/*	$Id: README,v 1.13.2.1 2004/05/09 11:29:32 ola Exp $	*/

=======
UPTIMEC
=======

SHORT DESCRIPTION
=================

Uptimec is a client to be used in the uptime-project by the
mrEriksson-Network.


INTRODUCTION
============

Uptimec is a small client that sits on your host and sends information about
the hosts uptime to a central server that stores it and produces various
interesting statistics on the web based on this information.


COPYRIGHT
=========

Copyright (c) 2003-2004 Ola Eriksson, All Rights Reserved


SIGNUP FOR AN ACCOUNT
=====================

Visit the uptime-project on the web at http://www.mrEriksson.net/uptimes to
signup for an account and start registering your hosts uptime.


MORE INFORMATION
================

More information on the uptime-project can be found at the mrEriksson-
Networks website (http://www.mrEriksson.net)


TESTED ON
=========

The current version of uptimec has been confirmed to compile and run
under the following systems:

	Most Linux-distributions
	NetBSD
	FreeBSD
	OpenBSD
	Solaris
	Tru64
	MacOS X
	HP/UX
	Ultrix
	IRIX

Please send information on success on other systems to the author.


RESOURCE USAGE
==============

The client, and the network protocol it uses, has been designed to consume
a minimal of resources when it comes to CPU & memory, and bandwidth usage.
Therefor, it will not have any impact on your hosts normal operations.


COMPILING & INSTALLING
======================

See the 'INSTALL' file provided with this package.


USAGE
=====

Uptimec accepts the following syntaxes:
	uptimec [-d] [-s server] [-P port] -i hostid -p password
	uptimec -v
	uptimec -h

Options:
	-d
		Do not detach. The process will not detach into the
		background. Instead, it will stay connected to the console
		from which it was started.

	-s	Instructs uptimec which server to send it's updates to. This
		argument is optional, and will default to
		uptimes.mreriksson.net if omitted.

	-P	Configures the destination port to use when sending updates
		to the server. Argument is optional, and will default to
		port 2050.

	-i	Numeric ID of the host that the client is running on. An ID
		can be registred and obtained using the webgui found at
		http://www.mrEriksson.net/uptimes/

	-p	The password to use to authenticate the host when
		communicating with the server. This is a random password
		generated when an account is created via the web-interface.
		The password to use can be found in the webgui. All hosts
		registred under an account uses the same password.


REPORTING BUGS
==============

Bugs found in any of the services (client, server and webgui) related to
the uptime-project can be submitted to the author via the webform for
feedback at http://www.mrEriksson.net/uptimes/


HISTORY
=======

See the 'ChangeLog' file provided with this package for more details
about it's history.


FUTURE / TODO
=============

These are some of the ideas that will/should be added to the client:

* Data counters for sent bytes, updates, and packages (incl. resends etc)
* Have a configfile.
* Should have a manpage.
* Should not start if the user is root.
* Should be able to switch to another user of started as root.
* Should store a pid-file with the current pid in.
* Add IPv6 support.
* Should be possible to enter the hosts name instead of id, and have the
  client resolv it's id when logging in.
* Should be possible to disable syslog-output from the commandline.
* Should catch signals and send logout message to host before ending.
* Should do syslog-output for all errors.
* Should be possible to SIGHUP client to force it to re-login.
* Implement a proxy in uptimec that allows other uptimec-clients to send
  their updates via the proxy client.


THANKS TO
=========

Thanks goes out to all the people that has helped out with the betatesting
and sending in comments and suggestions about improvments.

The following people have contributed code and suggestions
to help improve the uptime client:
   Radim Kolar      - General suggestions and patches
   Stefan Deinhard  - Ported client to MacOS X and built binary packages
   Tobias Nygren    - Tru64-port: Wrote getloadavg()-function
                      Tru64-port: Sent new function to extract uptime from
                                  TBL_SYSINFO, which allows the client to be
                                  ran in a chrooted environment.
   Mattias Nordlund - Binary packages and betatesting


AUTHOR
======

Ola Eriksson <ola(at)mrEriksson.net>
http://www.mrEriksson.net