When I worked as a Tivoli Consultant I spend a lot of time investigating the customer processes and workflow and try to make the monitoring solution to support this. It was often long term projects and involved alot of people like, project managers, support staff, maintenance staff, application owners, applicataion engineers, operating systemens managers, DBAs and so on.

Very often the investigation followed the following principles:

1. Investigate the problem management workflow
2. Document the different parts that builds up the system
3. Find spots where a probe could be inserted to monitor a particular part in the system
4. Define the thresholds for the probe
5. Iterate 3 and 4 until all possible problems in the system could be detected
6. Define who should have which alarm and when ifthe probes shows abnormal behavior.
7. Write the ruleset that implements 7
8. Test
9. Document and hand over to the customer

When it comes to a product like Nagios or op5 Monitor, the product has a built in rule engine that fullfills most of the requirements in the steps above. In most cases it is just a matter of configuration and in some cases some extra scripting.

Solution

I have run into rare cases where the builtin rule engine is not good enough and I have looked for a rule engine that fullfill the following requirements:

• Gnu Public Licence or another acceptable license
• Standalone
• Advanced enough
• Possible to integrate with other solutions like Nagios or op5 Monitor

Now I think I have found a good candidate, NodeBrain and right now I’m testing it.

I will do a follow up article where I describe howto integrate NodeBrain with Nagios or op5 Monitor.

An example

This is as an example of what a rule engine can do:

Webshop example

•  5 webfrontends, 1 or 2 down is OK, 3 is down is WARNING, 4 or 5 down is CRITICAL
• 2 appservers, 1 down is OK, 2 DOWN is CRITICAL
• 3 database backends, 1 down is OK, 2 down is WARNING, 3 down is CRITICAL
• Overall, the layer with the highest severity is the total severerity.

 Implementation:

The ruleset

#Start with webservers
#Set OK
assert weba=0;
assert webb=0;
assert webc=0;
assert webd=0;
assert webe=0;
assert  webserversstatus=0;

#Total rules
assert webshopstatus=0;
#If all serverstatus ok, the whole webshop is ok
define webshopok on(webserversstatus=0 and appserversstatus=0 and dbserversstatus=0) webshopstatus=0;
#If any serverstatus is critical the whole webshop is critical
define webshopscritical on(webserversstatus=2 or appserversstatus=2 or dbserversstatus=2) webshopstatus=2;
#If not any serverstatuscritical and in warning, the whole shop is warning.
define webshopwarning on((!webserversstatus=2 and !appserversstatus=2 and !dbserversstatus=2) and (webserversstatus=1 or dbserversstatus=1)) webshopstatus=1;

Testing:

./nb webshop.nb -
> assert weba=2;
> assert webb=2;
> assert webc=2;
2009/10/02 09:44:42 NB000I Rule webserverswarning fired (webserversstatus=1)
2009/10/02 09:44:42 NB000I Rule webshopwarning fired (webshopstatus=1)
> assert webd=2;
2009/10/02 09:45:06 NB000I Rule webserverscritical fired (webserversstatus=2)
2009/10/02 09:45:06 NB000I Rule webshopscritical fired (webshopstatus=2)
> assert webd=0;
2009/10/02 09:46:27 NB000I Rule webserverswarning fired (webserversstatus=1)
2009/10/02 09:46:27 NB000I Rule webshopwarning fired (webshopstatus=1)
> assert weba=0;
2009/10/02 09:46:32 NB000I Rule webserversok fired (webserversstatus=0)
2009/10/02 09:46:32 NB000I Rule webshopok fired (webshopstatus=0)
> assert appa=2;
> assert appb=2;
2009/10/02 09:47:12 NB000I Rule appserverscritical fired (appserversstatus=2)
2009/10/02 09:47:12 NB000I Rule webshopscritical fired (webshopstatus=2)
> assert weba=2;
2009/10/02 09:47:40 NB000I Rule webserverswarning fired (webserversstatus=1)
> assert webd=2;
2009/10/02 09:48:07 NB000I Rule webserverscritical fired (webserversstatus=2)
> assert appb=0;
2009/10/02 09:49:08 NB000I Rule appserversok fired (appserversstatus=0)
> assert weba=0;
2009/10/02 09:49:33 NB000I Rule webserverswarning fired (webserversstatus=1)
2009/10/02 09:49:33 NB000I Rule webshopwarning fired (webshopstatus=1)
> assert dba=2;
> assert dbb=2;
2009/10/02 09:51:05 NB000I Rule dbserverswarning fired (dbserversstatus=1)
> assert dbc=2;
2009/10/02 09:51:09 NB000I Rule dbservercritical fired (dbserversstatus=2)
2009/10/02 09:51:09 NB000I Rule webshopscritical fired (webshopstatus=2)
> show -t
@ = ! == node
webshopwarning = ! == on(((!(webserversstatus=2))&((!(appserversstatus=2))&(!(dbserversstatus=2))))&((webserversstatus=1)|(dbserversstatus=1))) webshopstatus=1;
webshopscritical = ! == on((webserversstatus=2)|((appserversstatus=2)|(dbserversstatus=2))) webshopstatus=2;
webshopok = ! == on((webserversstatus=0)&((appserversstatus=0)&(dbserversstatus=0))) webshopstatus=0;
webshopstatus = 2
dbservercritical = ! == on(dbservers>=6) dbserversstatus=2;
dbserverswarning = ! == on((dbservers>=4)&(dbservers<6)) dbserversstatus=1;
dbserversok = ! == on(dbservers<=2) dbserversstatus=0;
dbservers = 6 == ((dba+dbb)+dbc)
dbserversstatus = 2
dbc = 2
dbb = 2
dba = 2
appserverscritical = ! == on(appservers>2) appserversstatus=2;
appserversok = ! == on(appservers<=2) appserversstatus=0;
appservers = 2 == (appa+appb)
appserversstatus = 0
appb = 0
appa = 2
webserverscritical = ! == on(webservers>=8) webserversstatus=2;
webserverswarning = ! == on((webservers>4)&(webservers<8)) webserversstatus=1;
webserversok = ! == on(webservers<=4) webserversstatus=0;
webservers = 6 == ((((weba+webb)+webc)+webd)+webe)
webserversstatus = 1
webe = 0
webd = 2
webc = 2
webb = 2
weba = 0

