On Wed, Jan 30, 2008 at 10:06:09AM -0500, s_aiello at comcast.net wrote:
On Wednesday 30 January 2008, Henrik Stoerner wrote:
This assumes you want to keep on using bb-hosts as the source of your layout - I don't think that is a good idea.
The only reason I would assume the need to continue to use the bb-host file as the source of layout, is because the Hobbit alert & threshold 'PAGE=' specifications do.
Correct, but the PAGE setting for alerts and client-thresholds does not have to be obtained from bb-hosts ... It is really just a way to classify a group of hosts as having "something" in common, and this can easily be done in a different configuration file format.
Off the top of my head, it might even make sense to turn this entire concept upside-down: Instead of using a layout-definition to group hosts together in the alert/client config, we could use a *host* classification to define which hosts should be put on a given webpage.
And again, I am not a huge fan of XML, but it seems that it would be a good option to migrate toward (from bb-hosts). That way if people did want to write a new GUI for Hobbit it would not be difficult. It would also be possible to add new fields, without affecting core Hobbit functionality. i.e. writing a version of BBMap for hobbit.
But again, I remember in a previous post your (and other maillist members) reluctance to use XML for any configuration. So it almost seems like a catch22.
Well, I never said it would be easy :-) You are right, there are inherent conflicts between the different goals here. I am not a big fan for of XML configuration files (Hobbit doesn't have any, because I haven't bothered to go find a decent XML parsing library), but is IS a de-facto standard and there are lots of tools for handling such files. But I'd still like to weigh the pros and cons of using XML. Right now, I am not convinced.
So as I see it, ideally need a layout config that:
- Simple to define layout.
- Open to custom field definiton additions.
- Open to allow for 3rd party GUI development.
These 3 I agree with.
- Doesn't break core hobbit functionality.
This is something we can control ourselves. So don't let that stop you.
I maybe stating the obvious, just figure I would flush out my thoughts.
It often helps to discuss things that seem obvious. Often, they are not.
Regards, Henrik