I need to obtain information about my servers running on Linux Redhat, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. I have found the SNMP protocol to be useful for my purpose, but I am not clear how to implement it in my application. I don't even know how to get started.
Also, is it possible to monitor the applications/programs running on the servers? It is my first time working with SNMP, so I am finding it extremely difficult to understand how it has to be implemented. I have understood the architecture of SNMP(SNMPManager, SNMPAgent, Trap messages, MIB), but finding it difficult to implement them.
Please guide me in as detailed way as possible and mention links to any tutorials.
SNMP is not so simple as should be... if you want to provide control to your system/resources the best choice is to use an external native tool like:
PRTG:You can use free evaluation sensor
CACTI: open-source and web-based tool
SolarWinds:expensive but powerful choice
After that you can monitor your system using WMI protocol (for Win OS), direct agent installed on it or script.
Related
I want to know which options exist to provision (configure) multiple VoIP phones from multiple vendors for use with an Asterisk server. I'd like some kind of interface to manage extensions, configuration templates and so on.
Here's what I found so far:
FreePBX has a commercial module called Endpoint Manager which seems to do what I want. However, I don't like the idea of having to run a web server on the same machine (or container) that runs Asterisk. It seems like a bad idea which increases the attack surface of the Asterisk server. I would much rather have an endpoint manager on a separate server (or container) but I can't find any information about running or buying the Endpoint Manager outside of FreePBX.
Phonism advertises a "Cloud based IP phone provisioning and management system. Their service looks promising, but the number of supported phones is lower and I'm not completely sold on requiring the internet connection to configure the phone extensions in an office.
All the other solutions I found are tied to their complete proprietary VoIP solution (3CX, Kerio, etc.) or to a particular VoIP phone vendor.
Is anything else available? Or do people usually use a single VoIP phone vendor and use their own specific configuration method?
Since I can't find any phone provisioning solution which fits my needs, I'm questioning my understanding of Asterisk deployment best practices. Is using a plain Asterisk deployment a good idea or is it too bare in terms of related tooling?
You are thinking about this in a way that is too abstract and generic.
A voip equipment vendor will provide documentation which describes what provisioning protocols are used and how to use them. Then you can find a tool to use which meets that requirement and also suits your environment and skills.
Vendors usually provide proprietary tools to generate provisioning files too.
That said you should be advised that TFTP (trivial file transfer protocol) is a common provisioning method.
If you are using a bare bones asterisk install on linux then setting up your own TFTP server on linux is, well, trivial in comparison.
Running a provisioning server and asterisk server on different boxes is of course possible but you'll need to find or build some integration tools to keep provisioning config and asterisk config in sync (if that's important to you). I can't think of a reason why using two boxes makes this work significantly more difficult though.
I've been asked to implement VPN capabilities in an existing software project on an embedded system, in order to make the device available via network to an external server while avoiding trouble with firewalls (no need for encryption, just to make it accessible).
Unfortunately, the embedded system is based on a Cortex-M4 MCU, therefore Linux, which would allow for VPN nearly out of the box, is not an option. All I've got is an RTOS and a working LwIP stack.
I've used VPNs in the past. However, my network knowledge is rather limited concerning implementing VPNs, so I'm rather stumped. As I think, I'd use the current LwIP instance for building up the tunnel connection, and the application would use a second instance for the actual network communication, while the network interface of the second instance is a virtual one (like a tap device on linux), encapsulating its low level data and tranceiving it via the tunnel connection of the first LwIP instance.
Maybe this way I'd be able to create a custom solution for the problem, but the solution should conform to any standards (as the server will be any kind of sophisticated system).
So I wonder if anyone has been confronted with a task like this, and would appreciate any hint what to do, at least a direction where to look at.
Thanks in advance!
*If you think I should ask this question elsewhere, please let me know.
Background:
I need to build an application for converting weights into piece counts. The weights currently come from scales that are connected to PCs via serial ports. I am replacing PC based applications that connect to the scales via a serial connection. I am considering the feasibility of making the next generation of these applications into a web based solution. However, I do not want to do this if it is not a better solution than building an application that runs on the client. In addition, I do not want to use any sort of browser specific technology (ActiveX).