> assert dbc=0;
2009/10/02 09:52:12 NB000I Rule dbserverswarning fired (dbserversstatus=1)
2009/10/02 09:52:12 NB000I Rule webshopwarning fired (webshopstatus=1)
> assert webb=0;
2009/10/02 09:52:31 NB000I Rule webserversok fired (webserversstatus=0)
> assert dba=0;
2009/10/02 09:52:45 NB000I Rule dbserversok fired (dbserversstatus=0)
2009/10/02 09:52:45 NB000I Rule webshopok fired (webshopstatus=0)

Links

• NodeBrain
• NodeBrain tutorial

op5 Monitor is based on Nagios*, the industry standard for enterprise-class IT infrastructure monitoring. Until now, op5 Monitor has had to rely on the basics of standard Nagios Graphical User Interface (GUI) for presentation and overall user experience. With the release of op5 Monitor 4.2 we include a fully functional preview of a brand new GUI, now based on the Ninja Open Source project. The new GUI is based on a modern PHP architecture and is now shipped for real operation testing.

Usability, flexibility and visualization probably stands for more then 80% of overall customer value. Our solutions for full control of our customers IT systems hold a huge amount of both historical data and instant events. Making this information accessible and easy to understand for as many as possible is the single most effective value for our customers. And who is better to give us important feedback on GUI related features and functions then our customers? This is why we now choose to include an early version for test, evaluation and feedback purposes, all to secure the best for the coming official release of Monitor 5.0 later this year, says Jan Josephson, CEO op5 AB.

The new GUI with its flexible interface based on the PHP framework makes it much easier to provide customizations for customers specific needs. With the introduction of widget and support session based authentication it is now possible to fully personalize views and settings. The widget technology further provides a future standard way for two way synchronization and presentation of customer unique data and the presentation of it.

The ability to search, sort and filter vast data volumes has been greatly improved with pagination for views of hosts and services and the possibility to sort by column. The new improved search feature includes auto suggestion and let you search on hosts, services host groups and service groups.
These changes greatly improves the possibilities to answer to customer needs and to develop customized features that has not been possible until now due to the restrictions from the old GUI.
A new module for network visualization (the NagVis project) has been included in op5 Monitor 4.2. You can now visualize your infrastructure using three different map types;

• Auto map, a auto drawn topology map using parent / child relationships.
• Static Map makes it possible to put any object (host, service, host group or service group) on an image of choice.
• Geo map, uses Google maps API, drawing a map by using addresses or gps coordinates on your monitored objects. Object and status information as well as links can be included in the map. The maps can be visualized as widgets on the tactical overview or be used on big monitors in operation centers.
• Largest OSS-project in Network Monitoring, Nagios.

About op5 AB op5 AB is a world leading OSM – Open Source Management – company that delivers software based on open source for control of IT systems and networks. Its main products are op5 Monitor, op5 Statistics and op5 LogServer. The products are based on open source code that op5 further develops, packages, and sells as complete products and systems with services and support. p5 has a large selection of primarily European clients from different market segments for example AGA Linde Gas, The Swedish Customs Service (Tullverket) and other parastatals, several county councils, municipalities and municipal companies. op5 was founded in 2003. The company is based in Sweden with offices in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

www.op5.com

Welcome to this years Slackathon!

It will be held August 15th, at the Stockholm University, though not in

the same conference room as the previous years, since it couldn’t hold

all visitors anymore!

As previous years, the website is slowly getting into shape, and

probably wont hold the complete “truth” until afterwards, since we

update it as we get more correct info. Be sure to check the web more

frequently as we get closer to the event.

The url is http://www.slackathon.se:2009/

The description still points to the old location, but I’ll spank some

sense into the web slaves so they make a better “how-to-get-here” that

actually shows you are going to “Hörsal B3″ and not the old conference

room. We’ll put some blowfishes up to point people that come from the

subway station in the right direction.

This year, there will be even more OpenBSD developers attending, since

the Slackathon 2009 is right after the f2k9 Filesystem Hackathon which I

am hosting at my work using a grant from the IIS foundation (the guys

and gals running the .SE top level domain)

Also note, that since there doesn’t seem to be an OpenCon this year, the

Slackathon probably is the only major OpenBSD-only conference held, so

even if it collides with HAR2009 and the Stockholm “midnight run”, you

don’t want to miss it!

Get them begging skills warmed up and draw donations from friends,

employers, parents or other rich entities that you think should donate

to OpenBSD and OpenSSH! It would also be nice if you help spread the

word around on various forums and communities.

As with previous years there will be no entrance fee and dinner will be

served for free to everyone, but I’d still need you to pre-announce if

you want it so I can make the correct amount of food, and also if you

want the vegan version.

For all of you who don’t live nearby, we can probably find you a couch

to sleep on here, just send a heads-up and we’ll dig up a few

“volunteers” to share their living quarters with you.

Hope to see you all there!

http://www.op5.org/community/projects/op5-plugins

The plugins is also located in a Git repository and can be checked out from:

http://git.op5.org/git/

Andreas Ericson one of the members of the Nagios steering board has written this to his blog:

Some of you might know that a fork of Nagios has appeared recently. If you don’t, go read about it in the nagios-devel mailing list archives. They’re available on sourceforge somewhere, but I can’t be bothered to look for them right now.

Working for a company that makes a living out of supporting and writing addons for Nagios, I must say I’m a bit sad. Being an enthusiastic and optimistic guy, I must say I’m thrilled.

A couple of facts before we set off:

• The fork was instigated largely by german members of the community. It appears to have been spearheaded by a german company (though I don’t know this for sure) that makes its living selling customized Nagios solutions and/or support. I don’t know this for sure, but it sure looks as if that’s what’s happened.
• The german company have unlawfully used the Nagios trademark after being asked not to do so. It has also registered Nagios as a trademark in Germany, to which is a huge slap in the face of an opensource project. They are naturally not on the best of terms with Nagios’ founding father, Ethan, at the moment.
• Ethan has been absent working with the aforementioned lawsuit (or whatever it is a trademark violation results in when friendly talk is no longer enough), and also trying to put together a new webbased user interface for Nagios.
• Patches from all levels of the community have been erratically ignored during Ethan’s absence. Some were picked up, but as many or more slipped between the cracks.
• Ethan has always been the single person with commit access to the Nagios CVS (yuk) repository.
• The fork uses git to track their patches.

