Added a list of related projects and introduced the concept of

dynamic parameters

diff --git a/doc/manifest.xml b/doc/manifest.xml
index cf570a7..5f81406 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/manifest.xml
+++ b/doc/manifest.xml
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@
 
    <author>Brenno J.S.A.A.F. de Winter, De Winter Information Solutions</author>
    <author>Arjen Baart, Andromeda Technology &amp; Automation</author>
-   <date>December 12th, 2002.</date>
+   <date>Januari 10, 2004</date>
    <docinfo>
-      <infoitem label="Version">0.24</infoitem>
+      <infoitem label="Version">0.25</infoitem>
    </docinfo>
 
 </titlepage>
@@ -137,6 +137,13 @@ and not run into unneeded disappointments.
      Updates to the database to reflect the most recent changes. 
    </col>
   </row>
+  <row>
+   <col>0.25</col><col>Arjen Baart</col><col>Jan 10, 2004</col>
+   <col>
+     Added a list of related projects and introduced the concept of
+     dynamic parameters.
+   </col>
+  </row>
 </table>
 
 </section>
@@ -545,6 +552,10 @@ in the change history of the parameter's property.
 Dynamic properties typically have a change record once a day or even a couple
 of times a day.
 Change records for static properties are usually months apart.
+If all properties of a parameter are dynamic, the parameter as a whole is regarded
+as a dynamic parameter.
+One of the properties of a dynamic parameter is that it does not need to exist
+all the time, i.e. it does not have to be listed in every report.
 </para>
 <para>
 The state of parameters is scanned or probed regularly on a client system
@@ -557,6 +568,51 @@ Each report from a probe holds the current value of several parameters.
 Gnucomo will check each property of these parameters against the stored knwon value.
 If the property's value changed, the actual value in the database is updated
 and a record is added to the change history of the parameter.
+When a parameter is listed in the report but that parameter is not in the
+database or the other way around: a parameter is in the database and is not
+in the report, this constitutes a notable change in the system.
+</para>
+<para>
+Whenever the state of the system's parameters changes, Gnucomo may create
+a <emph>notification</emph>.
+Notifications are created when one of the following changes happens:
+<enumerate>
+<item>
+  A new parameter is detected. The new parameter is listed in the report
+  but is not in the database.
+</item>
+<item>
+  The value of a static property of a parameter has changed.
+</item>
+<item>
+  A value of a dynamic property of a parameter goes outside its designated range.
+</item>
+<item>
+  A non-dynamic parameter has disappeared. The parameter is in the database but
+  was not listed in the report.
+</item>
+</enumerate>
+Note that when a dynamic parameter seems to have disappeared, no notification
+will be generated.
+When a dynamic parameter is in the database but is not listed in the report,
+all properties of that parameter will be set to the default minimum value
+of the parameter's class.
+This change in the parameter's properties, however, may lead to a notification.
+As an example of a dynamic parameter, consider a process running on a system.
+The properties of a process parameter are the number of processes running and the
+amount of memory they consume, all of which are dynamic.
+The default minimum number of processes for the process parameter class is 0 (zero).
+When a process parameter is missing from a parameter report, no processes with that
+name are running.
+This may be a problem for daemons but not for most user processes.
+When a user process, for example <emph>vim</emph>, is missing from the processes report,
+its number of processes property is set to 0.
+For the <emph>vim</emph> process parameter this is well within range.
+On the other hand, when a daemon like <emph>httpd</emph> is missing from the report,
+its number of processes property will also be set to the class's minimum (0), but
+the minimum value for that parameter will probably be something like 4.
+Now, the number of processes property goes out of range, which will generate
+a notification.
 </para>
 </subsection>
 </section>
@@ -5916,6 +5972,22 @@ similar funtions:
    <reference href='http://crm114.sourceforge.net/'>CRM114</reference> - The Controllable
    Regex Mutilator.
    </item>
+   <item>
+   <reference href='http://ezix.sourceforge.net/software/lshw.html'>Hardware Lister (LSHW)
+   </reference>
+   </item>
+   <item>
+   <reference href='http://logrep.sourceforge.net/'>LogRep - Logfile Extraction and Reporting
+   </reference>
+   </item>
+   <item>
+   <reference href='http://prelude-ids.org/'>Prelude Hybrid INtrusion detection system.
+   </reference>
+   </item>
+   <item>
+   <reference href='http://www.nagios.org/'>Host and service monitoring.
+   </reference>
+   </item>
 </itemize>
 </para>
 </section>