim
:
sudo vim /etc/monitoringclient/client_settings.conf
In vim, type i
to get into insertion (edit) mode.
Press the escape key to exit the insertion mode.
Type :wq
(colon-w-q) to write out the file and quit vim.
Removal
Remove the Client by locating it in the Package Center, and selecting Delete.
sudo apt-get remove monitoringclient
Clear stashed settings (especially before reinstallation)
sudo rm -rf /tmp/monitoringclient
Installation Step-by-step
Log into your Synology NAS DSM, and locate the Package Center From the Main Menu or on the Desktop.


From the Package Center, click the Manual Install button to launch the manual installation wizard.
Click the Browse button to locate the .spk
file downloaded from your Watchman Monitoring Dashboard.

Once selected, click the Next button.

During the beta period, you may receive a warning that the package is unsigned. Click Yes to continue.

Confirm settings, and click Apply.

Troubleshooting & Diagnostics
Troubleshooting and diagnostics required enabling of SSH access to your Synology NAS. It is also highly recommended to enable user home service.
Gathering a Monitoring Client Diagnostic Report
The Monitoring Client includes a built in tool to gather diagnostic data into a single zip archive to provide to Watchman Monitoring support.
This tool creates a zip archive containing the following paths (if they exist):
/etc/monitoringclient
/tmp/monitoringclient
/usr/bin/run-client
/usr/share/monitoringclient
/var/logs/monitoringclient
This zip is created as /tmp/monitoringclient-diagnosticdata.zip
.
root access is not required.
Please SSH to your Synology NAS, and run the following command:
sudo /var/packages/monitoringclient/target/package/utilities/SupportTool
Once complete, you will be provided instructions to retrieve the zip archive from your Synology NAS.
Archive created successfully.
The following command can retrieve the diagnostic file:
scp -P 22 watchmanmonitoring@172.16.46.245:/tmp/monitoringclient-diagnosticdata.zip ~/Desktop
Adjust port "22" to match the setting in the Synology's SSH Service, in its Control panel, under Terminal & SNMP
Enabling SSH
SSH in the DSM is disabled by default. It can be enabled in a few easy steps.
SSH access is only available to members of the administrators group.
Log into your DSM web interface, and open Control Panel.
Navigate to Applications > Terminal & SNMP.
Check Enable SSH service and set your preferred port number (22 is the default).
Click Apply.
User home folders is disabled by default. Logging in using SSH will present an error message.
Could not chdir to home directory /var/services/homes/admin: No such file or directory
Enable Public Key Authentication
By default, Synology does not support SSH Key authentication. Using keys is a more secure method of authenticating to your Synology NAS. The following steps allow you to enable PKA on your Synology NAS.
User Home Service is required to store the PKA.
After enabling SSH with the step above, ssh into your Synology NAS:
ssh -p <port> user@syno-hostname-or-IP-address
We will open the SSH server configuration file for editing:
sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Find the following lines and uncomment them (by removing the #):
#RSAAuthentication yes
#PubkeyAuthentication yes
In vim, type i
to get into insertion (edit) mode.
Press the escape key to exit the insertion mode.
Type :wq
(colon-w-q) to write out the file and quit vim.
Adjust some permissions to ensure the SSH service has the correct permissions for the authorized keys file:
mkdir ~/.ssh
chmod 755 ~
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Restart sshd using the following command:
sudo synoservicectl --reload sshd
You will be logged out of the SSH session.
On your computer, create your SSH key:
ssh-keygen -t rsa
Copy the key to your Synology NAS:
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh user@syno-hostname-or-IP-address "cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
You should be able to SSH into your Synology NAS using PKA.
Enabling User Home Service
Enabling the User Home Service is not required, but can make for easier access to transfer files on and off your Synology NAS.
Log into your DSM web interface, and open Control Panel.
Navigate to File Sharing > User.
Check Enable user home service and select a location to house the home directory.
Click Apply.
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