Re: [Vacm-features] hoover features

[Dean J. <dt...@fu...>]

"Antonio W. Chan" wrote:
> 
> Hi,                                  May 2, 2000
> 
> I have been experimenting with VACM 2.0.0 beta release, which
> includes a GUI interface called hoover. It looks nice, and I
> would like to suggest some features for future versions.
> 
> 1) The "console" button doesn't seem to work properly. It
> launches a blank window, and then my hoover GUI freezes.
> I think the "console" button is not connecting to the
> correct tty port. Can this be fixed for the next version?
> 

Yes, this is something that I have been putting off, as I don't
have the right config yet to work with it. In fact, the latest
versions of hoover (CVS and SGI ACE) popup a dialog saying
that serial console functionality is deferred. In any case,
hoover shouldn't freeze.

> 2) My nexxus process sometimes dies, and a lot of hoover
> error messages appear on my console window because one of
> the monitored machines crashes OR is rebooted purposely
> without using hoover's "power down" or "reset" buttons.
> I think nexxus should handle that more gracefully.

I have been cleaning up the various console messages, but there
are still several left to do. I am trying to be manage the
messages carefully to not unduly annoy the user. For instance,
it would be horrible to popup a 'broken pipe' message for each
time that I get the error condition. An example of that
management is the failure to connect with a nexxus in beginning
popups up the error dialog and keeps the user apprised about its
attempts to connect.

> 
> 3) The "reset" button in hoover should be relabeled
> "reboot"
> 

What do other people think about that? I think it is a good
idea, but its referred to as 'reset' everywhere else in 
EMP-land.

> 4) Hoover should be on "continuous-update" mode when
> running. When I powered-down one of the monitored nodes,
> the status of that node on the hoover GUI still said
> "RUNNING". This change would make it a more powerful
> tool.

It is in continuous update mode and rechecks all the nodes every
minute, unless the node is down or negotiating (or other 'odd' 
condition), in which case it rechecks every 15 seconds. You can make 
it recheck more frequently with the '-i <mins>' argument, such as '-i
0.25' 
will check every 15 seconds. If you are still not getting things updated 
correctly, please send me mail (dt...@fu...) and we can 
investigate more.

> 
> 5) Hoover should also provide another button called
> "alarm-notify", with certain configuration options
> (levels of alarms, send e-mail on alarm, bell on alarm,
> send a signal to a beeper on alarm, etc) for the user
> to choose. Again, this would make VACM a more powerful
> monitoring tool.
> 

These things are going to crop in a number of different places, not
just hoover. San has some wonderful plans for such functionality and
I intend on adding heuristics to hoover to coalesce diagnostic messages
into more useful information.

Thanks for the feedback and please feel free to directly send me any
further
feedback you have about hoover.


	-Dean Johnson