WYAE - MoSSHe - Lightweight, secure server monitoring

MoSSHe (MOnitoring with SSH Environment) is a simple, lightweight (both in size and system requirements) server monitoring package designed for secure and in-depth monitoring of a handful of typical/critical internet systems. For example in a current setup I do 264 checks on 29 servers - on average 9 checks for each system. It supports email alerts out of the box - and whatever you can script.

The web interface to status and logs reflects this approach: less than 10 systems are ideal for the "big" (showall) web display, less then 50 for the problem-centric (tactical) view. More than 100 systems should easily be possible, but I have not tested such an extended setup. In contrast to many other NMS (Network Management Systems) it is not possible to "overload" a MoSSHe system - the minimum checkup intervals will simply extend with each added system, though. For the setup mentioned above the time needed for 264 checks on 29 servers is 100 seconds. But for your setup it may vary significantly.

Via the web interface you can view the overall status (tactical.py), server status and service history, but you cannot modify anything - which makes it quite safe for even non-admin multiuser use... ;-)

Requirements

for MoSSHe-server:

• SSH (client) with DSA key authentication support
• Unix Shell (tested with BASH)
• standard Unix text tools (fgrep, cut, head, mail, ...)
• "netcat" networking tool

for additional checks (only if performed):

• "dig" for DNS check
• "free" memory display for memory check
• "lpq" BSD(compatible) printing for printing check
• "smbclient" for samba check
• "snmp" networking tools (especiall "snmpget") for SNMP check
• "mbmon" for motherboard checks (CPU temp, fan speed)
• /proc/mdstat for Linux SoftRAID monitoring

for web interface:

• webserver supporting CGI scripting
• Python interpreter

for each monitored server/system

• SSH (server) with DSA key authentication support
• Unix Shell (tested with BASH)
• standard Unix text tools (fgrep, cut, head, mail, ...)

Documentation

• README
  Requirements and installation guide.
• HISTORY
  Changelog

• Screenshots
  • Screenshot: tactical overview (without alerts, thus a bit boring)
  • Screenshot: detailed tactical display
  • Screenshot: server detail display
  • Screenshot: service trend display

• MoSSHe is represented at FreshMeat.NET where you can review release cycles, activity, etc.

• Checks performed
  • Services:
    dns (multiple), http (multiple), imap2, imap3, pop3, samba, smtp, snmp (multiple)
  • Local/remote servers:
    HDCheck (free space), LoadCheck, MBMonCheck (temperature, fan speed), MemCheck (free mem), PrintCheck (queue size and activity), ProcessCheck (number), RaidCheck (status), ShellCheck (number: user and root shells), ZombieCheck, Network (errors and throughput), LogEventCheck (service restarts, logins, brute force attacks)

Support / Bugs and Roadmap / Contributing / Wish List

Please see README.txt for details. For bug reports and suggestions or if you just want to talk to me please contact me at volker.tanger@wyae.de

There is a user/developer mailing list available. To subscribe send a mail with "subscribe mosshe" as subject to minimalist@wyae.de

Downloads

• MoSSHe 1.4.7   (36kB)
  This is the currentmost version of MoSSHe. It includes all the documentation listed above. Please read the History file for changes.

Templates for known system configurations
which are basically customized LOCALCHECK versions for known systems. Currently supported are:

• Template: Astaro firewall (V 3 and 4)
• Template: Innominate mGuard - device attached security (V 2.x)

License

For details on licensing and support please see there.

This software is published under "Gnu Public License", an open source license.