Big Sister - CHANGES.PLAINTEXT

- 15.04.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha2
- 20.03.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha
- 24.06.01: RELEASE 0.97
- 24.05.01: RELEASE 0.96
- 05.01.01: RELEASE 0.95
- 29.10.00: RELEASE 0.94
- 23.08.00: RELEASE 0.93
- 09.01.00: RELEASE 0.38
- 14.11.99: RELEASE 0.37
- 16.10.99: RELEASE 0.36
- 25.09.99: RELEASE 0.35
- 18.07.99: RELEASE 0.34
- 26.06.99: RELEASE 0.33
- 12.06.99: RELEASE 0.32
- 08.04.99: release 0.30
- 04.01.99: release 0.28
- 19.12.98: release 0.27 (first non-beta release!)
- 12.12.98: release 0.26beta (first Disteli proof version - see credits in README)
- 11.11.98: release 0.25beta
- 01.11.98: release 0.24beta
- 26.10.98: decided to release 0.23beta (looks like a good idea to me to still call it "beta")
- 25.10.98: release 0.22beta
- 18.10.98: release 0.21beta

    This file is maintained in parallel to
    the CHANGES file. It should tell you in
    short terms what changes in functionality
    we made rather than what changes in source
    code ...

    09.08.03: RELEASE 0.98beta4

        see RELEASE_NOTES-0.98b4

## 15.04.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha2

        fixed a few bugs and did the following:

        15.04.02: added %select directive to bb-display.cfg

        15.04.02: moved realhttp test over to new style monitor

        11.04.02: added %sort directive to bb-display.cfg

        11.04.02: added support for measuring time intervals <1s

## 20.03.02: RELEASE 0.98alpha

        after November: too numerous changes. Many bug fixes,
        many optimizations of the new sensor code, etc. etc.

        24.11.01: introduced "who" test

        20.11.01: introduced new style sensors (see NEWAGENT)

        12.11.01: added mibcompile utility

        01.11.01: added "timeout" argument to the tripwire test

        26.09.01: replaced bb_start shell script by a perl script and added

        04.09.01: added portmapper program to "rpc"

        04.09.01: added qmqueue monitor

        04.09.01: better retry strategy if agent failed to send status messages

        26.08.01: added "upmail" variable in bs_evgen.pm

        20.08.01: added "StartOK" option in bb-display.cfg

        24.07.01: Add provider for shared library version of RRD support

        10.07.01: added "link" directive in display_map.cfg (Feature request #439650)

        03.07.01 only start bsmon if required

        03.07.01: added availability reporting tool

        30.06.01: stopped using -I option in the head of perl scripts

## 24.06.01: RELEASE 0.97

        24.06.01: the following bugs should be fixed in 0.97:

    	 222784 Graphs for network statistics
    	 406103 "make install" install error on HP-UX
    	 417718 FreeBSD installation- 2 problems
    	 429015 No Support for status+expiryTime messages
    	 431610 diskfree test reporting nothing on Win32
    	 431611 CPU performance on W2k systems
    	 431618 IIS and "Page not found" problem
    	 434082 log monitor reports ok if file inacc.
    	 434281 *.rrd file doesn't exist
    	 434408 logging does not report program name

        19.06.01: logfile monitor class: better support for
      	      distributing logfile status to multiple columns
    	      on display

        17.06.01: fixed perflib module

        09.06.01: use "InstanceName" for reporting Win32 CPU names
       	      to bsmon/Grapher

        09.06.01: graphtemplates may now contain "internal" variables
      	      making configuration easier

## 24.05.01: RELEASE 0.96

        24.05.01: the following bugs should be fixed in 0.96:

