> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.highlight.net/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page/watch-controller-based.md).
# Watch controller-based
## Main
Use this panel to edit a watch. Controller watches are autodiscovered when a controller is saved and cannot be created any other way.
#### Name
This is read-only and shows the autodiscovered name.
#### Discovered
This is read-only and shows the date of autodiscovery of the watch.
#### Description
This is auto-populated on creation and updated at each discovery cycle with the parent device name and the uplink name, excluding the unique identifier number. This can be overwritten and can contain a maximum of 100 characters. Use to revert to the autodiscovered description. Note: Cisco Catalyst uses the ifname instead of the uplink name.
#### Visibility
Shown only if you are a service provider. It determines if the watch will be visible to all users, or just to service provider internal staff. There are two options:
* **Customer**: this is the default. Anyone can view the watch, and those with permission "edit watch" can edit/delete it.
* **Internal**: customers cannot view, edit or delete this watch as it is only seen by service providers.
#### Enable
By default, all four options are checked:
* **Collect data** — Uncheck to turn off polling, which keeps the watch in the system and can appear in Highlight statistical reports, but stops data being collected from the device so no alerts will be raised; used for displaying history of an old watch, for example.
* **Show data** — Uncheck to turn off display of the watch in the UI and in any Highlight statistical reports, although data can still be collected. If this is unchecked then the watch will not appear in the tree search, only the admin search. Used for discovered but unused VLANs for example.
* **Send alerts** — Uncheck to turn off alerting for the bearer watch and any discovered elements plus performance tests. Data will continue to affect heat tiles (when thresholds are crossed) but no alerts will be generated. Used for testing and demonstration watches, for example.
* **Generate statistical reports** — Uncheck to turn off gathering of statistics for Network Reporting although data will still be collected. Note: this option may not be available for all users.
#### Device name
The name of the parent device. Clicking this opens the edit panel for it.
#### Poll Frequency
This is read-only, shows the polling interval for this watch in minutes, and seconds if applicable, and is useful to determine the time from when an issue starts until alerts are sent and watches/tiles change colour. Refer to the sensitivity page for more details.
#### Interface
This is read-only and shows the selected interface Highlight is monitoring on the watch.
#### Dormant interface
Unchecked by default, check this box to set the watch as dormant. Dormant interfaces only send stability alerts if the device is uncontactable or Highlight has detected that the underlying connectivity service is unavailable.
#### Site Link
Unchecked by default, check this box to set the watch as a bearer contributing to the Site Availability report statistics.
#### Down/Upstream
Bandwidth values are required with 8 kbps as a minimum. Initially autodiscovered speeds of the monitored interface are shown with a pale blue background and can be changed if needed. The background changes to white if any field is changed. Use to revert both Downstream and Upstream to autodiscovered values.
#### Sensitivity
Optional and if setup, you can choose a different alerting sensitivity for each parent watch and discovered subwatches. Read more about alerting sensitivity.
#### SLA target %
Shown for bearers only. An optional percentage field, used in Reporting to compare actual availability with this SLA. Enter a number between 0 and 100 with up to 3 decimal places, such as 99.999. If SLA Now is disabled on the Features tab of a parent folder, then this field will not be available to edit.
#### Product Type
Optional text field which can contain a maximum of 20 characters and enables service providers to display the service name for a watch rather than the Highlight default of SD-WAN. The Product Type displays on watch status cards.
#### Reference
Optional and can contain a maximum of 50 characters. May be useful for customer specific information. See the [Inherited Reference](#inherited-reference) section below for more details.
If the parent device has been deleted on the external network, a red warning bar is shown reading "Parent device no longer exists." See the Discontinued items section on this page.
One save stores details for all tabs.
## Performance
This tab is visible on any watch with performance tests enabled.
If the controller option is changed to None after performance tests have been discovered, these will continue to work and can be manually disabled if needed. No new performance tests will be discovered.
If there are no tests or the option has been changed, you will see the message "No performance tests have been discovered. Please check performance test autodiscovery is enabled on the parent controller."
#### Type
Shows the performance test icon and the test name as obtained from the third-party dashboard - otherwise the test type is shown. The full name is shown on hover.
