NAME
    Simple System/Network Monitoring - spong v2.7

DESCRIPTION
    This is a simple systems and network monitoring package called
    Spong. It has the following features:

    *   client based monitoring (CPU, disk, processes, logs, etc...)

    *   monitoring of network services (smtp, http, ping, pop, dns,
        etc...)

    *   grouping of hosts (routers, servers, workstations, PCs)

    *   rules based messaging when problems occur

    *   configurable on a host by host basis

    *   results displayed via text or web based interface

    *   history of problems

    *   verbose information to help diagnosis problems

    *   easily expandable via a plug-in module facility

    This is hopefully a *simple* tool. It does not compete with
    Tivoli, OpenView, UniCenter, or any other commercial packages,
    and I have no intention of trying to turn it into one. It is not
    SNMP based, it communicates via simple TCP based messages. It is
    written in Perl, so hopefully it can be run on multiple systems
    (including NT - although it has not been ported yet - but is on
    the to-do list).

    I'm a strong believer in KISS (keep it simple stupid), and
    hopefully this package is as simple as possible (but no
    simpler). Spong is broken up into components that each do a
    specific thing. Listed are some of the (key) components:

    *   spong

        Text based query program, reports information about hosts
        that are monitored.

    *   www-spong

        Web based query program, reports information about host that
        are monitored.

    *   spong-client

        Program that runs on each monitored server. Reports host
        based information (disk, cpu, logs, etc.)

    *   spong-network

        Reports on network based services (smtp, ping, http, etc.)

    *   spong-server

        Collects information reported and responds to queries about
        that information.

    *   spong-message

        Called by the spong-server program to send out notifications
        when problems occur.

Availability
    Spong's Home Page is at http://spong.sourceforge.net/.

    Perl is require to run spong. If you don't have Perl installed
    you can retrieve it from the CPAN archive
    http://www.cpan.org/CPAN/, along with other optional modules
    such at the Net::DNS module. I would suggest having at least
    version 5.004 installed (otherwise you will need to download the
    CGI.pm module as well). You can get the latest version of Perl
    at http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz

    You can retrieve the latest version of Spong from the Spong
    project at Source Forge. The 'Downloads' web is at
    http://spong.sourceforge.net/downloads.html. This distribution
    contain the spong source, documentation, and gif images.

SUPPORT
    There are two mailings setup for Spong: spong-users and spong-
    announce.

    spong-users is for general discussions or getting help for
    Spong. You can subscribe by sending a message to spong-users-
    request@lists.sourceforge.net with the work subscribe in the
    message. Or be visiting the mailing lists home page at
    http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/spong-users.

    spong-announce is a low-volume mailing which will be used for
    announcements and news concerning Spong. It is moderated, but
    feel free to submit any pertinent items. You can subscribe by
    sending a message to spong-announce-
    request@lists.sourceforge.net with the work subscribe in the
    message. Or be visiting the mailing lists home page at
    http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/spong-announce.

DEPENDENCES
    Perl v5.004 or greater is all that is required to set up Spong.
    A web server where you can install a CGI program, and a web
    browser that can display tables and frames are required for use
    of the web interface to Spong. If you want to monitor DNS
    servers remotely, then you will need to install the Net::DNS
    Perl module (available at CPAN). Spong will run fine without
    this module, you just will not be able to monitor the DNS
    service.

    These scripts should run on any Unix system (and to ``some''
    degree any environment where Perl is available).

DOCUMENTATION
    Don't let the amount of documentation scare you, I still think
    Spong is simple to setup and use.

    The documentation is provided in perl POD format (the old Perl
    pod format just didn't do all that I wanted). The installation
    process will create HTML, text and man formatted versions of the
    documentation. The HTML documentation can be located anywhere.
    It's cross-links should survive a move intact.

    There are four main documents that describe spong from different
    perspectives.

    *   FAQ

        Frequently Asked Questions by users and their answers.

    *   User-Guide

        Geared towards the person who will be using the spong text
        or web based clients. This is the documentation that will be
        seen when the user clicks on the Help button provided in
        www-spong.

    *   Administrator's Guide

        Written for the person who will be installing spong, and
        setting up the various configuration files. This provides a
        step by step installation process and gives some suggestions
        on things Spong can do that you might not have thought of.

    *   Developer's Guide

        Written for the person who wants to have Spong look
        differently, or what to add some new feature in their
        version of spong, or wants to incorporate spong output in
        other programs. This details the Spong internals, and
        describes the various protocols that are used.

    There are also specific "man" pages for each program and
    configuration file which provide detailed explanations of each
    option, command line argument, etc... Finally, if you are in a
    pinch, the code is readable enough (and well commented) to
    provide some help as well.

    I hopefully have provided enough documentation that the only
    email I get are suggestions for new features and bug reports -
    but if you are stuck, feel free to send me email and I will
    respond if I can.

