[hobbit] Feasibility of Windows Client

Tony Larco tlarco at polr.org
Wed Mar 1 15:47:18 CET 2006


Steve-

No doubt the Big Brother Windows client lacks a lot of functionality, 
but the 1.08d version from bb4.org does support notification on yellows 
events. It was not available in the 1.08b release *I think*. In version 
1.08d, they squeezed a Pagelevels box right under the last check box on 
the left "Forced Registry Close" and above the Msgs Levels box in the 
GUI. I currently have red and yellow there and receive email 
notifications just like the *nix servers. I also think there was talk on 
the mailing list of someone who got the hobbit client running under 
cygwin. HTH

We are all very excited here in the shire whenever there is talk of a 
free replacement Windows client. Parting ways with the BB client would 
be a big step forward. A huge thanks to Henrik and all the people that 
quietly and freely contribute to Hobbit and FOSS in general for such a 
quality software and mailing list. There is far better support here than 
with most commercial vendors. Keep up the great work!

Tony


Aiello, Steve (GE, Corporate, consultant) wrote:
> I do know that the bb1.9c code does compile on windows under cygwin. 
> My next check was to see if I could get the bbgen client compiled 
> using cygwin. Maybe see if the hobbit code can compile under cygwin. 
> Once compiled, you do not need the full cygwin resources, but the 
> cygwin dll. I have found the BB win client to be very lacking in some 
> regards. In my current environment I need to stay with BigBrother, and 
> am able not upgrade to Hobbit. So I am left with the test thresholds 
> configured on the client side. With the windows client, configuration 
> & thresholds are handled differently than the *nix clients. Also 
> windows client does not have the option to configure what color status 
> to alert on. Some of my servers need to alert on Yellow. Also, bb 
> windows client does not handle the full bb protocol, I have some 
> custom scripts that need to submit information via 'data'. So to me 
> having a windows client that is configured, and has all the same 
> options a *nix is very needful.
> Of late I just have not had the time to dig into this, but figured I 
> would let you all know compiling under cygwin with the existing source 
> is possible.
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     *From:* Norton, Peter [mailto:Peter.Norton at Manage5Nines.com]
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, March 01, 2006 8:10 AM
>     *To:* 'hobbit at hswn.dk'
>     *Subject:* RE: [hobbit] Feasibility of Windows Client
>
>     This e-mail is subject to the disclaimer set out below.
>     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>     Hi Etienne,
>
>     I’ve been playing around with getting the various bit of info,
>     such as disk usage, cpu, services, etc. using WMI scripts via
>     .vbs. I’ve attached the file.
>
>     I’ve not touched it for a month or so, but it might be of some
>     use. The [ps] section uses the Sysinternals tools plist.
>
>     My original idea was to output the data in the same format as the
>     linux client, so no further coding was required in the hobbit daemon.
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Peter
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     *From:* Etienne Grignon [mailto:etienne.grignon at gmail.com]
>     *Sent:* 01 March 2006 12:53
>     *To:* hobbit at hswn.dk
>     *Subject:* Re: [hobbit] Feasibility of Windows Client
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     I wanted to make you the surprise but I think I have to announce
>     it today.
>
>     I'm thinking of an open source big brother hobbit client for
>     months and started to code it 2 month ago.
>
>     The client is coded in C++ using the platform SDK, the visual C++
>     toolkit (free edition of the compiler). I have written the program
>     with the idea: "I want to make it work without installing nothing
>     more than a default Windows 2000 installation".
>
>     It will work as a native service and it will not be a monolithic
>     program as the actual quest bbnt. We are in 2006, I think each
>     program should have been written to take part of the plug in
>     architecture. So, the service is actually an engine loading native
>     agent (dll). So, the service loads the agents and it schedules
>     their execution.
>
>
>     Of course, one of my agent is called externals.dll and will be
>     able to execute all existing scripts that every one are using with
>     the original bbnt. But, for the future, every one will be able to
>     develop native agents (using a small C++ api that I wrote).
>
>     So, at first, I'm working on externals agent and with important
