[Xymon] Where to put client extension state files?

[Steve Coile]

I've written a script that will review a log file and produce some metrics.
 I want the state of the script to be persistent across reboots.  I'm leary
of using /tmp, /var/tmp, or $XYMONTMP (which on our install is /tmp)
because those locations are easy to hijack, and therefore not safe for
anything with a predictable name.

It sounds like, from the two responses I've gotten (thanks!), there is not
an explicitly appropriate location for my use, but that $XYMONTMP and/or
$XYMONCLIENTLOGS might be the best candidates, if just because they're the
only writable locations in the install.

Thanks!


-- 

*Steve Coile*Senior Network and Systems Engineer, McClatchy Interactive
<http://www.mcclatchyinteractive.com/>
Office: 919-861-1247 | Mobile: 919-622-5369 | Fax: 919-861-1300

On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 6:45 PM, J.C. Cleaver <cleaver at terabithia.org>
wrote:

> On Tue, September 16, 2014 11:45 am, Steve Coile wrote:
> > I've written a client extension script that wants to maintain state
> > between
> > runs, essentially to know where it left off after the last run.  Where is
> > the "proper" place to keep such state files?  On our install,
> > ~xymon/client/tmp is a symlink to /tmp, which seems like a bad choice.
> >
> > --
>
>
> I think it really depends on your specific use-case, including how
> "resilient" the test needs to be against local problems, and whether the
> state needs to persist across a reboot. In addition, how it's been
> packaged plays a role.
>
> I tend to be a fan of client runtime-dependent files (such as the .msg
> file the standard client builds) on tmpfs -- typically /dev/shm on Linux.
> That ensures we can still report even if the silly Dell controller has
> dropped us into read-only mode. OTOH, that's a bad place for keeping track
> of a nightly-rotated-logfile state unless you're okay with losing state
> after a crash or reboot (and potentially getting alerted again).
>
>
> If it needs to be kept around, I'd suggest /var/tmp/ or /var/tmp/xymon/
> (if present. If neither is writable or easily derived, $XYMONCLIENTLOGS
> (potentially ~xymon/client/logs) is simple enough to use, and should be
> basically reliable.
>
> Regards,
>
> -jc
>
>
>
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