Monitoring/inventory client-server app

[Irmen de Jong]

On 17-11-2011 5:17, snorble wrote:
> I'm writing a tool for monitoring the workstations and servers in our
> office. I plan to have a server and a client service that runs on each
> workstation and reports back to the server (heartbeat, disk free
> space, etc).
>
> So far I am considering XMLRPC, or a client service that just
> downloads a Python file and runs it.
>
> With XMLRPC I don't know how to easily add features without having to
> update every client. Also while playing with XMLRPC I learned that
> when you run a registered function, it runs it on the server. I was
> hoping it would run on the client, so that when I get the machine's
> computer name (or disk space, etc) it will return the client's info.
> It seems with XMLRPC I would have to hard code the functionality into
> the client (i.e. client gets it's computer name, then calls the XMLRPC
> function to pass it to the server)? I was hoping it would work more
> like, "pass some code to the client to be run on the client, and
> report it to the server". Almost XMLRPC in the reverse direction.
>
> With the download-and-run approach, it seems trivially easy to add new
> functionality to the clients. Just save the updated Python file to the
> server, and clients download it and run it.
>
> Are there any standard approaches to problems like this that can be
> recommended? Thank you.


The security implications are HUGE when you are thinking about 
transferring and executing arbitrary code over the network. Avoid this 
if at all possible. But if you can be 100% sure it's only trusted stuff, 
things are not so grim.

Have a look at Pyro, or even Pyro Flame:

http://packages.python.org/Pyro4/
http://packages.python.org/Pyro4/flame.html

Flame allows for very easy remote module execution and a limited way of 
transferring code to the 'other side'.

Also what is wrong with running an XMLrpc server, or Pyro daemon, on 
your client machines? This way your central computer can call registered 
methods (or remote objects in case of Pyro) on the client and execute 
code there (that reports all sorts of stuff you want to know). Or have 
each client call into a central server, where it reports that stuff 
itself. Many ways to skin a cat.

Regards,
Irmen de Jong