FYI, we currently run a Windows based environment.
What I have so far:
I am currently thinking that I will need some sort of client side “service” to allow the scale data to be retrieved by the web application. I have looked into creating a WCF service for this task and have determined that it would probably work. This would require that the scale be connected to some sort of Windows based computer that is on the network. I would then interface the WCF service (running as a Windows Service on the PC) from an ASP.NET web application running on an IIS web server. This would minimize the footprint on the client and allow us to use a web application.
I am looking for any constructive thoughts and ideas. I am open to reviewing any feasible option that would make this solution as simple and reliable as possible.
Answering my own question per request #honeycomb.
I discovered two viable options for this purpose. Following are high-level overviews of the techniques we leveraged.
Develop a scale reader to be run on a PC connected to the weigh scale device via an RS-232 connection. This reader will forward any information received from the scale into a database. Combined with technologies like change notifications and server-side push notifications, this option will allow data from a weigh scale to be pushed into a web page with little effort and no additional cost. (This option has performed well during testing but is not yet in production)
Invest in converting weigh scale devices to use ethernet connections and connect them to the network. Use an OPC server with a driver that can connect to the weigh scales you are using to read the data from these devices. Consider KEPWare's offering for this purpose. Use KEPWare's tools to forward this data to a database or wherever it is needed. Once again, you can leverage change notifications and server-side push technologies to push this data into web applications in near real-time without polling. (This option is currently working in a critical, production environment)
The second option is probably better in the long-term, but this may vary based on your specific situation. It has some up front costs and would be better suited to new implementations. For my system, I am using the first option because it will ease the transition between the new and old systems.
Note: I am not in any way associated with KEPWare. I am only suggesting their product because it is the only one I am aware of that supports this functionality. I am sure there are other OPC servers that support this type of device.
I'm writing a windows service that will be used for some data processing. The service will connect to an OPC (KepWare) service and will monitor specific items through event handlers. It will also have to write back to the OPC data item when necessary; however, the data to be written back will have to come from a windows mobile handheld device.
I'm just getting perplexed on the design aspect of this system. I'm trying to make sure that I design this in an abstract manner in order to make it scalable and easily maintainable. However, I'm just stuck on how to communicate with the service in order to tell it write this value to the OPC server. I'm thinking WCF is the way to go but I'm not exactly sure how to write it where I can obtain a reference to my connected OPC object when the client makes the call? Should I be writing a WCF library and host it inside the windows service or should I be going down a different route?
Thanks in advance
You should read up on the fundamentals of OPC-DA and OPC-Xi (also known as OPC .NET 3.0). The OPC Foundation has simple documentation available for free: look for the "specifications" that are available to non-members.
The KepWare server should support both (depending on the KepWare server you are using). OPC Xi is WCF-based and will be the easiest way for you to talk to it. However, that particular communication channel needs to be open and enabled for it to work.
If you don't have that, then you need to fall back to OPC-DA which is DCOM based. You can find .NET OPC client libraries that will help you with this. There are some free and some commercial ones out there from different companies.
I'm looking for an OpenSource server monitoring tool that allows the following:
Monitor a variety of services on TCP, UDP.
Supports custom port numbers.
Supports some basic response checking (beyond initial connection checking).
Basic dashboard overview of health status.
Alert notifications via e-mail.
I could roll my own, but want to make sure I don't reinvent the wheel if there's a complete suite out there that does what I want (and maybe more!).
EDIT: Preferably software that runs on Windows.
I recommend the "mon" package (http://www.kernel.org/software/mon). It is pre-packages in most Linux distributions, and fairly customizable.
Nagios is the way to go. Very powerful and customizable. Has dashboards, history, alerts, graphs, and much more.
I you want something a bit fancier, there is Groundwork which is built on nagios and various other bits and pieces, but I didn't really like that after playing with it for a little bit. It also costs for anything but the community edition.