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- Original Problem
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- 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.
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- Centralised Machine Monitoring
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- John Cinnamond (email jc) whose idea this is, will provide technical
- support for the project.
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