Monitoring a laptop

13 messages in this thread

list David Gilmore · Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:12:03 -0500 ·

I was thinking of monitoring employee laptops, and maybe even desktops, with
hobbit.  I added a group to my hosts file with the DIAL tag, created a line
in the hosts file 0.0.0.0 mylaptop.mydomain.local # noping.  I then
installed a client on the laptop and just set it to monitor the basics (CPU,
Disk, Memory).  I then shut down the laptop and took it home.  Thirty
minutes later I checked my hobbit pages from my home desktop and saw that
the status of the client was set to purple.  I obviously misunderstood the
functionality of the DIALUP tag.  Is it possible to monitor a device that
would only check in a couple of times a day?  I know I could set specific
alerts thresholds for the laptop, but was hoping there might be a
"universal" solution.
 
Thanks
 
David Gilmore
Consultant
Stenhouse Consulting, LLC.
X Traverse St
Providence, RI   XXXXX
XXX.XXX.XXXX
XXX.XXX.XXXX (fax)

list Rob MacGregor · Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:02:52 +0100 ·

▸ quoted from David Gilmore

On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

I was thinking of monitoring employee laptops, and maybe even desktops, with
hobbit.  I added a group to my hosts file with the DIAL tag, created a line
in the hosts file 0.0.0.0 mylaptop.mydomain.local # noping.  I then
installed a client on the laptop and just set it to monitor the basics (CPU,
Disk, Memory).  I then shut down the laptop and took it home.  Thirty
minutes later I checked my hobbit pages from my home desktop and saw that
the status of the client was set to purple.  I obviously misunderstood the
functionality of the DIALUP tag.  Is it possible to monitor a device that
would only check in a couple of times a day?  I know I could set specific
alerts thresholds for the laptop, but was hoping there might be a
"universal" solution.

Maybe the "noping" is the problem (I'd check, but I'm not in work
right now :>).  Certainly the boxes I tag with "dialup" go clear when
the ping check fails, not purple.

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Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:14:08 -0500 ·

Ping has remained clear, but CPU, Disk, Memory, etc went purple.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: hobbit-return-6178-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid [mailto:hobbit-return-6178-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 5:03 PM
To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

I was thinking of monitoring employee laptops, and maybe even > desktops, with hobbit.  I added a group to my hosts file with the DIAL > tag, created a line in the hosts file 0.0.0.0 mylaptop.mydomain.local > # noping.  I then installed a client on the laptop and just set it to > monitor the basics (CPU, Disk, Memory).  I then shut down the laptop > and took it home.  Thirty minutes later I checked my hobbit pages from > my home desktop and saw that the status of the client was set to > purple.  I obviously misunderstood the functionality of the DIALUP > tag.  Is it possible to monitor a device that would only check in a > couple of times a day?  I know I could set specific alerts thresholds > for the laptop, but was hoping there might be a "universal" solution.

Maybe the "noping" is the problem (I'd check, but I'm not in work right now :>).  Certainly the boxes I tag with "dialup" go clear when the ping check fails, not purple.

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list Rob MacGregor · Sat, 1 Apr 2006 00:06:38 +0100 ·

▸ quoted from David Gilmore

On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Ping has remained clear, but CPU, Disk, Memory, etc went purple.

Version of hobbit?  What OS are you running on?  Exact line out of the
hosts file?

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list Larry Barber · Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:07:18 -0600 ·

You probably need to remove the noping, dialup will make the network tests
go clear if they fail, but for disk, etc. to go clear, I _think_ they
require the ping test to fail, not be clear all the time.

Thanks,
Larry Barber

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Ping has remained clear, but CPU, Disk, Memory, etc went purple.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From:
hobbit-return-6178-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid
[mailto:hobbit-return-6178-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 5:03 PM
To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

I was thinking of monitoring employee laptops, and maybe even
desktops, with hobbit.  I added a group to my hosts file
with the DIAL
tag, created a line in the hosts file 0.0.0.0
mylaptop.mydomain.local
# noping.  I then installed a client on the laptop and just
set it to
monitor the basics (CPU, Disk, Memory).  I then shut down
the laptop
and took it home.  Thirty minutes later I checked my hobbit
pages from
my home desktop and saw that the status of the client was set to
purple.  I obviously misunderstood the functionality of the DIALUP
tag.  Is it possible to monitor a device that would only check in a
couple of times a day?  I know I could set specific alerts
thresholds
for the laptop, but was hoping there might be a "universal"
solution.

Maybe the "noping" is the problem (I'd check, but I'm not in
work right now :>).  Certainly the boxes I tag with "dialup"
go clear when the ping check fails, not purple.

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:22:06 -0500 ·

4.1.2p1

Windows XP Pro using BB 1.08d client

Group
Dialup
0.0.0.0	dsgtp43.stenhouse.local	# noping

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: 
hobbit-return-6180-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid 
[mailto:hobbit-return-6180-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 6:07 PM

▸ quoted from Larry Barber

To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 3/31/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Ping has remained clear, but CPU, Disk, Memory, etc went purple.

Version of hobbit?  What OS are you running on?  Exact line 
out of the hosts file?

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list Rob MacGregor · Sat, 1 Apr 2006 09:13:27 +0100 ·

▸ quoted from David Gilmore

On 4/1/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

4.1.2p1

Windows XP Pro using BB 1.08d client

Group
Dialup
0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # noping

You're missing the dialup tag after the host, try:

0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # dialup

(what you've got will define a group with a name "Dialup" AFAIK)

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Sun, 2 Apr 2006 12:39:04 -0400 ·

Rob,

Thanks.  Just made the change.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: 
hobbit-return-6184-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid 
[mailto:hobbit-return-6184-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 3:13 AM

▸ quoted from Rob MacGregor

To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 4/1/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

4.1.2p1

Windows XP Pro using BB 1.08d client

Group
Dialup
0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # noping

You're missing the dialup tag after the host, try:

0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # dialup

(what you've got will define a group with a name "Dialup" AFAIK)

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Sun, 2 Apr 2006 18:29:25 -0400 ·

Ok, so that did work as planned, however, bbtest is yellow with the
following


Error output:
bbtest-net: Cannot resolve IP for host dsgtp43.stenhouse.local

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: 
hobbit-return-6184-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid 
[mailto:hobbit-return-6184-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 3:13 AM
To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 4/1/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

4.1.2p1

Windows XP Pro using BB 1.08d client

Group
Dialup
0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # noping

You're missing the dialup tag after the host, try:

0.0.0.0 dsgtp43.stenhouse.local # dialup

(what you've got will define a group with a name "Dialup" AFAIK)

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list Rob MacGregor · Mon, 3 Apr 2006 07:10:50 +0100 ·

▸ quoted from David Gilmore

On 4/2/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Ok, so that did work as planned, however, bbtest is yellow with the
following


Error output:
bbtest-net: Cannot resolve IP for host dsgtp43.stenhouse.local

Can you normally do a lookup for it when it's offline (that is, do you
use dynamic DNS for these hosts)?

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Mon, 3 Apr 2006 08:55:02 -0400 ·

I'll have to give that a try today.  I believe the Hobbit box is configured
to use the Windows DC for DNS.  If it is then that could either be the
problem, or the resolution.  Since the Windows DC would have the last DHCP
address cached in DNS it should provide resolution.

Being a Unix/Linux newbie I need to spend some more time with the MAN pages
and figure out the little quirks.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: 
hobbit-return-6205-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid 
[mailto:hobbit-return-6205-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 2:11 AM

▸ quoted from Rob MacGregor

To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 4/2/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Ok, so that did work as planned, however, bbtest is yellow with the 
following


Error output:
bbtest-net: Cannot resolve IP for host dsgtp43.stenhouse.local

Can you normally do a lookup for it when it's offline (that 
is, do you use dynamic DNS for these hosts)?

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list Rob MacGregor · Mon, 3 Apr 2006 19:36:09 +0100 ·

▸ quoted from David Gilmore

On 4/3/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

I'll have to give that a try today.  I believe the Hobbit box is configured
to use the Windows DC for DNS.  If it is then that could either be the
problem, or the resolution.  Since the Windows DC would have the last DHCP
address cached in DNS it should provide resolution.

Any DHCP client should release it's lease on exit (ie shutdown).  This
means that in a dynamic DNS setup (which you probably have) you'll
find that once the client shuts down the name stops being resolvable.

▸ quoted from David Gilmore


--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

list David Gilmore · Mon, 3 Apr 2006 14:44:34 -0400 ·

I set it up to monitor a second laptop, collected some data, and then shut
down the laptop.  I have not received any bbtest errors related to the
second test unit yet.  I also checked the DNS setting on the Hobbit server.
It was checking the W2k3 DC first, then a OS X server second.  I removed the
OS X server and have not seen anymore errors about resolving for my laptop.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: hobbit-return-6222-david=user-9e293dd11111@xymon.invalid [mailto:hobbit-return-6222-david=stenhouseconsulting.com at hswn.
dk] On Behalf Of Rob MacGregor
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 2:36 PM

▸ quoted from Rob MacGregor

To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Monitoring a laptop

On 4/3/06, David Gilmore <user-70507ff7198d@xymon.invalid> wrote:

I'll have to give that a try today.  I believe the Hobbit box is > configured to use the Windows DC for DNS.  If it is then that could > either be the problem, or the resolution.  Since the Windows DC would > have the last DHCP address cached in DNS it should provide resolution.

Any DHCP client should release it's lease on exit (ie shutdown).  This means that in a dynamic DNS setup (which you probably have) you'll find that once the client shuts down the name stops being resolvable.

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche

Monitoring a laptop 🔗 link

Monitoring a laptop