November 2013 - Xymon - Xymon mailman web

Xymon on Cluster
by sjpostsr＠gmail.com 23 Nov '13

23 Nov '13

I am thinking about installing Xymon on a Linux Cluster and just wondering: 1) Is this possible? 2) If so, it is possible to spread the network tests across the nodes?

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Monitoring a specific word
by salahudin911＠gmail.com 22 Nov '13

22 Nov '13

Good day, Can someone please explain how I can set up my Xymon app to monitor specific words or phrases on a web page? We have our system set up to monitor the availability of web sites and Xymon works as expected to alert us if a page is down via emails and sms's. The problem is that we need to also be alerted to an error output on web pages, for instance, if a page should display the status of an application, that would normally read “SUCCESSFUL”, but in the instance that app breaks and the output is "FAIL", we’d want to be alerted to that status change. Is that perhaps possible? Kind regards, Raz

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Question about TIME keyword in alerts.cfg
by mburger＠bubbanfriends.org 20 Nov '13

20 Nov '13

> The "man page" for alerts.cfg says: > > ==================================== > An example: > > HOST=www.foo.com > MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h > MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory > > The first line defines a rule for alerting when something breaks on the > host "www.foo.com". > There are two recipients: webmaster at foo.com is notified if it is the > "http" service that fails, and the notification is repeated once an hour > until the problem is resolved. > unixsupport at foo.com is notified if it is the "cpu", "disk" or "memory" > tests that report a failure. Since there is no "REPEAT" setting for this > recipient, the default is used which is to repeat the alert every 30 > minutes. > > OK, suppose now that the webmaster complains about getting e-mails at 4 AM > in the morning. The webserver is not supposed to be running between 9 PM > and 8 AM, so even though there is a problem, he doesn't want to hear about > it until 7:30 - that gives him just enough time to fix the problem. So you > must modify the rule so that it doesn't send out alerts until 7:30 AM: > > HOST=www.foo.com > MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h TIME=*:0730:2100 > MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory > > Adding the TIME setting on the recipient causes the alerts for this > recipient to be suppressed, unless the time of day is within the interval. > So with this setup, the webmaster gets his sleep. > ==================================== > > > This makes sense, but I'm confused and obsessing about the word > "suppressed" in the second to last sentence. > > Suppose http went "red" at midnight. No alert was sent then, because of > the TIME keyword in the webmaster's line (unixsupport didn't get an alert > either, because it wasn't configured for it). > > So far, so good. Now suppose 7:30AM comes, and http is still red (no > status change). What happens? Does the webmaster receive an email? Even > though there is no new http status change to trigger it? > > > Thanks, > > glauber Hello, Glauber. Your understanding is correct...the email should be received once the Xymon server's time reaches the start time (in this case, 7:30AM) and the alarm is still active. Note, my testing also indicates that the test won't even change color at all until after the start time indicated in your TIME option. -- Mike Burger http://www.bubbanfriends.org "It's always suicide-mission this, save-the-planet that. No one ever just stops by to say 'hi' anymore." --Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG1

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Question about TIME keyword in alerts.cfg
by glauber.ribeiro＠experian.com 20 Nov '13

20 Nov '13

The "man page" for alerts.cfg says: ==================================== An example: HOST=www.foo.com MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory The first line defines a rule for alerting when something breaks on the host "www.foo.com". There are two recipients: webmaster at foo.com is notified if it is the "http" service that fails, and the notification is repeated once an hour until the problem is resolved. unixsupport at foo.com is notified if it is the "cpu", "disk" or "memory" tests that report a failure. Since there is no "REPEAT" setting for this recipient, the default is used which is to repeat the alert every 30 minutes. OK, suppose now that the webmaster complains about getting e-mails at 4 AM in the morning. The webserver is not supposed to be running between 9 PM and 8 AM, so even though there is a problem, he doesn't want to hear about it until 7:30 - that gives him just enough time to fix the problem. So you must modify the rule so that it doesn't send out alerts until 7:30 AM: HOST=www.foo.com MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h TIME=*:0730:2100 MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory Adding the TIME setting on the recipient causes the alerts for this recipient to be suppressed, unless the time of day is within the interval. So with this setup, the webmaster gets his sleep. ==================================== This makes sense, but I'm confused and obsessing about the word "suppressed" in the second to last sentence. Suppose http went "red" at midnight. No alert was sent then, because of the TIME keyword in the webmaster's line (unixsupport didn't get an alert either, because it wasn't configured for it). So far, so good. Now suppose 7:30AM comes, and http is still red (no status change). What happens? Does the webmaster receive an email? Even though there is no new http status change to trigger it? Thanks, glauber --- Glauber Ribeiro Experian Automotive, Schaumburg IL Infrastructure and Information Security e: glauber.ribeiro at experian.com p: 224-698-3108 f: 224-698-5032

