FAQ entry: HOWTO ask for help on the ntop or ntop-dev mailing lists:
Please understand that the mailing list is a community support effort. Despite any
individual's frequent postings, nobody is "responsible" for answering your question.
It's all on a "best efforts" basis. This is equally true of the FAQs posted at
http://snapshot.ntop.org. Our responses may be incomplete, in-accurate, even dead
wrong. Caveat Emptor! The only "guarantee" is that free support will be worth what
you've paid for it.
A response from an @ntop.org user is somebody affiliated with the project. Most of
the people responding on ntop or ntop-dev are not formally affiliated with the
project. We answer questions to the best of our ability, find problems, create and
test patches and send them in to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for inclusion.
Please direct all original postings and subsequent replies to the list, not to someone
privately. Most of us will reply solely to the mailing list, unless you specifically
request otherwise. If you do request otherwise, the individual you sent it to may
choose not to respond. Our posting here is NOT a public invitation to invade our
e-mail boxes for your free private support.
You MUST use meaningful message subjects - one's that would have helped YOU find the
prior discussion of this or a similar problem in the archives. Titles such as
"urgent" or "ntop problem" will often not get a response - it may be urgent to you
but...
Understand that we can't see your machine (and wouldn't want the responsibility of
sshing into somebody else's box as root). The only information we have is what you
post and the responses to our questions.
Also, understand that ntop is under rapid development. The only way to fix your
problem may be a source patch, which you will have to apply, compile and install. If
you aren't capable of doing that, then ...
If you want better than "best-efforts" support, contact the individual you desire
support from off-list to make financial arrangements. Please understand that people
are doing development in areas that are of personal interest to them, to improve ntop.
If you want to discuss payment for support or a specific change that is of interest
to you, feel free to email the individual off-list - some of us are computer
consultants and can be bought, with the understanding that the work product is offered
back to the community in the spirit of the open source movement and the strictures of
the GPL.
Please understand that the mailing list is a community support effort. Despite my
frequent and loud postings, neither I nor anyone else here are "responsible" for
answering your question.
A response from an @ntop.org user is somebody affiliated with the project. Most of us
are not formally affiliated with the project. We answer questions to the best of our
ability, find problems, create and test patches and send them in to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
for inclusion.
Please direct all replies to the list, not to me privately. All replies from me (and
most other's here) will be sent to the mailing list, unless you specifically request
otherwise. If you do request otherwise, the individual you sent it to may choose not
to respond. Our posting here is NOT a public invitation to invade our e-mail boxes
for your free private support.
You MUST use meaningful message subjects - one's that would have helped YOU find the
prior discussion of this or a similar problem in the archives. Titles such as
"urgent" or "ntop problem" will often not get a response - it may be urgent to you
but...
Understand that we can't see your machine (and wouldn't want the responsibility of
sshing into somebody else's box as root). The only information we have is what you
post and the responses to our questions.
Also, understand that ntop is under rapid development. The only way to fix your
problem may be a source patch, which you will have to apply, compile and install. If
you aren't capable of doing that, then ...
if you want better than "best-efforts" support, contact the individual you desire
support from off-list to make financial arrangements. Please understand that I'm
doing development in areas that are of personal interest to me, to improve ntop. If
you want to discuss payment for support or a specific change that is of interest to
you, feel free to email me off-list - I'm a computer consultant and can be bought -
with the single understanding that the work product is offered back to the community
in the spirit of the open source movement and the strictures of the GPL.
***Do not worry about posting TOO much information - we're pretty good at filtering
out the noise, especially if you organize your information the way we request it,
below***
BEFORE POSTING:
1. Please review back message traffic from the mailing lists.
Your specific problem HAS been discussed recently.
2. Please review the ntop community FAQs at http://snapshot.ntop.org.
Your problem IS the subject of an FAQ entry.
Your problem IS NOW the subject of an FAQ entry.
POSTING:
In general, please give us more information (see the specifics we request, below)...
1. A brief summary of the problem.
2. Operations
The EXACT command line you use to invoke ntop.
If it's in a script, cut & paste it and
resolve all the variables!
Error Messages: Cut & paste the exact text.
If it's in the log, give us 15 or 20 lines before.
The exact URL you used from the browser.
3. Software
NTop version, source and any applied patches
If you've compiled from the source, say so!
If you're using a package (such as an .rpm), where
did you get it from and what is the EXACT name,
version information and date? (for example, post
the output from rpm -q ntop -i)
OS vendor & version
gcc version (e.g. gcc --version)
glibc version
Any major upgrades (kernel, networking, etc.)
What else is running
4. Hardware
Type & # of processors
Amount of memory
# network interfaces and types (vendor, bus, etc.)
5. Network
Roughly where are the interface(s) you're monitoring
(Public Internet, Private LAN, what?)
What's the bandwidth (e.g. 10 Mbps University internet,
1.5 Mbps T1, Cable Modem capped at 1.5Mbps, 56K dialup)
How many machines (traffic sources/destinations) and users
(If you're uncomfortable giving specifics, then leave it generic, but the information
is necessary to allow efficient use of the community's time helping YOU with YOUR
problem)
AFTER POSTING:
Please let us know if our help fixed the problem, didn't solve it or enabled you to
solve it yourself and what the result was. The historical record of the ntop and
ntop-dev archives is the complete chain from problem to resolution.
(Originally posted on 07Jan2002 to ntop and ntop-dev, updated. This is version
23Feb2002)
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