March 2012 - Xymon - Xymon mailman web

source code browser with dependency graph
by vadud3＠gmail.com 16 Mar '12

16 Mar '12

Not sure who should I thank for this. http://fossies.org/dox/xymon-4.3.7 nice! -- Asif Iqbal PGP Key: 0xE62693C5 KeyServer: pgp.mit.edu A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

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History log output snapshot too old
by a.chervonets＠cominder.eu 16 Mar '12

16 Mar '12

It is known that xymon keep for each test output when status is changed. It saves 1st output received from test script (at least for custom tests) and do not update it in history until status is changed. I see this can be a problem is some situations. Imagine the situation - some active sessions appeared in DB, our test is tracking number and details of active sessions It is green when up to 5 sessions It is yellow until 30 sessions But in some circumstances the DB can crash (due to internal problems, which may be or may not caused by active requests) even at 26 sessions and we got status red because of error accessing DB. There may be other cases like this. For example server just crashed and not responding. I want too see last picture what was there just before crash. For me it would be much usefull to see last output snapshot of yellow when I am checking what was before red (before the incodent when DB crashed in out case). So, it would be nice to have ability to configure what output snapshots to keep in history for all or each test: * when status is just changed * or last snapshot * or both splitted Best regards, Andrey Chervonets ---------------------- SIA CoMinder http://www.cominder.eu/

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Broken custom graphs on trends page
by jlaidman＠rebel-it.com.au 16 Mar '12

16 Mar '12

Xymonsters I'm looking for a way forward on the "broken multiple graphs" problem that I'm experiencing. Excuse the long post; it's part brainstorming, and part context-setting. For a while there have been some discussion on the list about how custom graphs can get displayed incorrectly as if they're multi-graph when they're not. (I think I'm using the correct term "multi-graph" here.) Xymon works out that there are enough RRD files to fill more than one graph, and shows several graphs, each with a different "first" parameter. For me, in many cases all of the lines fit on one graph, and so the other graphs show as a broken image icon. A work-around seems to be to explicitly show "<!-- linecount=N>" to define how many lines should be expected on a set of graphs. I've done this in my devmon templates to prevent the broken graphs. However, this work-around is only available for custom graphs that create their own status webpage using HTML (in which the "<!-- linecount=N>" tag can be included) and send them to Xymon using a "status" message. I have some collectors that send their data to Xymon using "data" messages, because I don't want to grow my Xymon display too wide, with a bunch of dots that can only ever be green. So my graphs show up in the trends column, which is exactly where I want them. But because I can't add a "linecount" anywhere, I get broken graphs. I really don't think I'm doing anything out of the ordinary here, and certainly not deviating from the documentation. I've scoured doco, mailing list, and even code to find out what can be done to work around this problem. Finally, I've come to the conclusion that the Xymon code is simply unable to work out how many graphs to show in all situations, and its heuristics are not working sometimes. This is the only bit of my Xymon installation that is tarnishing its reputation here, meaning that it doesn't compare favourably with other products, so I'd really like to get this fixed somehow. But I'm not sure what to do about it. If I'm simply doing something wrong, then please let me know, and ignore the rest of this post. So, what am I asking for? There might be a way to get Xymon to work out the graph linecount more universally, perhaps at the expense of more code complexity, compatibility, CPU cycles or disk I/O (I think the some code comments describe an intent to avoid scanning the directory). But even so, I think what I'd like to have is a way of overriding the heuristics other than the "linecount" hack. But what's the best way to do this? I'm willing to cut code to get this fixed, but my effort should be inline with the future of Xymon, as well as having maximal usefulness to others. It also needs to not break the existing heuristics used for the standard graphs (disk, inode, if_load, etc). One idea is that I could add a "LINECOUNT" keyword into the graphs.cfg file, something like this: [bindstats] TITLE DNS Queries and Responses YAXIS per second LINECOUNT 6 ... This would help with both data and status messages that are falling victim to this problem. It also occurs to me that the multi-graph code doesn't seem (to me) to make sense for graph definitions that don't have @RRDIDX@ type indexed filename lookups. So perhaps the simplest thing would be to assume linecount is zero if FNPATTERN is not specified in the corresponding graph definition. Other ideas? Cheers Jeremy

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Working example for DS-override
by hj.beckers＠kreis-steinfurt.de 14 Mar '12

14 Mar '12

Can someone enlighten me? According to analysis.cfg.5.html: Example: Flag "conn" status a yellow if responsetime exceeds 100 msec. DS tcp.conn.rrd:sec >0.1 COLOR=yellow TEXT="Response time &V exceeds &U seconds" if I use: DS conn tcp.conn.rrd:sec > 0.035 color=red xymon (4.3.5) shows (red symbol) sec=0.031800 (> 0.00) Tue Mar 13 11:10:47 2012 conn ok Service conn on Verwaltungsstelle_Tecklenburg_Active is OK (up) (green symbol) 10.43.128.2 is alive (31.8 ms) The value is below the threshold, so it shouldn't go red. Using the above with TEXT: DS conn tcp.conn.rrd:sec > 0.035 color=red TEXT="Response &V to high" xymon shows: (red symbol) "Response 0.031700 to high Tue Mar 13 11:17:08 2012 conn ok Service conn on Verwaltungsstelle_Tecklenburg_Active is OK (up) (green symbol) 10.43.128.2 is alive (31.7 ms) Note that there is a leading qoute sign before "Response". Any tips welcome. Yours Hermann-Josef Beckers