>     agents as cpu, disk and memory (respectively: cpu.dll, disk.dll,
>     memory.dll). For events, I'm waiting to be able to implement the
>     same thing that Henrik is making for the unix agent.
>
>     About the configuration, it is done thanks to the registry only
>     for paths information, and the configuration of the service and
>     each agent is done with a nice XML configuration file.
>
>     About the installer, it will be a native MSI written using the wix
>     toolkit to be able to deploy the package very easily. I'm working
>     on it but for the moment, but my concentration for the moment is
>     really on the service and the agents.
>
>     Now, let's talk about the project name:
>
>     The software is called bbwin (project already created on bbwin) I
>     will try to post the source soon after the preview release. (For
>     the moment, I'm trying to find a nice way to publish posts from my
>     subversion repository to the cvs sourceforge repository :) )
>
>
>     There will be 2 executables:
>
>     Bbwin.Exe : build as a native service
>
>     Bbwincmd.exe : it is a simple command line client as bb.exe on
>     unix, it is compiled with my hobbit protocol C++ class
>     implementing 95 % of the protocol. I posted a preview on
>     sourceforge :
>     http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=136450&package_id=149927&release_id=397674
>     <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=136450&package_id=149927&release_id=397674>
>
>
>     About compatibility, it should work well on Windows XP, Windows
>     2000, Windows 2003 and also on Windows NT 4.0 SP 6. For 64 bits, I
>     have no hardware to test for the moment.
>
>
>     Also, Henrik, you told us that you knew someone working on it.
>     Would it be possible for you to make me in contact with him ? May
>     be we could work together. Even, if for the moment, I don't have
>     much of native agents, I think working together could be cool and
>     try to get the best of the 2 windows clients.
>
>
>     So please, wait some days, I'm preparing a first preview so, you
>     will be able to judge on it. I will post a new message on the list
>     on March 15^th .
>
>
>     Last thing, if you are going to renew your bbnt licence pack, I
>     think you should wait some time … : )
>
>
>     Etienne (aka sharpyy)
>
>     From Paris
>
>     2006/3/1, Rich Smrcina <rsmrcina at wi.rr.com
>     <mailto:rsmrcina at wi.rr.com>>:
>
>     Yes, the BB windows client does work just fine. Word is that there
>     is a
>     Hobbit windows client in development, which we are very eagerly
>     waiting for.
>
>     Ralph Mitchell wrote:
>     > I would expect the Windows BB client to be able to report to
>     Hobbit -
>     > after all, the other various BB tests I've tried seem to work just
>     > fine. I've never used the Windows client, so I don't know if there'd
>     > be much advantage in re-inventing it.
>     >
>     > Ralph Mitchell
>     >
>     >
>     > On 3/1/06, Camp, Neil D. (ManTech) CTR <neil.camp at deca.mil
>     <mailto:neil.camp at deca.mil>> wrote:
>     >> Question to all,
>     >>
>     >> What would be the feasibility of building a windows client?
>     >> Would you have to write it from scratch?
>     >> Could you potentially use cygwin dlls to assist?
>     >> Could you use the BB windows client?
>     >>
>     >> I am curious, and would like to pursue this. I am not a coder
>     especially
>     >> for windows, but I would be willing to give it a try. I just
>     need some
>     >> suggestions and input on what direction to go, and if there
>     would be any
>     >> interest in a windows client. Thanks!
>     >>
>     >> --neil
>     >>
>     >> ManTech
>     >> DeCA Operations Systems Administrator
>     >> (804) 734-8353
>     >> neil.camp at deca.mil <mailto:neil.camp at deca.mil>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to
>     >> hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >
>     > To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to
>     > hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
>     >
>     >
>
>     --
>     Rich Smrcina
>     VM Assist, Inc.
>     Main: (262)392-2026
>     Cell: (414)491-6001
>     Ans Service: (360)715-2467
>     rich.smrcina at vmassist.com <http://vmassist.com>
>
>     Catch the WAVV! http://www.wavv.org
>     WAVV 2006 - Chattanooga, TN - April 7-11, 2006
>
>     To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to
>     hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk <mailto:hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk>
>
>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Etienne GRIGNON
>
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