[hobbit] Questions about migrating from BB

Thu Sep 17 21:29:59 CEST 2009

That's what I figured. On Solaris, it seems I run into this on all of
the hosts. uname -n always seems to return a short name. In fact, it
does not appear as if Solaris has much of a concept of a domain name,
and I can't figure if I'm supposed to keep the full name as the hostname
or not. Hasn't seemed to matter.

> Some of the columns you are talking about (bbgen, hobbitd, etc.) are
> implicit tests that are run no matter what on the Xymon server.  Xymon
> inherits a lot of the BB communications architecture but extends it in
> many ways.  The BBDISPLAY machine(s) will have "bbgen" tests -- this is
> what creates the Web pages.  The Xymon server will have the "hobbitd"
> test -- this is what processes incoming data from Xymon clients.  BBNET
> machines will have the "bbtest" column -- this shows how network tests
> are working.

They were missing, but apparently what happened is that at least the
"bbgen" tests were going into the bit running with a misspelled name, so
at least I know what is going on with them now. I guess these are
"client" tests on a Xymon server.

> On a simple environment (the only kind I know) you will have all three
> of these on your Xymon server and not on anything else.  My *guess* is
> that if you know how to break up BBDISPLY and BBNET you might see
> different tests associated with each host.

Apparently not, and in my opinion, this is somewhat broken, unless I'm
misconfiguring something. Xymon appears to only have one notion of a
"server." If you're running a network test machine, it asks you for your
server name (example pasted):

BBSERVERHOSTNAME="xymon.umdnj.edu"              # The hostname of your
server
BBSERVERIP="130.219.34.102"                     # The IP-address of your
server. Use the real one, not 127.0.0.1 .
BBSERVEROS="sunos"                      # The operating system of your
server. linux,freebsd,solaris,hpux,aix,osf

The "bbtest" test, with a solely "BBNET" machine configured this way,
appears as if it comes from the "BBNET" machine (status message received
from IP is the "BBNET" machine), but the test shows up under whatever
server name is defined in those above variables in hobbitserver.cfg. If
you set that server name to the name of the BBNET machine, as I expected
I was supposed to do initially, you get "connection refused" errors, as
it tries to connect to itself and cannot as it's not running the server
component that listens on the port.

I'm starting to believe that while you CAN separate the BBNET and
BBDISPLAY nodes with Xymon, no one is really doing it and it doesn't
work that cleanly. I'm not sure if this is what is happening, but since
I have two BBNET machines, I'd expect them to be writing over each
other's information as far as bbtest "on the display machine" is concerned.

> One *fundamental* difference between Xymon and BB is that clients
> collect data and send it to the server for analysis instead of simply
> sending status messages.  This allows the Xymon server to use
> centralized thresholds -- makes it much easier to handle a distributed
> environment because the definitions for "red", "yellow" and "green" are
> all in one place.  But you probably already know this!

Getting there! Thanks for the help.

