Mike said:

I realise that, but what I'm suggesting is a file-based transfer, so 
we don't have to open ports between otherwise secure network tiers.

OK, how about this:

The IM server in an outgoing-traffic-only zone is monitoring local devices with a 
probe.  The probe has notifications set for all five conditions - Down, Up, Alarm, 
Warn, and OK.  The notifications are attached to an AppleScript that uses passive FTP 
to send a file to a target Unix server somewhere upstream.  You might want to send it 
straight to your master InterMapper server, if it's running OS X or Linux.  The file 
contains one of the following words - Down, Up, Alarm, Warn, OK.  Its name corresponds 
to the device.

Now, on your master InterMapper server, you have a custom TCP probe that telnets into 
the target server and checks for the file with the appropriate name.  The custom 
probe's script "cat"s the file and tries to match the condition string in the output.  
You might want to have the script delete the file when you've finished with it, 
otherwise the last status will remain there forever if something has happened to the 
downstream IM server, and you'll never know there's something wrong.  (Clever 
scripting might be able to compare the creation date of the file to the current system 
date of the target server.)

Variation on this idea: use syslog instead of passive FTP.  The AppleScript fires off 
a shell script that uses the "logger" command to write a log entry to an upstream 
syslog server.  The custom probe on the master IM server logs in and runs a script 
that searches for these entries.  Somewhat more complicated, but you might already 
have a syslog system in place.  And perhaps the TCP-based passive FTP doesn't work at 
all in your environment, whereas syslog is UDP-based.  The details here are hazy 
because I'm not up to speed on syslog - sorry.

There may exist other UDP-based solutions that can be hacked into this framework.  
Here's a page with a short list (Google will find more):

http://www.topology.org/comms/udpftp.html 

FTFP and NFS are UDP-based, but they appear to require two-way communication.  

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this - no guarantees that it will work.  It's pretty 
kludgy and fragile.  But if it works, and I can't see why it wouldn't, it would be a 
pretty good demonstration of InterMapper's power :)

Can anyone come up with a reason why this wouldn't work?

Later,

Doug


-- 
Doug Weathers, Network Administrator
St. Charles Medical Center


>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/14/03 10:27AM >>>
Hi Rich:

>
>Subject: Re: Multi-tiered maps, feature requests
>From: "Richard E. Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: 13 Mar 2003 14:14:06 EST
>
>Mike:
>
>Thanks for the comments.
>
>--- Mike Dunstan wrote:
>I'd like to see the ability to export a map and a snapshot of the
>latest status of everything on it in a format that can be queried by
>another IM. This is not the same as opening that map in the second
>IM; the second IM does not query the devices, only the snapshot
>posted by the first.
>--- end of quote ---
>
>This is pretty much the way that the Map Status probe works now. The sub-map
>does the work to poll all the devices, and only sends summary information (in
>the form of updates to the state) to the device on the top-level map.

I realise that, but what I'm suggesting is a file-based transfer, so 
we don't have to open ports between otherwise secure network tiers.

>
>Or am I missing your point...?
>
>Rich Brown                    [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
>Dartware, LLC                 http://www.dartware.com 
>10 Buck Road, PO Box 130      Telephone: 603-643-2268
>Hanover, NH 03755-0130 USA    Fax: 603-643-2289
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>End of InterMapper-Talk Digest

-- 
--
Mike Dustan, Computing Operations & Tech. Support,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada.
Web: http://www.sfu.ca/ots/ 

I'm never wrong. I thought I was wrong once, but I was wrong.

____________________________________________________________________
List archives: 
http://www.mail-archive.com/intermapper-talk%40list.dartware.com/ 
To unsubscribe: send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 



____________________________________________________________________
List archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/intermapper-talk%40list.dartware.com/
To unsubscribe: send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Reply via email to