    		229080 daytime check does not adjust for daylight savings time
    		230044 make install fails for 0.95 on Solaris 2.6
    		230375 More timezone problems - postpone_to.
    		231893 mount command needed for 'dumpdates' check
    		231894 start script starts unwanted uxmon proc for adm/uxmon-net.*
    		231896 uxmon crashes when SSL server monitor fails
    		231906 tcp monitor mixes up "Session data"
    		404157 Names with _ not handled well
    		405624 Makefile not compliant with non-GNU make
    		410222 Missing code in uxmon/Monitor/ping.pm
    		411197 icmp ping on certain host always fail
    		424049 changes made are removed after a refresh
    		425635 Win32 needs CGIs to have file extensions
    		425650 log_mail not working in Windows pre-buil
    		425662 notify refuses to run *.bat under Win32

        20.05.01: added "imap" and "ftp" tests

        18.05.01: support other graph types than LINE (area, stacked graphs)

        04.05.01: added new syntax and support for percentage thresholds for
    	      "diskfree" check and

        03.05.01: added additional graph definitions

        03.05.01: added "ups" check

        01.05.01: imported "ldap_mozilla" check

        01.05.01: added "command" check

        22.04.01: mrtg now supports percentage thresholds and is documented
    	      in CONFIG

        21.04.01: added "remove" feature for wiping out status lights from
    	      display

        21.04.01: "tcp" based monitors now accept "timeout=" argument

        21.04.01: accept "localhost" in adm/grouping file

        21.04.01: imported "ldap" monitor

        01.04.01: imported "oracle" and "tripwire" checks

        25.03.01: added "type=storage,linux snmp" snmp check type

        04.03.01: changed the way some tests report their verbose status
      	      messages in order to make them look a little nicer.

        23.02.01: PATH used by Big Sister components is now configured in
    	      etc/resources and adm/resources.

        05.02.01: added asxcpu test

        05.02.01: fixed memory leak

        05.02.01: report purple if an SNMP test does not apply rather than
    	      reporting green

        04.02.01: server now supports addressing individual tables in skins,
     	      added "twocolumn" skin

        25.01.01: fixed syslog problem on Solaris

        14.01.01: added "maintenance" mode
     	      - white status ("in maintenance")
    	      - set to maintenance in alarm web interface

## 05.01.01: RELEASE 0.95

        04.01.01: fixed the following bugs since November:

    		123340 No Page found
    		126298 phantom status lights on status page
    		126299 "%table +GROUP" statement not working correctly
    		123188 CGI paths in Windows binary version are wrong
    		122782 bsgraph CGI not working
    		122784 Graphs for network statistics
    		122785 Config scripts using _evaluator not working
    		123423 perfdata from Windows agent lost
    		122781 Graph displaying: index file not updateing
    		122886 %Autoconn feature not working any more
    		122887 %Option statement only partially working
    		122960 bswebadmin CGI missing in Windows binary package
    		123318 Wrong mailadress is generated by monitor

    	      probably fixed:

    		125041 daemons are extensively creating zombies
    		125042 daemons are extensively forking

        21.12.00: standard deviation checks in 'proto=fping ping' test

        11.11.00: all the %Option directives (bb-display.cfg working
    	      again

        11.11.00: %Autoconn directive (bb-display.cfg) working again

## 29.10.00: RELEASE 0.94

        30.10.00: introduced 'pragma: no-cache' for dynamically
    	      generated web pages

        29.10.00: fixed display map problems

        24.10.00: added Linux Meminfo monitor

        22.10.00: added performance data collection
    	      and graphing

        12.10.00: fixed bsmon's creating bands of zombies under
    	      certain circumstances

        08.10.00: added example config files (contrib/examples)

        08.10.00: fixed some bugs, brought some
    	      documentation up to date

        08.10.00: added support for paging via Nortel
    	      Meridian PBX

        07.10.00: fixed grouping functions in bswebadmin

        07.10.00: fixed rotation of var/status.log on
    	      NT systems

        10.09.00: added support for SCO Openserver
    	      (thanks to Tim Powell)

## 23.08.00: RELEASE 0.93

        **.**.**: many uxmon monitors now report
    	      more verbosely

        **.**.**: many many bug fixes ...

        **.**.**: many many not so obvious changes

        26.07.00: The display map module now supports
    	      creating PNG and JPEG images (with
    	      new GD module). Backwards compatible
    	      with old GD (GIF only) module.

