--- /dev/null
+
+Simple System/Network Monitoring - spong v1.1
+
+Description
+===========
+
+This is a simple system monitoring package called spong. It has the
+following features:
+
+ * client based monitoring (CPU, disk, processes, logs, etc...)
+ * monitoring of network services (smtp, http, ping, pop, dns, etc...)
+ * grouping of hosts (routers, servers, workstations, PCs)
+ * host specific contact information
+ * host specific downtime information
+ * configurable on a client by client basis
+ * results displayed via the web
+ * history of problems
+ * messaging (via email or pager) when problems occur
+ * verbose information to help diagnosis problems
+
+This is hopefully a *simple* tool. It does not compete with Tivoli, OpenView,
+UniCenter, or any other commercial packages, and I have no intention of trying
+to turn it into one. It is not SNMP based, it communicates via simple TCP
+based messages. It is written in Perl, so hopefully it can be run on multiple
+systems (including NT - although it has not been ported yet).
+
+I'm a strong believer in KISS (keep it simple stupid), and hopefully this
+package is as simple as possible (but no simpler). There are just 5 "pieces",
+1 program that runs on "client" machines, and 4 programs that run on your web
+server (where the results are displayed). There are also only 2 config files,
+one that defines OS and system specific information, and one that defines what
+hosts you want to monitor, and who to contact when there is a problem.
+
+
+Changes between v1.1 and v1.0
+=============================
+
+This is primarily a bug fix release with a few minor features added.
+Everything done in this release is based on feedback that I got from my
+co-workers and people who decided to take a look at spong after my message to
+the BB list. The most significant changes are:
+
+ BUG: Fixed problem with defunct processes under Solaris.
+ FEATURE: Made the http check more configurable.
+ FEATURE: Added a DNS check (if you have the Net::DNS library installed)
+ FEATURE: Added the ability to check multiple interfaces on a host.
+ CHANGE: Got rid of the Makefile, now build/installation is done via a
+ simple perl build script.
+
+You can get a more detailed summary of changes at:
+
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/changes.html
+
+You can also see a list of features that I hope to add to spong at:
+
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/todo.html
+
+
+Availability
+============
+
+Perl is require to run spong. If you don't have Perl installed you can
+retrieve it from the CPAN (http://www.perl.com/CPAN/) archive, along
+with other optional modules such at the Net::DNS module at:
+
+ http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz
+
+You can retrieve the latest version of spong from my machine at:
+
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/spong.tar.gz
+
+You can see some screen shots of spong in action (note these are just examples
+of HTML that is produced - not the actual programming running - most people
+don't want this level of system information public to the world (if they can
+help it).
+
+ Main Spong Page
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/example/main.html
+ Spong showing only Unix machines by group
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/example/unix.html
+ History of problems
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/example/history.html
+ Host summary page
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/example/host.html
+ Service specific summary page
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/public/spong/example/service.html
+
+This distribution contain the spong source, documentation, and gif images.
+
+
+Notification
+============
+
+I have sent up a mailing list that I will post to when I have released a new
+version of spong. Anyone can join this list, but the traffic will be only one
+way (me posting information about new-releases). If enough people are
+interested in creating a list for discussion spong in general, I will set one
+up at that time.
+
+To join the spong-announce mailing list, send a message to
+majordomo@strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu with the sentence:
+
+ subscribe spong-announce
+
+in the body of the message. To have yourself removed from the spong-announce
+mailing list, send a message to majordomo@strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu with the
+sentence unsubscribe spong-announce in the body of the message.
+
+The traffic on the list will be very light - about 1 message per month.
+
+
+Dependencies
+============
+
+Perl v5.003 or greater, a web server that will allow you to run CGI programs,
+and a web browser that can display tables are required.
+
+If you want to monitor DNS servers remotely, then you will need to install the
+Net::DNS Perl module (available at CPAN). Spong will run fine without this
+module, you just will not be able to monitor the DNS service.
+
+These scripts should run on any Unix or NT system (and to ``some'' degree any
+environment where Perl is available).
+
+
+Installation
+============
+
+To build and install the spong server do the following on the machine running
+your web server.
+
+ 1. Edit the "build" script, and set the variables at the top of that script
+ according to where you want spong installed, and where certain programs
+ that spong relies on are located.
+
+ 2. Check to make sure there is a config/spong.conf.<os> file corresponding
+ to your operating system, if not - create one. This file contains paths
+ and command line arguments to helper programs that are used to determine
+ things like disk usage, etc... If you have to create your own
+ spong.conf.<os> file, then please email it to me so that I can add it to
+ the distribution.
