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<TITLE>Conserver</TITLE>
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<TABLE summary="Logo" bgcolor="black" width="100%" align=
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<TR>
<TD align="center"><IMG src="conserver.jpg" alt=
"Conserver"><BR>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<TABLE summary="Conserver Page" width="80%" align="center">
<TR>
<TD colspan="2" align="center">Please pick your closest
mirror: <A href=
"http://planetmirror.com/pub/conserver/">Australia</A>
<A href="http://www.conserver.com/">US
(Primary)</A><BR>
<BR>
</TD>
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<TD>
<H3>What is conserver?</H3>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD colspan="2">
<P>From an email I once sent...</P>
<P>Conserver is an application that allows multiple users
to watch a serial console at the same time. It can log
the data, allows users to take write-access of a console
(one at a time), and has a variety of bells and whistles
to accentuate that basic functionality. The idea is that
conserver will log all your serial traffic so you can go
back and review why something crashed, look at changes
(if done on the console), or tie the console logs into a
monitoring system (just watch the logfiles it creates).
With multi-user capabilities you can work on equipment
with others, mentor, train, etc. It also does all that
client-server stuff so that, assuming you have a network
connection, you can interact with any of the equipment
from home or wherever.</P>
<H3>The FAQ</H3>
Here's the conserver <A href="FAQ">FAQ</A>. Got any
additions? Let me know.
<H3>Mailing Lists</H3>
<P>There are currently two mailing lists available. <A
href=
"mailto:announce@conserver.com">announce@conserver.com</A>
is an announcement-only mailing list for informing of new
versions, major developments, etc. <A href=
"mailto:users@conserver.com">users@conserver.com</A> is
for general Q&A, discussions, ideas, etc. for
conserver users. You can sign up by sending a message to
<A href=
"mailto:announce-request@conserver.com">announce-request@conserver.com</A>
or <A href=
"mailto:users-request@conserver.com">users-request@conserver.com</A>
with a subject of "subscribe" or head over to the online
<A href="https://www.conserver.com/mailman/listinfo">web
pages</A>.</P>
<H3>Origin</H3>
<P>The console server software found here is a heavily
modified version originally written by <A href=
"http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/">Tom Fine</A> (<A
href=
"mailto:fine@head-cfa.harvard.edu">fine@head-cfa.harvard.edu</A>)
at <A href="http://www.ohio-state.edu/">Ohio State</A>
and then Kevin S Braunsdorf (<A href=
"mailto:ksb+conserver@sa.fedex.com">ksb+conserver@sa.fedex.com</A>)
at <A href="http://www.purdue.edu/">Purdue
University</A>. Patches from Robert Olson (<A href=
"mailto:olson@mcs.anl.gov">olson@mcs.anl.gov</A>) at <A
href="http://www.anl.gov/">Argonne National
Laboratory</A> were then applied to get network console
support.</P>
<P>Arnold de Leon (<A href=
"mailto:arnold@corp.webtv.net">arnold@corp.webtv.net</A>)
then fixed various bugs and added enhancements while at
<A href="http://www.synopsys.com/">Synopsys</A>. I then
took the result, continued fixing things, and added
features we found useful.</P>
<P><A href="http://www.gnac.com/">GNAC</A> (Global
Networking and Computing - currently <A href=
"http://www.certaintysolutions.com/">Certainty
Solutions</A>) has been supporting my coding efforts (in
too many ways to list) since 1996.</P>
<H3>The conserver.com Distribution</H3>
<P>The result is a combination of many people's work.
This version is being released in hopes that it will help
others. There is no warranty or support implied by the
distribution of the software.</P>
<P>So, what the heck is up with all the different
conserver versions? Well, the original authors are
continuing to distribute their own threads of the
software so you have three main threads (as far as I
know). First, there's Tom Fine's thread at <A href=
"http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/console-server.html">
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/console-server.html</A>.
