File	Date	Author	Commit
extensions	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[6b9c64] Allow for Telnet properties to persist if Servi...
ARCHITECTURE.html	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
AUTHORS	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
COPYING	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
ChangeLog	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
INSTALL	2010-09-10	Nick Williams	[bccd94] add in kerberos to the zookeeper init, clean up...
Makefile	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[0aabfd] More compile fixes for SunStudio:
NEWS	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
README	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
TODO	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
aclocal.m4	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[a2acf6] re-run automake
agent.cc	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[0aabfd] More compile fixes for SunStudio:
agent.hh	2012-02-06	Frank Hofmann	[a24dfe] More STL-ification of Agent; make definition fi...
auth.cc	2012-02-08	Frank Hofmann	[5c6ca8] STL-ify subscriber.cc (handler dispatch).
auth.hh	2012-02-28	Frank Hofmann	[ba1ec6] Who wouldn't want to be omnipotent in some situ...
configfile.cc	2011-12-19	Frank Hofmann	[92bec9] Fix FileConn memory leak.
configfile.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
connection.cc	2011-11-11	Frank Hofmann	[af55fb] create config option "brkCR" to request precedi...
connection.hh	2012-02-01	Frank Hofmann	[85bd32] Make compile work with -Wall -Wextra -Werror
daemon.cc	2012-02-28	Frank Hofmann	[675b96] * Fix fix_fd
daemon.hh	2009-04-04	njw	[e4af0d] expand all tabs which have appeared in the source.
depcomp	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
direct.cc	2012-02-08	Frank Hofmann	[5c6ca8] STL-ify subscriber.cc (handler dispatch).
direct.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
endpoint.cc	2010-09-07	Nick Williams	[faee23] cleanup: whitespace, -Wall fixes and remove rcsId
endpoint.hh	2010-09-07	Nick Williams	[faee23] cleanup: whitespace, -Wall fixes and remove rcsId
fileconn.cc	2010-09-07	Nick Williams	[faee23] cleanup: whitespace, -Wall fixes and remove rcsId
fileconn.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
install-sh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
kerberos.cc	2012-02-01	Frank Hofmann	[420236] STL-ify class Authenticator
kerberos.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
list.cc	2010-09-07	Nick Williams	[faee23] cleanup: whitespace, -Wall fixes and remove rcsId
list.h	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
logfile.cc	2012-02-01	Frank Hofmann	[85bd32] Make compile work with -Wall -Wextra -Werror
logfile.hh	2009-04-06	njw	[e85a07] in logfiles, track last line in order to say "l...
lookup.hh	2009-04-04	njw	[e4af0d] expand all tabs which have appeared in the source.
main.cc	2013-01-10	Frank Hofmann	[d778ce] Conditional compiles for the tracing code - def...
mconsd.8	2011-07-22	Nick Williams	[edc004] Add a 'motd' attribute that gets displayed when...
mconsd.h	2013-01-10	Frank Hofmann	[d778ce] Conditional compiles for the tracing code - def...
missing	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
namespace.cc	2012-02-28	Frank Hofmann	[675b96] * Fix fix_fd
namespace.hh	2012-02-28	Frank Hofmann	[675b96] * Fix fix_fd
nis.cc	2011-12-28	Frank Hofmann	[443327] Make mconsd compile with gcc 4.6.x without (add...
nis.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
pipe.cc	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[0aabfd] More compile fixes for SunStudio:
pipe.hh	2011-12-28	Frank Hofmann	[443327] Make mconsd compile with gcc 4.6.x without (add...
service.cc	2012-12-10	Frank Hofmann	[24b94d] Throttle error message rate from persistent-but...
service.hh	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[6b9c64] Allow for Telnet properties to persist if Servi...
subscriber.cc	2012-05-18	Frank Hofmann	[72ca91] Compile fixes to allow compiling with:
subscriber.hh	2012-02-29	Frank Hofmann	[4f35f5] sizeInfo() shouldn't be inline
telnet.cc	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[0aabfd] More compile fixes for SunStudio:
telnet.hh	2012-05-25	Frank Hofmann	[6b9c64] Allow for Telnet properties to persist if Servi...
txtfile.cc	2010-09-07	Nick Williams	[faee23] cleanup: whitespace, -Wall fixes and remove rcsId
txtfile.hh	2009-03-20	Nick Williams	[be7316] initial commit into git
xmlfile.cc	2012-02-08	Frank Hofmann	[5c6ca8] STL-ify subscriber.cc (handler dispatch).
xmlfile.hh	2009-04-06	njw	[e85a07] in logfiles, track last line in order to say "l...
zookeeper-kerberos.cc	2012-02-01	Frank Hofmann	[85bd32] Make compile work with -Wall -Wextra -Werror
zookeeper.cc	2012-02-08	Frank Hofmann	[5c6ca8] STL-ify subscriber.cc (handler dispatch).
zookeeper.hh	2012-02-08	Frank Hofmann	[5c6ca8] STL-ify subscriber.cc (handler dispatch).

