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.

Apologies

Apologies for the lack of recent updates.
Unfortunately, not a great deal has happened lately.
Damn "real life" keeps getting in the way.
So, what HAVE I managed to do...

Well, I have a MSSQL Server compatible database script.
I am working on a bug in the Software audit processing routine.

For an Alpha, I'd like to get basic functionality complete. By basic functionality I mean:
* - Audit script runs on PCs and submits to database.
* - Users can be created and assigned rights to groups
* - Groups can be created/edited/deleted
* - Devices can be viewed with all submitted audit details
* - Devices can have their "manual" fields edited
* - "List" type pages (based on groups) complete
Most of these items are nearly complete (as in 90%). It is more a matter of "finishing them off".
Realistically, I think it would be (maybe) 30 hours work. Not sure there. Might be way off.

My main problem is having a "real" job and a young family (and a slight World of Warcraft addiction, forgive me).

I also have to go back through the models (in CodeIgniter) and check the functions work with MSSQL. I've had a few enquiries about MSSQL compatibility lately, and want to make sure it's all OK. I've also had people say they (think Govt Dept Managers), don't want to use OpenSource. Not PHP, Linux, Apache or MySQL. They would like it rewritten in DotNet and MSSQL. It's frustrating that people STILL have this attitude. I don't mind catering to database abstraction, but the actual code ??? Sure, I'll just re-write the complete application, because you have a completely misguided notion of what "secure" means... sigh. Apologies for the slight rant.

Anyway - what you all want to know (well, the two people who bother to read this) is "WHEN CAN WE HAVE THE CODE ?". All I can say is that's there's not that much left to do for an Alpha and I want it done as much as you do.

Comparisons, Templates and Items

Bit of a brain dump here.
Apologies if it doesn't make much sense.
Was talking with some collegues this morning, and the subject of reporting on systems with a config (or sections of a config) that do not match the SOE.
Naturally, I am thinking in terms of OAv2 and what it's database can provide.

Brain dump follows.


Want to compare items on a system with predefined items or a template.
Say we want to check a group of systems (WinXP) have a specific list of Group Accounts and that those Groups consist of a given list of Users & Groups.
Take a given system that fits what we want to check click "make a template".
Details on selected sections (thinking DB tables), ie - Groups for example are "imported" into a table and flagged as "Template 1".
Compare the systems in a given group to the "Template 1".
Report differences -
group does not exist,
group exists and is the same,
group exists but has these differences,
this additional group exists.

That would compare against all items (say all groups) on a group of systems.
Remember - a single system can belong to it's own group, so single systems are catered for.
Also need to define a single item, ie - software called "XYZ".
Need to compare against all systems in a group - the single line item.
Report differences -
software extsis
software does not exist
software exists with a differing version number

End goal - show me all our systems that do not meet a given Template, and give me the reasons they don't.

Code in such a way to allow for abstraction - don't care what item or table is catered for in a template. Can compare on a complete system or just selected tables (users, software, groups, etc, etc).

Brain dump finished.
Apologies if that doesn't make much sense...

Bling

Added some sparkle to the List pages today.
When you mouse over a system, you get selected details appearing.
Done via jQuery and ajax.

Quick OAv2 update

Just a quick one.

I now have columns on the list page, for any group, displaying selected fields associated with that group. You're probably now saying "what the?".

Let me explain.

On any given Group List page, you see a list of devices in that group. Previously, the columns that were displayed were static (set in the display code). The columns were System Name, Description, IP Address, OS Type, OS Name, Tags. If you wanted something with different columns, you would need to code the PHP display stuff in the View. Now, you can add and remove columns on a per group basis and it's stored in the database. Instant reporting !!! Sweet.

Think of this...

You create a dynamic group. That group includes any systems that have Apache installed. On the list page for that group you might also include the Apache version number (for instance).

This is available on a per group basis. You can define if a column has a link, and what to. If a column just displays text or is an image. This should aleviate a _lot_ of the requests we currently receive in Open-AudIT like "Can you make me a report page that shows blah...". Also, because they're defined in the app and the definitions are stored in the database, you can update the base OAv2 code and not loose your custom reports.

Now I just need to front end it... sigh.

Nominate Open-AudIT in the Sourceforge Community Choise Awards

Anyone who likes what we're doing (or what we've done) with Open-AudIT could do us a favor. Go to the Open-AudIT homepage and click the shiny picture (or just click the one below). Don't forget to enter your email address and click the link in the email sent to you to confirm the vote.

Thanks in advance.

Open-AudIT as a CMDB

So, I've been thinking about CMDB's (Configuration Management Database's) and how Open-AudIT can be used.

Essentially, I am thinking a CMDB is a list of CI's (Configuration Items) and their relationships (to other CI's). Open-AudIT contains a large list of details about many items - so there's a list of CI's right there. All we really need to do is to define how these CI's relate to one another.

I have encapsulated this data in essentially two tables. Table one defines a CI. What is it ? What table (and row) is it in ? Some other details not automatically captued by the audit scripts. Another table detailing the relationship between the CI's. The two CI's concerned. The type of relationship. Any credentials used, etc.

A large amount of this can be automatically populated, upon initial setup of a CI. I am thinking about the logic needed to auto create a number of CI's and their relationships by "following" the trail through the OAv2 database, linking them up.

I have also created a third table, essentially to say "These CI's (and their associated relationships) belong to this particular 'CMDB App'". So you can create a CMDB App of, say, a particular web application. Example CI's would be the website, the database, the users URL, the group of systems accessing it, the database credentials, etc, etc. Wrap the whole thing into a CMDB App, and it then becomes easy to run "what - if" type questions on the CMDB.

What if I change the website from server A to server B ? Show me all the affected CMDB Apps and the specific CI's for each CMDB App. That kind of thing.

I'm still thinking this through, but I think it could be a very powerful and compelling way to utilise the data contained within Open-AudIT.

Any comments and suggestions are more than welcome.