Morning Glory Technologies, Log Dispatcher

Morning Glory Technologies

Log Dispatcher v3.6.7 Release Notes

Key Benefits

o Real Time Application Log Monitoring

o Real Time Filters

o Stored Configurations

o Site Customizations

Softpedia guarantees that Log Dispatcher 3.6.7 is 100% CLEAN, which means it does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.

Real Time Application Log Monitoring

Apache web server log monitored by Log Dispatcher as Apache updates it in real time.

Log Dispatcher allows you to watch updates to multiple files or logs as they occur in real time. Log Dispatcher works on large files and on those that exist across networks. Log Dispatcher handles native Windows file shares as well as Unix SMB shares. Log Dispatcher can monitor both binary and text files. Use Log Dispatcher to simultaneously monitor several logs as they are updated by their driver applications in real time. To monitor a log, select and open it from the common dialog displayed from the File Open menu item or drop a file on to Log Dispatcher from Explorer or your desktop.

Right Click on a monitored file to modify default monitor settings from the popup menu that appears. You can detach the selected view from Log Dispatcher and leave a copy running on the desktop. This view will persist even after Log Dispatcher exits. To detach a monitor from Log Dispatcher, select Detach from the popup menu.

Real Time Filters

Log Dispatcher supports custom filter lists. Each monitored log can have it's own individual filter list. Use Filters to store and apply filter strings that invoke specified commands if the filter string should appear in the monitored file. This could be used to configure a set of alarms or even build a remote scheduler or command dispatcher by appending filter strings into a remote control file that is being monitored by Log Dispatcher in real time.

Log Dispatcher could run on several servers each monitoring a single, common control file. Filter strings could then be used to invoke simultaneous or cascading actions on each server by appending them to the common control file. Log Dispatcher is a command listener node in a possible network of them in this role. The communication path is remote SMB file appends. The file itself could be meaningless and is used solely to employ OS managed SMB in order to invoke commands on remote nodes.

Filters create a limitless, general-purpose listener capable of forming autonomous event handling networks (a given event may invoke a command that writes into a log that invokes another event on another node that finally writes a terminating command into the original node in order to synchronize distinct execution environments). Or a single Log Dispatcher could monitor a log on behalf of many, issuing writes into client monitors that cause them to invoke specific actions. Each client only monitors its local log. The proxy Log Dispatcher monitors the driver log on behalf of many clients reducing network loads etc..

Run Time Control Files

For example, Log Dispatcher creates a control file named after Log Dispatchers Process ID and a ".control' extension at startup. External processes can use this control file to cause Log Dispatcher to automatically open and begin monitoring files at run time by appending the desired file name into a given Log Dispatchers control file. Log Dispatcher always monitors this internal control file. Any new strings that appear in this file are assumed to be fully qualified paths to files that Log Dispatcher should open and begin monitoring.

This makes it possible for any process that has access to the control file to cause Log Dispatcher to begin monitoring files. The internal control file illustrates how Log Dispatcher can be used to dispatch commands with user control files and filters. The mechanism that raises asynchronous actions on remote nodes via filters is specifically devoid of any particular process communication technique and relies solely on basic operating system file/network operations. No other run time environments or special process infrastructure is needed to implement it. There is no intervening gateway server or broker. There is nothing to install, register or configure in order to build a distributed event network but defining the filters on each node. Any process that has visibility to the control file can cause any action on any remote node that has similar access to the control file if that process knows what filters exist on any remote nodes that are monitoring that control file. Log Dispatcher is intended to be simple, generic and easy to configure quickly

Using the Real Time Filter Editor

To use filters, Right Click on a monitored file and select Filters from the popup menu that appears. You can add or delete filter strings and their corresponding commands here. The filter string can be any free form text that may appear anywhere in the stream of data from the monitored log. The filter command can be any binary, script name, link etc. that is visible to Log Dispatcher. The command is invoked asynchronously in it's own execution environment independent to Log Dispatchers` using the user roles and privileges in effect for Log Dispatcher.

Real Time Filters Editor and Command Status

Each filter can be scheduled for a specific time window by specifying Start and End date and times using the Filter Scheduler frame. Log Dispatcher will not listen for the filter or invoke its associated command unless the local system time is within this range. The default is to enable a filter for one 24-hour period bounded by the current system day.

Filter Commands can be specified with command parameter Substitution Characters. If command parameter Substitution Characters is supplied, Log Dispatcher substitutes them with the entire line in the log containing the Filter String that invoked the Filter Command.

Filter Command using %% Substitution Characters

The Substitution Characters can be any that is convenient for the command's parameter interface so long as those specified as Substitution Characters are also specified in the Filter Command's parameter list (a common oversight). For example, to pass ScriptA the line in the log that invoked it, create a filter for ScriptA such as " Start ScriptA " and a substitution character, such as ' %'. Filter String= Start ScriptA. Command String = ScriptA % . Substitution Characters= % . Log Dispatcher will start the Command String ScriptA replacing % with " Start ScriptA" whenever Start ScriptA appears in the monitored log during the scheduled filter times. Remote Batch Copy first surrounds the substituted line it passes to commands with double quote characters.

