Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System

From: Tim Bishop Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 19:15:22 +0000 (+0000) Subject: A initial getting started guide. It is still rather sparse, maybe could do with X-Git-Tag: PRE_WWW_REDESIGN~151 X-Git-Url: http://git.i-scream.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=1c86ae39d45e27c9f9d2bf262d55e3102dad1ab3;p=www.i-scream.org.git A initial getting started guide. It is still rather sparse, maybe could do with some images. Also, maybe put the text in a narrower table. --- diff --git a/www/cms/documentation/gettingstarted.shtml b/www/cms/documentation/gettingstarted.shtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb82612 --- /dev/null +++ b/www/cms/documentation/gettingstarted.shtml @@ -0,0 +1,148 @@ + + + + + + + + Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System + + + + + + + + + + +

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Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System

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1. Installing the corba services (pre-requiste for the server)

The server requires a CORBA Naming Service to run. It may be that you already +have such a system running, in which case you can use this. Simply edit the +jacorb.properties file to point to your Naming service. If you don't have a +naming service running you could just setup your own manually, but if like us +you want the easy approach, install our corba services program.

This program runs the naming service and provides a builtin webserver to +serve requests to the server application. The documentation details how to get +this running. It should simply be a case of extracting and running.

1. Installing the server

The first stage is to download and install the server application. The +latest versions of all i-scream applications can be found at the following +URL;

http://www.i-scream.org.uk/downloads

Once downloaded the archive should be extracted to a directory of your +choice. The server will run on most Java enabled platforms (including +Windows, Linux and FreeBSD).

The archive consists of only a few files and directories. The main file is +the iscream-server.jar archive which contains all the binary code for the +server. The lib directory contains other JAR archives which the server +requires to run. The etc directory contains (or will contain) +configuration for most of the i-scream central monitoring system. The next +step is to configure the server to suit your requirements.

2. Configuring the server

The configuration is split into two main files. The first, +default.properties can be considered a bootstrap configuration. This means +that it provides basic configuration to get the server started, after +which point the main configuration system takes over. This file should be +checked through, and is pretty well explained by comments.

The rest of the server configuration is based on system.conf. This can +hold the entire system configuration, including hosts. It may also specify +other configuration files to be included in the main configuration. This +file is also commented extensively.

This step may well take some time to get right, and you can come back to +it at any point. Lots of the configuration can be changed "on the fly" +as well.

For fuller and complete details of the configuration system, and the +server in general, please see the Server User Guide in the documentation +section of the website.

2a. Setting up the database

The i-scream central monitoring system can make use of a database for +generating historical reports. The documentation explains how you would +configure the system to do this. You will need to create a single basic +table yourself, this is also explained in the documentation.

3. Starting the server

Starting up the server is a trivial task. Usually you can just get away +with running the run script provided. This will boot the server up +displaying some basic information to the console. If something goes wrong, +the error message should point to the cause.

4. Setting up hosts

Hosts can be run on either unix (tested with Solaris, FreeBSD and some +Linux distributions) or windows. Both are equally easy to setup.

Firstly, the unix host is called "ihost". This can be downloaded from the +i-scream website. Once extracted it just needs to be started up. You need two +pieces of information to do this; the filtermanager (part of the server) host +and port number. If you haven't changed much in terms of configuration this will +be the machine the server is running on, and port 4567. To start ihost you +simply type;

ihost.pl server.domain.com port

ihost will then contact the server to obtain it's configuration and start +sending information.

The windows host, winhost, is very similar. All you need to do is install it +using the provided installer in the download, and then edit the ini file to +provide the two bits of information above. Running the application starts up +communication with the server and data sending commences.

Full details of both of these hosts can be found in the relevant +documentation on the website.

5. Using Conient

Conient allows you to view, in real time, the data being sent by the +hosts. This is a perfect way to test that all the above steps have +successfully been completed.

At present Conient is simply another archive which can be extracted and +run. However, in the near future we hope to have an installer to make life +easier. Conient is a Java application and will run on most Java enabled +platforms.

After extracting the run script can be used to start Conient, or in some +cases the JAR file can be executed manually. The GUI will then load. The +configuration section requires you to enter a host and port for the +server. By default this will be the machine on which the server is running +on port 4510. Conient will then connect upon request and start displaying +information.

Assuming data is displayed you have successfully setup the i-scream +central monitoring system. Well done!

This is explained in much more detail in the Conient documentation.

6. Setting up DBReporter

If you are making use of a database you can setup the DBReporter to +generate web-based reports of the information collected. This is just a +case of extracting the archive to a suitable location, configuring it, and +setting it to run on a regular basis (we suggest daily). DBReporter will +also ensure the database is kept relatively clean.

Full instructions are available in the DBReporter documentation.

7. Setting up the Web Interface

The Web interface allows you to view various aspects of the i-scream +central monitoring systems output. These include realtime viewing of data +(much like Conient), links to the DBReporter above, and full displaying of +the alerts that can be generated by the server.

The archive contains a series of PHP scripts which should be placed on +your PHP enabled webserver. The configuration files allow you to tailor +the setup to suit your needs.

Full instructions are available in the relevant documentation.

8. Further

You may decide to expand your setup to cover a larger network. For example, a +distributed filter arrangement could cut down on the amount of network traffic +being sent around the network. The server itself can be distributed to suit your +needs. You may wish to run the database section of the server on the same +machine as the database, while running the rest on another machine.

Some discussion about this is available in the server documentation.

If you have any questions about any of the above, please don't hesitate to +contact us at dev@i-scream.org.uk. If you find we've missed something out, +again, please let us know.

Finally, we'd like to thank you for trying an i-scream product. We realise +that it's still at an early stage, and we therefore appreciate you taking +the time to try it out.

The i-scream team. + +

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