        25.07.00: introduced 'DEFAULT' directive in
    	      uxmon-net config file

        25.07.00: cleaned up config file reading.
    	      Now every config file supports
    	      the 'include' statement, comments
    	      via '#' character

        13.07.00: group status summarizes to 'clear'
    	      color if group is empty

        30.06.00: fixed rpc check persistently
    	      failing after some error
    	      conditions

        22.06.00: fixed bbd dying unexpectedly

        20.06.00: included MIBs for atmport and
    	      software checks (J. Gooch)

        20.06.00: MRTG support: Use PNG instead of
    	      GIF (J. Gooch)

        20.06.00: added bind_ip directive (uxmon-net
    	      in conjunction with bsdisplay or
    	      bbdisplay lines) for optionally
    	      specifying source ip address on
    	      multi homed hosts (J. Gooch)

        20.06.00: set QMAIL* environment variables
    	      in log_mail.pl (J. Gooch)

        20.06.00: bb_start sets sane umask and uses
    	      a login shell (su -) for starting
    	      up Big Sister daemons (J. Gooch)

        18.06.00: fixed bbd not cleanly differentiating
    	      between diferent agent connections
    	      -> fixes problem where status
    	      changes to 'purple' sometimes

        12.06.00: list performance variables in
    	      var/uxmon_variables if uxmon is run
    	      in performance data collection mode

        12.06.00: scheduler altered in order to prevent
    	      agents from working and sending their
    	      status messages out too synchronously

        12.06.00: centralized conversion of status colors/
    	      status codes to simplify addition of new
    	      status colors (as suggested by Joseph
    	      Gooch); added 'clear' and 'blue' status
    	      codes

        04.06.00: added the feature_provider concept to
    	      to the bsmon API

        17.04.00: accept 'localhost' in adm/grouping as
    	      a synonym for the local host's name

        13.02.00: added 'realhttp' and 'radius' monitors
    	      (contributed by Kevin O'Donell)

        11.02.00: added 'perf' access group (adm/permissions)

        05.02.00: introduced bsmon, the new extensible
    	      server. New concept: bbd receives agent
    	      messages and checks authorizations,
    	      bsmon does all the rest including alarm
    	      generation, HTML page building, logging,
    	      rsync, performance data collection, etc.

        05.02.00: fixed log file rotating

        23.01.00: added performance data collecting to
    	      uxmon

## 09.01.00: RELEASE 0.38

        08.01.00: moved files updated by Big Sister
    	      during runtime to 'var' subdirectory

        08.01.00: SNMP MIB and Openview .fmt-File
    	      added, use the newly registered
    	      'graeff' SNMP OID

        27.12.99: Added basic trap monitoring (see
    	      HOWTO)

        20.12.99: Some extensions concerning display:

    		- Framed web pages may now display
    		  status lights in the contents
    		  frame

    		- Tables rows are now sorted
    		  alphabetically

    		- some special keywords in the text
    		  of status messages reported by agents
    		  are now recognized if used in the HTML
    		  log pages:

    			&red/&green/... => status light
    			&html => the following text is HTML

    		- Agents may now officially send long
    		  comments. Concept:

    		    - monitors must log a short message
    		      (such as "ntp OK")
    		    - monitors may log a long descriptive
    		      text message
    		    - monitors may log a long descriptive
    		      HTML message

    		  The messages are always sorted short
    		  message (by severity) then long text
    		  message then long HTML message (so that
    		  in alarm messages the short message
    		  associated with the failed service
    		  is always appearing first in line)

        20.12.99: Added a few new monitors (mostly contributed
    	      by Joseph Gooch):

    		- fping protocol in ping test
    		- ntp
    		- software
    		- snmp_trap
    		- mrtg

