How to "explore" group of servers? - database

I need to check a group of servers (Unix, Linux) to know what kind of services, software (also version) are running there (check it once for a while and store it in database).
The idea is to have always fresh info about whole environment - its constantly changing. Perhaps you can suggest some solution that is already there?
Currently i am thinking about using Nagios or Cacti + plugins but I am not sure if this solution will be optimal.

Nagios is a very powerful monitoring solution (the best for me) : Open source, Compatible with both linux & windows, reporting & notifications via emails/SMS, Nice interface, Many many plugins...etc I've already worked with & I was very satisfied.
Check Nico Largo's Forum for Install. If you are not familiar to linux command search for FAN : Fully Automated Nagios which is a .iso where nagios is already in.
If you have any trouble during install or configuration post your questions there : https://serverfault.com/

Given that you want to poll for information on the system that can change dynamically, I would look at Check_MK.
It originally started as a plugin for Nagios that would poll a server for running services and generate the necessary configs for monitoring anything it discovered. Since then, it has evolved into a complete monitoring solution that provides its own complete ui (still based on nagios core), so you are safe in running this if you are familiar with nagios already.
See the website: http://mathias-kettner.com/checkmk_monitoring_system.html
You may need to select that you wish to view the "English" perspective of the site on first visit.

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Archer GRC Automated Deployments

I am trying to figure out if Automated Deployments for Archer GRC is possible for the On Prem version ?
Currently it is deployed manually.
Latest version of Archer (v6.8, v6.9) has limited API provided to allow package deployments, BUT last time I checked they don't allow mapping and partial installs (I can be wrong, so double check).
API is there, but functionality is limited to the point that I don't see how package installation can be automated via provided API. I hope that in the next Archer versions it will be extended to replicate the functionality available with manual package deployment (mapping, partial installs, and other options).
Technically, if you like complex and time consuming tasks, you can decode/parse the package installation page. Then you can write an application to simulate HTTP packets sent to Archer server simulating the package installation.
I'm not aware of any company doing something like this as of today.
If you write a product to implement proper Code/Configuration Version Control for RSA Archer, then you may be able to sell it as well :)
Good luck!

Adobe Experience Manager WorkBench Check out/in Issue

Shortly I ve Windows Server 2012 R2, AEM Forms(6.2), SQLServer(2014) and Workbench(6.2) in same server. At first when i install and configure all of them, i can check out or in my applications from Workbench succesfully. However After my software team executes some scripts at Database, we can not check in/out from workbench. The worst thing when i click check out, workbench gives any error. any log. on event log or server application. It gives nothing and don't do my transaction. I saw at forums some people have same issue but nobody writes solution.
Please if any one knows the solution, share with us. What's wrong with my workbench? what to do fix this issue?
The query that your software team ran turns off security on every single LiveCycle service and makes them run as the system user. This includes the services used by Workbench and is very bad. Some of the services rely on knowing who is logged in to operate correctly. In particular, how can LiveCycle know who has checked in/out a resource if the service always runs as system?
Your best bet is to restore the LiveCycle database - or at least the tb_sc_service_configuration table to be where it was before you ran the script.
If you need to remove security on individual services, you should do it through the admin console, but only do it for your processes. Never do it for systems services unless the Adobe documentation says it is OK.
As JeremyP pointed out, modifying the Adobe database directly is a bad idea. The database should be treated as a black box that is only manipulated by Adobe code (either by doing things in the Adobe tools or making calls to Adobe APIs).
You can either make security changes manually through the adminui (as he indicates, which is the most common way of doing it) or programatically using the Adobe client APIs. See the following links for sample code that uses the APIs:
Removing Security - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/10.0/ProgramLC/WS624e3cba99b79e12e69a9941333732bac8-7f35.html
Setting the runAs user - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/10.0/ProgramLC/WS624e3cba99b79e12e69a9941333732bac8-7f38.html
My company, 4Point, offers AEM Forms consulting services. We have an in-house Apache Ant library that wraps the code above to automate this (and other) common tasks that are typically required when deploying (and redeploying) AEM Forms solutions. It can be included as part of a consulting engagement.

SCCM Detection Methods - where are they stored?

