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