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BigBrother UNIX Client 450 Getting Started Guide
BigBrother UNIX Client 450 Getting Started Guide
Warranty
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Quest Software makes no warranty of any kind with respect to this information. QUEST SOFTWARE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF THE MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Quest Software shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or other damage alleged in connection with the furnishing or use of this information.
Trademarks
Quest, Big Brother, Foglight, and Spotlight are trademarks or registered trademarks of Quest Software, Inc. Other trademarks and registered trademarks used in this guide are property of their respective owners.
Cryptographic routines
This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com) Copyright (c) 1998-2006 The OpenSSL Project. All rights reserved.
World Headquarters 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 www.quest.com email: info@quest.com U.S. and Canada: 949.754.8000 Please refer to our Web site for regional and international office information.
Big Brother Professional Edition UNIX Client Getting Started Guide Updated Nov 09 Software Version 4.50
Table of Contents
Description of Big Brother Professional Edition .................. 1 About This Document ............................................................. 1 Big Brother Professional Edition Terminology..................... 2
Naming Conventions ...........................................................................2
Migration From Older Versions .............................................. 6 Starting the Client.................................................................... 7 What Next?............................................................................... 7 Quest Software ........................................................................ 9
Contacting Quest Software .................................................................9 Technical Support ................................................................................9 Permanent License...............................................................................9
Big Brother consists of two parts: a server and a client. The server monitors services which can be tested over the Internet: HTTP, FTP, and so on. It does this by sending messages over the Internet to the host and seeing if it receives a reply. The server also collects status logs, prepares and makes available the display Web page, and processes all notifications. The server can be installed on one or more than one computer; a single server instance can monitor many host computers. The Big Brother client tests services which can only be monitored internally by checking the computer itself: CPU and disk space usage and so on. The client must be installed on each host where you want to monitor these internal processes; it sends the results of its tests over the network or Internet to a Big Brother server. Big Brother is very flexible. You configure the hosts to monitor and what tests to perform on each. You also select when e-mail or pager notifications are sent based on test results, and who they are sent to. You can have different recipients based on the host, the test, the day, and/or the time. You can also add external scripts to extend the processes and services Big Brother can monitor.
Naming Conventions
When referring to specific installation directories, this book uses these naming conventions:
Item
Referred to as
Name of Big Brother user Big Brother users home directory Big Brothers home directory Apaches home directory Apaches cgi-bin directory
System Requirements
Big Brother UNIX client requires one of the following operating systems: RedHat Enterprise Server 4.0, 5.0 or 6.0 (x86) SUSE Enterprise Linux 9.0, 10.0, 11.0 (x86) Solaris 9 or greater (Sparc and x86) 11i (PA-RISC), HP-UX 11i (Itanium) AIX 5.2 , 5.3 or 6.1 (PPC) Mac OS X (x86 Darwin 9.7)
6. The next prompt asks for the name of the BBDISPLAY server. Just press Enter if the host name shown (the current host) is correct: What host will be the BBDISPLAY[current.host.company.com]: 7. The next prompt asks for the name of the BBPAGER server. Just press Enter if the host name shown (the current host) is correct: What host will be the BBPAGER [current.host.company.com]: 8. A message will remind you that the bb-hosts file from the BBDISPLAY server needs to be copied to this machine. If you have already copied the bb-hosts file as described in the previous section, you do not need to run the su bbuser c command the instructions specify. 9. You may want to restrict configuration of all Big Brother files to the Big Brother user by entering this command: chown R bb /home/bb/bb4.50-bbpe
/home/bb/bb4.50-bbpe is where the Big Brother client is installed
There are now columns showing results for the additional tests performed by the client.
What Next?
Once both the Big Brother server and client are up and running, you can modify settings to make the client behave the way you want it to. Many of these default settings are in the bbdef-client.sh file. You can also define and modify the bb-cputab, bb-proctab, bb-msgstab and bb-dftab files. For
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example, you can set the warning thresholds for the CPU and disk tests, define the message files for Big Brother to monitor, and more. For more information on configuring the Big Brother client and server, see the online help available from the Big Brother Web page display. Warning! Do not define any values in the BBPERFTESTS variable of bbdef-client.sh until the target BBDISPLAY is upgraded to a 4.20 version or greater.
You can also download scripts from http://www.deadcat.net/ which is a Big Brother community web site (note that scripts on deadcat are not supported by Quest).
Quest Software
Quest Software, Inc. delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and productivity from their applications, databases and Windows infrastructure. Through a deep expertise in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps thousands of customers worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quests Windows Management solutions simplify, automate and secure Active Directory, Exchange and Windows, as well as integrate Unix, Linux and Java into the managed environment. Quest Software can be found in offices around the globe and at www.quest.com.
Web site
Technical Support
Visit the support web site for current contact information and hours of operation: www.quest.com/support
Permanent License
To receive a permanent license, you must purchase Big Brother Professional Edition. To do so, contact your Quest sales representative, send e-mail to bbsales@quest.com, or call (949) 754-8000. Once youve purchased the product, send your key string in an e-mail to license@quest.com. Please see the online help for instructions on finding your key string and entering your permanent license.