Sidebar : BBNT: An NT client for Big Brother

Big Brother is a UNIX-centric software package. It was created by a UNIX administrator for UNIX administrators. But, because of its simple design, it is easy to add clients from non-UNIX environments. This is exactly what I did. When I heard that we would soon be installing NT workstations and servers, I decided to create an NT client for Big Brother. Also, a lot of admins on the BB mailing list were asking about such a port, so I saw this as a good opportunity to learn some NT programming.

The current client software (version 1.0) runs on Windows 4.0. It monitors cpu usage, disk space, processesand the event log. The client program will send a message for each monitored function to the BB display server. The message layout is the same as BB UNIX clients, however the fully qualified domain name of the host is also included so that DHCP workstations are fairly easily to identify.

CPU, drive, process and event log settings are configurable through the registry editor or the BBNT configuration editor. Warning and panic default levels for CPU and drives can be changed and each drive can be allotted distinct warning/panic levels. A checklist of processes can be specified; if one is missing or the number of copies running is less than the configured value, it may trigger a warning or panic condition.

Installing BBNT is fairly simple: retrieve the BBNT archive, unpack in a directory and run the install procedure. At the command line:

bbnt -install <BBDISPLAY> <Y/N> <IP port>

where BBDISPLAY is the IP address of the BB display server. The second parameter specifies whether the BB message generated contains fully qualified domain name tokens (default N). The last parameter is the IP port your BB installation uses (the default is 1984). In its simplest form, BBNT can be installed with this command:

bbnt -install <BBDISPLAY>

After installation, change the default configuration options with the registry editor on the tool provided with BBNT. All are detailed in the README file.

BBNT runs as a quiet background service. It starts automatically when the host boots its finding and reports it to the BB display server every 300 seconds (or the value defined in the TIMER registry variable). You can start and stop it using the Services applet in the Control Panel. Please note: for information about your Network drives, you must set the service with an administrative user account.