Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

What software do you use to audit your machines?

9 views
Skip to first unread message

Adam Sandler

unread,
Apr 7, 2011, 10:39:44 AM4/7/11
to
Hello:

I just wondering what software everyone uses to audit their
machines... to keep track of things like installed programs, versions,
configurations, etc.

Also curious about if the application you use has an API and/or can
work with multiple operating systems. I've tried to google these last
two capabilities and haven't been able to find squat.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jorgen Grahn

unread,
Apr 7, 2011, 5:11:14 PM4/7/11
to
On Thu, 2011-04-07, Adam Sandler wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I just wondering what software everyone uses to audit their
> machines... to keep track of things like installed programs, versions,
> configurations, etc.

An operating system. Specifically, the Debian Linux package manager,
apt/dpkg. Most OSes have something similar.

That doesn't handle system configuration file versioning, so I also
use CVS. Each of my few machines has a CVS repository containing the
interesting parts of /etc.

As I understand it, Windows doesn't do any of that (or at least it's
common procedure to ignore it.)

> Also curious about if the application you use has an API and/or can
> work with multiple operating systems. I've tried to google these last
> two capabilities and haven't been able to find squat.

Apt/dpkg uses the Unix API, i.e. it's command-line utilities which you
can use in shell scripts etc. Can't work with multiple OSes though,
since it's OS-specific. And if your OS provides a system, it's
probably not helpful to circumvent it.

/Jorgen

--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .

Adam Sandler

unread,
Apr 18, 2011, 3:53:18 PM4/18/11
to
On Apr 7, 3:11 pm, Jorgen Grahn <grahn+n...@snipabacken.se> wrote:
> On Thu, 2011-04-07, Adam Sandler wrote:

> As I understand it, Windows doesn't do any of that (or at least it's
> common procedure to ignore it.)

No kidding Windows doesn't have a package manager. That was NOT the
question. I asked for what COTS out there people use for the their
configuraiton management.

>
> > Also curious about if the application you use has an API and/or can
> > work with multiple operating systems.  I've tried to google these last
> > two capabilities and haven't been able to find squat.
>
> Apt/dpkg uses the Unix API, i.e. it's command-line utilities which you
> can use in shell scripts etc. Can't work with multiple OSes though,
> since it's OS-specific. And if your OS provides a system, it's
> probably not helpful to circumvent it.

Not trying to circumvent anything. I'm simply trying to find out what
software people use to help maintain their configuration management.
You must not have read my question closely. I wasn't asking for a
treatise on OSes... rather I just want to know how people audit the
baseline configuration of their machines.

JarrE

unread,
Apr 18, 2011, 4:16:29 PM4/18/11
to


We (The University of Oslo) use Tivoli Configuration Manager/Tivoli
Management Framwork, which will reach it's EOL in 2013. A dead horse
that's not the easiest one to configure, but up and running does a good
job...

Regards/
JarrE

Jorgen Grahn

unread,
Apr 18, 2011, 5:24:40 PM4/18/11
to
On Mon, 2011-04-18, Adam Sandler wrote:
> On Apr 7, 3:11 pm, Jorgen Grahn <grahn+n...@snipabacken.se> wrote:
>> On Thu, 2011-04-07, Adam Sandler wrote:
>
>> As I understand it, Windows doesn't do any of that (or at least it's
>> common procedure to ignore it.)
>
> No kidding Windows doesn't have a package manager. That was NOT the
> question.

And the part of my answer you quoted above wasn't my full answer.

> I asked for what COTS out there people use for the their
> configuraiton management.
>
>>
>> > Also curious about if the application you use has an API and/or can
>> > work with multiple operating systems.  I've tried to google these last
>> > two capabilities and haven't been able to find squat.
>>
>> Apt/dpkg uses the Unix API, i.e. it's command-line utilities which you
>> can use in shell scripts etc. Can't work with multiple OSes though,
>> since it's OS-specific. And if your OS provides a system, it's
>> probably not helpful to circumvent it.
>
> Not trying to circumvent anything. I'm simply trying to find out what
> software people use to help maintain their configuration management.
> You must not have read my question closely. I wasn't asking for a
> treatise on OSes... rather I just want to know how people audit the
> baseline configuration of their machines.

And I tried to answer. If you didn't like parts of that answer, that's
your problem.

0 new messages