The community developers have voiced a complaint that they cite as the primary reason for the fork:

Nagios is not being developed fast and openly enough.

I agree with this, and I’m currently discussing with Ethan about expanding the developer-base. Unfortunately, the scarce resource “trust” is even scarcer for those developers who joined the fork, which leaves the available candidates rather few. Happily, I count myself among them, and apparently so does Ethan. He emailed me away from public channels asking if I’d be willing to become a core developer, and op5 has graciously given a tentative promise to devote one to two days per week to Nagios development / patch management. Nothing’s settled yet, but development has to continue even if the core maintainer takes a leave of absence, so one way or another, we’ll make sure this happens.

In a perfect world (ie, one where I get to decide everything ), here’s what will happen:

• Nagios incorporates the good changes that the fork produces.
• The benevolent but previously frustrated developers from the fork hop back to working on Nagios when they see it’s once again moving forward. They could actually do that by keeping on working on their fork, although that would set them apart from the Nagios community a bit rather than make them members of it.
• Nagios development picks up its pace and a new GUI is added to it which fulfills everyones wildest dreams.
• Nagios development moves to using git instead of CVS. Since git actually invites people to fork the code but makes it incredibly simple to merge those changes back to the pre-fork project again, there could be any number of forks and Nagios would be the grand total of the best of all of them. Who would win on that? Well, the Nagios users for a start, and Nagios itself, and Ethan, and every company making a living off of Nagios one way or another. So that’d be a win-win-win-win-win situation? I like it.

For those who wonder where I’m standing in all this, I’ll be working with Ethan to make the community developers happy while at the same time trying to prevent the community users from living through the confusion that a long-lived fork means. In the end, I hope Nagios becomes a better product with a stronger and better community backing it, which seems rather inevitable now that more people than ever are working frantically at making it so. Hopefully it results in a happy community where The Right People(tm) are part of a Nagios steering committee or some such.

Time will tell. It always does

May 1, 2009.

We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.5.
This is our 25th release on CD-ROM (and 26th via FTP).  We remain
proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote
holes in the default install.

As in our previous releases, 4.5 provides significant improvements,
including new features, in nearly all areas of the system:

- New/extended platforms:
    o Initial ports to the xscale based gumstix platform and the ARM
      based OpenMoko
    o OpenBSD/sparc64
      o New vdsk(4) and vnet(4) drivers provide support for virtual
        I/O between logical domains on Sun's CoolThreads servers,
        including UltraSPARC T2+ machines.
      o Workstations and laptops with UltraSPARC IIe CPUs can now scale
        down the CPU frequency to save power.

- Improved hardware support, including:
    o Several new/improved drivers for sensors, including:
      o The cac(4)  driver now has bio and sensor support.
      o The mpi(4) driver now has bio and sensor support.
      o New gpiodcf(4) driver for DCF77/HBG timedelta sensors
        through GPIO pins.
      o New schsio(4) driver for SMSC SCH311x LPC Super I/O devices.
      o The it(4) driver now supports IT8720F chips.
      o The it(4) driver now supports FAN4 and FAN5 sensors for
        IT8716F/IT8718F/IT8720F/IT8726F chips.
      o The owtemp(4) driver now supports Maxim/Dallas DS18B20 and
        DS1822 temperature sensors.
      o The km(4) driver now supports AMD Family 11h
        processors (Turion X2 Ultra et al).
      o The lm(4) driver now supports W83627DHG attachment on the ICC bus.
      o The lmenv(4) driver now has better support for the fan sensors
        on lm81, adm9240 and ds1780 chips.
      o The sdtemp(4) driver now supports ST STTS424 chips.
    o The em(4) driver now supports ICH9 IGP M and IGP M AMT chips.
    o The sdmmc(4) driver now supports SDHC cards.
    o The msk(4) driver now supports Yukon-2 FE+ (88E8040, 88E8042) based
      devices.
    o The iwn(4) driver now supports Intel WiFi Link 5100/5300 devices.
    o The wpi(4) and iwn(4) drivers now support hardware CCMP cryptography.
    o The ath(4) driver now has WPA-PSK support.
    o age(4), a driver for Attansic L1 gigabit Ethernet devices was added.
    o ale(4), a driver for Atheros AR81xx (aka Attansic L1E) Ethernet
      devices was added.
    o mos(4), a driver for Moschip MCS7730/7830 10/100 USB Ethernet
      devices was added.
    o jme(4), a driver for JMicron JMC250/JMC260 10/100 and Gigabit
      Ethernet devices was added.
    o run(4), a driver for Ralink USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N devices
      was added.
    o auacer(4), a driver for Acer Labs M5455 audio devices was added.
    o ifb(4), a driver for Sun Expert3D, Expert3D-Lite, XVR-500, XVR-600
      and XVR-1200 framebuffers (accelerated).
    o wildcatfb(4), an X driver for Sun Expert3D, Expert3D-Lite, XVR-500,
      XVR-600 and XVR-1200 framebuffers (unaccelerated).
    o sunffb(4), an accelerated X driver for Sun Creator, Creator 3D and
      Elite 3D framebuffers.
    o vdsk(4), a driver for virtual disks of sun4v logical domains.
    o vnet(4), a driver for virtual network adapters of sun4v logical domains.
    o vrng(4), a driver for the random number generator on Sun
      UltraSPARC T2/T2+ CPUs.
    o The vcons(4) driver is now interrupt driven.
    o ips(4), a driver for IBM SATA/SCSI ServeRAID controllers was added.
    o udfu(4), a driver for device firmware upgrade (DFU) was added.
    o Many improvements were made to the acpi(4) subsystem.
    o The umsm(4) driver supports several new EVDO/UMTS devices.
    o The mfi(4) driver now supports the next generation of
      MegaRAID SAS controllers.
    o New vsbic(4) driver for the MVME327A SCSI and floppy controller
      on mvme88k machines.
    o The re(4) driver, now supports 8168D/8111D-based devices.
    o The ehci(4) driver now supports isochronous transfers.
    o S/PDIF output support has been added to the ac97(4), auich(4),
      auvia(4) and azalia(4) drivers.
    o azalia(4) mixer has been clarified and simplified, support for 20-bit
      and 24-bit encodings has been added.
    o The gbe(4) frame buffer driver now supports acceleration.

