[mrtg] Re: FAQ

[Justin Shore]

At 4:08 PM +0100 2/27/00, alex at ergens.op.Het.Net wrote:
>Q: How can I monitor <whatever> ?

I think something should probably be said about snmp utils, PC, 
Linux, Mac, etc...  where they can be found, how to do basic things 
with them, etc...  Pointing them to UCD-SNMP's Tutorial would be 
great.  A brief rundown on snmpwalk/get would also be advisable. 
Maybe some of these examples should be put into actual confs for the 
user to see.  It seems that a lot of what people ask for is anyone 
has a conf to do XYZ.  Maybe a few confs to show how to use an 
external program (and a sample external program to go along with it), 
a conf to show how to use MaxBytes and AbsMax correctly, a conf to 
show how to use custom HTML in PageTop, etc....  Not everyone learns 
the same.  Some people are audible learners; the teacher merely 
discusses something and they understand it.  Some learn by writing 
and rewriting; they take notes and rewrite them--sometimes this can 
more or less be memorization, not a true understanding (this really 
depends on the person).  Others learn by doing; they sit down and 
start playing with it and just figure it out or they refer to man 
pages that describe how its supposed to work.  And finally, some 
people jus learn by example; they take bits of code from assorted 
places and alter it to do what they want.  Those people need actual 
examples to get started.  To some people its just not readily apart 
on how to actually use MRTG and its confs.  Here's an idea, how about 
a MRTG Tutorial.  Someone could write up the steps neccessary to 
monitor 1 common thing (like port I/O), and make it into a tutorial. 
Write it for say Linux first (it seems like most of the MRTG users 
are Linux or *nix based).  Once you have the key steps, rewrite it 
for NT and any other OS you want.  (you could also give tips at the 
end from some of the more proficient MRTG users that would help the 
newcomer)  I think that would be great.  Maybe make a 2nd part to the 
tutorial that walks you through the same steps for using an external 
program or rrdtool  Its a thought.  I think it would help a lot.  If 
people could contribute to it, Toby would probably add it to his 
site.  I wouldn't mind putting it up on my own site.

Cheers
   Justin


--
Justin Shore
K-State Linux Distro Mirror, Sysadmin
macdaddy at vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu
<http://vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu/mirror/rpm2html>
<ftp://vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu/pub/mirror/linux>

*Internet2 Users*
<ftp://quest.ksu.ksu.edu/pub/mirror/linux>

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