Re: {bb} need help installing...

[Henrik Olsen <henrik@iaeste.dk>]

On Thu, 2 Sep 1999 dan@tirsec.com wrote:
> Hi. I've recently downloaded bb and am trying to install it in solaris
> environment.  I'm having a problem copying over to client programs. I've
> followed the exact format but gives me an error saying it doesn't exist in
> "bb-hosts" file.  So obviously, my 'bb-hosts' file is imcomplete.... so
> anyways, please clarify the contents of 'bb-hosts' file... I know it's a
> easy process (isn't it??) but I've just started learning about bb and
> unfortunately I don't quite get it.  Thanks in advance.

It simplifies administration a lot if you use the same bb-hosts file on
all machines.

bb-hosts, the simple version:

There should be a line for every host to monitor in any way, formatted
like this:
<ip number> <name> # <services to check> <additional keywords>

The <name> you use should be exactly the same as the one you get from
running "uname -n" on each machine, case matters.

<services> will tell the bbnet server what to look for on this host.


<additional keywords> are BBDISPLAY, BBPAGER, BBNET, noping, dialup and
testip.

The 'BB*' keywords must be there for exactly one host, since they
indicates additional processes to run, and for BBDISPLAY and BBPAGER it
indicates where to send status messages.

'noping' means don't ping, just send a clear status. [1]

'dialup' means this server may be unavailable, and that this shouldn't be
considered an error.  It reports a connection timeout as clear, not red.

'testip' means the <services> should be tested using the ip number instead
of the name, which can be useful in some cases where the name doesn't
translate to the ip number you actually want to test.


This should be enough to get you started, but for nicer bb pages here's
the rest:

Additional lines are those _starting_ in one of the following keywords 
group, group-compress, page, dialup and summary, the uses are as
following:

group <headline>
group-compress <headline>
 These two start sections of hosts that should displayed for themselves,
 the section ends with the next group, group-compress or page line.
 The only difference between them is that with group-compress columns
 with no dots are removed.

page <name>
 This will start a section of hosts to go on a subpage, the section ends
 with the next page line.

dialup <name> <rangestart> <rangesize>
 This will do a conn check for the <rangesize> ip numbers starting with
 <rangestart>, and display them compactly under tha name <name>.
 Useful for displaying the status of a range of hosts when the only thing
 you're interested in is whether that host is connected or not.  Eg. if
 you have a number of client machines, a block of dhcp assigned numbers,
 or a bank of modems (note that in this last case you'll have to make sure
 the conn test isn't keeping the modem line up artificially).

summary <column>.<row> <summary ip> <bb url>
 This will send a summary (background color) to the bbdisplay server
 listening on <summary ip>, which will be displayed on that server in a
 separate summary block as a dot on <column>/<row> where clicking on it
 will get you to <bb url>, it's a lot easier to use than it sounds:)


[1] There is a proposed 'noconn' keyword to indicate that no conn status
    should be sent at all.


-- 
Henrik Olsen,  Dawn Solutions I/S       URL=http://www.iaeste.dk/~henrik/
  Blessed be the pessimist, for he hath taken backups.


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