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Changing rrd definitions
by john.r.rothlisberger＠accenture.com 19 Nov '13

19 Nov '13

Hi all - I wanted to change the default rrd graphs and thought this may be relatively easy but then again.. Xymon 4.3.10 Ubuntu 12.10 Currently, all of the graphs are based on 576 data points which works great for graphs that are: 48 hours @ 5 minute average = 576 12 days @ 30 minute average = 576 48 days @ 2 hours average = 576 576 days @ 1 day average = 576 I want to increase some of the granularity and also reduce the final graph to 1 year. So, I decided on these settings: (based on 864 data points) 72 hours @ 5 minute average = 864 9 days @ 15 minute average = 864 27 days @ 45 minute average = 864 360 days @ 600 minute average = 864 (I was searching for a nice number that I could use for 1 year and this was as close as I could get) I changed rrdefinitions.cfg to match the above (I hope my numbers are right): RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:1:864 RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:3:864 RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:9:864 RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:120:864 I also changed "RRDWIDTH" in xymonserver.cfg from 576 to 864. I assumed that all of my old graphs would remain as they were and that new graphs would take on the new characteristics above. 2 Things occurred: * All the graphs grew to 864 data points in width (ok, that is fine) * All the graphs still retained the original titles "Last 48 Hours", "Last 12 Days", etc. I found those graph titles in showgraph.c: showgraph.c: glegend = "Last 12 Days"; showgraph.c: glegend = "Last 48 Days"; showgraph.c: glegend = "Last 576 Days"; That leads to these questions: * I can recompile showgraph.c - should I? Is there an easier way? * If new graphs take on the new characteristics, will I be able to change the old rrd files? I understand that I can't create data that is not already there but is there a way to transition over time? Is this a crazy idea? Thanks, John Upcoming PTO: None _____________________________________________________________________ John Rothlisberger IT Strategy, Infrastructure & Security - Technology Growth Platform TGP for Business Process Outsourcing Accenture 312.693.3136 office _____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________ This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise confidential information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the original. Any other use of the e-mail by you is prohibited. Where allowed by local law, electronic communications with Accenture and its affiliates, including e-mail and instant messaging (including content), may be scanned by our systems for the purposes of information security and assessment of internal compliance with Accenture policy. . ______________________________________________________________________________________ www.accenture.com

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Disabled check emails - how?
by rectifier＠gmail.com 15 Nov '13

15 Nov '13

I was wondering if anyone had a similar situation to me: I have many admins that can disable a Xymon check in my company. I would like to receive an email when they do this. Hobbit-alerts can only use red-green-yellow and NOTICE cannot just send disabled checks, have been trying to get that to work. It is very important for me to be able to be alerted when someone disables a check so i can see who it is. thanks

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BBWin won't run external scripts
by stella＠rider.edu 15 Nov '13

15 Nov '13

We have a new install of Windows 2008 r2. For some reason, BBWin will not run the couple of external scripts we have. If I run them by hand (cscript sricpt.vbs) from the command line, I have no problem. But if not it seems the scripts are being ignored. For example, <load value="c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe //B C:\BBWin\ext\SystemCheck.vbs" timer="5m" /> Event log shows the externals.dll is being loaded. But can't see what's wrong. Nothing in logs. (note we default the installation to C:\BBWin). Disk, CPU, msgs, processes correctly report. Just not these externals. I tried version 0.12 and 0.13 and still no luck. Any clues? -- °((( = (( ===°°° ((( ================================================

