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NetMon is a graphical System Administration tool intended to monitor workstation usage and state. It was first used at the Gateway Lab, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, a laboratory of Silicon Graphics workstations.
The criteria for monitoring are a list of selected processes that are running on each workstation, the number and IDs of users logged into every workstation, and a (remote) log of when workstations were rebooted/powered-off. The list of processes to be monitored is provided in a configuration file. Every line of this file defines a process by its name, its typical "ps -ef" output, and a graphical icon which is to be displayed in the NetMon frame.
The system is divided into 2 parts:
- a Perl script that runs on every monitored machine:
- is invoked on start of the workstation (/etc/rc2.d/S99nmclient) with one or more IPs of the NetMon server
- is invoked on boot/power-off of the workstation by trapping the TERM signal
- communicates via a pre-defined port with the NetMonServer to signal that the machine is UP or DOWN
- sends to the server a list of processes (ps -ef) upon request
- keeps a list of NetMon servers that are allowed to contact the client
- expands/collapses the list of NetMon servers, if a legitimate NetMon Server requests so
- restarts itself if a legitimate NetMon server requests so
- a NetMon server that runs on one or more machines:
- graphically displays all monitored machines
- graphically displays a list of monitored processes for any machine
- keeps a log for every machine with information on when reboots/power-offs/power-ons occured
- is able to send a restart command to every client, which restarts the NetMon Client script
- can be used to add additional NetMonServers to all clients
- saves/loads lists of clients, including their position on the tabbed pane
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