Aaron: The application and network service monitor.

News

• 2001-07-05: Looks like Source Forge fixed the CVS and email problems... now if they could get the ssh keys working again....
• 2001-07-04: Made a second pass at the aaron architecture. Much more complete and more well thought out.
• 2001-07-04: Looks like a passwd file is out of sync on the CVS server because it can't look up my UID right now. A correlated problem is CVS commit emails aren't working. I'll post an update when they're working again. I think a security conscious admin was overly zealous with chroot(), but I could be wrong.
• 2001-06-28: First cut at the aaron architecture has been defined.
• 2001-06-27: CVS commit emails should be working
• 2001-06-26: ROADMAP posted, has basic plan of attack

Links

• Project ROADMAP
• Project TODO list
• Project Summary Page
• Project Mailing Lists
• Project CVS Repository

Project Goals

1. Aaron will use an Apache style license, not GPL. Being corporation friendly is very important (project sponsored by IT Net App).
2. Aaron does:
   • check the local host for running programs (httpd)
   • check network services (smtp, postgres, http, etc.)
   • check network routes (tests for ICMP responses)
   • operate in parallel and operates within configuration limits (load, memory usage, etc.). Being light weight when necessary is important. Being able to consume an entire machine's resources is also important.
   • have a reaction API (restart service, send email, send SMS message, etc) that is highly configurable through XML.
   • support both basic level 4 checks and level 7 service checks (highly customized testing of availability).
   • Log via an API making it possible to log to XML, log files, or a database
   • collect information through an API making socket, UDP, multicast, and SNMP data collection operations possible
3. Aaron will also have an analytical API making it possible for aaron to be aware of "service level agreements." (Ex: if a service is unavailable 0.002% of the time, for example, then alerts will be sent to product manager.)
4. Web interfaces will be made available (mod_perl, mod_ruby, PHP, JSP, and servlet) for viewing the host or availability information.
5. The configuration and data availability will be setup to allow for data hiding and a permissions model.
6. Aaron will be network aware and will be capable of alerting the network administrator in the event of a route failure, programmers in the event of a bad response, system administrators if there isn't a response, and product manager if an SLA has been violated or is near being violated.
7. Eventually an AaronD will be created to allow for fail-over and parallel checking of services across multiple services from possibly multiple geographic locations.

Help Needed

Obviously help is needed. I am only one person and can only do so much. Here's my things that I know need to happen:

• A graphics/UI/web designer is needed badly. Basic HTML is about all I like to produce if I'm in a hurry. Can someone please make this beautiful?
• More programmers! The more the merrier!