Technology

ObserveIT is a client/server, scalable and distributable software application. It consists of four components:

ObserveIT Agent
ObserveIT Application Server
ObserveIT Web Console
ObserveIT Database Server

The ObserveIT Agent is the only component that needs to be installed on each server/workstation being monitored. The ObserveIT Agent captures data any time keyboard or mouse activity is detected. With each user action, it captures a screen snapshot and metadata. The metadata is information extracted by the Agent about the state of the operating system and the application program being used which allows ObserveIT to precisely identify what the user is doing. ObserveIT Patented technology enables this information to be analyzed and encoded in a standardized format that can be indexed, compressed and stored in a Database Server. By default, the Agent communicates via HTTP POST (TCP port 80) with the Application Server.

The ObserveIT Application Server is an ASP.NET application that runs in the context of Microsoft Internet Information Server. It accepts the data posted by the Agent, processes it, and sends it to the ObserveIT Database Server to be stored and indexed. The Application Server also periodically provides configuration information to the Agents.

The ObserveIT Web Console also is an ASP.NET application that runs in the context of Microsoft Internet Information Server. It is the primary interface for configuring, administering and getting information from ObserveIT. All configuration information is stored in the ObserveIT Database Server.

The ObserveIT Database Server consists of two Microsoft SQL Server databases: ObserveIT and ObserveIT_Data. The ObserveIT database stores all configuration data and all of the metadata captured by ObserveIT Agents. The ObserveIT_Data database stores all screenshots captured by ObserveIT Agents. Both the Application Server and Web Console establish a standard database connection to the SQL Server (TCP port 1433).

Each of the three server applications can be installed on a single platform or multiple platforms. The basic configuration and communication is illustrated in the following diagram.