Read Me

multicons -- a multiplexing console system.

This is all written in C++ (although with some very C-style idioms),
so you need a C++ compiler. It's been tested with G++ and
SunProC on redhat linux and solaris respectively.

Features:
    - can connect to network-accessible consoles via TELNET
    - can connect to arbitrary programs that run in a pty
    - for network consoles, provides complete TELNET handling
    - the client is telnet(1), so can be accessed from just
      about anywhere.
    - provides Kerberos authentication
    - complete logging of all console output
    - as well as plain ASCII logs (real "unmodified" output),
      can also have XML logs which annotate output with
      the originating username and timestamps, allowing
      full replay functionality.
    - you can use 'chat'-like scripts (agents) that can
      auto-login to a console (useful when the initial
      connection drops you at a out-of-band manager or
      a password prompt, or combinations thereof).
    - multiple users can share a console in any combination
      of read-only or read-write mode.
    - consoles can be restricted to only allow a single
      user in read-write mode at a time (with associated
      configurable behaviour for allowing auto-steal-on-idle,
      or explicit stealing of the "write token")
    - configurable auto-retry of failed connections
    - entitlements based on a filesystem-like model, whereby
      directories of consoles can be protected (or unprotected)
      in the same way, even allowing for users to create new
      consoles in writable directories.
    - can invoke actions based on failing consoles (for example
      in an effort to fix a wedged terminal server port).
    - has been tested with well over 2,000 consoles
      connected simultaneously


Differences between this and other products:
How does this compare to conserver?

                             \   multicons | conserver |
Feature                       \            |           |
-------------------------------*-----------+-----------+
Logging of individual consoles |   yes     |  yes      |
replay-able logfiles           |   yes     |  no       |
Can log console data to syslog |   no      |  yes      |
Client works from anywhere     |   yes     |  no(1)    |
Kerberos authentication        |   yes     |  no       |
Service Discovery(2)           |   no      |  yes      |
Auto-forking server            |   no      |  yes      |
Serial port management         |   no      |  yes      |
Chat-scripts for connecting    |   yes     |  no       |
Dynamic reconfiguration        |   yes     |  yes      |
Dynamic user configuration     |   yes     |  no       |
SSL certificates (+ encryption)|   no      |  yes      |
"serviceability" commands(3)   |   yes     |  yes      |
xterm-like titlebar management |   yes     |  no(4)    |
macros                         |   yes     |  no       |
redirecting local commands     |   no      |  yes      |
staggered reconnects(5)        |   yes     |  yes      |
ability to fix broken consoles |   yes(6)  |  no       |
-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+

(1) multicons uses plain 'ol telnet(1), which is available
without recompiling on pretty much everything, however the
kerberos authentication requires a client which supports
the Kerberos authentication option. Without such a feature
in your telnet client, you will be able to connect to the
server but you may not have priviledges to *do* much, depending
on config.
(2) how do you know which console server to connect to for
a given console? conserver provides a redirect functionality
within the protocol (an advantage of using a custom client
over the plain ol' telnet client). 
(3) functionality such as "who's connected, what consoles
are available, what's the state of the server, of the console,
etc"
(4) although you can configure your .consolerc so that the
titlebar will be set correctly on connect, it does not
provide a notification method to change the titlebar as 
other users connect or the write-token passes between
users.
(5) conserver calls this throttling and it serialises
connections. multicons calls this 'scatter' and is a
randomization of connection times.
(6) The ability of multicons is to callout
to a configured commandline if the server detects a problem 
with the console. The external script is not provided 
with the multicons distribution and must be provided by
the local system administrator. At the author's site, we
expect to determine if a clear line on the terminal server
would be appropriate and if so, to do it.