ADMIN - Explore the new world of system administration! Special introductory offer! Order by September 30th to save 10% off the regular subscription price! Each issue delivers technical solutions to the real-world problems you face every day. Learn the latest techniques for better:
network security
system management
troubleshooting
performance tuning
virtualization
cloud computing
on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and popular varieties of Unix.
They say darkness is the friend of thieves, but the Perl daemon in this month’s column illuminates dastardly deeds, exposing hidden activities and alerting the admin when things seem to be going awry.
In this month’s Perl column, we will introduce a system to water your plants while you are away from home. With a little help from Perl, a friendly, Linux-based irrigation system waters your plants twice a day.
My low-budget router has just crashed, and there is no way to reset the beast remotely via a network. Never fear – an X10 module, controlled by a web GUI with an Ajax interface, can actuate the mains switch.
SecurID tokens use an authentication system by RSA Security to give the user a valid key for logging onto the target system. A home-grown optical character recognition tool in Perl monitors the key generator.
An uninterruptible power supply can help get you through a short power outage without losing data or damaging hardware. A Nagios script written in Perl checks UPS health and initiates a controlled powerdown if the unit exhausts its battery capacity.
Are you interested in storing, organizing, and searching instant messaging conversations on your IMAP server? The Perl script in this month’s column can help you do just that.
ELECTRICKERY
Perl uses a multimeter to report power consumption
Jul 01, 2008
Today’s digital multimeters can do more than measure current and voltage. Multimeters also measure capacity and temperature. An inexpensive multimeter can talk to your PC via the serial port, and simple Perl scripts let you read and visualize data in neat charts.
Stop by Rikki's Open Source Exchange for dispatches from the world of women in open source.
Rikki Kite examines the experience of women across the spectrum of open source – the people, projects, organizations, events, articles, issues, and news.