He isn't actively developing it, however, according to
the website. Next, there's Kevin Braunsdorf's version at
<A href=
"ftp://ftp.physics.purdue.edu/pub/pundits/">ftp://ftp.physics.purdue.edu/pub/pundits/</A>.
It doesn't look like Kevin is working on his thread ony
more either. No new versions have been out since August
2000 (version 8.5), but maybe this info will be out of
date by the time you read this (I last checked Feb 10,
2004). Lastly, the conserver.com version is based on
Kevin's "5.21-Beta" distribution, but since
<B>HEAVILY</B> modified and enhanced (more details in the
"Origin" section above).</P>
<P>If I were looking for a conserver package I would
definitely use the conserver.com distribution. Why? It's
actively maintained, has many more features than the
other versions (see <A href="CHANGES">CHANGES</A> for a
semi-scary history), and has an active user community.
Kevin's version does have UPS support (basic serial port
line toggling bits) which is missing in the conserver.com
version, but no one has asked me for it, so does anyone
actually need it?</P>
<H3>Downloading</H3>
<P>The current version, released on Feb 10, 2004, is <A
href="8.1.1.tar.gz">8.1.1.tar.gz</A>. You can get it via
<A href=
"ftp://ftp.conserver.com/conserver/8.1.1.tar.gz">FTP</A>
or <A href="8.1.1.tar.gz">HTTP</A>. See the <A href=
"CHANGES">CHANGES</A> file for information on the latest
updates.</P>
<P>As of version 6.1.7, the packaging and numbering
scheme has changed. I used to package conserver as
conserver-GNAC-v.vv. Since <A href=
"http://www.gnac.com/">GNAC</A> (now <A href=
"http://www.certaintysolutions.com/">Certainty
Solutions</A>) has changed its name I've decided to drop
the GNAC portion and use a three-digit version number
(conserver-v.v.v). Why change the version numbering? I
need to differentiate this thread of the code from the
original authors' and I couldn't come up with a good
replacement for the GNAC name - sad, but true.</P>
<H3>Installation</H3>
<P>Check the <A href="INSTALL">INSTALL</A> file for
instructions.</P>
<H3>Online Documentation</H3>
<P>I've put a small set of documentation <A href=
"docs/">here</A>. I'm hoping to expand it over time.</P>
<H3>Systems Tested</H3>
<P>Here's a list of systems that I've been told can
successfully compile conserver. If anyone has more to add
to this list (or something on the list doesn't work any
more), please let me know.</P>
<UL>
<LI>AIX 4.3.3/5.1/5.2, native cc</LI>
<LI>BSDI BSD/OS 3.X, gcc</LI>
<LI>Cygwin (w2k),gcc 2.95.3</LI>
<LI>DEC Tru64 4.0, gcc</LI>
<LI>DEC Tru64 4.0/5.1, native cc</LI>
<LI>FreeBSD 4.2/4.8/5.1 (x86), gcc</LI>
<LI>HP-UX 10.20, gcc</LI>
<LI>HP-UX 11.10 parisc and ia64, native cc</LI>
<LI>Irix 6.15, native cc</LI>
<LI>Linux 2.2.18 (x86), gcc</LI>
<LI>Linux 2.4.2 (x86), gcc</LI>
<LI>Linux ia64, native gcc</LI>
<LI>Linux RedHat 6.2 and 7.2 (x86), native gcc</LI>
<LI>MacOS X, native gcc</LI>
<LI>Solaris 2.5.1 thru 9 (sparc/x86), gcc</LI>
<LI>Solaris 7/8, native cc</LI>
</UL>
<H3>Other Good Information</H3>
<P>Zonker Harris has fabulous documents regarding the
hookup of consoles to terminal servers and other such
devices. His <A href="consoles/">Greater Scroll of
Console Knowledge</A> is a great place to start.</P>
<HR noshade>
<ADDRESS>
Bryan Stansell (<A href=
"mailto:bryan@conserver.com">bryan@conserver.com</A>)<BR>
</ADDRESS>
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