135 lines
5.1 KiB
XML
135 lines
5.1 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
|
|
<chapter id="chapter1">
|
|
<title>Introduction</title>
|
|
<sect1 id="sec1.1">
|
|
<title>What is Pandora FMS?</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
Pandora FMS is a monitoring tool that allows a system administrator
|
|
to visually analise the status and efficiency of Operating
|
|
Systems, Servers, Applications and Hardware Systems - such as
|
|
firewalls, proxies, databases, Web servers, tunnelling servers,
|
|
routers, switches, processes, services, remote access servers
|
|
and so on. All integrated into an open and distributed
|
|
architecture.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Pandora can be implemented on top of any operating system, with specific
|
|
agents for each platform. Pandora can also monitor any TCP/IP
|
|
hardware system, as load balancers, routers, switches, printers
|
|
and so on.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<graphic fileref="images/esquema.png" valign="bottom" align="center"/>
|
|
|
|
<para>Pandora architecture is formed of four main components:</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<emphasis>- Web Console:</emphasis> Pandora's user
|
|
interface. The user controls and operates the system with
|
|
it. Several Web consoles can be implemented in a single system.
|
|
The Web console is written in PHP, and it lies on top of a database and a
|
|
Web server. It is compatible with any platforms - GNU/Linux,
|
|
Solaris, Win2000, AIX, etc. Although, the official supported
|
|
platform is GNU/Linux.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
The console permits the user to control the status of the
|
|
agents, view statistical information, generate graphs and data
|
|
tables, keep a system incident control. Moreover, it will be able
|
|
to generate reports and change the alerts, agents, and user profile
|
|
settings.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<emphasis>- Core Server:</emphasis> Pandora Core server is the
|
|
receptor of the data packages and generates the alerts - it is
|
|
the brain of the system. Several servers can work alongside for
|
|
larger systems. It has been developed in Perl and works over
|
|
any platform, although, the official platform is GNU/Linux.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
The core server accesses Pandora database, which is shared with
|
|
the Web server, and stores the processed data packages. The
|
|
server is executed under the name of "Demon", and processes
|
|
the packages stored in its file system. The data is generated
|
|
by the system agents. Despite the server's low system resources
|
|
comsumption and simple installation and operation, the core
|
|
server is the most critical element of the system. The core
|
|
server receives and processes the produced data, and fires the
|
|
alerts and the events.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<emphasis>- Central Database:</emphasis> At the moment the
|
|
system only supports MySQL. The central database keeps all the
|
|
information Pandora needs to work - agent data, settings, user
|
|
information, incidents, system settings, etc. The system can use
|
|
a MySQL cluster to store the information, or a High
|
|
Availability (HA) solution for larger sytems.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
This database can work with any of the platform officially
|
|
supported by MySQL. Pandora can be implemented with MySQL
|
|
versions 3.0 and 4.0, although the latest is recommended.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
<emphasis>- Pandora Agents:</emphasis> They collect all the
|
|
system's data. They are executed in each local system, although
|
|
they can also collect remote information by intalling monitoring
|
|
sytems for the agent in several different machines - called
|
|
satellite agents.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
They have been developed to work under a specific platform,
|
|
making use of the specific tools of the used language:
|
|
VBSCript/Windows Scripting for Microsoft platforms (Win2000,
|
|
WinXP and Win2003) and ShellScripting for Unix - which includes
|
|
GNU/Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX and BSD, as well as the Nokia's
|
|
IPSO. Pandora agents can be developed in virtually any language,
|
|
given its simple API and being open source.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
<sect1 id="sec1.2">
|
|
<title>Pandora Administration</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The web console is the tool used to administrate
|
|
Pandora. It is written in PHP and doesn't need any
|
|
third party software to work, neither FLASH, JAVA,
|
|
nor ActiveX plug-ins. The Web console can be run
|
|
over any web browser supporting HTML and CSS (IE5+
|
|
or Mozilla 4+).
|
|
</para>
|
|
<graphic fileref="images/image001.png" valign="bottom" align="center"/>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Pandora administration is divided in the following
|
|
main elements:
|
|
</para>
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Pandora users</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Agents</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Alerts</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Incidents</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Server configuration</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>Database maintenance</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
</chapter>
|