$Id: README.rpc.monitor,v 1.1.1.1 2004/06/09 05:18:06 trockij Exp $ README for rpc.monitor ----------------------- This program is a monitor for RPC-based services such as the NFS protocol, NIS, and anything else that is based on the RPC protocol. Some general examples of RPC failures that this program can detect are: - missing and malfunctioning RPC daemons (such as mountd and nfsd) - systems that are mostly down (responding to ping and maybe accepting TCP connections, but not much else is working) - systems that are extremely overloaded (and start timing out simple RPC requests) To test services, the monitor queries the portmapper for a listing of RPC programs and then optionally tests programs using the RPC null procedure. At Transmeta, we use: "rpc.monitor -a" to monitor Network Appliance filers "rpc.monitor -r mountd -r nfs" to monitor Linux and Sun systems Some notes: - The "-a" option only tests registered RPC programs, if you want to test specific RPC programs, use "-r" options along with "-a". - The "-a" option may not be feasible for use on many Unix systems. Some provide more services than you want to test, include RPC programs that don't provide the RPC null procedure, reject calls from unprivileged ports, or have other problems. - If you get an unexpected "unknown RPC program" error, you may want to check the rpc line in /etc/nsswitch.conf. Let me know if you have any comments, improvements, or suggestions. -- Daniel Quinlan (at work) quinlan@transmeta.com http://www.pathname.com/~quinlan/