agents(5)

NAME
agents - bcnu server agent configuration file

SYNOPSIS
BCNUHOME/etc/agents

DESCRIPTION
agents is the agent configuration file used by the scheduling module of the bcnud server.

The format of the file is very simple consisting of fixed fields delimited by colons.

comments preceded by a hash (#) and blank lines are allowed.

OPTIONS
A sample is shown here:

        ## standard monitoring agents
        ##
        agent:net:8.30-18.00:10:6:enabled:$BCNUHOME/etc/bcnunet:
        agent:procs:8-18:10:12:enabled:inetd httpd in.named in.dhcpd:
        agent:fs:8-18:15:8:enabled:/tmp=90=95 /=90=95 /usr=90=95:
Field 1    Agent directory

This is the directory where agents are found, subordinate to BCNUHOME. The default location is BCNUHOME/agents.

Field 2    Agent name

The agent name is the name of the script found under the agent directory, it should be an executable file. Normally a bourne shell script.

Field 3    Hours of service

Hours of service is used to only monitor when you want. Outwith these hours a blackout is in effect, this is shown by a black background in the web monitor. You can specify hours and minutes here to gain finer control, e.g. 23.55-23.55 will run an agent once at 23.55

Field 4    Run every minutes

The frequency of the agent schedule in minutes can be given, this can be any number. e.g 60 will run every hour, 1440 will be once every 24hours. This field may be changed in future to allow times to be entered as well.

Field 5    How often to log

This field defines how often logging of data to the master will take place i.e. status messages will be logged every 8th time the agent is run. Whenever a change of status is detected it will be logged immediately i.e. if the last run was normal and an error is detected it will be logged. A message will always be logged in the file BCNUHOME/logs/message.log on this host for an agent saying whether it was logged to the master or not.

Field 6    enabled/disabled

Whether the agent is initially enabled/disabled. If an agent can't be executed when it is scheduled, it will be disabled in the bcnud daemon, but the agent file will not be changed.

Field 7    parameter

The last field is the parameter field. This is agent dependant and can contain any text except colons. The agent can parse the field using a standard bcnu function. Parameters are delimited by an "=" sign. There may be multiple parameters separated by spaces e.g. see the fs agent above.

In addition the string +PAGE may be added to any parameter. If the error threshold is reached then a text message can be sent to a pager

FILES

 BCNUHOME/etc/agents            agent config file for scheduling

AUTHOR
John Phillips

Please send all bugs, comments, and changes to jap@users.sourceforge.net

DISCLAIMER
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the Artistic License for more details.

CAVEATS
Security is weak at the moment. bcnu is designed to be easy to use, it has not been tested for all vulnerabilities.

SEE ALSO
bcnud(1), bcnumsg(1), bcnu(1), agents(5), services(5), logpatterns(5), hostinfo(5), bcnunet(5)

The bcnu home pages also have full documentation

Updated: 14th October 1999