    		- atmport, etherport
    		  (snmp, not fully generic yet)

    	      see CONFIG, section adm/uxmon-net

        05.12.99: Event Generator does now support sending
    	      SNMP traps for each raised or cleared
    	      alarm (see HOWTO)

        05.12.99: Event Generator: stop creating zombies

## 14.11.99: RELEASE 0.37

        14.11.99: fixed a few bugs:

    		- uxmon: config scripts not working
    		  properly

    		- uxmon: support for multiple running
    	          copies of uxmon per host not working
    		  properly

    		- bswebalarm: test being placed in the
    		  ignore list were not really ignored

        14.11.99: added new logging mechanism: every
    	      incoming message (bbd) is now logged
    	      to www/logs/history/status.log

        03.11.99: added 'external' ping protocol (see CONFIG)
    	      as contributed by Roland Roberts

## 16.10.99: RELEASE 0.36

        16.10.99: bb_start works on systems without
    	      'grep -w' option

        16.10.99: added Webadmin interface (bswebadmin
    	      CGI)

        16.10.99: new security model (adm/permissions
    	      file) allowing more flexibility in
    	      defining which client is permitted
    	      to do what

        14.10.99: uxmon: procs check accepts '(' and ')'
    	      in process names

        10.10.99: uxmon: support monitoring frequencies
    	      other than 'each 5 minutes'

        07.10.99: CGIs: support for POST Forms method

## 25.09.99: RELEASE 0.35

        25.09.99: work on Win32 systems also when not
    	      installed in the default location
    	      (binary release only)

        25.09.99: fixed uxmon signal handling: die on
    	      TERM, ignore TSTP/INT (fixing strange
    	      behaviour of Solaris /sbin/sh)

        25.07.99: fixed bbd bug making the daemon crash
    	      if a client sent a bad leave command

## 18.07.99: RELEASE 0.34

        17.07.99: some work for the NT version: added
    	      performance monitor support, added
    	      install procedure (services ...),
    	      etc.

## 26.06.99: RELEASE 0.33

        -26.06.99: fixed a few things reported during the
    	      0.32 beta test

        20.06.99: added bbscript monitor: Run Big Brother
    	      monitor scripts from within uxmon.

        20.06.99: added statusfile monitor allowing external
    	      monitors to write their status information
    	      to a file read by the statusfile monitor.

        20.06.99: added %Option statement (bb-display.cfg)
    	      allowing to configure a few Status Collector
    	      behaviours.

        19.06.99: added 'cpuload' (load as reported by
    	      the uptime command) monitor (thanks to
    	      Torben Sorensen)

        17.06.99: made Big Sister ready for a binary release.

## 12.06.99: RELEASE 0.32

        12.06.99: tested on NT 4.0 and fixed things working
    	      in a flaky way or not working at all
    	      (see README.win32)

        11.06.99: added enhanced history log file housekeeping
    	      to bbd (See HOWTO)

        11.06.99: bbd will read altered bb-display.cfg config
    	      files immediately after updateing pages instead
    	      of immediately before. This will stop bbd from
    	      creating empty pages after a configuration
    	      change when running with dynamic grouping.

        11.06.99: bbd: now writes "check point" entries to the
    	      display.history file so that it is possible to
    	      find out when bbd was running and when not.

        10.06.99: Event Generator: include the time of the alarm
    	      in the alarm and acknowledge messages

        08.06.99: display maps: display positions may now be given
    	      names, lines (for e.g. network connections) now
    	      supported

        08.06.99: bbd keeps track of which agent monitors which
    	      host/check, logs changes to syslog and writes
    	      the summary file adm/agents.log

        07.06.99: fixed bb_event_generator behaviour regarding
    	      checks used in "check=": If bbd never received
    	      a valid status for check assume it is up (=>
    	      do not suppress alarm!)