- New tools:
    o ypldap(8), an YP server using LDAP as a backend.
    o xcompmgr(1) was added to xenocara.

- New functionality:
    o The libc resolver(3) may now be forced to perform lookups by TCP
      only using a new resolv.conf(5) option. The nameserver declaration
      in resolv.conf(5) has also been extended to allow specification
      of non-default nameserver ports.
    o apropos(1) has two new options (-S and -s) to allow searching by
      machine architecture and manual section.
    o aucat(1) now has audio server capability. Audio devices can be
      shared between multiple applications. Applications can run natively
      on fixed sample rate devices or on devices with unusual encodings.
      Multi-channel audio devices can be split into smaller independent
      subdevices.
    o aucat(1) now has a deviceless mode, in which it can be used as a
      general purpose audio file format conversion utility (to mix,
      demultiplex, resample or reencode files).
    o ifconfig(8) can now list channels supported by an IEEE 802.11 device.
    o New views were added to systat(8): malloc, bucket and pool. Improvements
      were made to existing views.
    o vnconfig(8) can now create devices with arbitrary geometry with the
      new -t option.
    o FFS filesystems are now supported on most devices, e.g. CD's, that have
      sector sizes other than 512 bytes.
    o Disklabels are now correctly placed and found on most devices,
      e.g. CD's, that have sector sizes other than 512 bytes.

- Assorted improvements and code cleanup:
    o malloc(3) has gained new attack mitigation measures; critical
      bookkeeping structures are protected at runtime using mprotect(2)
      and allocated at random addresses where possible.
    o A new version of the gdtoa code has been integrated, bringing
      better C99 support to printf(3) and friends.
    o Vastly improved C99 support in libm, including complex math support.

- Install/Upgrade process changes:
    o crunchgen(1) and crunchide(1) have been merged into crunchgen(8),
      which is now built and installed by default.
    o mksuncd(1) now lives in base and is installed by default.
    o CD-ROM installs are now supported on SGI.
    o Accept initial root passwords containing backslash characters.
    o Install now allows multiple interfaces to be configured with dhcp(8).
    o Upgrades now use the minimal protocols(5) and services(5) files
      provided on the install media.
    o The install media no longer contain a disktab(5) file.
    o Serial console speed is correctly determined on macppc.

- OpenSSH 5.2:
    o New features:
      o Added an option to ssh(1) to force logging to syslog rather
        than stderr.
      o The sshd_config(5) ForceCommand directive now accepts commandline
        arguments for the internal-sftp server.
      o The ssh(1) ~C escape commandline now support runtime creation of
        dynamic port forwards.
      o Support the SOCKS4A protocol in ssh(1) dynamic forwards.
      o Support remote port forwarding with a listen port of '0'.
      o sshd(8) now supports setting PermitEmptyPasswords and
        AllowAgentForwarding in Match blocks.
    o The following significant bugs have been fixed in this release:
      o Repair a ssh(1) crash introduced in openssh-5.1 when the
        client is sent a zero-length banner.
      o The eow@openssh.com and no-more-sessions@openssh.com protocol
        extensions are now only sent to peers that identify
        themselves as OpenSSH.
      o Avoid printing "Non-public channel" warnings in sshd(8), since ssh(1)
        has sent incorrect channel numbers since ~2004; make ssh(1) send the
        correct channel number for SSH2_MSG_CHANNEL_SUCCESS and
        SSH2_MSG_CHANNEL_FAILURE.
      o Avoid double-free in ssh(1) ~C escape -L handler.
      o Correct fail-on-error behaviour in sftp(1) batchmode for remote
        stat operations.
      o Avoid hang in ssh(1) when attempting to connect to a server that
        has MaxSessions set to zero.

- Over 5,500 ports, minor robustness improvements in package tools.
    o Many pre-built packages for each architecture:
      i386:   5379    sparc64:  5174    alpha: 5132    sh:     1543
      amd64:  5312    powerpc:  5162    sparc: 2651    mips64: 3278
      arm:    4120    hppa:     4689    vax:   1718
    o Highlights include:
      o Gnome 2.24.3.
      o GNUstep 1.18.0.
      o KDE 3.5.10.
      o Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6.
      o Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.19.
      o MySQL 5.0.77.
      o OpenOffice.org 2.4.2 and 3.0.1.
      o PostgreSQL 8.3.6.
      o Xfce 4.4.3.
      o OpenArena 0.8.1 (only for amd64, i386 and macppc)

- As usual, steady improvements in manual pages and other documentation.

- The system includes the following major components from outside
  suppliers:
      o Xenocara (based on X.Org 7.4 + patches, freetype 2.3.7,
        fontconfig 2.4.2, Mesa 7.2, xterm 239 and more)
      o Gcc 2.95.3 (+ patches) and 3.3.5 (+ patches)
      o Perl 5.10.0 (+ patches)
      o Our improved and secured version of Apache 1.3, with SSL/TLS
        and DSO support
      o OpenSSL 0.9.8j (+ patches)
      o Groff 1.15
      o Sendmail 8.14.3, with libmilter
      o Bind 9.4.2-P2 (+ patches)
      o Lynx 2.8.5rel.4 with HTTPS and IPv6 support (+ patches)
      o Sudo 1.7
      o Ncurses 5.2
      o Latest KAME IPv6
      o Heimdal 0.7.2 (+ patches)
      o Arla 0.35.7
      o Binutils 2.15 (+ patches)
      o Gdb 6.3 (+ patches)

If you'd like to see a list of what has changed between OpenBSD 4.4
and 4.5, look at

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/plus45.html

Even though the list is a summary of the most important changes
made to OpenBSD, it still is a very very long list.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SECURITY AND ERRATA --------------------------------------------------

We provide patches for known security threats and other important
issues discovered after each CD release.  As usual, between the
creation of the OpenBSD 4.5 FTP/CD-ROM binaries and the actual 4.5
release date, our team found and fixed some new reliability problems
(note: most are minor and in subsystems that are not enabled by
default).  Our continued research into security means we will find
new security problems -- and we always provide patches as soon as
possible.  Therefore, we advise regular visits to

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/security.html
and
	http://www.OpenBSD.org/errata.html

Security patch announcements are sent to the security-announce@OpenBSD.org
mailing list.  For information on OpenBSD mailing lists, please see:

	http://www.OpenBSD.org/mail.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- CD-ROM SALES ---------------------------------------------------------

OpenBSD 4.5 is also available on CD-ROM.  The 3-CD set costs $50 CDN and
is available via mail order and from a number of contacts around the
world.  The set includes a colourful booklet which carefully explains the
installation of OpenBSD.  A new set of cute little stickers is also
included (sorry, but our FTP mirror sites do not support STP, the Sticker
Transfer Protocol).  As an added bonus, the second CD contains an audio
track, a song entitled "Games".  MP3 and OGG versions of the audio track
can be found on the first CD.

