IP address in bb-host file 🔗 link

Please comment on pros/cons to using 0.0.0.0 for "all" hosts vs. the
actual IP address in the bb-hosts file?

 
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Background info:

I see I can use 0.0.0.0 for an IP and Xymon will lookup the IP address.

 
As an IP changes, which happens infrequently, I am hoping to only need
to change DNS, not also remember to change the bb-hosts file (others
will be doing various network work and could forget.)  90% of hosts are
PCs or printers.  Servers and network equipment are the remaining 10%.

 
I have done very little with Xymon since installed.  Running basic
"conn" tests to all hosts.  My servers (2 unix, 2 windows) are
monitoring mail, dns, ftp, etc.  I do not have advanced stats running
besides what comes "out of the box".  No bbwin client running.  Yes, I
would like to get to those, but have other fish to fry at the moment.  I
am currently trying to get pre-reqs required to compile the current
version of Xymon.

 
The question comes up because I changed the IP of a router and changed
it in bb-hosts, but not DNS yet.  I thought something was incorrect
until I realized it was using DNS to lookup the IP.  So, if it uses DNS
for network tests why not use it for all testing?  Granted, if DNS
fails, then all testing fails.  But, if DNS fails, I have a major issue
and not worried about the monitoring at that point.

 
Thanks,
Mike

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:30:34 -0800, "Mike Cavanagh"

<user-aa53cad052d4@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Xymon will do a DNS lookup on the hostname, unless you explicitly use the
"testip" tag on a host.

The presence of an IP in the hosts.cfg / bb-hosts file is a remnant from
the days when Xymon was an add-on to the "Big Brother" system - this system
relied on the IP in the bb-hosts file for network testing. Although Xymon
has evolved a lot, it has retained much of the configuration file format
from the Big Brother days, including this.

Currently, the only advantage of having the IP in the bb-hosts file is
that this will be used as a "fall-back" IP in case the DNS lookup fails. So
there really is no problem in just having "0.0.0.0" as the IP.

I have some plans to re-do the configuration system for Xymon v5, and one
of the changes that will happen is probably that the mandatory IP-address
in hosts.cfg will disappear, so you only need to specify it when it will
actually be used.


Regards,
Henrik

Henrik,
Thanks for the reply
Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: xymon-bounces at xymon.com [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] On Behalf
Of user-ce4a2c883f75@xymon.invalid
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 1:01 AM
To: xymon at xymon.com
Subject: Re: [Xymon] IP address in bb-host file

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:30:34 -0800, "Mike Cavanagh"
<user-aa53cad052d4@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Xymon will do a DNS lookup on the hostname, unless you explicitly use
the "testip" tag on a host.

The presence of an IP in the hosts.cfg / bb-hosts file is a remnant from
the days when Xymon was an add-on to the "Big Brother" system - this
system relied on the IP in the bb-hosts file for network testing.
Although Xymon has evolved a lot, it has retained much of the
configuration file format from the Big Brother days, including this.

Currently, the only advantage of having the IP in the bb-hosts file is
that this will be used as a "fall-back" IP in case the DNS lookup fails.
So there really is no problem in just having "0.0.0.0" as the IP.

I have some plans to re-do the configuration system for Xymon v5, and
one of the changes that will happen is probably that the mandatory
IP-address in hosts.cfg will disappear, so you only need to specify it
when it will actually be used.


Regards,
Henrik