Big Brother Probes
Intermapper can act as a Big Brother server. Big Brother is a popular network monitoring tool that allows you to create scripts ("clients") that run on remote systems and send status reports back to the Big Brother server. This allows a network manager to test additional kinds of network devices, either by writing scripts or using some of the many scripts that area already available.
When you specify a device to be tested with a Big Brother probe, Intermapper's built-in Big Brother server listens for messages coming from a Big Brother client on the corresponding machine.
Adding a device to use the Big Brother probe is simple, since there is only one configurable item—the port number. Normally this will be 1984, the default, but you may choose a different port. If you choose a different port, make sure that the Big Brother client on the corresponding machine is also configured for the same port, rather than 1984.
In order for Intermapper to receive Big Brother messages from the remote client, it must be configured correctly. In particular, the client must be configured so that its BBDISPLAY is set to the IP address of the machine where Intermapper is running.
The Big Brother states will be mapped to Intermapper states as shown in the table below:
| Big Brother State | Intermapper Status |
|---|---|
| Okay (green) | Okay (green) |
| Attention (yellow) | Warning (yellow) |
| Trouble (red) | Alarm (orange) |
The only messages that Intermapper processes and represents are "status" (and "combo") messages.
The Big Brother server for a given port will not start until at least one device has been configured for that port. Similarly, once the last device for that port has been removed, the server for that port will shut down.
For more information about Big Brother, check the Big Brother web site at http://www.bb4.com/download.html. "Big Brother System and Network Monitor" is a trademark of BB4 Technologies, Inc. There is a good description of the Big Brother message format at: http://www.bb4.org/bb/help/help/status_message_format.htm. You can also look through a large set of Big Brother clients that can be downloaded freely.