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combine status and data in same column with graph
by vadud3＠gmail.com 14 Nov '13

14 Nov '13

Hi All, I sent some text to status channel and some NCVs to the data channel for same test/columnname. So on the same script I have the followings ... $XYMON $XYMSRV "status $MACHINE.$COLUMN $COLOR `date` ${MSG} " $XYMON $XYMSRV "data $MACHINE.$COLUMN foo: 1 bar: 2 " Then I placed the columnname=ncv in TEST2RRD and restarted xymon rrdtool dump $COLUMN.rrd shows all the text from status msgs in it, yikes! How do I tell xymon to look at only the data channel for the rrds and leave the status channel alone for this test/columnname? Thanks -- 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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Using rclient to connect to a Tripplite terminal server
by Paul.Root＠CenturyLink.com 14 Nov '13

14 Nov '13

I recently got some new terminal servers from Tripplite, and I want to monitor them. Since I can't really build the client on it, I thought I would use the xymon-rclient.sh script from Jeremy Laidman. It seems to work pretty well, more or less it ssh's to the client in question, transfers over the proper xymonclient script, and populates the results. The script runs from tasks.cfg. The tripplite is some form of minimal linux, so I copied xymonclient-linux.sh to xymonclient-tripplite.sh, and started editing. This didn't work. Rclient happily ran the script and gave good output I can see from debugging. It seems that xymon ignores it, I'm guessing because it doesn't recognize 'tripplite' as a valid os type. Is there a way to add 'tripplite' as an os type? Would that be client-local.cfg? So instead, I modified xymonclient-linux.sh and have it run. The tripplite doesn't have uptime, so I get that from /proc/uptime and /proc/loadaverage and do a bunch of manipulations with dc. Also, top won't run without a terminal, and you can't set a terminal, so the 'cpu' output is a bit sparse. Ps doesn't have any options, and says COMMAND instead of CMD, so I fix that. Also, df needed some frobbing. The last thing really, is vmstat, it doesn't have one. So I was thinking again to using /proc/vmstat, and manipulate that, but I'm not really sure how to start there, and there isn't a whole lot in /proc/vmstat. Any ideas there? nr_free_pages 2651 nr_inactive_anon 0 nr_active_anon 1573 nr_inactive_file 3249 nr_active_file 3114 nr_anon_pages 1535 nr_mapped 1051 nr_file_pages 6407 nr_dirty 0 nr_writeback 0 nr_slab_reclaimable 1334 nr_slab_unreclaimable 699 nr_page_table_pages 96 nr_unstable 0 nr_bounce 0 nr_vmscan_write 0 nr_writeback_temp 0 Does anybody use rclient.sh and/or have any advice? Thanks, Paul. Paul Root Senior Engineer CenturyLink Network Reliability Operations Center 600 Stinson Blvd, N.E. Flr 2N Minneapolis, MN 55413 Direct: (651)312-5207 Paul.Root at centurylink.com

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authentification check tests for cookies acceptance
by schritte＠ub.uni-frankfurt.de 13 Nov '13

13 Nov '13

Hi all, I want to test login on an authentification form with http. The requested url checks for the acceptance of cookies. If cookies aren't accepted an error message is returned even if authentification is successful. There is no need to transfer cookies contents, only xymon has to to send the information "yes, cookies accepted" with the http-test to the url. Is that possible? kind regards Rolf -- Mit freundlichen Gruessen Rolf Schrittenlocher Lokales Bibliothekssystem Frankfurt Senckenberganlage 31, 60054 Frankfurt Tel: (49) 69 - 798 28908 Fax: (49) 69 798 28817 LBS: lbs-f at mlist.uni-frankfurt.de Persoenlich: schritte at ub.uni-frankfurt.de

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