Other Uses

Those are just a very few of the things you can use PIKT to monitor. We use it for all kinds of systems administration tasks, including: clearing out /tmp files; reporting system crashes; monitoring changes in critical system files, directories, and devices; detecting passwd and shadow file anomalies; running a mail quota system; reporting "orphaned" accounts and home directories; detecting bad e-mail list addresses; clearing out user Web browser caches; removing core files; rotating and retiring system log files; reporting full file systems; reporting runaway processes; reviving vital system processes; reviewing security log files--the list goes on and on.

Working with Other Scripting Languages

If you prefer to use a different scripting language, that is no problem. Here is a short Pikt wrapper script around a much longer, and very complicated Perl script, =mailchk (/pikt/lib/programs/mailchk.pl):

MailChk

    init
        status active
        level warning
        task "Check for mail \
              errors, such as \
              forwarding loops."
        input proc "=mailchk 2>&1"

    rule
        output mail $inline

mailchk.pl yields output which the Pikt MailChk script captures in a PIKT e-mail alert. If you wish, you could let your Perl script handle all the reporting, but still have PIKT deal with scheduling and logging, using the minimalist Pikt script:

MailChk

    begin
        exec "=mailchk 2>&1"

We have a suite of over two dozen account management programs, almost all of them written in Perl, that we maintain within our programs.cfg file. We don't use Pikt or piktd at all to run these. Rather, we use PIKT to manage the per-OS and per-machine differences, to install, and to monitor script integrity.

Config Files Installation and Management

Listing 12 is a portion of our files.cfg, the section configuring inetd.conf.

Listing 12: files.cfg (fragment)

#if usersys
        ftp     stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/tcpd/tcpd  in.ftpd
        telnet  stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/tcpd/tcpd  in.telnetd
        ...
#else
        #ftp    stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/tcpd/tcpd  in.ftpd
        #telnet stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/tcpd/tcpd  in.telnetd
        ...
#endif

Turning services on and off is as easy as editing the central files.cfg, then reinstalling inetd.conf with the appropriate piktc command.

Recently, a CERT advisory was broadcast advising against running the rpc.ttdbserverd service with root privileges. For the rpc.ttdbserverd line, we substituted "daemon" for "root" (the line was already commented out anyway), then updated inetd.conf and reconfigured inetd on all Solaris systems with:

# piktc -iv +F inetd.conf \
            +H solaris -H downsys

# piktc -xv +S SigHupInetd \
            +H solaris -H downsys

where SigHupInetd is a Pikt script written expressly for that purpose.

Another problem we have faced is keeping up-to-date our sudoers file--especially the list of part-time Computer Assistants. We do it in files.cfg by means of an include file:

        User_Alias      PARTTIMERS=\
#include <sudo_parttimers_files.cfg>

where the sudo_parttimers_files.cfg file might be:

        larry,moe,curly,sporty,\
        ginger,baby,posh,scary,\
        john,paul,george,ringo

We have a separate script that rewrites the sudo_parttimers_files.cfg file nightly based on an authoritative and up-to-date GNU Mailman list. The result: a dynamic sudoers config file!

Remote Command Execution

You can use piktc for remote program execution as an alternative to rsh or ssh. The command

# piktc -Xv +C "<command(s)>" \
            +H <systems>

executes the given command(s) on the specified systems.

You can insert PIKT macros within +C command strings. See Listing 13, for example.

Listing 13: piktc Command Example

# piktc -x +C "hostname; =dfk /tmp" +H mus
kiev0
Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
/dev/sd0e             993006      17  893689     0%    /tmp
kiev
Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
swap                  769096     296  768800     1%    /tmp
...

Note that kiev0 is a SunOS system. We want 'df -k' to run on the Solaris systems and just plain 'df' to run on the SunOS systems. The macro =dfk resolves to the desired path and command option.

System Lists

With perhaps the simplest but still useful PIKT setup imaginable--the piktc binary and a systems.cfg file--you can maintain custom system lists, whether for referencing within other programs, as in this Perl statement

     = `piktc -L +H hpux \
                       -H downsys`;

or for command-line work, as in a command loop we use to upgrade our Solaris PIKT binaries (see Listing 14).

Listing 14: System Lists

# for sys in `piktc -L +H solaris -H piktdevsys no_usr_local downsys`
> do
> echo $sys
> ssh $sys "/pikt/lib/programs/svcstart.pl -k; \
  cp /pikt/bin/pikt* /pikt/bin/bak; \
  cp /usr/local/pikt/bin/solaris/pikt* /pikt/bin; \
  /pikt/lib/programs/svcstart.pl -r"
> done

The uses of PIKT really are limited only by your imagination!

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