FILES
    Here is a description of the directories and files that come in
    this package prior to installation. More specific descriptions
    of each file are available in the various documentation that
    comes with spong.

    config:

    spong.conf distributed config file

    spong.conf.<os> os specific config changes

    spong.hosts host/service config file

    spong.groups group config file

    src:

    spong.pl text based spong display client

    spong-client.pl collects/reports cpu,disk,etc info

    spong-network.pl collects/reports network service info

    spong-server.pl listens for/saves spong status updates

    spong-message.pl alerts humans there's a problem

    spong-ack.pl text based acknowledgement program

    www-spong.pl web based spong display client

    www-spong-ack.pl web based acknowledgement program

    docs:

    <*>.html documentation for the above files

    gifs: various icons used by www-spong

LICENSING
    Copyright 1999,200, Stephen L Johnson

    Like Perl, Spong may be copied only under the terms of either
    the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License, which
    may be found in the Perl 5.0 source kit. If either file is not
    available to you, send email to <sjohnson@monsters.org, and I
    will mail you a copy.

CHANGES
    The list of changes for the latest version of Spong can be found
    at http://spong.sourceforge.net/documentation/CHANGES.

    Version 2.6
        Notification rules enhanced with matching and excluding by
        host groups. Added delayed and repeat notifications. Module
        Plugin mechanisms added to spong-client, spong-network,
        spong-server, and spong-message programs. Programs now
        automatic background themselves. Event duration added to
        spong-server database. NTP and SSH checks added to spong-
        network.

    Version 2.5
        First release by Stephen L Johnson. Rules based
        notifications added, a limited Big Brother Server emulation
        was to allow Big Bother Clients to be used. A new log
        monitoring routine which tracks last position read. Enhanced
        network checks to eliminate momentary network problems.

    Version 2.0
        A OO redesign of the spong-server and display programs,
        added acknowledgments and group support, added a text based
        interface, made www interface more extensible.

    Version 1.1
        Primarily a bug fix release with a few minor features
        (dns,http config,multiple interfaces) added.

    Version 1.0
        Initial public release, mostly based on Big Brother package
        from Sean MacGuire.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  By Ed Hill

    Many ideas (and some code) came from two similar packages. We
    have used a program call "Pong" here at The University of Iowa
    for about a year. Pong was written by Helen Harrison at SAS
    Institute and a paper on it was presented at the Usenix LISA
    conference. Pong would allow us to do simple monitoring of
    systems (via ping) and would report machine status via a web
    page. The name of this package (Son of PONG, but pronounced as
    its spelled "spong") is an obvious rip off...

    Originally, the main concepts and design came from Big Brother
    written by Sean MacGuire. That package was written in C and sh
    scripts which I ``ported'' to Perl, making many changes along
    the way (like adding more information to the messages going from
    the client to the server, adding history, changing the way that
    information is displayed, added some configuration options,
    etc.).

    There didn't seem to be any interest in my perl code from the
    author of BB, so I've changed the name so there would be any
    confusion between this package and its inspiration.

    I'd also like to thank the many people who have contributed
    patches and comments, and where willing to try out spong and
    help me work out a few of the early problems.

  by Stephen L Johnson

    I first found Big Brother and liked what it did. But I was put
    as a bit by it being written in C and shell scripts. While
    perusing the Big Brother mailing lists archives I ran across
    references to Spong, and it being written in Perl. This was
    Spong 1.1

    I tried it out but there were some stability problems. So I
    reluctantly dropped Spong in favor of Big Brother. I didn't like
    some of the limitations of Big Brother, so I started hacking on
    the source code. To me it was akin to writing in assembler and
    getting a tooth pulled. I don't like either one.

    Fortunately I found a link to Ed Hill's installation of Spong
    2.1 at the University of Iowa. I feel in love with Spong all
    over again. I asked Ed Hill if I could have Spong 2.1. He sent
    me the distribution and I started evaluating it again.

    Spong 2.1 was a big improvement over Spong 1.1 in terms of
    stability and features. I rolled the changes that I made to Big
    Brother into Spong 2.1 and I have been changing things ever
    since.

    Ed Hill had stopped development of Spong and I was spending so
    much time on Spong. I asked Ed if I could take over development
    of Spong. He gave his blessing and the torch was passed in
    October of 1999.

    I would like to thank Ed Hill for creating Spong and allowing me
    to take up the development touch. The current Spong user and
    development community is small but growing. There are still a
    lot of rough edges to need to be smoothed. I would like to thank
    them for their patient in allowing me to whip the Spong
    distribution into shape and helping me work out the numerous
    installation problems.

BUGS
  Known Problems in v2.6

    Here are a list of problems, and possible fixes that have been
    reported for version 2.8. I will update this section as bugs
    come in (if there are any 8-). These fixes will all be included
    in the next release of spong, but if you can't wait - here are
    some suggestions.

    Memory leak in spong-network on RedHat 6.0
        spong-network has a memory leak when running on a Linux
        system and gligc 2.1.1. The program memory core size grows
        after each check cycle. The fix is to upgrade the glibc from
        version 2.1.1 to version 2.1.2.

AUTHOR
    Ported by:

    Ed Hill <ed-hill@uiowa.edu> Internet Software Developer at The
    University of Iowa http://www.uiowa.edu/

    Currently maintained by:

    Stephen L Johnson <sjohnson@monsters.org>

    Please feel free to send me bug reports, patches, suggestions,
    or comments.