nPULSE Copyright 2000, Horsburgh.com.
Author: Steve Horsburgh, shorsburgh@horsburgh.com
Version: 0.2 alpha


---------
Overview
---------

nPULSE is a web-based network monitoring package for Unix-like operating
systems. It can quickly monitor tens, hundreds, even thousands of sites/devices
at a time on multiple ports. nPULSE is written in Perl and comes with its
own mini web server for extra security. 

*****************************************************************************
This standard version of nPULSE is limited to checking the device and port
status (up/down) of each network device. For more detailed checking and 
monitoring use nPULSE Professional.
*****************************************************************************

This software is a "proof of principle" prototype. The concept is to use
freely available software (under the GPL agreement) together with
proprietary "glue" software to solve real-world problems. nPULSE accomplishes
this by using the following freeware products:
  PERL           - Perl 5.005
  NMAP           - Network exploration tool V2.51
  TRACEROUTE     - Packet tracking tool
  MINISERV       - Web Server (written entirely in Perl)
  HTML           - nPULSE is Web-enabled and Web-driven
  SH             - Install scripts are in 'sh' shell script

The glue that holds the whole thing together is a set of custom Perl routines
and a single CGI program.


------------------
Required Software
------------------

Linux/Unix Version 2.1 or greater  (http://www.redhat.com/)
Perl       Version 5.002 or later  (http://www.cpan.org/)
Nmap       Version 2.51 or later   (http://www.insecure.org/nmap)

nPULSE is entirely written in Perl 5. For port scanning it uses the excellent
package Nmap, available from www.insecure.org. nPULSE will not work without Nmap. 


--------------------------
Installation Instructions
--------------------------

1. Unpack the distribution into a directory of choice, preferably one owned
   by root and not visible to other users.

   CMD: tar -zxf npulse-0.2.tar.gz
   or
   CMD: gunzip npulse-0.2.tar.gz
        tar -xf npulse-0.2.tar

   (If you are reading this, then you probably have already done so. :)

2. As root, execute the setup file.

   CMD: ./setup.sh

3. Follow the instructions.

4. That's it. (Advanced users might want to tweak the preferences file.)


--------------
Documentation
--------------

Sorry, I've not had the time yet...

Just go to the home page and click on the 'Setup' button.
Then either manually enter the ip addresses (NUMERIC ONLY) and ports, or
enter a numeric ip address range into the discover box and let 
it figure out the config file.

Example:
192.168.0.1-3,5 21,23,80

This checks addresses 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3, 192.168.0.5
for activity on ports 21, 23, and 80.

The rest should be fairly intuitive.

-------
Testing
-------

nPULSE has been tested on the following platforms:
(if you have tested others, please let me know and I'll include them)

   - Redhat Linux 6.1, 6.2
   - SGI Irix 6.3, 6.4
   - FreeBSD 4.0                by David Bishop <david at bishop.dhs.org>

nSite has been 'view' tested with the following browsers:
(if you have tested others, please let me know and I'll include them)

   - Windows    Internet Explorer       4.72, 5.0, 5.5
   - Windows    Netscape Navigator      4.5, 4.7
   - Macintosh  Internet Explorer       5.0
   - Macintosh  Netscape Navigator      4.5, 6.0
   - Linux      Netscape Navigator      4.72
   - NetPositive                by David Bishop <david at bishop.dhs.org>

------------
Bugs
------------

Please send all bug reports (and solutions if you have them) to
npulsebug@horsburgh.com

Known Bug: The Autorecheck icon and href are not updated properly.
           The operation is correct, but the display is incorrect.
           Clicking on the 'Recheck' button will correctly display
           the icon.

---------
Copyright
---------

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

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
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

See the file COPYING for additional information


-----------
Disclaimer
-----------

This is ALPHA software and has not been tested very much.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
You have been warned..........

nPULSE Copyright 2000, Horsburgh.com.