Understand device and Organization status
Device status shows whether a recent check succeeded. You can silence a device when you do not want it to change its Area’s summary color. Silencing keeps the check result visible; an online result does not prove that every part of a device is working.
Organization mark
Section titled “Organization mark”The three devices inside the Castle Tower mark in the app header and browser tab summarize the selected Organization’s full active inventory, regardless of search, filters or Area zoom. The tower frame stays neutral. Its inner bars can show several colors together:
- Red represents offline devices. At least one bar is red whenever an unsilenced device is offline.
- Gray represents NO DATA, including missing or stale evidence.
- Green represents online devices.
- Neutral striped bars represent silenced devices; silencing never adds a red bar.
The colors roughly follow device counts, with offline and missing evidence given priority in the three available bars. One offline device among 99 online devices shows one red bar and two green bars. Small groups may have no bar; use the dashboard counts for exact totals.
Loading, no selected Organization, no active devices, or unavailable status keeps the mark neutral. Missing evidence never turns the mark red by itself. All-silenced inventory stays neutral and striped, rather than implying that everything is healthy.
Device states
Section titled “Device states”Expected offline uses a hollow red circle. An unexpected offline result uses a filled red mark. Silenced devices keep normal solid neutral borders; their hatched marks and Silenced labels identify silencing without hiding the observed result.
| State | What it means | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| Online | The configured ICMP, HTTP, or TCP check succeeded recently. | Check the application or display directly if the reported problem continues. |
| Offline | A fresh check received no answer. | Check power, network access, and whether the selected monitoring method can reach it. |
| NO DATA | No current result is available. | Check the collector, configured destination, and age of the evidence. |
| Offline · warming up | An Expected on period just began, and its warm-up allowance is still active. | Check readiness before the allowance ends. |
| Offline · as expected | No answer was received during an Expected off period. | This meets the reachability expectation, but does not prove physical shutdown. |
| Unexpectedly online | The device answered during an Expected off period. A yellow warning mark identifies the mismatch. | Check the equipment directly, including whether it answers in standby. |
| NO DATA · expected offline | Watchtower has no current evidence for an Expected off period. | Check the collector; do not infer that equipment is off. |
| Online · cooling down | An Expected off period just began, and the cool-down allowance is still active. | Check shutdown before the allowance ends. |
| Silenced by schedule · online | There is no expectation now, and the device answers. | No schedule mismatch is flagged. |
| Silenced by schedule · offline | There is no expectation now, and the device does not answer. | No schedule mismatch is flagged. |
| Silenced by schedule · NO DATA | There is no expectation now, and current evidence is unavailable. | No schedule mismatch is flagged; the evidence remains unknown. |
| Silenced · online | The device remains online, and its expectation is silenced. | Review the reason for silencing when it is useful. |
| Silenced · offline | The device is still offline, but silencing stops it from changing the Area rollup color. | Check its power and network access when you are ready. |
| Silenced · NO DATA | The device is still missing current evidence. | Check the collector and destination when you are ready. |
An offline result is a reachability result. It does not prove an application, screen, or cable failed. A device can be working while not responding to its configured monitoring method.
NO DATA never means offline. Unmonitored inventory, a missing or revoked collector, stale results, and checks that could not run can all leave Watchtower without current evidence. An unsupported destination or an untrusted HTTPS certificate also leaves NO DATA.
Area rollups use words such as “2 offline,” “2 NO DATA,” “all online,” and “all 2 silenced.” Silenced devices keep their evidence but do not change an Area rollup’s color. Devices silenced by schedule do not create a schedule mismatch; missing evidence still contributes to NO DATA. Failures take priority over unexpectedly-online mismatches, then NO DATA. Warm-up and cool-down counts explain allowances without declaring a mismatch. A mix of devices online during Expected on periods and offline during Expected off periods can be All as expected. See Schedules.
Playlister screen status
Section titled “Playlister screen status”Linked Playlister screens may also show healthy, attention, or paused based on Playlister evidence. Those words describe screen status reported by Playlister; they are separate from the device states above. They do not prove physical display output or the health of the entire signal path.
Check source and freshness
Section titled “Check source and freshness”Select a device on the dashboard to zoom in and see its available evidence. A result’s source and observation time matter as much as its label. If current information is unavailable, do not treat an older good result as proof that the device is online now.
The zoomed device view shows Last time Online directly below the observed status when a device is offline or has NO DATA. This is the last confirmed successful check. It shows Unknown when no successful check has been recorded. An older successful check does not prove the device is online now or establish exactly when it stopped responding.
The same view includes device identity, notes, product information and available source evidence. Use Edit to change the device, or Zoom out to return to its Area.