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

Sat Apr 14 20:15:58 CEST 2012

I don't know if the script attachment made it through or not, but I've
just added it to Xymonton anyway:

     http://xymonton.org/addons:unconfigured_clients

Ralph Mitchell

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 2:48 AM, Martin Flemming
<martin.flemming at desy.de> wrote:
>
> 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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>>> Xymon at xymon.com
>>> http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
>>>
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