> On 9/17/09, *Josh Luthman* <josh at imaginenetworksllc.com
> <mailto:josh at imaginenetworksllc.com>> wrote:
> 
>     If you want the clients to send their data to the server you need to
>     specify (for Hobbit clients)
> 
>     BBDISP="74.218.88.184"             # IP address of the Hobbit server
>     BBDISPLAYS=""                   # IP of multiple Hobbit servers.
>     BBDISP must be "0.0.0.0".
> 
>     /home/hobbitman/client/etc/hobbitclient.cfg
> 
>     For bbclients (I have no experience with them myself) you simply
>     switch from the old to the new address.
> 
>     Josh Luthman
>     Office: 937-552-2340
>     Direct: 937-552-2343
>     1100 Wayne St
>     Suite 1337
>     Troy, OH 45373
> 
>     "When you have eliminated the impossible, that which remains,
>     however improbable, must be the truth."
>     --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
> 
> 
>     On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 12:47 PM, Ryan Novosielski
>     <novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>> wrote:
> 
>  
> Yeah, I took a look at that before writing. There's nothing
> missing that
> I can see that refers to anything like that. Only think I can
> think of
> is that the client piece may not be using the same hostname as my
> machine. I don't know what xymon does in cases where one is
> using FQDN
> and one isn't. My bb-hosts line is:
> 
> 130.219.34.102  xymon.umdnj.edu <http://xymon.umdnj.edu/> #
> BBDISPLAY bbd ssh !telnet !ftp
> 
> So I'm only missing some extraneous stuff, if I compare it to their
> line. I don't think the CLIENT piece is strictly required. I guess I
> will re-read the man page for bb-hosts.
> 
> Josh Luthman wrote:
>> Compare the first host voodoo.hswn.dk <http://voodoo.hswn.dk/>
> <http://voodoo.hswn.dk <http://voodoo.hswn.dk/>>:
>> http://xymon.com/hobbit/servers/servers.html
> 
>> With it's bb-host here:
>> http://xymon.com/hobbit-cgi/viewconf.sh
> 
>> I think that answers your question.  Let me know if otherwise.
> 
>> Josh Luthman
>> Office: 937-552-2340
>> Direct: 937-552-2343
>> 1100 Wayne St
>> Suite 1337
>> Troy, OH 45373
> 
>> "When you have eliminated the impossible, that which remains,
> however
>> improbable, must be the truth."
>> --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Ryan Novosielski
> <novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
>  
>> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>> wrote:
> 
>  
>> One, possibly last, question:
> 
>> In the process of migrating my bb-hosts file from BigBrother to
> xymon
>> and duplicating my current BB setup, it appears as if I managed
> to lose
>> the tests for bbgen, bbtest, hobbitd... maybe another as well.
> I can't
>> figure out what it is that causes these tests to show up, as I
> do not
>> believe they were spelled out in the default bb-hosts file. Can
> anyone
>> point me to either some good docs on that or an answer?
> 
>> Currently, on the "BBDISPLAY" machine I have bbnet and bbretest
>> disabled. However, stats for these processes do not show up on the
>> "BBNET" machines either (sorry to use BB terminology but it
> does not
>> appear that xymon has any term to make the description easy).
> The BBNET
>> machines have hobbitd, bbhistory, bbpage, rrdstatus, rrddata,
>> clientdata, and bbdisplay disabled.
> 
>> Thanks for any help!
> 
>> Ryan Novosielski wrote:
>>> Apparently not. :-\
> 
>>> Checking for RRDtool ...
>>> RRDtool include- or library-files not found. These are REQUIRED
>> for hobbitd
>>> RRDtool can be found at
>> http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/rrdtool/
> <http://people.ee.ethz.ch/%7Eoetiker/webtools/rrdtool/>
>  
>> <http://people.ee.ethz.ch/%7Eoetiker/webtools/rrdtool/>
>>> If you have RRDtool installed, use the "--rrdinclude DIR" and
>> "--rrdlib DIR"
>>> options to configure to specify where they are.
> 
>>> I guess no big deal.
> 
>>> Josh Luthman wrote:
>>>> From memory..few years of dust on that...
> 
>>>> After you do a ./configure.server it will ask about RRDtool if it
>> can't
>>>> be found - I would imagine if you just leave it blank it would
>> skip over
>>>> the RRDtool parts.  Also, like you said, ./configure.server
>> --help may
>>>> answer that better.
> 
>>>> Josh Luthman
>>>> Office: 937-552-2340
>>>> Direct: 937-552-2343
>>>> 1100 Wayne St
>>>> Suite 1337
>>>> Troy, OH 45373
> 
>>>> "When you have eliminated the impossible, that which remains,
> however
>>>> improbable, must be the truth."
>>>> --- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
> 
> 
>>>> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 4:36 PM, Ryan Novosielski
>> <novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>
>  
>>>> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>>> wrote:
> 
>>>> Josh Luthman wrote:
