NAME

       sntop — top-like console network status tool

SYNOPSIS

       sntop [options]

DESCRIPTION

       sntop  (simple  network  top) is a console utility, in the spirit of top, that polls a list of hosts at a
       regular interval to determine if they are online, displaying the results in a formatted table.  This list
       is read on load from a config file, sntoprc, located (by default) in ~/ or /etc.  The polling is done via
       ICMP ping (1)

       Optionally, the results can be used to generate an html page or elicit the execution of a file.

       Interactive run-time commands exist:

       q - quit

       r - reload config file

       w - toggle html page generation

       any other key - force a refresh

COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS

       -d, --daemon - daemon mode: make sntop capable of running in the background.  note, it wont automatically
       fork into the background.

       -o, --once - poll and display results once, then exit

       -c, --nocolor - toggle the use of ncurses color for pretty formatting

       -p, --ping - use 'ping' in lieu of 'fping'. note, ping (in particular on DOWN hosts) is slower than fping
       -- the performance of sntop will suffer.

       -w, --html - generate html output of results

       -s, --secure - secure mode.  command keys are disabled. SIGINT must be used  to  terminate  the  program.
       this  allows  sntop to run nicely on spare terminals galore.  something like the following in /etc/passwd
       can facilitate that:

       sntop:x:123:123:sntop:/:/usr/local/bin/sntop -s

       -e <file>, --wfile=file - output html to <file> instead of sntop.html

       -f <file>, --conf=file - read conf data from <file> instead of ~/.sntoprc.  note, sntop will still try to
       read from /etc/sntoprc if <file> fails.  if both fail, sntop will exit.

       -r <time>, --refresh=time - refresh every <time> seconds instead of 180

       -a <file>, --alarm=file - alarm mode: execute <file> when a site first goes DOWN

       -l <file>, --log=file - log mode: execute <file> whenever the status of a site changes

       -b <bytes>, --byte=bytes - Number of bytes of ping data to send

       -v, --version - display version information and exit

       -h, --help - display command-syntax help and exit

Command Execution Syntax

       In alarm or log mode a file is executed on the occurrence of change in status of  a  given  host.   sntop
       will  fork and exec the specified file, passing as arguments information about the event. those arguments
       are:

       <display name of host> <host name/IP> <status>

       <display name of host> the 'display' name (first sntop column) of the machine, ie "MyBox"

       <host name/IP> the explicit hostname or IP address of the machine, ie "snaggle" or "192.168.55.12"

       <status> the new status of the machine, "UP" or "DOWN," this would obviously always  be  DOWN  for  alarm
       mode

       Note, DOWN hosts will be logged in both modes upon load (ie, if they are down when sntop loads, <file> is
       executed).  No action is taken in any modes for hosts that originate as UP -- thus, the default status is
       UP.   We  execute  an external file to remain in the UNIX tradition -- small, simple programs that do one
       thing damn well.  Thus, a logging option is not even provided -- a two-line shell script  will  do  fine,
       there.   However, the possibilities are powerful: administrator paging, for instance. See alarm.sh for an
       example script.

FILES

       ~/.sntoprc default config file location

       /etc/sntoprc if a user's config is not found, this system-wide one is read

       /usr/share/man/man1/sntop.1.gz the man page

       /usr/share/doc/sntop/examples/alarm.sh sample alarm-execute script

       /usr/bin/sntop the sntop executable

CONFIG FILE

       An example  config  file,  /usr/share/doc/sntop/examplessntoprc.EXAMPLE,  is  included  in  the  standard
       distribution.   However,  the  config  file  syntax  is simple.  Entries are RETURN terminated.  Trailing
       whitespace is ignored.  '#' signifies a comment and can be used inline.  By default, upto  32  characters
       will be read, per line.  All entries should be a single word, except comments. The syntax:

       Display Name

       IP or host

       Display Comments

       Example:

       Jimi

       192.168.23.1

       linux/sparc; firewall, http, ftp

       sntop  will  first attempt to read the config file from ~/.sntoprc (or another location specified by -f).
       If that fails, the system config file will be read from /etc/sntoprc. If both fail, sntop will exit.

AUTHORS

       sntop was written by Robert M. Love <rml@tech9.net> and Christopher M. Rivera  <cmrivera@ufl.edu>.   Send
       us bug reports, suggestions, and hardware.

SEE ALSO

       top (1), ping (1), fping (1)

                                                October 22, 2008                                        SNTOP(1)