Lyrics (and an explanation) for the songs may be found at:

    http://www.OpenBSD.org/lyrics.html#45

Profits from CD sales are the primary income source for the OpenBSD
project -- in essence selling these CD-ROM units ensures that OpenBSD
will continue to make another release six months from now.

The OpenBSD 4.5 CD-ROMs are bootable on the following four platforms:

  o i386
  o amd64
  o macppc
  o sparc64

(Other platforms must boot from floppy, network, or other method).

For more information on ordering CD-ROMs, see:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/orders.html

The above web page lists a number of places where OpenBSD CD-ROMs
can be purchased from.  For our default mail order, go directly to:

        https://https.OpenBSD.org/cgi-bin/order

All of our developers strongly urge you to buy a CD-ROM and support
our future efforts.  Additionally, donations to the project are
highly appreciated, as described in more detail at:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/goals.html#funding

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- OPENBSD FOUNDATION ---------------------------------------------------

For those unable to make their contributions as straightforward gifts,
the OpenBSD Foundation (http://www.openbsdfoundation.org) is a Canadian
not-for-profit corporation that can accept larger contributions and
issue receipts.  In some situations, their receipt may qualify as a
business expense writeoff, so this is certainly a consideration for
some organizations or businesses.  There may also be exposure benefits
since the Foundation may be interested in participating in press releases.
In turn, the Foundation then uses these contributions to assist OpenBSD's
infrastructure needs.  Contact the foundation directors at
directors@openbsdfoundation.org for more information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- T-SHIRT SALES --------------------------------------------------------

The OpenBSD distribution companies also sell tshirts and polo shirts.
And our users like them too.  We have a variety of shirts available,
with the new and old designs, from our web ordering system at, as
described above.

The OpenBSD 4.5 t-shirts are available now.  We also sell our older
shirts, as well as a selection of OpenSSH t-shirts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FTP INSTALLS ---------------------------------------------------------

If you choose not to buy an OpenBSD CD-ROM, OpenBSD can be easily
installed via FTP.  Typically you need a single small piece of boot
media (e.g., a boot floppy) and then the rest of the files can be
installed from a number of locations, including directly off the
Internet.  Follow this simple set of instructions to ensure that
you find all of the documentation you will need while performing
an install via FTP.  With the CD-ROMs, the necessary documentation
is easier to find.

1) Read either of the following two files for a list of ftp
   mirrors which provide OpenBSD, then choose one near you:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/ftp.html
        ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/ftplist

   As of May 1, 2009, the following ftp mirror sites have the 4.5 release:

	ftp://ftp.stacken.kth.se/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/	Sweden
	ftp://ftp2.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/	NYC, USA
	ftp://ftp3.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/	CO, USA
	ftp://ftp5.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/	CA, USA
	ftp://rt.fm/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/			IL, USA

	The release is also available at the master site:

	ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/	Alberta, Canada

	However it is strongly suggested you use a mirror.

   Other mirror sites may take a day or two to update.

2) Connect to that ftp mirror site and go into the directory
   pub/OpenBSD/4.5/ which contains these files and directories.
   This is a list of what you will see:

        ANNOUNCEMENT   amd64/         macppc/        sys.tar.gz
        Changelogs/    armish/        mvme68k/       tools/
        HARDWARE       ftplist        packages/      vax/
        PACKAGES       hp300/         ports.tar.gz   xenocara.tar.gz
        PORTS          hppa/          root.mail      zaurus/
        README         i386/          sparc/
        SIZES          landisk/       sparc64/
        alpha/         mac68k/        src.tar.gz

   It is quite likely that you will want at LEAST the following
   files which apply to all the architectures OpenBSD supports.

        README          - generic README
        HARDWARE        - list of hardware we support
        PORTS           - description of our "ports" tree
        PACKAGES        - description of pre-compiled packages
        root.mail       - a copy of root's mail at initial login.
			  (This is really worthwhile reading).

3) Read the README file.  It is short, and a quick read will make
   sure you understand what else you need to fetch.

4) Next, go into the directory that applies to your architecture,
   for example, i386.  This is a list of what you will see:

	INSTALL.i386    cd45.iso        floppyB45.fs    pxeboot*
	INSTALL.linux   cdboot*         floppyC45.fs    xbase45.tgz
	MD5             cdbr*           game45.tgz      xetc45.tgz
	base45.tgz      cdemu45.iso     index.txt       xfont45.tgz
	bsd*            comp45.tgz      install45.iso   xserv45.tgz
	bsd.mp*         etc45.tgz       man45.tgz       xshare45.tgz
	bsd.rd*         floppy45.fs     misc45.tgz

   If you are new to OpenBSD, fetch _at least_ the file INSTALL.i386
   and the appropriate floppy*.fs or install45.iso files.  Consult the
   INSTALL.i386 file if you don't know which of the floppy images
   you need (or simply fetch all of them).

   If you use the install45.iso file (roughly 200MB in size), then you
   do not need the various *.tgz files since they are contained on that
   one-step ISO-format install CD.

5) If you are an expert, follow the instructions in the file called
   README; otherwise, use the more complete instructions in the
   file called INSTALL.i386.  INSTALL.i386 may tell you that you
   need to fetch other files.

6) Just in case, take a peek at:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/errata.html

   This is the page where we talk about the mistakes we made while
   creating the 4.5 release, or the significant bugs we fixed
   post-release which we think our users should have fixes for.
   Patches and workarounds are clearly described there.