#### Status
Enabled or Disabled, disabling a test means:
* no data is collected for the test
* alerts cannot be sent nor colours changed (green to amber for example)
* the watch status card disappears for the test
* the performance chart (on the details page) disappears for the test
#### Details
**Name** — Read-only and comprised of \[Source performance agent name] to \[Target IP or hostname]
**Discovered** — Read-only and shows the date of autodiscovery of the test.
#### Alerting thresholds
You will see the thresholds in one of two possible states:
**Inherited** — The field is read-only and greyed out meaning the setting is inherited from a parent folder, path shown. Use Override to disregard the inherited value and create a local, custom setting.
**Defined locally** — The field is editable with a white background meaning the setting is defined at this point in the tree. Change the value here or alternatively use Revert to remove a local definition and return to inheriting the value from a parent folder, path shown.
The default setting for these values are set on a folder, inherited by all subfolders and used on the initial creation of tests only. Contact us to change defaults. Highlight compares the value reported by the third-party network to the threshold set here to determine if the fuel gauge should be incremented or decremented. Delay and packet loss impact Health and 100% packet loss impacts Stability. Read more about the Highlight Alerting Mechanism.
**Delay** — Also known as latency or round trip delay, test results are compared to this threshold.
**Jitter** — If available, the value reported by the third-party is compared to this jitter threshold to colour the chart on the Details page but Highlight does not alert on jitter.
**Pkt loss** — If available, packet loss is expressed as a percentage of all packets sent and compared to this threshold.
**Discontinued tests** — See the Discontinued items section on this page.
## Cellular
{% hint style="info" %}
Controller cellular watches are currently only available for Meraki.
{% endhint %}
This tab is visible on any cellular uplink with Cellular Clarity enabled. If Enable with Cellular Clarity has been selected on the parent controller then Highlight automatically discovers and creates cellular uplinks with Cellular Clarity enabled.
If the controller option is changed to None or Enabled after uplinks have been discovered, these will continue to work and can be manually disabled if needed. No new cellular watches will be discovered.
#### Type
Shows the Cellular Clarity icon.
#### Status
Enabled or Disabled, disabling a test means:
* no data is collected for the watch
* alerts cannot be sent nor colours changed (green to amber for example)
* the watch status card disappears for the test
* the Cellular Clarity Signal Strength chart (on the details page) disappears for the watch
#### Details
**Name** — Read-only and comprised of CELL\_\[parent watch name]
**Discovered** — Read-only and shows the date of autodiscovery of the watch.
#### Alerting thresholds
You will see the Score threshold in one of two possible states:
**Inherited** — The field is read-only and greyed out meaning the setting is inherited from a parent folder, path shown. Use Override to disregard the inherited value and create a local, custom setting.
**Defined locally** — The field is editable with a white background meaning the setting is defined at this point in the tree. Change the value here or alternatively use Revert to remove a local definition and return to inheriting the value from a parent folder, path shown.
## Critical Ports
{% hint style="info" %}
Controller switches are currently only available for Meraki.
{% endhint %}
Use this tab to select one or more ports as Critical. Refer to how critical ports affect heat tiles and generate alerts for more information on critical ports.
For switches, each port on the device is listed with the following information:
* **Critical** — whether this port is recognised as Critical by Highlight, in which case it will affect heat tiles and generate alerts.
* **Slot** — number.
* **Port** — number.
* **Interface** — the name used on the device to reference that port.
* **Alias** — the description configured on the interface, if any.
* **Speed** — the current speed of this port; some switches return 'Unknown' if the port is not in use.
One save stores details for all tabs.
If the Critical Ports tab is empty and showing a message, you can enable Switch Port Detail on the Features tab of the parent switch device to discover ports. See the Device page for more information.
### Containers
See [containers](/admin/admin-page/watch-containers.md).
## Inherited Reference
There is a reference field available on controller devices, uplink watches and tunnels. The field is optional and can contain a maximum of 50 characters. A reference is useful to store customer specific information for a watch which will be available in a report or an alert. A reference set on a device is inherited by child uplinks and tunnels unless a different reference has been set on a child uplink or tunnel.
The behaviour of the reference field is explained in this example below:
A controller device has 2 uplinks and 2 tunnels.
**Monday** — All reference fields on all items are blank by default.
**Tuesday** — A reference of "123abc" is manually set on the device, and this is inherited by all the uplinks and tunnels.
**Wednesday** — The reference on one uplink is manually changed to "456def." The reference on all other items remains "123abc".
**Thursday** — The reference on the device is manually changed to "789ghi," and this is inherited by all the uplinks and tunnels except the one which was previously changed.
The reference on a performance test matches the reference on the parent tunnel. This reference can be seen in reports and alerts for performance tests and cannot be changed for an individual test.
---
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