>>>>>> Next, my network machines. I don't really want to have to
> install
>>>>> RRDTool on it. Is that really necessary? Isn't it only used for
>>>> display,
>>>>> or is it also needed by a machine that only does network
> testing? It
>>>>> looks like then as far as splitting up which tests run from
> where,
>>>> I can
>>>>> use BBLOCATION and NET:$BBLOCATION, but it appears as if
> this is by
>>>>> host, not by test. Any recommendations?
>>>>> When you say "machines" you're saying it plural - you'll only
>> have to
>>>>> install it on the bbdisplay (what server you query for WWW
>> pages).  If
>>>>> you don't want rrdtool you won't have graphs - when you do the
>>>> configure
>>>>> just say you don't have rrdtool.  The bbproxy/net machines
> have no
>>>> need
>>>>> for rrdtool.  Graphs aren't crucial but they can most certainly
>>>> help in
>>>>> several cases.
>>>> Yes, I have two network test machines that do not run the
> display --
>>>> these were that I was talking about. I already have rrdtool
> on the
>>>> display machine and the graphs work. I did not know there was a
>> way to
>>>> say that I don't have rrdtool. I'll look through configure, I
>> suppose,
>>>> but I didn't see anything like "--without-rrdtool" as is often
>> present
>>>> in other software.
> 
>>>>> I know some people have issues using NET: but you might want
> to read
>>>>> through the archives.  From my understanding, it is by host not
>>>> test as
>>>>> well.
>>>> Thanks, I'll hunt around.
> 
>>>>>> Lastly, is there any concept of escalation in xymon as there is
>>>> in BB? I
>>>>> wouldn't necessarily miss it, but I do currently use it.
>>>> (Escalation is
>>>>> that no one can acknowledge a page in such a way that will
> keep it
>>>> from
>>>>> reaching the escalated party, except that person).
>>>>> Maybe look at the critical list of hosts -
>>>>> http://www.hswn.dk/hobbiton/2007/03/msg00315.html
>>>> Thanks.
> 
>>>>> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Ryan Novosielski
>>>> <novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>
>> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>>
>>>>> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>
>> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>
> <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu <mailto:novosirj at umdnj.edu>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Good afternoon,
>>>>> I am new to this list and probably will be new to xymon
> shortly. I
>>>> have
>>>>> currently installed it and am testing it out.
>>>>> My current BB system consists of a BBDISPLAY machine, and
> two BBNET
>>>>> machines. The two BBNET machines are on either sides of a
>> firewall and
>>>>> are housed on two different Solaris 10 zones.
>>>>> I /think/ I know how to set this up, but there are some aspects
>> of it
>>>>> that look like they might be irritating if there's no good
> answer
>>>>> for them:
>>>>> First off, my BBDISPLAY does no network monitoring. This
> looks as
>>>> simple
>>>>> as setting DISABLE on the appropriate part of
> hobbitlaunch.cfg, so
>>>> this
>>>>> seems pretty easy.
>>>>> Next, my network machines. I don't really want to have to
> install
>>>>> RRDTool on it. Is that really necessary? Isn't it only used for
>>>> display,
>>>>> or is it also needed by a machine that only does network
> testing? It
>>>>> looks like then as far as splitting up which tests run from
> where,
>>>> I can
>>>>> use BBLOCATION and NET:$BBLOCATION, but it appears as if
> this is by
>>>>> host, not by test. Any recommendations?
>>>>> Lastly, is there any concept of escalation in xymon as there
> is in
>>>> BB? I
>>>>> wouldn't necessarily miss it, but I do currently use it.
>>>> (Escalation is
>>>>> that no one can acknowledge a page in such a way that will
> keep it
>>>> from
>>>>> reaching the escalated party, except that person).
>>>> To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to
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> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
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>> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>>>
>>>> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
>> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>>
>> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
> <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
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> -- 
> Disclaimer:  1) all opinions are my own, 2) I may be completely wrong,
> 3) my advice is worth at least as much as what you are paying for it, or
> your money cheerfully refunded.

- --
 ---- _  _ _  _ ___  _  _  _
 |Y#| |  | |\/| |  \ |\ |  | |Ryan Novosielski - Systems Programmer II
 |$&| |__| |  | |__/ | \| _| |novosirj at umdnj.edu - 973/972.0922 (2-0922)
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