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NOCOLUMNS - override .default. ?
by john.horne＠plymouth.ac.uk 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

Hello, Using Xymon 4.3.7 I have specified a '.default. entry in hosts.cfg which includes the NOCOLUMNS tag. The hosts.cfg man page says that per-host definitions will override the default ones. However, that doesn't seem to work with NOCOLUMNS. Hosts.cfg contains: ========================= 0.0.0.0 .default. # NOCOLUMNS:files,memory,ports,info,trends noclear 141.163.141.163 server-1 # testip conn !ftp !smtp !telnet dns ntp bbd ssh swap memory ports ========================= However, the memory and ports columns do not appear at all. Does anyone know if this is a bug or the way things are supposed to work? Thanks, John. -- John Horne Tel: +44 (0)1752 587287 Plymouth University, UK Fax: +44 (0)1752 587001

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depends - is it working?
by tsztur＠gmail.com 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

What is the official status on using depends? I need to make sure all my http content checks, ssh checks, etc depends on an outside host since the ISP xymon is hosted on is very up and down. Where can I find documentation on how to implement depends? I have tested ROUTE but it only seems to work on conn's . is this true? tia.

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Extra column containing an access protocol (putty, telnet, mstsc)
by christian.becker＠rhein-zeitung.net 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

Hi there, i have implemented a fresh install of Xymon 4.3.7 for our environment. This includes at this time nearly 300 devices in total. We had used a commercial tool before, and we are in the need to go away from that commercial tool to Xymon. Knowing some of the features we had in the commercial tool, i'm missing these features in Xymon. For each device i'ld like to have a column that provides me with a "PuTTY", "TELNET" or "MSTSC" feature. For example, if it is a Linux server, i'ld like to have a "PUTTY" icon. For a windows machine, i want a "MSTSC" icon. "TELNET" i want to have for several CISCO devices. Currently i have created a ssh-protocol-handler in the local registry of the "viewing" machine. Then i have created HOSTNAME.html files in the server/www/notes directory which enables me to provide links, for example HREF="ssh:HOSTNAME". This enables me to login to the specified host. In general this is what i want. But: i think it's more efficient to have an extra column on the overview site which provides me with the specified protocol link. Would that be possible to implement? For example with an extra tag in the hosts.cfg file? Hope i have described detailed enough what i want... Best regards Christian ________________________________ CSC * This is a PRIVATE message. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete without copying and kindly advise us by e-mail of the mistake in delivery. NOTE: Regardless of content, this e-mail shall not operate to bind CSC to any order or other contract unless pursuant to explicit written agreement or government initiative expressly permitting the use of e-mail for such purpose * CSC Deutschland Services GmbH * Registered Office: Abraham-Lincoln-Park 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany * Board of Directors: Gerhard Fercho (Chairman),Thomas Nebe, Peter Schmidt * Registered in Germany: HRB 7574, Wiesbaden

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Antw.: Extra column containing an access protocol (putty, telnet, mstsc)
by malcolm.hunter＠gmx.com 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

> ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jeremy Laidman > Sent: 03/13/12 04:42 AM > To: Malcolm Hunter > Subject: Re: [Xymon] Antw.: Extra column containing an access protocol (putty, telnet, mstsc) > > On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 1:56 AM, Malcolm Hunter <malcolm.hunter at gmx.com> wrote: > > > How do you make PuTTY start when you click this link? > > Here's one way: http://tools.rebel-it.com.au/PuTTY-tools/ See my previous reply to the list. Malcolm -- BBWin Development - The Windows client for Big Brother and Xymon http://bbwin.sourceforge.net http://xymon.sourceforge.net

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Uptime column in Linux [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
by dennisw＠agd.gov.au 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

UNCLASSIFIED// Hi, Im using XYMON to monitor both Linux and Windows machines. I have the service working as desired with the exception of the uptime column. The Windows machines report a "system uptime performance counter query failed" within the uptime page and the Linux boxes does not provide an update page at all. I am aware that uptime is reported in the "cpu" page, however it would be nice to report it in the update page (link Windows) for consistency. Firstly does anyone know how to resolve the "system uptime performance counter query failed" issue on the Windows boxes. Secondly does anyone know how I can get a working update page (equivalent to that in Windows) on my Linux boxes? Thanks for your help DennisW UNCLASSIFIED// ________________________________ If you have received this transmission in error please notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of information in the e-mail or attachments. ________________________________

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Antw.: Extra column containing an access protocol (putty, telnet, mstsc)
by malcolm.hunter＠gmx.com 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

> ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jon Dustin > Sent: 03/09/12 10:04 PM > To: xymon at xymon.com > Subject: Re: [Xymon] Antw.: Extra column containing an access protocol (putty, telnet, mstsc) > You may add html code to the DESCR field, and your browser will make it "clickable". > > I think you're wanting something like the following: > > (hosts.cfg) > 192.168.1.24 servername.co.com # DESCR:"Web Server:description <a href=ssh:192.168.1.24>ssh</a>" > > The above entry inside hosts.cfg would add a link of ssh:192.168.1.24 to the "info" button associated with that host in Xymon. > > I hope this is clear; good luck! How do you make PuTTY start when you click this link? Malcolm -- BBWin Development - The Windows client for Big Brother and Xymon http://bbwin.sourceforge.net http://xymon.sourceforge.net

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