SAM - Server Activity Monitor Version 3.03 for LANtastic (tm) networks

(C) Copyright 1990 Humbleware Custom Programming
247 Paul Martin Drive
Baltimore, MD 21227
(301) 799-1975

What is SAM?

SAM is an acronym for Server Activity Monitor.


Why do I need SAM?

If you have a "dedicated" server in your system and have
wished for a network monitor that could be run without human
intervention and that would give you a quick assessment of
network activity with just a quick look over your shoulder
then SAM is the answer.


Why was SAM written?

The server monitoring capabilities built into the NET
program are fine for a quick look-see at a network server.
The trouble with the NET program is that it requires that
you tap the space-bar repeatedly to update the monitor screen.
Like I said, fine for a quick look-see but not very good for
real-time server monitoring.


How do I use SAM?

Usage: SAM \\Servername [ [W={P|S}] [U=nnn] [I=nnn] ]

\\Servername Name of network server to be monitored

Switch Meaning Default Options
W= display primary or secondary Window P P or S
U= monitor Users starting at user nnn 1 1 to 290
I= sets update Interval to nnn seconds 0 0 to 300

SAM \\Server W=S - Monitors "Server", display secondary window
SAM \\Server U=2 - Monitors "Server", monitor users starting at user 2
SAM \\Server I=5 - Monitors "Server", sets update interval to 5 seconds


SAM requires only one command line parameter to operate. You
must specify the name of a server that you are currently
logged into.

The Window, User and Interval parameters are optional.


Enhancements:

SAM 1.05:

Some LAN operators have noticed that the system clock in
their servers will occasionally lose a day or two for no
apparent reason. This problem stems from the fact that DOS
will not do any "maintenance" of the system clock unless a
DOS time/date function call is made by an application
program. This "maintenance" of the system clock is pretty
straightforward. If a program makes a DOS time/date
function call, DOS will do two things:

a) DOS will go to the BIOS data area and read the current
number of clock ticks since midnight and calculate the time
from this number.

b) DOS will then look for the midnight rollover flag to see
if a midnight has passed since the clock was queried last.
If the midnight rollover flag is set DOS increments its
internal date count and lowers the midnight rollover flag.

The trouble with this scenario is that DOS has no way of
knowing if more than one midnight has passed since the last
time the clock was queried. I the clock is queried at least
once every 24 hours then the system clock is maintained

properly.

For most users this is not a problem since they usually turn
their systems on/off at least once a day or reboot their
system or run an application program that asks DOS for the
current time and date. All of these things cause DOS to
fetch the current date and time from the system clock and
perform any maintenance needed.

Now in the case of a LAN server it can happen that the
server may run for days without any activity at all such as
over a weekend. In this case the system will have run for
more than 24 hours without the benefit of any DOS time/date
function calls being made.

To correct this DOS/BIOS quirk I added some code to SAM that
monitors the BIOS data area for the "midnight rollover
flag." If SAM detects that midnight has passed it will
issue a DOS function call to read the date thus forcing the
system time/date to be maintained properly.


SAM 1.06:

The I/O bytes field would overflow if more than 999,999,999
bytes of data had been registered. This produced the
expected "%" (overflow) sign in front of the I/O bytes
field. Since I routinely see this condition on the LANs I
operate I chose to increase the length of the I/O Bytes
field by one digit.

The I/O Bytes field has been increased in size to display 10
digits ie: 0,000,000,000 I/O Bytes. The actual number of
I/O bytes that can be displayed is 4,294,967,296 I/O Bytes.
If the number of I/O Bytes exceeds this value the counter
will simply rollover to zero and begin again.


SAM 3.01:

This is a completely rewritten version of SAM that is
compatible with LANtastic NOS 3.xx. The number of changes
made in the NOS 3.xx made the original SAM act a little
strangely. There is no danger in running an older version
of SAM on a NOS 3.xx system but it is recommended that you
upgrade to SAM 3.xx.

In rewriting SAM several changes have been made.

1) The appearance of SAM closely conforms to the 'look
and feel' of Artisoft's NET program (yikes! - could I be
facing a look and feel lawsuit?)

2) The Bytes I/O field will display over a trillion bytes I/O
This should be sufficient to handle the upper limit of the
NOS.

3) All of the information that is returned by the NOS is now
displayed. Earlier versions of SAM did not show the Virtual
Circuit ID number, the number of server requests or the
Remote Program Login (R) flag or the Fully Logged in (L)
Flag. In order to fit all of this information onto the
screen, SAM now offers two different screens that are user
selectable from the DOS command line or the keyboard.

4) Last but not least, because SAM was written in Microsoft
BASIC (Microsoft BASIC PDS (Professional Development
System)) an incredibly powerful yet easy to use language,
using the , , I am providing the source code for SAM in the
hopes that other programmers may decide to make enhancements
to SAM to suit their own purposes or to use SAM as the basis
for other LANtastic utilities. For those who do not have
BASIC PDS, SAM can easily be retrofit by any intermediate
level QuickBASIC programmer to run under QuickBASIC 4.0 or
above. If you find the source code to be enlightening or
otherwise usefull to your projects, please take the time to
drop me a note or call me and tell me about your project.


SAM 3.03:

This version is simply an incremental upgrade that works
with Artisofts NOS version 3.0 to 3.03.


Comments:

Please send any comments or suggestions to:

Humbleware Custom Programming
247 Paul Martin Drive
Baltimore, MD 21227
Attn: Larry Westhaver

or you may leave a voice message at this number:

(301) 799-1975 (answering machine)