+
+ 3. Make sure you are in the directory that you unpacked spong in and type:
+ ./build <os> where <os> is the name corresponding to your
+ operating system. You can type ./build help to generate a list of
+ valid operating system strings.
+
+ When the build completes, you will be left with some new directories in
+ the folder that you unpacked spong in. The build process takes the
+ spong source (and documentation), and replaces some "tokens" with values
+ that you have supplied at the top of the build script. The build
+ process also creates a spong.conf file, and generates various types of
+ documentation based on the POD files that come with spong.
+
+ 4. Now, type ./build install. Note that the install process
+ makes no assumptions about what user you want to run spong as (you don't
+ have to run it as root). This means that you have to be a little more
+ careful when you install spong (making sure it has the correct
+ permissions, and that you have permission to copy the www pages into
+ your web server's document tree).
+
+ 5. Now edit the spong.conf, and spong.hosts files that you just installed
+ and season to taste. You should now be able to read the manual pages
+ for each.
+
+Now you will have the executables and configuration files in place on the
+server. You need to start the spong-server and spong-network programs. The
+spong-server program will listen for reports from various agents, and the
+spong-network program will start testing the hosts you have defined for any
+problems. After starting those programs, you should start seeing files show up
+in the SPONGSTATUS directory that you defined in the spong.conf file.
+
+For each client machine you will need to install the just the spong-client and
+a spong.conf file and make sure they start up when your system is rebooted.
+
+
+Documentation
+=============
+
+The documentation is in pod format, which you can convert to html or manual
+pages using the various pod2xxx tools that come with Perl. The documentation
+is brief but hopefully enough to help you get things installed, and provide
+enough information for you to modify it as you see fit. If you are in a pinch,
+the code is readable enough (and well commented) to provide some help as well.
+
+There is a README file that describes the overall system (this file), and there
+are pod files available for each program, and the 2 configuration files that
+come with spong.
+
+On installation, the pod files are used to generate both HTML documentation,
+and man pages.
+
+
+Files
+=====
+
+Here is a description of the directories and files that come in this package
+prior to installation. More specific descriptions of each file are available
+in the various documentation that comes with spong.
+
+
+ config:
+ spong.conf distributed config file
+ spong.conf.<os> os specific config changes
+ spong.hosts host/service config file
+
+ src:
+ spong-client.pl collects/reports cpu,disk,etc info
+ spong-network.pl collects/reports network service info
+ spong-server.pl listens for/saves spong status updates
+ spong-display.pl displays spong status via CGI program
+ spong-message.pl alerts humans there's a problem
+ <*>.pod documentation for the above files
+
+ www:
+ gifs: various icons used by spong-display
+ docs: location of html versions of man pages
+ history: history files kept here
+ hosts: host specific html files
+ screens: html "screens" used to create the GUI
+ status: location of status information
+ tmp: temporary storage directory
+
+
+
+Licensing
+=========
+
+Copyright 1997, Ed Hill - The University of Iowa
+
+Like Perl, spong may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic
+License or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5.0
+source kit. If either file is not available to you, send email to ed-hill@uiowa.edu, and I will mail you a
+copy.
+
+
+History
+=======
+
+Version 1.1 Primarily a bug fix release with a few minor features (dns,http
+ config,multiple interfaces) added.
+
+Version 1.0 Initial public release, mostly based on Big Brother package
+ from Sean MacGuire.
+
+
+Acknowledgments
+===============
+
+Many ideas (and some code) came from two similar packages. We have used a
+program call "Pong" here at The University of Iowa for about a year. Pong was
+written by Helen Harrison at SAS Institute and a paper on it was presented at
+the Usenix LISA conference. Pong would allow us to do simple monitoring of
+systems (via ping) and would report machine status via a web page. The name of
+this package (Son of PONG, but pronounced as its spelled "spong") is an obvious
+rip off...
+
+Originally, the main concepts and design came from Big Brother written by Sean
+MacGuire. That package was written in C and sh scripts which I ``ported'' to
+Perl, making many changes along the way (like adding more information to the
+messages going from the client to the server, adding history, changing the way
+that information is displayed, added some configuration options, etc.).
+
+There didn't seem to be any interest in my perl code from the author of BB, so
+I've changed the name so there would be any confusion between this package and
+its inspiration.
+
+I'd also like to thank the many people who have contributed patches and
+comments, and where willing to try out spong and help me work out a few of the
+early problems.
+
+
+Author
+======
+
+Ported and currently maintained by:
+
+ Ed Hill (ed-hill@uiowa.edu)
+ http://strobe.weeg.uiowa.edu/~edhill/
+ Unix Systems Administrator at The University of Iowa
+
+Please feel free to send me bug reports, patches, suggestions, or comments.
projects / spong.git / commitdiff