 Re: New release of System Configuration Collector
Siem Korteweg wrote:
> System Configuration Collector (SCC) is yet another configuration collector.
> It consists of a client and a server part. The client-part collects
> configuration data of systems in a structured snapshot. The structure of the
> snapshot allows scc to compare the new snapshot with the previous one and
> detect changes in the configuration. Upon detecting changes, scc adds the
> differences to a logbook. The snapshot and the logbook are converted to HTML
> for local inspection. Optionally, the SCC-files can be send to a system
> running the SCC server software. On the server, summaries of the SCC-data
> are generated and search/compare operations on the snapshots and logbooks
> are available via a web-interface.
>
> The logbook is a starting point in case a system "suddenly" does not work
> correctly and the administrator is wondering what he/she has changed in the
> last weeks or months. As most of us know by experience, configuration
> changes can have accidental side-effects on (other) systems. By examining
> the entries in the logbooks and considering the consequences, the cause of
> an actual problem might be found more easily than by just trying to remember
> the changes that were performed. Even the absence of changes in the logbooks
> is usefull. This can be used to settle disputes between system
> administrators and application developers.
>
> Because of the classification of the data in the snapshots, the snapshots
> can be used to compare the configuration of systems. Imagine that two
> systems, that are supposed to be identical, behave differently. Comparing
> parts of the snapshots of the two systems can indicate the cause of the
> difference in behavior. The snapshots can also be used to recover a system
> after a crash. A regular backup does not contain the sizes of filesystems or
> firmware and boot settings. This data is part of the snapshots. Compare the
> snapshots before and after recovery to find out anything you might have
> forgotten.
>
> The client and server software of SCC is available in the native system
> install-formats for HP-UX, Solaris, Linux (rpm), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD
> and in source tar-balls. The client part of SCC is also available for
> Windows systems. SCC (client and server) is free software under the terms of
> the GNU General Public License. Copyright (©) 2001 - 2004 Open Challenge
> B.V. Copyright (©) 2004 - 2005 OpenEyeT Professional Services B.V.
>
Excellent.
 |