        07.06.99: fixed internal bug in HTML creation code making
    	      bbd corrupt messages containing "@" characters
    	      and in some cases loop

        07.06.99: use EventLog logging on Win32 systems instead
    	      of syslog

        05.06.99: added support for Win32 EventLog ("eventlog"
    	      monitor) and Services ("procs" monitor)

        25.05.99: use syslog for logging Big Sister events

        15.05.99: added log file rotating to Status Collector.
    	      See HOWTO ...

        15.05.99: added "bsadmin" command allowing to send bbd
    	      commands from command line

        09.05.99: added "-c" option to uxmon in order to allow
    	      the name of the "uxmon-net" file be passed.
    	      Changed bb_start script so that it does run
    	      multiple copies of uxmon if multiple uxmon-net
    	      files exist (uxmon-net.*)

        09.05.99: uxmon-net procs check accepts now a
    	      pscomm= argument (use e.g. pscomm="ps cax" procs)

        03.05.99: added alarm acknowledging

        24.04.99: CGI scripts now running as either CGI
    	      or FastCGI (see Q+A)

        07.04.99: added a generic logfile check used for
    	      both OV and syslog checks. So the advanced
    	      features of OV are available for syslog
    	      now too. Generic line based logs now may
    	      be checked with the 'logfile' monitor

## 08.04.99: release 0.30

        07.04.99: fixed event generator bug: no
    	      alarms send on Linux

        07.04.99: fixed event generator bug which caused
    	      the event generator to send false
    	      alarms

        30.03.99: the various programs should now
    	      find the Big Sister root directory
    	      without any problems

        28.03.99: the 'procs' check does now work
    	      with SNMP queried hosts too
    	      (uxmon-net: procs=... snmp)

        28.03.99: internal changes to 'uxmon':
    	      does now support 'variables' and
    	      a generic way of defining dependencies
    	      between different checks
    	      (actually used in SNMP monitor -
    	       enhanced storage usage reporting)

        22.03.99: the Status Collector does now
    	      create a HTML version of each
    	      status file in 'logs' and places
    	      it in 'html'. Use '%itemref html'
    	      in bb-display.cfg ...

        20.03.99: added %include statement for
    	      including static sections into
    	      web pages (bb-display.cfg)

        20.03.99: re-designed skin parsing code -
    	      now nested variables as well as
    	      subroutines in skins are supported

        19.03.99: added bswebalarm.pl - the web frontend
    	      to alarms

        16.03.99: allow and interpret quotes " and
    	      ' in uxmon-net

        14.03.99: added notify.pl (notifier for
    	      event_generator) contributed
    	      by Roland Roberts

        13.03.99: Finally added documentation of
    	      new event generator features to CONFIG

        08.03.99: added %Frameset statement (bb-display.cfg)
    	      for generating HTML framesets

        08.03.99: introduced the 'skin' mechanism
    	      (%skin statement in bb-display.cfg)
    	      for describing page layouts.

        07.03.99: kill processes by name rather than by
    	      uid. Optionally start uxmon as root
    	      (currently only the ping module will
    	      insist on running as root when doing
    	      ICMP pings) when file adm/uxmon-asroot
    	      exists

        07.03.99: cleaned up FQDN support: now FQDN
    	      supported can be configured for each
    	      'bsdisplay'/'bbdisplay' individually.
    	      In compatibility mode ',' is used as
    	      the replacement for '.'.

## 04.01.99: release 0.28

        03.01.99: FQDN support: display '.', internal
    	      representation '_', BB may use ','.

        02.01.99: sort messages by severity: red first
    	      (so get the important messages first
    	       on the web pages and in alarms)

        02.01.99: added support for multiline status messages
    	      in the whole Big Sister package

        02.01.99: bug fixes: allow ',' in hostnames
    	      (BB fully qualified domain names) and
    	      translate them to '_', find prototype
    	      files (%Page statement in bb-display.cfg)
    	      in 'www' subdirectory

        25.12.98: when a host dynamically leaves
    	      (leave statement) no "purple" status
    	      is generated any more

        25.12.98: reload adm/uxmon-net and adm/grouping
    	      automatically when altered - no need
    	      to restart uxmon any more

