Re: Some feature notes for monit

[Vlada Macek]

> Looks okay, but is minor... most modern unices feature md5sum/sha1sum
> command.

Negative. On Debian Woody (which is widely used on servers) I didn't
find sha1sum binary in the standard installation. I'm still new to
Debian, so I can miss something. I agree it's minor, but would fit
sometimes.


>> ### Syntax inconsistence: CERTMD5
>>
>> Why "CERTMD5 12-34-56-78-90-AB-CD-EF-12-34-56-78-90-AB-CD-EF" uses
>> ...
>
> "openssh fingerprint" command has the syntax above, the usual "-"
> free syntax should be usable aswell.

I was expecting something like this. :-)


>> ### Static binary linking
>
> try....
> env LDFLAGS="-static" ./configure

This shows a man never stops learning. ;-)
I just had to add this:    -L/usr/kerberos/lib -lkrb5 -lk5crypto -lcom_err
(don't claim it's optimal) to the LIBS variable in Makefile to
successful build on RedHat 9. Stripped monit is 1795764 bytes long,
which I consider reasonable.


>> ### Mailserver must listen on port 25
>>
>> There is no way to specify other SMTP port than default 25 in the
>> SET MAILSERVER statement. I missed this under some testing
>> conditions. I imagine something like this:
>>
>> set mailserver first.mail.srv port 8025 set mailserver
>> second.mail.srv # usual port 25
>
> good idea... but I would prefer the syntax...
> set mailserver servername1:12345 servername2:54321 servername3
> timeout

There is already used syntax <server> port <portnumber> in the monitrc.
I would stick to it. But it's not up to me.

set mailserver mail.tildeslash.com port 2525, mail.foo.bar, localhost port 5252
     with timeout 15 seconds

Using several syntax notations for one thing is confusing...


>> ### Ability to run an arbitrary command and check: - its return
>> code in the expression (if retcode != 1 then alert) - constant and
>> variable checksum of its stdout - send to stdin/expect from the
>> stdout (like in the host check) - send to stdin/checksum of the
>> stdout
>>
>> There should be some timeout option with the default which kills
>> the process when expired. Using this, virtually everyone could
>> write its own checks unsupported by monit as an "external
>> procedure". This will be handy for e.g. checking the peripherial
>> sensors, UPS status, etc...

No response on this topic? I was considering it as the most practical
proposal of my mail. :-)


>> ### Missing check: ext2/ext3 attributes (e.g. whether the file is
>> still immutable)
>>
>> This is a filesystem dependend check. Other filesystems certainly
>> offer other file attributes that could be checked too. There is ACL
>> too. I don't know how to handle this... Immutable attr could also
>> be checked by my "external procedures".
>
> mmmhhh... sounds useful but personally not a big fan of that, cuz its
> quite system dependant. Believe me its hard to maintain code for
> several OSes... and each might have X different FS types.

I was developing for Solaris too and I believe, trust me. :-) That's why
I wrote that it could be accomplished by the 'external procedures'
described above.


>> Maybe reporting the saturation level of VM and IO subsystem could
>> also be interesting.
>
> If you can get the information from the system (:

I don't think it's necessary for monit to have exactly the same set of
features on all systems. Some of them could be refused at runtime until
some developer sits and writes the platform dependent test. Just a hint.


>> ### Multiple group membership
>>
>> I don't know whether such thing would be much usefull, but monit
>> restricts the membership of a service to one group at most.
>
> Do you have a service where that is applicable?

For example apache may be in the groups servers, listeners and node2 for
heartbeating. proftpd may be in groups servers, listeners and
using_volume_mnt_data. I admit this is minor too, but such feature may
extend the freedom in configuration. The designer sometimes doesn't even
expect where ever and how his product could be used.


> Show them!

Okay, soon. :-)

VM

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