Debian based Telemetry Box Distribution released

Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 17:35:09 +0100
From: Nils Lohner lohner@debian.org
To: debian-news@lists.debian.org
Subject: Debian based Telemetry Box Distribution released

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Debian Project                                          http://www.debian.org/ 
Debian based Telemetry Box Distribution released        press@debian.org
January 25, 2001

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[ This post was written by Christoph Lameter christoph@lameter.com ]

Version 1.0 of the Telemetry Box Distribution has finally been
released. The Tbox distribution is a Debian GNU/Linux ‘potato’
based custom Linux version for remote monitoring and maintenance of
networks.

A telemetry box allows remote management and diagnostics. It
uses a customized version of netsaint to gather data. Netsaint has
been enhanced so that the configuration is possible via the Tbox
Webinterface through SQL structures. Netsaint logs into a SQL
table. Tools on the Tbox can then display the data in a variety of
ways (graphs or reports).

Some of the functionality of the Tbox:

• Discovery module (Scan network and write results to SQL
  database)
• Ticket System (Can be hooked into siteROCKs problem tracking
  system).
• PathFinder (Network infrastructure analysis and troubleshooting
  module written by me. Tested with monitoring all network paths to
  all educational institutions (edu.zone) for a week (30000
  IPs)).
• Apache/PHP/MySQL/PHPMyadmin
• Fully manageable via a webinterface. All major setup can be
  done via the Web.
• SSH/HTTPS support out of the box.
• Easy installation (network card detection, auto-partitioning
  and formatting, no useless questions asked) of Debian usable
  without any Unix know-how.
• NT Diagnostic module (NSServicer)
• Keynote data integration
• Modified CURL tool that works as a URL analyzer for
  netsaint.
• Report module: Performance data. Router data and graphical
  reports.
• Intelligent ticket system (can localize point of network
  failure and asses impact of the failure)

Installation from CD Image

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It is highly advisable to install from a CD image. The CD image
at http://openrock.net/tb/iso/ccimage_v1.0.iso
fits on a Credit Card sized CD (only 50 MB) and contains all
functionality. I will have these CDs physically available at the
LWE in Europe at the beginning of February.

The telemetry software can be installed as an add on to existing
Debian installations but it requires modifications to apache and/or
PHP. See http://openrock.net for
details.

Opensource contributions

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Sources are available from
. Patches
to existing software have been or will be contributed to the
respective opensource projects.

openrock.net has been outfitted with a kernel based http server
(with patches implementing range and virtual hosting). Downloading
should be no problem.

Note that we do not consider this version to be of production
quality. Some features are only working under certain conditions.
Some components have a prototype character. There are various
issues that are being improved on. Help would be appreciated.
Ideally we would like to have everything part of standard Debian.
The biggest problem was the ease of installation and handling which
required some changes to packages which might not be welcome.

siteROCK the
specialists for 24×7 monitoring made this release possible.

Christoph Lameter, January 23, 2001

--
Nils Lohner                             E-Mail: lohner@debian.org
Debian Press Team                       Press:  press@debian.org