Note: If you end up needing to write a raw floppy using Windows,
      you can use "fdimage.exe" located in the pub/OpenBSD/4.5/tools
      directory to do so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- X.ORG FOR MOST ARCHITECTURES -----------------------------------------

X.Org has been integrated more closely into the system.  This release
contains X.Org 7.4.  Most of our architectures ship with X.Org, including
amd64, sparc, sparc64 and macppc.  During installation, you can install
X.Org quite easily.  Be sure to try out xdm(1) and see how we have
customized it for OpenBSD.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- PORTS TREE -----------------------------------------------------------

The OpenBSD ports tree contains automated instructions for building
third party software.  The software has been verified to build and
run on the various OpenBSD architectures.  The 4.5 ports collection,
including many of the distribution files, is included on the 3-CD
set.  Please see the PORTS file for more information.

Note: some of the most popular ports, e.g., the Apache web server
and several X applications, come standard with OpenBSD.  Also, many
popular ports have been pre-compiled for those who do not desire
to build their own binaries (see BINARY PACKAGES, below).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- BINARY PACKAGES WE PROVIDE -------------------------------------------

A large number of binary packages are provided.  Please see the PACKAGES
file (ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/PACKAGES) for more details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SYSTEM SOURCE CODE ---------------------------------------------------

The CD-ROMs contain source code for all the subsystems explained
above, and the README (ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/README)
file explains how to deal with these source files.  For those who
are doing an FTP install, the source code for all four subsystems
can be found in the pub/OpenBSD/4.5/ directory:

        xenocara.tar.gz     ports.tar.gz   src.tar.gz     sys.tar.gz

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- THANKS ---------------------------------------------------------------

OpenBSD 4.5 includes artwork and CD artistic layout by Ty Semaka,
who also arranged an audio track on the OpenBSD 4.5 CD set.  Ports
tree and package building by Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse, Michael Erdely,
Simon Bertrang, Stuart Henderson, Antoine Jacoutot, Robert Nagy,
Nikolay Sturm, and Christian Weisgerber.  System builds by Theo de Raadt,
Mark Kettenis, and Miod Vallat.  X11 builds by Todd Fries and Miod Vallat.
ISO-9660 filesystem layout by Theo de Raadt.

We would like to thank all of the people who sent in bug reports, bug
fixes, donation cheques, and hardware that we use.  We would also like
to thank those who pre-ordered the 4.5 CD-ROM or bought our previous
CD-ROMs.  Those who did not support us financially have still helped
us with our goal of improving the quality of the software.

Our developers are:

    Alexander Bluhm, Alexander Schrijver, Alexander Yurchenko,
    Alexander von Gernler, Alexandre Ratchov, Alexey Vatchenko,
    Anders Magnusson, Andreas Gunnarsson, Anil Madhavapeddy,
    Antoine Jacoutot, Ariane van der Steldt, Artur Grabowski,
    Austin Hook, Bernd Ahlers, Bob Beck, Bret Lambert, Can Erkin Acar,
    Chad Loder, Charles Longeau, Chris Kuethe, Christian Weisgerber,
    Claudio Jeker, Constantine A. Murenin, Dale Rahn, Damien Bergamini,
    Damien Miller, Darren Tucker, David Gwynne, David Hill,
    David Krause, Eric Faurot, Esben Norby, Federico G. Schwindt,
    Felix Kronlage, Gilles Chehade, Giovanni Bechis, Gordon Willem Klok,
    Hans-Joerg Hoexer, Henning Brauer, Ian Darwin, Igor Sobrado,
    Jacek Masiulaniec, Jacob Meuser, Jakob Schlyter, Janne Johansson,
    Jared Yanovich, Jason Dixon, Jason George, Jason McIntyre,
    Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse, Joel Sing, Joerg Goltermann, Jolan Luff,
    Jonathan Gray, Jordan Hargrave, Joris Vink, Joshua Stein,
    Kenneth R Westerback, Kevin Lo, Kevin Steves, Kjell Wooding,
    Kurt Miller, Landry Breuil, Laurent Fanis, Marc Balmer, Marc Espie,
    Marco Peereboom, Marco Pfatschbacher, Marco S Hyman, Marcus Glocker,
    Mark Kettenis, Mark Uemura, Markus Friedl, Martin Reindl,
    Martynas Venckus, Mathieu Sauve-Frankel, Mats O Jansson,
    Matthias Kilian, Matthieu Herrb, Michael Erdely, Michael Knudsen,
    Michele Marchetto, Mike Belopuhov, Mike Larkin, Miod Vallat,
    Moritz Jodeit, Nick Holland, Nikolay Sturm, Okan Demirmen,
    Oleg Safiullin, Otto Moerbeek, Owain Ainsworth, Paul Irofti,
    Paul de Weerd, Pedro Martelletto, Peter Hessler, Peter Stromberg,
    Peter Valchev, Philip Guenther, Pierre-Emmanuel Andre,
    Pierre-Yves Ritschard, Rainer Giedat, Ray Lai, Reyk Floeter,
    Robert Nagy, Rui Reis, Ryan Thomas McBride, Simon Bertrang,
    Stefan Kempf, Stefan Sperling, Steven Mestdagh, Stuart Henderson,
    Ted Unangst, Theo de Raadt, Thordur I. Bjornsson, Tobias Stoeckmann,
    Tobias Weingartner, Todd C. Miller, Todd Fries, Will Maier,
    Xavier Santolaria, Yojiro Uo

The PRM describes the architectural behavior and programming environment of the chipset and graphics devices. The GMCH’s Graphics Controller (GC) contains an extensive set of registers and instructions for configuration, 2D, 3D, and Video systems. The PRM describes the register, instruction, and memory interfaces and the device behaviors as controlled and observed through those interfaces. The PRM also describes the registers and instructions and provides detailed bit/field descriptions. This information is critical to the development and maintenance of Intel graphics drivers for this hardware.

Take a look at: http://intellinuxgraphics.org/index.html

The demo is hosted by Collax a op5 partner in Germany.

If you want to attend, register at:

http://www.collax.com/de/ueber-collax/events-collax-live/webcast-collax-monitoring-solution.html

—cut’n paste—

Welcome to Nordic Meet on Nagios 2009 (NMN2009) June 3-4th, the largest Nagios Meet in Scandinavia. The 2008 Meet was a great success! The event was filled to the last seat and a great atmosphere in great summer weather in Stockholm! You can watch a video from the 2008 event.

