<div dir="ltr">I agree. RANCID is great for config management but it's pretty obvious that it wasn't designed for thresholding applications. In the past I have leveraged clogin, etc. from within a custom wrapper script to log into devices and run commands to gather data that I couldn't get via SNMP (xlates on an ASA per-context, etc.) because it saved me from having to write my own login routines. Clogin grabbed the raw command output and the wrapper massaged it into the formant that I wanted and then dumped it into RRDs or MySQL. Using the CVS/SVN/whatever backend as your database doesn't scale very well, especially if you want to see a lot of data over time. In addition, using RANCID to hold all that info inflicts a lot of pain on your poor inbox if you're having diffs sent via email. After a while, people start ignoring the email messages and missing important changes when they're used to a steady stream of fluff.<div><div><br></div><div>Since the environmental information is usually available via SNMP, why not use one of the many decent freely-available systems out there that was actually designed to do thresholding and alerting? RANCID's great, but it shouldn't be the only tool in the toolbox.<br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Hughes, Doug <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Douglas.Hughes@deshawresearch.com" target="_blank">Douglas.Hughes@deshawresearch.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">As another $.02, I've always thrown out fan speed in the context of rancid. Yes, it belongs in an EMS (event management system). No, it doesn't belong in a configuration management system, because it's not a part of configuration.<br>
(IMHO)<br>
<span class="im HOEnZb"><br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Rancid-discuss [mailto:<a href="mailto:rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net</a>] On Behalf Of Alan McKinnon<br>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 2:22 AM<br>
To: <a href="mailto:rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net</a><br>
Subject: Re: [rancid] eliminating noise<br>
<br>
</span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">On 20/11/2014 08:39, Robert Drake wrote:<br>
> What you need is a network monitoring system that supports thresholds.<br>
> The problem with doing this with rancid is that you probably don't run<br>
> it often enough to see changes when they happen, and you don't know that<br>
> when you run it you'll be at an outlying temperature.<br>
><br>
> Say run #1 happens at 6:00pm and the temperature is 25C, run #2 happens<br>
> at 8:00pm and the temperature is 35C. That's perfect, but what happens<br>
> if there is an incremental climb through the afternoon and you get 28C,<br>
> then 32C, then 35C?<br>
<br>
<br>
I fully agree with this statement.<br>
<br>
Within the context of rancid, do we really care about things like fan<br>
speed and voltage levels at all? I doubt it very much - rancid is a<br>
state tracker and lets you record changes in configured state over time,<br>
and never forgets it<br>
<br>
Fan speed is different, along with many other facts that show up in show<br>
<*>, and just because the OS reports these facts and makes them<br>
available is not a valid reason why rancid should track them.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
><br>
><br>
> On 11/19/2014 11:48 PM, Peter Jackson wrote:<br>
>> Frank,<br>
>><br>
>> I believe Wayne would like to keep the command output but only record<br>
>> a change if the variable differs by a set amount.<br>
>><br>
>> So in Wayne's example we want RANCID to record a different temperature<br>
>> only if it was 10 degrees higher or lower than the last RANCID run.<br>
>><br>
>> You wouldn't see this diff:<br>
>><br>
>> - ! External Temperature............................. +25 C<br>
>><br>
>> + ! External Temperature............................. +30 C<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> But you would see this one:<br>
>><br>
>> - ! External Temperature............................. +25 C<br>
>><br>
>> + ! External Temperature............................. +35 C<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> We have removed a lot of command output for just this reason - because<br>
>> it sends too many diffs to be useful. But having something like what<br>
>> Wayne suggests would be really nice and we would be able to add those<br>
>> commands back to RANCID without getting all of the insignificant diffs.<br>
>><br>
>> Peter<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 6:48 PM, Frank Bulk <<a href="mailto:frnkblk@iname.com">frnkblk@iname.com</a><br>
>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:frnkblk@iname.com">frnkblk@iname.com</a>>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> Just update the relevant script to ignore those lines.<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> Frank<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> *From:* Rancid-discuss<br>
>> [mailto:<a href="mailto:rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net</a><br>
>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss-bounces@shrubbery.net</a>>] *On Behalf Of<br>
>> *Wayne Eisenberg<br>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 19, 2014 5:09 PM<br>
>> *To:* '<a href="mailto:rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net</a><br>
>> <mailto:<a href="mailto:rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net">rancid-discuss@shrubbery.net</a>>'<br>
>> *Subject:* [rancid] eliminating noise<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> Hey all,<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> Does anyone have any ideas on how we can modify rancid to ignore<br>
>> minor differences in things like fan speed and temperature? See<br>
>> the below:<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> - ! External Temperature............................. +29 C<br>
>><br>
>> + ! External Temperature............................. +28 C<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> - ! Fan Status....................................... 3432 rpm<br>
>><br>
>> + ! Fan Status....................................... 3301 rpm<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> These two items create a lot of noise. The temperature changes by<br>
>> 1 or 2 degrees - very insignificant, but it gets caught by diff.<br>
>> The same with the fan speed. Any character change trips the diff.<br>
>> +/- 10% or greater is a more reasonable change to note. But I<br>
>> don't know how to modify the scripts to do that comparison. Any ideas?<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> Thanks,<br>
>><br>
>> Wayne<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">Dan</div>
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