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Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System |
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</title> |
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<h1 class="top"> |
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Getting Started |
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</h1> |
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<h2> |
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Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System |
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</h2> |
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<h3> |
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1. Installing the corba services (pre-requisite for the |
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server) |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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The server requires a CORBA Naming Service to run. It may |
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be that you already have such a system running, in which |
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case you can use that. Simply edit the jacorb.properties |
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file to point to your Naming service. If you don't have a |
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naming service running you could just set up your own |
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manually, but if like us you want the easy approach, |
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install our corba services program. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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This program runs the naming service and provides a builtin |
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webserver to serve requests to the server application. The |
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documentation details how to get this running. It should |
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simply be a case of extracting and running. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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1. Installing the server |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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The first stage is to download and install the server |
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application. The latest version of the CMS application |
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can be found in the <code>cms</code> directory of our |
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<a href="/mirrors.xhtml">download mirrors</a>. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Once downloaded, the archive should be extracted to a |
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directory of your choice. The server will run on most Java |
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enabled platforms (including Windows, Linux and FreeBSD). |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The archive consists of only a few files and directories. |
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The main file is the iscream-server.jar archive which |
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contains all the binary code for the server. The lib |
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directory contains other JAR archives which the server |
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requires to run. The etc directory contains (or will |
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contain) configuration for most of the i-scream central |
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monitoring system. The next step is to configure the server |
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to suit your requirements. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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2. Configuring the server |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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The configuration is split into two main files. The first, |
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default.properties can be considered a bootstrap |
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configuration. This means that it provides basic |
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configuration to get the server started, after which point |
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the main configuration system takes over. This file should |
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be checked through, and is pretty well explained by |
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comments. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The rest of the server configuration is based on |
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system.conf. This can hold the entire system configuration, |
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including hosts. It may also specify other configuration |
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files to be included in the main configuration. This file |
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is also commented extensively. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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This step may well take some time to get right, and you can |
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come back to it at any point. Lots of the configuration can |
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be changed "on the fly" as well. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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For fuller and complete details of the configuration |
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system, and the server in general, please see the Server |
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User Guide in the documentation section of the website. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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2a. Setting up the database |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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The i-scream central monitoring system can make use of a |
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database for generating historical reports. The |
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documentation explains how you would configure the system |
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to do this. You will need to create a single basic table |
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yourself, this is also explained in the documentation. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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3. Starting the server |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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Starting up the server is a trivial task. Usually you can |
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just get away with running the run script provided. This |
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will boot the server up displaying some basic information |
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to the console. If something goes wrong, the error message |
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should point to the cause. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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4. Setting up hosts |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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Hosts can be run on either Unix (tested with Solaris, |
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FreeBSD and some Linux distributions) or Windows. Both are |
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equally easy to setup. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Firstly, the Unix host is called "ihost". This can be |
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downloaded from the i-scream website. Once extracted it |
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just needs to be started up. You need two pieces of |
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information to do this: the filtermanager (part of the |
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server) host and port number. If you haven't changed much |
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in terms of configuration this will be the machine the |
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server is running on, and port 4567. To start ihost you |
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simply type: |
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</p> |
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<pre> |
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ihost.pl server.domain.com port |
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</pre> |
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<p> |
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ihost will then contact the server to obtain it's |
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configuration and start sending information. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The windows host, winhost, is very similar. All you need to |
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do is install it using the provided installer in the |
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download, and then edit the ini file to provide the two |
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bits of information above. Running the application starts |
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up communication with the server and data sending |
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commences. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Full details of both of these hosts can be found in the |
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relevant documentation on the website. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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5. Using Conient |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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Conient allows you to view, in real time, the data being |
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sent by the hosts. This is a perfect way to test that all |
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the above steps have successfully been completed. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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At present Conient is simply another archive which can be |
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extracted and run. However, in the near future we hope to |
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have an installer to make life easier. Conient is a Java |
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application and will run on most Java enabled platforms. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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After extracting, the run script can be used to start |
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Conient, or in some cases the JAR file can be executed |
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manually. The GUI will then load. The configuration section |
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requires you to enter a host and port for the server. By |
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default this will be the machine on which the server is |
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running and port 4510. Conient will then connect upon |
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request and start displaying information. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Assuming data is displayed you have successfully setup the |
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i-scream central monitoring system. Well done! |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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This is explained in much more detail in the Conient |
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documentation. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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6. Setting up DBReporter |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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If you are making use of a database you can setup the |
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DBReporter to generate web-based reports of the information |
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collected. This is just a case of extracting the archive to |
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a suitable location, configuring it, and setting it to run |
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on a regular basis (we suggest daily). DBReporter will also |
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ensure the database is kept relatively clean. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Full instructions are available in the DBReporter |
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documentation. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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7. Setting up the Web Interface |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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The Web interface allows you to view various aspects of the |
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i-scream central monitoring system's output. These include |
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realtime viewing of data (much like Conient), links to the |
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DBReporter above, and full displaying of the alerts that |
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can be generated by the server. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The archive contains a series of PHP scripts which should |
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be placed on your PHP enabled web server. The configuration |
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files allow you to tailor the setup to suit your needs. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Full instructions are available in the relevant |
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documentation. |
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</p> |
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<h3> |
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8. Further |
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</h3> |
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<p> |
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You may decide to expand your setup to cover a larger |
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network. For example, a distributed filter arrangement |
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could cut down on the amount of traffic being sent around |
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the network. The server itself can be distributed to suit |
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your needs. You may wish to run the database section of the |
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server on the same machine as the database, while running |
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the rest on another machine. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Some discussion about this is available in the server |
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documentation. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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If you have any questions about any of the above, please |
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don't hesitate to contact us on our mailing lists. |
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If you find we've missed something out, again, please let |
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us know. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Finally, we'd like to thank you for trying this i-scream |
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product. We realise that it's still at an early stage, and |
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we therefore appreciate you taking the time to try it out. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The i-scream team. |
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</p> |
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