Take the opportunity to meet key open source profiles and discuss the future of their Nagios Related OSS Projects, listen to the latest news, market trends and case studies focusing on business value. There will be open discussions on development and technology challenges as well as hands on workshops. This year we develop the meet further with a longer program with more speakers from more projects, workshops and a whole lot of fun! We hope to meet you on Nordic Meet on Nagios 2009

—end cut’n paste—

I will be there…

If you are interested take a peak at:

http://www.opensourceinschools.org.uk/

Fusis arranges the conference and op5 is a partner to Fusis.

My blog that uses MySQL as the database backend suddenly got real performance issues. The symptoms where:

• All my Nagios test failed from time to time with NRPE timeout
• The performence of my dynamic webpages was terrible slow.
• The load on the system showed very heavy load, more then 10 for  1, 5, and 15 minutes.
• When using “top” the CPU load on both CPUs was almost 100% and it was almost only httpd processes.
• According to Firefox plugin Firebug it took about 12 seconds to load the startpage with me as the only user.

This bad behavior did not show up when I pointed my webbrowser to static http pages so my conclusion was that I had som problem with MySQL.

The numbers of unique visitors are about 100 / day and 250 page views /day and the machine is:

• Dual PIII 1Ghz
• 4 Gb ram
• SCA 10k RPM disk.

So the hardware should be able to handle the load without any problems.

Solution

The natural way of finding a solution to this was to Google and see if anybody else has run into this problem. The easiest way seemed to be to turn of Wordpress plugins I use to collect statistics. I found a couple of webpages describing howto tune MySQL, but they where assuming deeper knowledge in MySQL then I have. I also tried the MySQL manuals and I came to the conclusion that I probably must spend quite much time to understand the behavior and how to tune MySQL.

In my opinion my MySQL implementation is quite simple and the need to tune it seemed overhelming, until I find a very neat script that helped my to set MySQL parameters:

http://www.day32.com/MySQL/tuning-primer.sh

After tuning MySQL with the hints I got from the script the system started to behave totally differently:

• The load changed to load average to less then 0.15
• “top” shows more or less 100% idle
• Load a blog webpage changed from 12 seconds down to 1,2 seconds
• No more NRPE timeout problems from Nagios

A run of the script looks like this AFTER tuning:

[root@dull mysql-tuning]# ./tuning-primer.sh
mysqld is alive

	-- MYSQL PERFORMANCE TUNING PRIMER --
	     - By: Matthew Montgomery -

MySQL Version 5.0.45 i686

Uptime = 0 days 0 hrs 14 min 28 sec
Avg. qps = 6
Total Questions = 5926
Threads Connected = 9

Warning: Server has not been running for at least 48hrs.
It may not be safe to use these recommendations

To find out more information on how each of these
runtime variables effects performance visit:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-system-variables.html

Visit http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html
for info about MySQL's Enterprise Monitoring and Advisory Service

SLOW QUERIES
The slow query log is NOT enabled.
Current long_query_time = 3 sec.
You have 0 out of 5947 that take longer than 3 sec. to complete
Your long_query_time seems to be fine

BINARY UPDATE LOG
The binary update log is NOT enabled.
You will not be able to do point in time recovery
See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/point-in-time-recovery.html

WORKER THREADS
Current thread_cache_size = 10
Current threads_cached = 2
Current threads_per_sec = 0
Historic threads_per_sec = 0
Your thread_cache_size is fine

MAX CONNECTIONS
Current max_connections = 60
Current threads_connected = 9
Historic max_used_connections = 11
The number of used connections is 18% of the configured maximum.
Your max_connections variable seems to be fine.

MEMORY USAGE
Max Memory Ever Allocated : 103 M
Configured Max Per-thread Buffers : 161 M
Configured Max Global Buffers : 74 M
Configured Max Memory Limit : 235 M
Physical Memory : 3.39 G
Max memory limit seem to be within acceptable norms

KEY BUFFER
Current MyISAM index space = 4 M
Current key_buffer_size = 32 M
Key cache miss rate is 1 : 101
Key buffer fill ratio = 1.00 %
Your key_buffer_size seems to be too high.
Perhaps you can use these resources elsewhere

QUERY CACHE
Query cache is enabled
Current query_cache_size = 32 M
Current query_cache_used = 288 K
Current query_cache_limit = 32 M
Current Query cache Memory fill ratio = .87 %
Current query_cache_min_res_unit = 4 K
Your query_cache_size seems to be too high.
Perhaps you can use these resources elsewhere
MySQL won't cache query results that are larger than query_cache_limit in size

SORT OPERATIONS
Current sort_buffer_size = 2 M
Current read_rnd_buffer_size = 256 K
Sort buffer seems to be fine

JOINS
Current join_buffer_size = 132.00 K
You have had 0 queries where a join could not use an index properly
Your joins seem to be using indexes properly

OPEN FILES LIMIT
Current open_files_limit = 2470 files
The open_files_limit should typically be set to at least 2x-3x
that of table_cache if you have heavy MyISAM usage.
Your open_files_limit value seems to be fine

TABLE CACHE
Current table_cache value = 1200 tables
You have a total of 115 tables
You have 122 open tables.
The table_cache value seems to be fine

TEMP TABLES
Current max_heap_table_size = 128 M
Current tmp_table_size = 128 M
Of 518 temp tables, 24% were created on disk
Created disk tmp tables ratio seems fine

TABLE SCANS
Current read_buffer_size = 128 K
Current table scan ratio = 78 : 1
read_buffer_size seems to be fine

TABLE LOCKING
Current Lock Wait ratio = 1 : 3415
You may benefit from selective use of InnoDB.

Maybe they have a holiday in that part of the world. A tool to find that out is “Earth Calendar”

http://www.earthcalendar.net/

So mabe the reason that my blog dropped from approx 120 unique visitors/day down to 81 yesterday is because the people in the countrys below are celebrating. Or more likely, they have better things todo then read my blog

A very good guide is Tobi Oetikers “The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2ε“, btw the same guy that has created RRDtools.

