Overview

The Monitoring-Framework consists of three independent modules, each having his own purpose. The Main functionalities of the framework are data access, collect and visualize. To access the data, every HAMcast node has to run a daemon process that serves as a remote interface to the HAMcast-API, the Monitoring Daemon. A collector will use this daemons to collect and process the acquired information. A view then displays the data provided by the collector. All components are completely separated. This modular architecture allows us to change functionalities without interfering with other modules. Most important the design and development of User-Interfaces can be separated from the monitoring task, allowing us to implement different kind of views. As for now we provide a Qt-Based view.

Monitoring Daemon

Using the HAMcast-API, the daemon provides information about the current network status of a node. All API-Calls that provide such information are encapsulated by a RESTful-Web-Service. A collector connected to a Daemon, can use the RESTful-Interface to execute these calls, using HTTP POST messages. As a result, a HTTP REPLY message containing the requested information will be generated.

In order to establish a connection to the collector, daemons join into a well known multicast group. This enables the collector to send connect request and set up connections with unknown nodes.

Monitoring Collector

This program frequently collects data from connected daemons, providing the view with information about the HAMcast network. Node information will be retrieved over the RESTful-Web-Service. A view can use a RESTful-Web-Interface to access information from the collector. These functions are directly adapted for monitoring reasons and visualization. The collector has to be reachable over a public IP-address allowing daemons and views to open a connection.

Monitoring View

The view obtains all data from the collector. The data displayed will be frequently updated to give the user an accurate representation of the network. The view provides a group focused visualization of the network. All groups existing in the HAMcast network are displayed, to get an overview. There is also a more detailed view on the specific groups. The detailed view list all nodes and their detailed description, for example interface and routing information. As a second visualization, the view can draw multicast forwarding trees that show the relation between nodes in a graphical manner. All detailed information about a node can be prompted in an extra window by left clicking on the item. This is just one of many possible representations that can be provided with the monitoring framework.