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<head>
- <title>Overview and Features</title>
- <meta name="description" content="The i-scream Project is a central monitoring system for Unix, Linux and NT servers.">
- <meta name="keywords" content="i-scream, project, central monitoring system, unix, linux, nt, server, alert">
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+ <h1 class="top">CMS Features</h1>
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+ <h2>Problem Specification</h2>
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+ <h3>Original Problem</h3>
+
+ <p>
+ This is the original specification given to us when we
+ started the project. The i-scream central monitoring
+ system meets this specification, and aims to extend it
+ further. This is, however, where it all began.
+ </p>
- <center><h3>Key Features of The System</h3></center>
+ <h3>Centralised Machine Monitoring</h3>
+
+ <p>
+ The Computer Science department has a number of different machines
+ running a variety of different operating systems. One of the tasks
+ of the systems administrators is to make sure that the machines
+ don't run out of resources. This involves watching processor loads,
+ available disk space, swap space, etc.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ It isn't practicle to monitor a large number of machines by logging
+ on and running commands such as 'uptime' on the unix machines, or
+ by using performance monitor for NT servers. Thus this project is
+ to write monitoring software for each platform supported which
+ reports resource usage back to one centralized location. System
+ Administrators would then be able to monitor all machines from this
+ centralised location.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Once this basic functionality is implemented it could usefully be
+ expanded to include logging of resource usage to identify longterm
+ trends/problems, alerter services which can directly contact
+ sysadmins (or even the general public) to bring attention to problem
+ areas. Ideally it should be possible to run multiple instances of
+ the reporting tool (with all instances being updated in realtime)
+ and to to be able to run the reporting tool as both as stand alone
+ application and embeded in a web page.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This project will require you to write code for the unix and Win32
+ APIs using C and knowledge of how the underlying operating systems
+ manage resources. It will also require some network/distributed
+ systems code and a GUI front end for the reporting tool. It is
+ important for students undertaking this project to understand the
+ importance of writing efficient and small code as the end product
+ will really be most useful when machines start run out of processing
+ power/memory/disk.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ John Cinnamond (email jc) whose idea this is, will provide technical
+ support for the project.
+ </p>
+
+ <h2>Features</h2>
+
+ <h3>Key Features of The System</h3>
<ul>
<li>A centrally stored, dynamically reloaded, system wide configuration system</li>
<li>Large overhead monitor Helpdesk style displays for latest Alerting information</li>
</ul>
- <center><h3>An Overview of the i-scream Central Monitoring System</h3></center>
+ <h3>An Overview of the i-scream Central Monitoring System</h3>
- <p align="left">
+ <p>
The i-scream system monitors status and performance information
obtained from machines feeding data into it and then displays
this information in a variety of ways.
</p>
- <p align="left">
+ <p>
This data is obtained through the running of small applications
on the reporting machines. These applications are known as
"Hosts". The i-scream system provides a range of hosts which are
to the server that they are still alive.
</p>
- <p align="left">
+ <p>
It is then fed into the i-scream server. The server then splits
the data two ways. First it places the data in a database system,
typically MySQL based, for later extraction and processing by the
as it flows through the system.
</p>
- <p align="left">
+ <p>
The final section of the system links the Local Client Monitors to
an alerting system. These Monitors can be configured to detect
changes in the data past threshold levels. When a threshold is
when a certain level is reached, certain alerting mechanisms fire
through whatever medium they are configured to send.
</p>
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i-scream / www.i-scream.org.git / blobdiff