        21.12.98: behave sane when unresolvable host
    	      names appear in config files or
    	      name resolution is temporarily
    	      unavailable

## 19.12.98: release 0.27 (first non-beta release!)

        19.12.98: multiple diskfree tests with
    	      different file system types
    	      are now supported

        19.12.98: diskfree test does now work on
    	      HP/UX too out of the box

        19.12.98: bb_start does now work if run as
    	      the bsuser too

        19.12.98: install procedure does now work as
    	      non-root user too

        19.12.98: "type=nt,storage,cpu snmp" check does
    	      now work together with Windows NT
    	      systems too

        17.12.98: made a few Win32 specific changes (such
    	      as adding a start script, run processes
    	      in background, etc.)

        15.12.98: added FQDN / noFQDN option to uxmon (see
    	      'CONFIG') to ease handling of hostnames

        15.12.98: fixed bb_start again so that it now should
    	      definitely work when installed in 'exotic'
    	      directories

## 12.12.98: release 0.26beta (first Disteli proof version - see credits in README)

        06.12.98: removed the "dynamic" stuff from uxmon.
    	      Configuration/Module modifications now
    	      must be followed by a uxmon restart for
    	      changes to become effective. The automatic
    	      reload of perl code obviously was causing
    	      different troubles with different versions
    	      of perl on different platforms ...

        19.11.98: bb_event_generator does now remember
    	      alarms even after restart

        14.11.98: Big Sister runs on win32 platforms
    	      too now (alpha)

## 11.11.98: release 0.25beta

        11.11.98: fixed "EXPIRES" time format in
    	      generated web pages

        10.11.98: added HP Openview trap monitor
    	      interface to uxmon (check "OV")

        10.11.98: fixed "dumpdates" check

        08.11.98: bb_event_generator rewritten from
    	      scratch: quite more configurable
    	      now, is aware of grouping and reacts
    	      faster on status changes.

        07.11.98: fixed 'cmd' Monitor (used especially
    	      for 'dns' check)

        07.11.98: famous "last fix" to bb_start

## 01.11.98: release 0.24beta

        01.11.98: started to replace a few gifs.
    	      Reason: make Big Sister look
    	      more different from Big Brother
    	      (seems to be what some people
    	      want me to do)

        01.11.98: Added "Autoconn"-feature (see CONFIG,
    	      bb-display.cfg) allowing bbd to
    	      treat a connection to itself like a
    	      successfull ping and set 'conn'
    	      to green on client connects.

        01.11.98: Added '-c' bbd option, semantics:
    	      "create web pages and quit" (e.g.
    	      for running bbd out of original
    	      Big Brother runbb.sh)

        01.11.98: Correctly delete old image files
    	      (image maps)

        27.10.98: fixed some install problems

## 26.10.98: decided to release 0.23beta (looks like a good idea to me to still call it "beta")

        26.10.98: fixed treatement of hosts.allow

        26.10.98: a few bugfixes that should ease
    	      installation in an environment different
    	      from Tom's ...

## 25.10.98: release 0.22beta

        24.10.98: support for graphical status displays
    	      (e.g. maps) and HTML image maps (%image
    	      statement)

        24.10.98: the groups listed in a %table-statement
    	      in the bbd config file may now be prefixed
    	      by one or more "+" and the respective
    	      tables will contain all the groups/hosts
    	      found when recursing down the group tree.

        22.10.98: Added "%Autojoin"-Statement to the Status
    	      Collector. This allows to define a group
    	      where every host automatically appears in (e.g.
    	      "ALL") as well as a group newly appearing
    	      hosts should join.

## 18.10.98: release 0.21beta

        18.10.98: Added "dns" check ("cheap" implementation
    	      using nslookup rather than a full-hearted
    	      implementation as a true Monitor)

        18.10.98: %Pager statement added to bb-display.cfg
    	      so that pages sent from BB clients aren't
    	      sent to the Big Blackhole anymore

        17.10.98: decided to start using this file