| 1 |
tdb |
1.1 |
i-scream ihost README file |
| 2 |
|
|
========================== |
| 3 |
|
|
|
| 4 |
|
|
URL: http://www.i-scream.org.uk/ |
| 5 |
|
|
|
| 6 |
|
|
$Id$ |
| 7 |
|
|
|
| 8 |
|
|
|
| 9 |
|
|
What is ihost? |
| 10 |
|
|
-------------- |
| 11 |
|
|
|
| 12 |
|
|
ihost is a "host" application for the i-scream distributed central monitoring |
| 13 |
|
|
system. The job of a host is to harvest data from the machine on which it's run |
| 14 |
|
|
and then send this data to a central server for processing. |
| 15 |
|
|
|
| 16 |
|
|
The ihost performs this task on Solaris, Linux and FreeBSD, and is written in |
| 17 |
|
|
the Perl programming Language. |
| 18 |
|
|
|
| 19 |
|
|
How do I use ihost? |
| 20 |
|
|
------------------- |
| 21 |
|
|
|
| 22 |
|
|
Fortunately ihost is pretty easy to get started. Once you have downloaded and |
| 23 |
|
|
extracted the archive, you just need to run the program. This is done as shown |
| 24 |
|
|
here; |
| 25 |
|
|
|
| 26 |
|
|
./ihost.pl <i-scream_filtermanager> <port> |
| 27 |
|
|
|
| 28 |
|
|
The ihost should then start and configure itself, providing some debugging |
| 29 |
|
|
information. |
| 30 |
|
|
|
| 31 |
|
|
What does the output mean? |
| 32 |
|
|
-------------------------- |
| 33 |
|
|
|
| 34 |
|
|
The first few lines simply tell you what has happened during the configuration |
| 35 |
|
|
stage. These are pretty self explanatory. The configuration documentation will |
| 36 |
|
|
explain how to alter the setup of the host. |
| 37 |
|
|
|
| 38 |
|
|
Once the ihost has started an output similar to the following will be given; |
| 39 |
|
|
|
| 40 |
|
|
-----^-----^-----^-----^--- etc |
| 41 |
|
|
|
| 42 |
|
|
The - indicates a data packet has been sent to the server over UDP, and in a |
| 43 |
|
|
similar way ^ indicates a heartbeat has occured. |
| 44 |
|
|
|
| 45 |
|
|
At any time you may see the host reconfigure itself. This happens if the system |
| 46 |
|
|
configuration has been changed. |
| 47 |
|
|
|
| 48 |
|
|
How can I find out where the filtermanager is? |
| 49 |
|
|
---------------------------------------------- |
| 50 |
|
|
|
| 51 |
|
|
The filtermanager is the section of the server that handles host configuration |
| 52 |
|
|
and assignment to filters. Please contact the person(s) who setup this section |
| 53 |
|
|
of the system for the hostname and port number. |
| 54 |
|
|
|
| 55 |
|
|
I'm concerned about security! |
| 56 |
|
|
----------------------------- |
| 57 |
|
|
|
| 58 |
|
|
Although we have not taken (yet) any particular steps to make the system |
| 59 |
|
|
secure, we are pretty certain ihost is not a problem. It only sends data, and |
| 60 |
|
|
does not have any open ports on the machine it's run on. It does not send any |
| 61 |
|
|
data which is highly sensitive, although you should review the documentation |
| 62 |
|
|
to find out exactly what is sent. |
| 63 |
|
|
|
| 64 |
|
|
Can I expand ihost? |
| 65 |
|
|
------------------- |
| 66 |
|
|
|
| 67 |
|
|
Yes, of course. ihost is written in perl and is pretty easy to follow. It is |
| 68 |
|
|
split into two sections; |
| 69 |
|
|
|
| 70 |
|
|
statgrab.pl - responsible for collecting the data from the system |
| 71 |
|
|
ihost.pl - responsible for encapsulating (in XML) and sending the data |
| 72 |
|
|
|
| 73 |
|
|
If you are proficient in Perl you would start by alterting statgrab.pl to read |
| 74 |
|
|
the new data from your system. Once this is done and tested, you would modify |
| 75 |
|
|
statgrab to add this data to an outgoing packet. |
| 76 |
|
|
|
| 77 |
|
|
A more indepth discussion may be given in the system documentation. |
| 78 |
|
|
|
| 79 |
|
|
Where can I get the latest ihost? |
| 80 |
|
|
--------------------------------- |
| 81 |
|
|
|
| 82 |
|
|
Please review the website for details of ihost downloads. There will be an |
| 83 |
|
|
explanation of what is available, and what you need to download. |
| 84 |
|
|
|
| 85 |
|
|
|
| 86 |
|
|
Thank-you for using the i-scream distributed central monitoring system. |
| 87 |
|
|
|
| 88 |
|
|
Regards, |
| 89 |
|
|
|
| 90 |
|
|
The i-scream team, |
| 91 |
|
|
dev@i-scream.org.uk |
| 92 |
|
|
|
