[Xymon] Thought Process for Xymon Page Layout - Sanity Check

[Martin Flemming]

On Wed, 4 Apr 2012, Ralph Mitchell wrote:

> As for ghost entries, I have a script that converts the ghost list
> into an "Unconfigured Client" page so that any new system shows up
> there within about 10 minutes of first checking in.

Hi, Ralph !

Thats sounds cool, is it possible to share this script ?

thanks & cheers

 	martin


>
> Ralph Mitchell
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Steve Holmes <sholmes42 at mac.com> wrote:
>> Don,
>> We have wrestled with the same issues. We started with systems organized by
>> OS (Unix/Windows) and then as more apps became multi-platform have moved
>> away from the platform centric organization, with some exceptions. The
>> reason for the change is so we can see at a glance when there is a problem
>> in a service we support so when there is a problem the customers for that
>> service can be notified, unless the problem is fixed before the customers
>> have to be notified (which is the big payoff with using Xymon).
>>
>> Our main page contains 3 groups:
>>
>>    Services
>>    Platform Support
>>    Infrastructure
>>
>> Under Services there are sub pages:
>> Production
>> Non-Production
>> Pre-production
>> Decommissioned
>>
>> Under Platform Support there is currently only:
>> Platform Windows Servers
>>
>> Under Infrastructure:
>>
>> Authentication
>> Network
>> Server Provisioning
>>
>>
>> Prod and non-prod each have a list of application/service areas as sub
>> pages, each of which is a list of hosts in logical groups with no respect
>> for OS platform. Within the groups the hosts are listed in alpha order.
>>
>> Pre-production contains hosts which are not in production yet, but will be
>> heading there (with some arm twisting at times). The reason for this is the
>> OPS center only calls support for alerts that show up on a production page.
>> Hosts in pre-prod (as well as non-prod) can fail without causing a call.
>>
>> Decommissioned is where we put host entries for hosts that are just that. We
>> keep them there for a year after they've gone off line in case someone wants
>> to see the history. They all have noconn and all the NOPROPS so they don't
>> show up anywhere else.
>>
>> The Infrastructure group is also production, but not application specific.
>> This is an area currently under development so it is incomplete. There we
>> have network devices, DNS servers, and the like.
>>
>> Platform Support was a special request from the Windows admins to group all
>> of the windows servers in one place (with duplicate entries) so they don't
>> have to look through all of the application pages to find their servers. The
>> Platform Windows Servers sub page contains sub pages for Prod and Non-Prod,
>> each of which is grouped by application area. Yes, this duplicates the work
>> I have to do when Windows systems are added, but they know that if they
>> don't tell me exactly where to put the duplicate entry it won't go in. We
>> could also put a page in there for Linux/Solaris admins, but that hasn't
>> been requested, yet.
>>
>> Many times when a new server shows up in the ghost report I have to ask the
>> admins for information about where it should go. Our naming convention
>> helps, but not totally.
>>
>> Side note: OPS likes to watch the all-non-green page. But that contains
>> non-green tests for non-prod as well as prod. I would really like to be able
>> to provide them with an all-non-green-prod-only (for lack of better
>> terminology) so they could easily see what they need to. Putting NOPROPS on
>> all non-prod would prevent the admins from being able to use the same page
>> to watch everything. Something I'm not willing to do.
>>
>> HTH
>> Steve
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Don Kuhlman <Don.Kuhlman at schawk.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi folks. I have been modifying our xymon server host cfg file setups.  I
>>> have been moving page layouts around.  I thought I would send a note to the
>>> list to see what others are doing in their web page layouts just to have a
>>> sanity check…
>>>
>>> Do you set up your main page to list things by OS, then by environment –
>>> like this:
>>> Unix -  then Prod, Dev, Test, Uat, etc.
>>> Windows – then Prod, Dev, Test, Uat, etc.
>>>
>>> Do you also use Application groups and then arrange them by OS and
>>> environment ?
>>> App1, Unix, Prod
>>> App1, Unix, Dev
>>>
>>> Or
>>>
>>> App1, Prod
>>> App1, Dev
>>>
>>> Here's what I've been doing and I'm having second thoughts about the logic
>>> of doing it this way:
>>>
>>> Main xymon page lists the following Pages
>>>
>>> Server lists by hostname Applications Infrastructure Other Systems
>>>
>>> Under Server lists by hostname – I have now made up UNIX-MAC and WINDOWS
>>> Under each of these I have PROD and DEV
>>>
>>> Under the Applications I have several business Applications -
>>> App1
>>> App2
>>> App3
>>>
>>> In each of the App1, App2, App3, I have Prod and Dev subpages
>>>
>>> I'm creating include files for each category – like HostsApp1Prod.cfg,
>>> HostsApp1Dev.cfg, HostsApp2Prod.cfg, HostsApp2Dev.cfg, etc.
>>> Now that I've changed it, I will probably need to create new
>>> HostsApp1ProdUnixMac.cfg, HostsApp1ProdWindows.cfg
>>>
>>> I would like to be able to setup base rules for monitoring the Prod & Dev
>>> systems – Prod disk, mem, cpu is different than Dev disk, mem, cpu, etc.
>>>  That's why I thought breaking out by OS and then environment would make
>>> sense.
>>>
>>> Then I want to create very specific service, process, or other monitoring
>>> for the application servers.
>>>
>>> Does this seem like a good way to go, or am I making it too complicated by
>>> breaking everything down this way?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Don K
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. -Juan Ramon Jimenez,
>> poet, Nobel Prize in literature (1881-1958)
>>
>> I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed
>> with my legs. -Frederick Douglass, Former slave, abolitionist, editor, and
>> orator (1817-1895)
>>
>>
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