[Xymon] Running a custom test on multiple clients.

Andy Smith a.b.smith at shadymint.com
Fri Dec 4 20:56:30 CET 2020


Hi,

As Greg notes, this stuff is handled elegantly in the PowerShell 
client.  For unix, if it's of any use, here are some ideas from my 
(modified) version of xymon-prtdiag.ksh for distributing to Solaris 
clients.

    # keep this script evergreen - place a copy in the download directory
    # on the server, then from the client, the script can check if its up to
    # date by downloading the central copy and running diff/cmp whatever.
    #
    # echo 'xymon $XYMSRV "download xymon-prtdiag.ksh"' |
    $XYMONHOME/bin/xymoncmd 2> /dev/null > $XYMONHOME/ext/xymon-prtdiag.ksh
    #
    # (depends on $XYMONHOME/ext being writable by the xymon user)

If you want to save network activity from doing that check every 5 
minutes, use the fact that entries in client-local.cfg are defined on 
the server so you can switch on this file configuration entry (ie 
un-comment it) as required whenever you update the central copy.

    [host=<expression>]
    #file:`echo 'xymon $XYMSRV "download xymon-prtdiag.ksh"' |
    $XYMONHOME/bin /xymoncmd 2> /dev/null >
    $XYMONHOME/ext/xymon-prtdiag.ksh;echo $XYMONHOME/ext/xymon-prtdiag.ksh`

-- 

Andy


On 04/12/2020 16:19, Greg Hubbard wrote:
> I think that the original philosophy behind Xymon was to "inform and 
> notify" and not to "remediate."  The client sends data to a predefined 
> destination at regular intervals.
>
> However, you have described the Xymon administrators dilemma very well 
> -- what about custom tests?  As Timothy points out, some thought has 
> been put into this in the PowerShell client, but I am not sure what JC 
> is planning for the Xymon "native" clients.  Just keep in mind that 
> once your Xymon server can start distributing code to its clients, the 
> security requirements will likely escalate. Some form of "trust" will 
> be needed between the client and the server as well as other features 
> to keep the auditors at bay.
>
> However, you might be able to roll your own distribution function.  
> All you need is a custom test that connects to your distribution point 
> to look for changes.  If anything changes, it can download the new 
> code and "do the needful" to activate it.  Another coping mechanism is 
> to write your custom checks so they do not need to be updated very 
> often, or isolate the updates so they can be easily applied.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg Hubbard
>
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2020 at 9:21 AM Timothy Williams <tlwilliams4 at vcu.edu 
> <mailto:tlwilliams4 at vcu.edu>> wrote:
>
>     On the Windows PSXymon or (shudder) BBWin client, you can run an
>     external script by specifying it in the client-config file. Client
>     can download from a central repository using URL or BB: (from
>     Xymon server) link to run every scan or on slow scan. Therefore,
>     changes to script are immediately distributed. The script can
>     write an output file to TMP folder and that is picked up and
>     displayed on Xymon console (name of file becomes name of column).
>
>     As Windows clients were built to mimic the Linux client, I would
>     assume there is a mechanism there as well.
>
>     *Timothy L. Williams
>     *Windows Server *Operating Systems Analyst
>     *
>
>
>     On Fri, Dec 4, 2020 at 9:12 AM Gabby Gibbons via Xymon
>     <xymon at xymon.com <mailto:xymon at xymon.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>         ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>         From: Gabby Gibbons <gabby.gibbons at yahoo.com
>         <mailto:gabby.gibbons at yahoo.com>>
>         To: Xymon Mailinglist <xymon at xymon.com <mailto:xymon at xymon.com>>
>         Cc:
>         Bcc:
>         Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2020 13:52:18 +0000 (UTC)
>         Subject: Running a custom test on multiple clients.
>         Hello,
>         I am trying to figure out if there's a way to write a custom
>         test on the xymon server and then run that test on each client
>         as the client. I am aware of the ability to write a test on
>         the server and then use XYMONGREP to run a test on each
>         machine as the server, but the problem with that is, as far as
>         I can tell, you can only run unauthenticated checks from the
>         outside of the system. Say, for example, I want to monitor a
>         log file using xymon on each client. If I were able to run the
>         check on each system itself as the authenticated xymon user I
>         could do that easily, but I wouldn't be able to view that file
>         from the outside with another computer without first
>         authenticating.
>
>         Right now my solution is to simply copy all of the custom
>         tests I have to each monitored machine. This works, but the
>         problem is that it's so decentralized. Every time I make a
>         simple change to a script or want to add a new custom script I
>         have to go to every single machine and make the same change.
>         Being able to centralize this somewhat and have the clients
>         all read from one source would make managing custom tests much
>         much easier. Is this possible to do?
>
>
>
>         ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>         From: Gabby Gibbons via Xymon <xymon at xymon.com
>         <mailto:xymon at xymon.com>>
>         To: Xymon Mailinglist <xymon at xymon.com <mailto:xymon at xymon.com>>
>         Cc:
>         Bcc:
>         Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2020 13:52:18 +0000 (UTC)
>         Subject: [Xymon] Running a custom test on multiple clients.
>         _______________________________________________
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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.
>
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