Changed `keepBanging` global to `retry_down_cmd`. Misc cleanup.

[icmpmonitor] / icmpmonitor.man

.TH icmpmonitor 1 "Version 1.2"
.ds ]W September 1999
.SH NAME
icmpmonitor \- multiple host monitoring tool
.SH SYNOPSIS
.ta 6n
\fBicmpmonitor\fP 
[-f \fIcfg file\fP]
[-d]
[-v]
[-r]
 
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
The 
.I icmpmonitor 
Using the InterNet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) "ECHO" facility, 
monitors several hosts, and notify admin if some of them are down.

.SH OPTIONS
.PP
.I icmpmonitor\fP accepts following options:
.TP 8
.B \-d 
if specified, the program will detach itself from control terminal and work in 'daemon' mode. All error messages will go to syslog.
.TP 8
.B \-f \fP<\fIconfiguration file\fP>
Name of configuration file.
.TP 8
.B \-v
if specified, the program will produce more log messages describing its activity.
.TP 8
.B \-r
Execute DOWN command repeatedly until host will be up again. If it is not specified, the command is excuted only once.

.SH CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
.PP
You need to create the configuration file. You can find a sample one in the distribution named 'sample.cfg'. The file consists of one or more lines. Lines starting with "#" are
comments and are ignored. Each line must contain following fields, separeated by spaces or
tabs:

.TP 8
.B Hostname          \fP
Name of the host which will be monitored.
.TP 8
.B Ping Interval            \fP
Interval (in seconds) on which ICMP packets will be sent to the host to check it's status.
.TP 8
.B Max. Delay             \fP
Maximum delay (in seconds) after which host considered to be "down" if no response was received.
.TP 8
.B "Up" Command        \fP
Command which will be executed when host became accessible. 
This command is executed
using "sh -c" and may contain shell syntax. If command contain spaces or tabs
it should be quoted. 
If the command is executing some lenghy operation it is recommended to start
it as detached process (for example using '&'), because icmpmonitor will not resume monitoring of this
and other hosts until command is finished.
.TP 8
.B "Down" Command       \fP
Command which will be executed when host became not accessible.
This command will be executed
using "sh -c" and may contain shell syntax. If command contain spaces or tabs
it should be quoted.
If the command is executing some lenghy operation it is recommended to start
it as detached process (for example using '&'), because icmpmonitor will not resume monitoring of this
and other hosts until command is finished.
.TP 8
.B Startup Condition (optional) \fp
Condition of the host that should be assumed on startup.
Possible values are "auto", "down", "none" and "up".
The parameter is optional with "up" being the default value.
The main purpose is controlling which up/down commands will be launched on startup.
"auto" detects the state of the host silently on startup and doesn't launch any command first.
"down" assumes the host is down and executes the up command on the first ping recieved. Similar to "up".
"none" starts either up or down command on startup.

.SH BUGS
It was reported that some systems (e.g. Solaris 2.5) do not have function 
vsnprintf. In such case icmpmonitor will use vsprintf instead, but this could 
cause buffer overflow problem. 

If you find any other bugs, please follow link to bug tracking system
from ICMPmonitor project home page to file them.
.TP 8

.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
\fBhttp://www.crocodile.org/software.html\fP
.SH AUTHOR
.PP
Vadim Zaliva <lord@crocodile.org>
.SH CONTRIBUTORS
.PP
I would like to thank following people for help in developement of this software:
Alexandr S. Dubovicov <shurik@te.net.ua>,
Andrey Arhipov <andy@paco.net>,
Bernhard Lutzmann <belu@gmx.at>,
Ingo Saitz <Salz@users.sourceforge.net>