Of course my CV is written in LaTeX and a small thesis I did when I studied Computer Security during my paternity leave.

http://www.yvoschaap.com/wpthemegen/

In my case the backup script is started on another host then op5 Monitor or Nagios server, so I also will need a way of sending the data from the passive check over the network, the recommended way is to use nsca. Read the theory at http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/addons.html#nsca

In my op5 Monitor system the nsca daemon to recieve nsca information was installed so I only had to start it:

/etc/init.d/nsca start

This is the steps I did to install it on the client:

1. Download nsca from here.

2. Untar and compile nsca

3. Create a ncsa config file i.e. send_nsca.cfg

encryption_method=0

Now the data will be transmitted unencrypted over the network, this might not be what you want. Make sure that the corresponding nsca config file on the Nagios or op5 Monitor host has the same encryption method.

4. Create a passive check for testing.

# service 'Passive check test'

define service{

    use                            default-service

    host_name                      dull

    service_description            Passive check test

    check_command                  check_dummy!3 "No Data from passive check"

    max_check_attempts             1

    active_checks_enabled          0

    check_freshness                1

    freshness_threshold            300

    flap_detection_options         n

    contact_groups                 it-slav_mail,call_it-slav,it-slav_msn

    stalking_options               n

    }

Explanation:

The check_dummy command will be run if no passive check has been recieved within 5 minutes (300 seconds).

4. test

-First test, wait 5 minutes and your service "Passive check test" should be in status UNKNOWN

-Second test, create a file passive_file_test_critical (the separator is TAB):

dull    Passive check test      2       CRITICAL:test critical

run command:

send_nsca -H nagios_host  -c  send_nsca.cfg < passive_check_data_critical

and the status should change to CRITICAL

-Third test, create a file passive_check_data_ok (the separator is TAB):

dull    Passive check test      0       OK: test ok

Run the command

send_nsca -H  nagios_host -c  send_nsca.cfg < passive_check_data_ok

And the status should change to OK

Now you can set the status of a Nagios or op5 Monitor service by using commands that can be used in scripts. I will in a later article describe how I use it in my MySQL backup script.

Links:

• NSCA
• Nagios passive check theory
• op5 Monitor
• An article about monitor automysqlbackup with passive checks

Troubleshooting hint:

If it does not work, a good hint is to take a look into nagios.log

I really like the UGU tip of the day with handy tips, howto, do not and so on…

Subscribe today and learn more and more everyday

I did the test and I got a rather good score:

2% scored higher (more nerdy),
1% scored the same, and
97% scored lower (less nerdy).

And a nice picture to put on my homepage:

We want to give something back to the community

We have built a successful business around several opensource components, such as Nagios, RRDTool, Cacti, syslog-ng, NSClient++, Linux and several hundred GNU programs and libraries.
A big thanks to all the hundreds of programmers for their efforts.
Now that we have addons around and on top of those projects, we feel it is only proper that we donate them back to the people whose very shoulders we stand on.

The code base for op5 Monitor reports and reports gui are free to download. Go to http://www.op5.org and follow the instructions.

op5 has put alot of resources into reporting because that is the feedback we got from our customers. Here is two examples of reports:

• Availability report
• SLA report

The reports is based on monitoring a friends home file server in Gothenburg, thats why it is not five nines

Features:

• SMTP
• TLS SMTP
• IMAP
• IMAPS
• and much more…

It simply creates an email and send it through an email system and check that the message is delivered. The time is mesured and reported.

If you want to test it through an external emailsystem it is possible to use Gmail. E.g. set <mytestuser>@gmail.com as the receiver of the mail, create <mytestuser> at Gmail and configure forward to <myuser>@my.domain, and let email delivery pick up the email.

I have created the following map to nagios graph to graph the output data:

#Gjort av peter@it-slav.net
#/opt/monitor/op5/nagiosgraph/map_custom/email_delivery.map

# Service type: email delivery

#   output: EMAIL DELIVERY OK - 8 seconds, 8 delay

#   perfdata:

/output:.+?(\d+) seconds, (\d+) delay/

and push @s, [ Email_delivery,

               [ "delivery", GAUGE, $1 ],

               [ "delay", GAUGE, $2 ] ];

I’ve configured op5 Monitor to call me when it detects a problem, to listen to an example click on link below:

11880larm1

The text below is op5 Monitor centric. op5 Monitor is based on Nagios so the principle is the same the only difference in this case is the possibility to test it from the op5 Monitor webconfig GUI.

Here is how I did it.

1. Have a working asterisk with connected phones
2. Create a notify script on the op5 Monitor Server or Nagios server

Add the following to misccommands.cfg
# command ‘host-notify-call’
define command{
command_name host-notify-call
command_line sudo -u monitor /opt/monitor/op5/notify/call_asterisk_message.sh ‘A\ message\ from\ Op5\ monitor.\ Host\ “$HOSTNAME$”\ is\ “$HOSTSTATE$”‘
}
and
# command ’service-notify-call’
define command{
command_name service-notify-call
command_line sudo -u monitor /opt/monitor/op5/notify/call_asterisk_message.sh ‘A\ message\ from\ Op5\ monitor.\ “$SERVICESTATE$”.\ Service\ “$SERVICEDESC$”
\ on\ host\ “$HOSTNAME$”\ is\ $SERVICESTATE$’
}

Comment: sudo to monitor is probably unnecessary but I had som problems with ‘test this service’ in op5 Monitor webconfig GUI because it runs as apache and when the script is run when a problem occour it runs as monitor.

3. call_asterisk_message.sh

ssh dull sudo /root/scripts/make_call3.sh $1

i.e. run make_call3.sh with first argument, dull is my asterisk server.

4. On dull /root/scripts/make_call3.sh

#!/bin/sh
#Creates a phone call via asterisk to a certian number and reads a message

#By Peter Andersson, peter@it-slav.net

echo “$1″ | /usr/bin/text2wave -scale 1.5 -F 8000 -o /tmp/$$larm.wav
echo “$1″ >/tmp/$$larm.txt
cat <<EOF > /tmp/$$monitorcall.call
Channel: SIP/6000
Callerid: Op5 Monitor
MaxRetries: 5
RetryTime: 60
WaitTime: 60
Application: Playback
Data: /tmp/$$larm
EOF
mv /tmp/$$monitorcall.call /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing
#rm /tmp/$$larm.wav
echo “rm /tmp/$$larm.*” |at now + 1 day #Removes the wav and txt file tomorrow

Comment: 6000 is the phonenumber to call, in my case a softphone.

And now it should work.