Substitution characters could then be used to allow Log Dispatcher to serve as a proxy listener for many asynchronous processes. These need not all be active, but could remain dormant until invoked by Log Dispatcher passing them the filter string as if they all had been simultaneously listening all along. This makes it possible to easily create highly instrumented yet minimally intrusive asynchronous systems such as alarms or automatic processors.

Press the 'Add' button on the Filters form to apply the filter list to the real time monitor. To view how many occurrences of a given filter have been written to the log since filtering started, select the monitored file and open it's filter list. Select each filter name in the filter list on the form. Log Dispatcher shows the number of times the selected filter occurred and the date/time it last occurred in the Filter Forms' status bar.

Each occurrence of the filter string that appeared in the monitored log is highlighted in RED in the log. Click on the Filter String in the monitored log or click the Question Mark Icon on the status bar to show the filter list and the resulting Command String status. If any of the text in the monitored log is highlighted, the selected text can be reprocessed through the Filter List. Any Filter Strings in the selected text will replay their associated Command Strings. To Reprocess Filters, select a text range by dragging the mouse over some text in a monitored log while holding down the left mouse button. Click the right mouse button and select Reprocess Filters that now appears in the popup menu.

To search for text anywhere in a monitored log, right click and select Find from the popup menu or press CTRL-F on a monitored file to display the text Find dialog. The monitored log is circular searched forward starting at the current cursor position. Any found text in the monitored log is highlighted in BLUE .

Stored Configurations

It is possible to save Log Dispatcher configurations and then retrieve them later. The current set of opened monitors and their attributes including any real time filters can be saved in Log Dispatcher Configuration (*.ldc) files. Individual monitor configurations and filter lists for several Log Dispatchers can be grouped and rapidly retrieved using stored configurations.

To store the current Log Dispatcher configuration, select Save Configuration from the File Menu item. Only those monitors running within the Log Dispatcher are saved. Any detached views are ignored. Click Get Configuration to retrieve a stored Log Dispatcher environment or drag a configuration file on to Log Dispatcher. Log Dispatcher offers to load or monitor a file dropped on it in if the files` extension ends in .ldc others are monitored by default

Site Customizations

If you like Log Dispatcher, purchase customized Log Dispatcher sources for your site and tailor it to perform unique tasks for you organization. Log Dispatcher Site Customizations come with developer support to help facilitate changing Log Dispatcher properties to match your specific needs and a full license to distribute and use your customized Log Dispatcher binaries through out all the nodes in your network. Log Dispatchers developer, Jeff Martin , is highly capable in many areas and is available for further assignment. Contact him at jeffreymartinj@yahoo.com for more details.

Our Environment

We have complete development environments encompassing all popular operating systems, databases and development platforms including:

Operating Environments:

o Windows 2003 Server

o Windows XP Professional

o Windows XP Home

o Linux (Redhat)

Networking Environments:

o Windows Internet Information Service (IIS)

o Apache Linux Web Server

o Broadband Internet connection

o Multiple node internal development LAN

Code Environments:

o Microsoft Visual Studo.net

o Microsoft Visual Studio 6

o Oracle Developer Suite

o PL/SQL Developer

o Teradata TTU 7.0

o KDeveloper 2

Database Environments:

o Oracle 8i/9i/10g

o SQLServer 2000/2005

o Teradata 5.0

o Ingres 2.0

o Access 97-2003

Technologies:

o 12+ years programming under UNIX

o 12+ years programming in Windows environments

o 12+ years programming using Oracle development tools (Developer/Designer, PRO*C, PL/SQL)

o 7+ years programming using SQLServer development tools (T-SQL, DTS packages)

o 12+ years developing network interfaces (IP (TCP, UDP, AF_UNIX))

o 12+ years developing distributed systems (Socket services, RPC, server/client architectures, real time data acquisition and control systems)

Languages:

o 12+ years programming using C/C++

o 12+ years programming using Unix shell scripting

o 12+ years programming using ANSI SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL

o 12+ years programming using Visual Basic

o 2+ years programming using .NET technologies (C#, ASP.NET, XML)

o 20+ years programming using FORTRAN

Our diverse development environments allow us to participate in project architectures of any complexity or depth. This permits us to construct system test simulations that provides identical environments that our clients encounter in their production settings allowing Morning Glory Technologies to serve as an immediate source for effective and cost efficient off site development or support activities

We offer a broad range of Software Engineering consulting services from complete design/build solutions to integration with existing sustaining efforts. We focus on mission critical, real time systems. Listed below are a few of the organizations where we've recently created and implemented solutions for production applications: