[Xymon] Alias for test name?

[John Thurston]

I'm looking for an easy way to have the same test result appear under 
two different column headings. Here's an example:

Host foo.bar.com reports red for the test named 'sql'. This is cool for 
one page in the xymon web interface. But on a different page, I want 
that same test result to appear under a column named 'database'.

I'm currently getting this done by running the  'combostatus' task, and 
having an entry in combo.cfg:
   foo.bar.com.database = foo.bar.com.sql

This works, but causes the state of 'database' to trail that of 'sql' by 
one interval.

I've found the 'compact' tag, which lets one cram the status of several 
tests into one. A line in hosts.cfg like:
    0.0.0.0   foo.bar.com # compact:database=sql
creates a new column named 'database' which closely tracks 'sql'. But 
the column name is real, in the sense that the green/red bubble is 
hyperlinked to svcstatus.sh?HOST=foo.bar.com&SERVICE=database rather 
than to SERVICE=sql. There aren't any test results for 'database', so 
the link isn't any good.

Can anyone suggest another way?

If 'combostatus' is the best I can use, what would be the consequence of 
shortening its interval? If I shorten the interval (from 5min) to 3min 
or 1min, my test aliases should track more closely to the real test 
results. Is there some reason this interval shouldn't be shorter than 
the common reporting interval?



-- 
    Do things because you should, not just because you can.

John Thurston    907-465-8591
John.Thurston at alaska.gov
Department of Administration
State of Alaska