Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Update

Have created a couple of new reports in OAv2.
All reports are based on a Group of systems or optionally, all systems you are authorised to view, regardless of group:
  • System Shares
  • Orphaned Users

These now live alongside :
  • Partiton Useage,
  • Partiton Alert (partitions below %20 free space),
  • Local Admins
  • Audit Dates
  • System Locations

I fixed a bug in the audit script that would not retrieve share permissions when there was a space in the Share Name.

I altered the audit script to retrieve the size of remote Shared Directories.

One thing to note is the increase of script execution time when retrieving the size of remote shared directories. I've seen it take 10 minutes (on a large file server - multiple terrabytes) to complete... I run it overnight, so it isn't an issue for me, but I may make it an optional thing to enable...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

ToDo for OAv2

I think if I can get these done, I'll call it a 0.3 release...

  • Fix the Alter Groups code (as per OAv2 release notes).
  • Display all the "man_" fields for a system (as per OAv2 release notes). "man_" fields are meant to be manually updated data - stuff like physical location, etc, that cannot be derived from querying a system.
  • Revise the menu structure.
  • Fix the installed software SQL (as per OAv2 release notes).
  • Create a form to manually add a system. You can do this currently by taking an audit result XML file and replacing the details for the manual system - but it's ugly, annoying and a hack.

Presenting at SAGE-AU

I have been asked to present at the SAGE-AU conference in August on Open Source Tools. My talk will be about Configuration Management and CMDB's... I wonder if Open-AudIT will get a plug ? :-)

FYI - SAGE-AU Conference is on from the 9th - 13th of Auagst in Hobart, Tasmaina.
http://www.sage-au.org.au/conference-2010/

They're (the organisers) still finalising details around schedule, presenters, etc, etc.

Progress

I have already addressed a couple of issues with OAv2 Alpha 0.2.

It doesn't like PHP 5.3 - the short tags are ON in the code. Have replaced them. PHP 5.3 depreciates the "ereg" function(s) - I've replaced them with "preg_match" functions.

Look for Alpha 0.3 soon.

Alpha 0.2 released

A new public Aplha of OAv2 has been uploaded. We're getting there slowly - but damn real life keeps getting in the way !!!

You can grab the code here:
http://www.open-audit.org/OAv2_02.zip

Some release notes...

The "system display" page still looks a bit weird in Internet Explorer.
The headings are in blue (should be dark grey).
The background of the sections overflows vertically.

Best not to alter a Groups - (eg: rename a Group).
When you alter a Group, it is not catered for when importing a system and a duplicate group is created.
It thinks the Group no longer exists and creates a new one if need be (think network groups).
I need to fix this ASAP.

There have been a few database changes.
Best to create a new database and go from there.

Not all man_ type fields are displayed on the "system display" page - to do.

Under the "Queries" menu, you will only see two options now.
Choose Groups and from there click the Group Name to see the systems.
Once a Group is being viewed, "Reports" menu becomes available.
You can run a "Report" on all systems YOU can see (not just one specific Group), by replacing the Group_id in the URL (the last number) with a zero - 0.
If you can view the "All Devices" group, it's better (SQL wise) to use that option.

The "Installed Software" SQL need attention.
Running it across ~3,000 systems takes so long, I haven't seen it actually complete.
Need to revise the SQL.
The main problem is the counting of how many installs a particular piece of software is on.
Have removed that and it is OK, but we NEED that functionality.
To be addresses ASAP.

Created a couple of seperate scripts to audit your domain or a list of PCs.
They both take the PCs and run audit_windows.vbs against them.
Check the scripts for details.
NOTE - if submitting online, make sure to set the URL in audit_windows.vbs

Thursday, February 4, 2010

OAv2 Alpha update

I have sent the Alpha to one of our Developers (Andy Hull).
Andy has sent some feedback, which we are working on.
I'll post the download link here, when I make a public upload (when I get home tonight).
** As promised - try this - http://www.open-audit.org/OAv2.zip

Things to bear in mind.
THIS IS ALPHA SOFTWARE.
IT WILL EAT ALL YOUR DATA.

Now that I've scared you...
  • I would NOT recommend this for running in Production.

  • Sure, you might audit a production system, but I wouldn't rely on this as a replacement for Open-AudIT right now. Feature wise, it's still a way behind.
  • There is no install routine. You will need to know how to setup MySQL databases, et al. There IS a readme in the file detailing basic steps needed to do this. Please don't ask for help. If you cannot install this, then you shouldn't be playing with it !!! One of the things high on the todo list is an installer (both for Windows and Linux).
  • Linux auditing probably wont work. I have spent most of my time on the Windows side of things. Linux auditing is on the list - and indeed there is a basic script in the download. I haven't even opened it for months though, so I'm guessing it wont upload into OAv2 correctly.
  • SQL Server doesn't have a database creation script. Simply because the database schema still isn't finalised.
What does work ?
  • Manual running of the audit script and inserting it into the web form. Running the audit script against a remote system. Running the audit script and auto uploading (via Explorer).
  • Dynamic Groups. I haven't built the web forms for static groups yet.
  • OAv2 users and Group permissions.
  • Locations and assigning systems to them.
  • Editing manual values in web forms.
  • Creating / Editing / Deleting Users, Groups and Locations.

Check back here later for a download link (I'm such a tease :-) ).
** As promised - try this - http://www.open-audit.org/OAv2.zip

Monday, January 25, 2010

OAv2 Alpha is inbound

Well, I have today (Mon) and Wed off from work.
Am coding my butt off to get OAv2 into an Alpha state.
Have spent a couple of hours on it this morning, and I think be Wed night (at the latest), I will look to push the code to SVN.
Looking "good enough" at this stage.

As per my last post, the status on various items are...

* - Audit script runs on PCs and submits to database. DONE.
* - Users can be created and assigned rights to groups. DONE.
* - Groups can be created/edited/deleted. DONE.
* - Devices can be viewed with all submitted audit details. DONE.
* - Devices can have their "manual" fields edited. DONE.
* - "List" type pages (based on groups) complete DONE.

It's more about cleanup and release readiness than anything else now.