how to split xymon display and xymon network test servers 🔗 link

All,
I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that after all this time using Xymon (and
Hobbit and BB before that) I did not realize until today that Xymon does not
use the keywords BBDISPLAY, BBNET and BBPAGER. So, now I have a need to
split BBNET from the others and have been looking at the email archives and
man pages but have found no explanation of how to do it.

Note I'm still on Xymon 4.2.3.

All I need is a pointer to instructions for how to configure what would be
the BBNET server. The hobbitserver.cfg file talks about 'this server', but
the variables there seem to be explicitly talking about the display server,
so I'm confused. I know I need to run bbtest-net on the network test server,
but how do I get it to send data to the display server?

Thanks,
Steve Holmes
ITaP/ITSO/Unix Systems Administration
Purdue University

One thing I didn't mention - if your "foo" net-tester doesn't need to be a
display box, you could shut off bbgen and other similar things in the
hobbitlaunch.cfg file.  Just leave it running its own status check and the
net testing stuff.  You wouldn't even need to have Apache running.  That
would give you a few more cpu cycles to process the net tests.

And I'm going to copy this to xymon at xymon.com, because it seems like my
earlier reply didn't go to the mailing list...

Ralph Mitchell


On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Steve Holmes <user-ec1bf77b1b44@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Thanks Ralph. That works great. I had read the man page about
BBLOCATION/NET:, but it didn't click that it would work without major
reworking of the *.cfg on the network server. It was 'the other part of the
puzzle" that was tripping me up.

Thanks!
Steve

You need to be looking at the BBLOCATION option in
server/etc/hobbitserver.cfg.  You set up a whole spare xymon-4.2.3 instance
somewhere on your network and set BBLOCATION to some value:

     BBLOCATION="foo"

Go to your original Xymon instance and edit the bb-hosts file to include
NET:foo for each system to be net-monitored by the "foo" instance.  Copy
that bb-hosts file to the "foo" machine and fire it up.  The original system
should stop running network tests against any "NET:foo" labelled hosts.  The
"foo" system should *only* run tests against those systems.

The other part of the puzzle is delivery to the original server.  On the
"foo" system, set BBDISP in hobbitserver.cfg to the IP of your original
server.

Ralph Mitchell

Den 08-03-2011 19:33, Steve Holmes skrev:

Setup the server as a normal Xymon server, then disable all tasks in
tasks.cfg / hobbitlaunch.cfg except the network test.

Note that by default it has a "NEEDS hobbitd" setting - you must remove 
this when you disable the "hobbitd" task, or the network tests won't run.

And of course, configure your Xymon server in xymonserver.cfg / 
hobbitserver.cfg .


Regards,
Henrik

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Henrik Størner <user-ce4a2c883f75@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Thanks Ralph and Henrik. It is almost working. I have made all the changes
you have suggested and the only problem left is that the main display
server, which is also the network tester for most clients, is still trying
to ping the hosts in the BBLOCATION which have a NET:zone tag on the
bb-hosts line. So the conn test is cycling from green (when tested from
within the zone) to red (when tested from the public side. Shouldn't the
display server not try to ping (or ssh, telnet, etc.) any of the hosts with
a NET: tag? Or does the display server also need a BBLOCATION set for it
(say 'public')? But then I would have to add NET:public to all of the other
clients, right?

Thanks,
Steve
-- 
The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of
automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care
given to the welfare of all the people. -Helen Adams Keller, lecturer and
author (1880-1968)

Truth never damages a cause that is just. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(1869-1948)

Den 09-03-2011 17:36, Steve Holmes skrev:

Set "BBLOCATION=public" for the main display server, then add 
"--test-untagged" to the bbtest-net command line ONLY on this (the main) 
server. Then it will only test those servers that either have a 
"NET:public" setting in bb-hosts, OR no "NET:..." at all.


Regards,
Henrik