By the end of last week our central IT Department introduced SCCM and applied it to a bunch of clients in our division. My colleagues and I work as so called "IT-Partner" in a 1st level support for a few hundrets of colleagues. Now we're facing some problems with our new SCCM System (installed packages do not work etc.) Now we'd like to "reset" applications so the SCCM Agend will reinstall them. I've read something about the detection methods but unfortunatelly I do not really know how they work nor I know where those methods are saved. I want to "analyse" those methods so I know which file to modify / delete that the agent will reinstall the application.
By the way, how much time does SCCM take from "assigning" a package to applying to the client?
Assuming you only have the client and no access to the SCCM Console the detection methods can be found using WMI. They are stored in root\ccm\CIModels in the Class Local_Detect_Synclet.
The format is XML in one column and it is designed so that all kinds of detection methods can basically be represented in the same style so it's not very readable but you should be able to get some basic understanding about the detection method used.
Keep in mind this is only true if the software was deployed in the "new" (introduced in sccm 2012) application format and not for the "old" package/program format.
If you want more detail I once tried to automate the process of triggering a reinstall for any given application but ultimately failed due to problems with the chache/distribution point. I posted all my findings here.
So from an application POV. When you deploy an app the detection method is setup in SCCM to determine wether or not the application installed successfully. This detection method could be configured a variety of ways. For example, it could check to see if the msi code is installed to determine success, it could check the .exe and compare it to a specific version, or even check a registry file for existence. In order to change/modify these detection methods you should be an SCCM admin and be able to login to the console. From there you would select the specific application or package you want to analyze and click through the properties of the deployment.

Simple standalone website checking tool

Background:
We run a content management platform that hosts 20+ separate websites - some intranets and some internet sites - so that have different end points routed for internal or external access.
We are currently upgrading our infrastructure - including software versions, hardware, changes of IP/VIP/DNS entries etc which affects all of the sites.
I want to be able to run a repeatable site test against all sites check everything is working fine and I'd like to do it from different end points (locally on each box in the cluster, from the cluster level, from the internet, from the intranet extra.
Anyone know of a simple tool that requires no sofware to install to run a repeatable regression test against a whole bunch of defined URL's?
I was thinking of a HTML page that I can run from different locations that is essentially a link checker.
Can anyone recommend a simple way to provide a level of automatic testing of our sites (in addition to our manual verification.
Thanks
Sounds like you're looking for Selenium: http://seleniumhq.org/
Edit
Wait, I think you mean 'Testing' them as in, check to see if they're online and reachable? Then I might just automate a series of ping or telnet commands, and check appropriate things. Would take a matter of minutes to write a little app in any language to do this.
There is all sorts of web site monitoring software available (check google, or ask for recos here). That's what you're looking for. There is a whole range from free to very expensive that monitor and stress your site from around the world.
Or you can write simple shell scripts that do what you want.
>> 'Testing' them as in, check to see if they're online and reachable?
Yes that's exactly it!! I was thinking the same - I could script something up but I thought I'd check first to see if someone has already done this - I guess not!
Thanks
Doesn't fit the "requires no sofware to install to run" part, and it's not necessarily super-cheap, but we've had great results with Radar Website Monitor for this kind of thing.

Utility to get the latest version of a windows forms app from a network share

Is there any utility that will copy the "official" build of a windows forms app from a central network share and launch it (from a client desktop)? I want to make sure users get the latest version when I update the binaries on the central network share.
ClickOnce is user un-friendly so I'm looking for something else...
Is it possible you could revise your question to describe what it is you find unfriendly about ClickOnce? In my office we have found ClickOnce to be the most efficient and user-friendly way of updating and distributing applications desktop business apps that we have ever had. I'm wondering if the best way to resolve your question might be to address the issues you have with ClickOnce, rather than integrating/rolling another solution.
I've done this before by the following method:
1 - Keep the "official" build at a specific network location
2 - User launches program from their local machine
3 - At launch, program compares its' own file version # to the one on the server.
4 - If the two versions are different, copy the new version down from the server and relaunch.
Pretty simple, and it works as long as you are in an intranet environment.
Step 4 is the only tricky part. You can't replace a file while it's in use, so you have to either
1 - first rename the current (in-use) file and then copy down the new one. Since you will be updating many times, you'll also want to delete any existing renamed copies that are hanging around.
or
2 - Have the user launch a "helper" application that does the version check, updates if necessary, and then launches the real app. Of course then you have to deal with updating the helper app.
We have a tool that would do that, which has been in use before there was such a thing as Windows Update (or any other update.)
The problem with any sort of update of this fashion is the security level of the user. Many times you need to be administrator to perform certain functions.
Our solution is two part/one executable: 1. a service mode that runs local system or admin to perform such operations. 2. an executable which can be called by an app to fetch via UNC, HTTP, FTP the updates for an application and apply them.
The basic process is this:
1. Application checks its version number; we use a central database to list all applications and their version numbers.
2. If the application is a minor revision we give the user an opt out on the install; if it is a major revision we require an install.
3. Once the update is confirmed, we call the updater executable which in concert with its service mode product, retrieves the updates, installs them, and relaunches the application.
If you are interested, go to the website listed in my profile and send us a support request address to me and I will give you more details and the codebase if desired.
Check out this one:
.NET Client Applications: .NET Application Updater Component
It is a white paper which discuses in detail on what it takes to make an application auto-updatable.

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