Table of Contents

• Starting MARS
  
• First Time User Walkthrough
  
• Main MARS Window
  
  • Stop Button
    
  • Start Button
    
  • Configure Button
    
  • Quit Button
    
• MARS Configuration Window
  
  • Add Host Button
    
  • Delete Host Button
    
  • Update Button
    
  • Timeout Button
    
  • Max Load Button
    
  • Min Disk Button
    
  • Save Button
    
  • Cancel Button
    

Starting MARS

First Time User Walkthrough

1. The first time you use MARS, the Main MARS Window will contain no hosts. Click on the "Configure" Button.
2. This will open a MARS Configuration Window. Click on the "Add Host" Button.
3. This will open the first "Add Host" window. In the blank box, type "altara.org" (without the quotes) and press "OK". This will set up the FQDN of our first host.
4. This will open the second "Add Host" window. Use the backspace key to remove the ".org" from "altara.org" and press "OK". This will set up the visible "screen" name of our first host.
5. You should now see a new row in the MARS Configuration Window labeled "altara". Double-click inside all of the checkboxes on the row for "altara". This will active probing for all service (including the two SPOTS services) on altara.
6. Press the "Save" Button. In the new window that opens, click "Yes". This will save the changes we have made to our configuration, and prompt MARS to begin using the new configuration.
7. You should now see altara listed in the Main MARS Window. Momentarily, MARS will begin to show you data about all of the services on altara.

Main MARS Window

Shown above is the Main MARS Window. This window displays a list of the hosts being monitored, and the status of the services being monitored on each host. There are 4 potential status for a service on a host:

• ok - The host responded correctly to the most recent probe on that service.
  
• down - The host responded incorrectly to the most recent probe on that service.
  
• t/o - The host did not respond within the alloted "Timeout" interval to the most recent probe on that service.
  
• If the box is blank, either the service is not being probed on that host, or no data is currently available for the service on that host

If a service on a Host changes status (say, moves from "ok" to "down"), an "Alert Window" will appear on the user's screen, informing the user which service(s) have failed on a given host. MARS will display a similar Alert Window when Load Average rises above a certain threshold, or if free disk space falls below a certain threshold.

The layout of the Main MARS Window is user configurable. You can click-and-drag on a column label and move the selected column to a new location. The window may be resized, minimized or maximized using conventional windowing standards.

In addition to the above, the Main MARS window allows you to access several buttons via the toolbar at the top of the window. The functionality of these buttons is discussed below:

Stop Button

Start Button

Configure Button

Quit Button

MARS Configuration Window

You can open this window by pressing the "Config" Button in the Main MARS Window. With this window, you can change a variety of aspects that control the operation of MARS. While this window is open, MARS will continue to probe hosts (assuming MARS is in the running mode), but if you save the results of your configuration changes, MARS will stop running momentarily, then restart using the new configuration.

The Configuration Window displays each host that MARS probes, along with a checkbox for each potential service that MARS could probe on that host. If a service is currently being probed, the Configuration Window will denote this with a checkmark. Services MARS is not probing will have a blank checkbox. To change the status of a checkbox and activate/deactivate a service, simply double-click inside the checkbox.

In addition to selecting which services MARS is probing on a given host, the Configuration Window has a toolbar of buttons at the top. The function of each of these buttons is discussed below:

Add Host Button

Pressing the "Add Host" Button will activate the above window, and begins the process of adding a new host to the system. In this initial window, you can enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name or the IP address of a new host. Pressing "Ok" will store the FQDN/IP address and move on to the next window. Pressing "Cancel" will close the window without adding a new host to the Configuration window. Note that it is the user's responsibility to enter correct FQDN/IP addresses. MARS cannot determine if you have entered incorrect information, or if a system is simply down or not responding.

This screen allows you to choose the name that MARS will use to represent the new host. The default value will be the FQDN/IP address entered in the previous window. Pressing "OK" will store the inputted value as the visible "screen" name. Pressing "Cancel" will cause MARS to use the FQDN/IP address as the visible "screen" name.

Delete Host Button

Pressing the "Delete" Button will activate the above window. For the "Delete" Button to operate, you must first select a host to delete by clicking anywhere in the row for the host (you will notice the entire row becomes highlighted). For example, in the example screen shot of the Configuration Window, the row for host "altara" is selected (you can tell because the entire row is a non-white color). Pressing "Yes" will remove the selected host from the Configuration Window (but pressing the "Cancel" button can reverse this action, along with all other actions from the configuration session). Pressing "Yes" when no host is selected will cause the above window to close with no effect to the MARS configuration. Pressing "No" will close the above window and will not remove the selected host.

Update Button

Pressing the "Update" Button will activate the above window, and initially shows the current length of time between each check MARS makes to the services on the various hosts. For example, the current value is 30,000 milliseconds (30 seconds). Thus, after MARS has determined that status of each probed service on a particular host, it will wait 30 seconds before trying to reestablish the status of the services on that host. Pressing "Ok" will store your inputted timeout value. Pressing "Cancel" will close the above window and will not store any changes.

Timeout Button

Pressing the "Timeout" Button will activate the above window, and initially shows the current length of time MARS will try to contact a service on a hosts before considering the service to be a "Timeout" (t/o on the main MARS screen). For example, the current value is 3,000 milliseconds (3 seconds). Thus, MARS will try to contact a service for 3000ms before considering the service to be in the "Timeout" state. Pressing "Ok" will store your inputted timeout value. Pressing "Cancel" will close the above window and will not store any changes.

Max Load Button

Pressing the "Max Load" Button will activate the above window, and initially shows the current maximum load average threshold. This window allows you set the load average threshold on a SPOTS-monitored system before an "Alert" window will be displayed. For example, the above window shows a value of 2.0. Thus, if SPOTS returns that the current load average is 1.5, no window will be displayed. However, if the load average rises to 3.7, an "Alert" window will displayed, warning you that the monitored system is experiencing an abnormally high user load. Pressing "Ok" will store your inputted threshold value. Pressing "Cancel" will close the above window and will not store any changes.

Min Disk Button

Pressing the "Min Disk" Button will activate the above window, and initially shows the current minimum free disk space threshold. This window allows you set the free disk space threshold on a SPOTS-monitored system before an "Alert" window will be displayed. For example, the above window show a value of 10 (10%). Thus, if SPOTS returns that free disk space is at 15%, no window will be displayed. However, if the free disk space falls to 9%, an "Alert" window will displayed, warning you that the monitored system is running out of disk space. Pressing "Ok" will store your inputted threshold value. Pressing "Cancel" will close the above window and will not store any changes.

Save Button

Pressing the "Save" Button will activate the above window. Pressing "Yes" will close the MARS Configuration Window and save all of the modifications you have made to a new mars.conf file (the file that stores the MARS configuration). If MARS was in the running state, MARS will stop running momentarily, then restart using the new configuration. Pressing "No" will allow you to make more modifications in the Configuration Window.

Cancel Button

Pressing the "Cancel" Button will activate the above window. Pressing "Yes" will close the MARS Configuration Window without saving any of the action you have taken while the Configuration Window was open. Pressing "No" will allow you to make more modifications in the Configuration Window.

Revision History

1. Date:March 22nd, 1999
   Version:1.1
   Name(s):Brian Trammell
   Description of revision:Slight modifications for bundling with the MARS distribution.
2. Date:March 8th, 1999
   Version:1.0
   Name(s):Ben Parrott
   Description of revision:Intial Document