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Hi
I'm proud to announce a new release of the Monitoring and Administration
Tool (MAT). This version has:
- - Added an IP scanner to detect MAT clients on a network and
automatically build the console hosts file.
- - Added a host status scanner to the console. This goes out and
tests each host known by the console. If a host is down, when
the host view is redrawn the host icon will indicate that the
host was unavailable.
- - Re-wrote the console iconic display section. This was needed to
support the new concept of managed objects. Each icon now
represents a managed object. This will be used later to speed
the development of new management functions. Today it allows
users to make their own "status" objects. These report the
current status of some thing.
- - Added a startup splash screen. It ain't pretty, and a better
one is welcome.
- - Added the ability to run MATd tasks as a non-root user.
- - Fixed memory leak in console code. It used to re-create an
image as a user switched between hosts. The images are
now loaded at startup. The display is now MUCH faster.
- - Added a work-arround for the xinetd used in Redhat 7.0. Xinetd
was not passing argv[0], so it will be taken as argv[1], if
provided.
See the MAT web site for a full description of all the changes:
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~sblack/mat
It contains screen-shots, as well as descriptions of MAT's functions.
Below is a description of this release of MAT.
Monitoring & Administration Tool (MAT)
--------------------------------------
MAT is an easy to use network enabled UNIX configuration and monitoring tool.
It provides an integrated tool for many common system administration tasks.
The GUI interface hides much of the differences between UNIX varieties in a
heterogeneous environment. The straight forward interface hides the
complexity of the underling configuration files, allowing many of the mundane
administrative tasks to be safely delegated to others. From a single MAT
console you can manage every UNIX host on your network where the MAT agent
is installed.
Tools:
MAT is a time saver. MAT provides many of the tools a System Administrator
needs during the day, including DNS, NIS, Backups, and Replication. A
powerful feature is the ability to run a MAT command on many hosts at once.
For example a new group could be added to all machines just by doung a select
all, then adding the new group. For generic files a simple editor window is
provided, with this the configuration files for a sites web servers could be
changed, just by editing one.
MAT includes a flexable replication tool for the distribution of files from
a single machine to up to 64 other machines. Complete control of file and
directory properties is provided, as well as bandwidth saving incremental
replication, where only the changed files are replicated.
MAT includes a Backup tool for SCSI tape devices. Tape catalogs are stored
online, so file retreval is easy. Hosts are backed up in parallel, and a
graphical restore tool makes restores easy.
MAT includes a command replication tool, allowing a change on one host to
be made on all selected hosts. By selecting several hosts or groups MAT will
run the next command on all of the selected machines, so changing a password
would cause it to be changed on all hosts. Use with care!
Monitoring:
MAT provides two kinds of monitoring, namely current status, and historic
logs. Through the Status screen you can inspect the current state of the
machine. The MATd screen gives you access to historical data on the machine.
It lets see how heavily loaded you machines are, how the network interface
is performing, and many other parameters.
The MATd daemon allows you to specify alarm thresholds. It can watch your
FTP and Email server for failures. It can watch your disks from getting full.
It can watch the CPU use for thrashing, and several others. You can taylor
your response to each alarm situation, including taking corrective action.
Administration:
The administrative tasks can be delegated to other individuals. A MAT user
can be granted as much or little access as you require. Users can be given
different access rights on all your MAT hosts. Every MAT user can be managed
from a single console. A log file records all the MAT commands issued on a
host, and is viewable from the MAT console.
MAT also includes easy to use interfaces for common UNIX configuration tasks:
User administration
Hosts
Email Aliases
Mounted filesystems
Crontab entries
DNS client configuration
Login message (motd)
Services
Exported (shared) filesystems
DNS domains & records
Most NIS records
Syslogd entries
MAT allows you inspect many of the common system parameters including:
All syslog files (TK 8.0 recommended for this)
Routes
Processes
Lastlog
Diskspace
Exports
The monitoring deamon MATd runs scripts for monitoring of:
Network Connectivity (through ICMP)
Required Processes
Disk usage
CPU use
Run queue
User logins
FTP server status
SMTP server status
Network Interface Activity
SWAP, and Memory use are monitored in the Linux version.
A simple plotting tool allows you to graph the various monitored
parameters. The monitoring scripts are written in TCL and can
be customized.
Requirements:
- -------------
For the MAT agent you need a UNIX machine running:
Linux 2.x
Solaris 5.x
IRIX 6.x
HPUX 10.10 or 10.20
The Console requires Tcl/TK on at least one host.
License:
- --------
Free for single host installations, otherwise it is shareware.
- --
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