Monitoring Your Unix Boxen?

Griim asks: "I've been using Linux for years and loving it, and have also worked a bit on a few Sun stations and BSD boxes as well. My question is this: what is the easiest way to keep tabs on all of the activity?"

"I know a few people who 'tail -f' the main log files, or who run 'top' every so-often. These require constant monitoring though, and you could miss essential error messages if you step away for too long. Are there any projects that do this successfully? I've seen a couple out there that started to do this, but appear to be abandoned.

Ideally, I would like some type of all-in-one, that possibly generates a daily (email/web) report of network statistics, user logins, and (web)server traffic/hits, as well as anything 'suspicious' that might be happening, perhaps what apps have been taking most of the processor time, or if any of the daemons have been busier than they normally would be. I know there probably isn't one single app out there that does all of this, so what's the best configuration , for keeping tabs on multiple machines, something I can skim for a minute or two each day, to make sure things are the way they should be? I want to know what works best, and just as importantly, what *doesn't* work (I do realize that relying on a single solution would be bad here too, so if you have more than one suggestion, that would be appreciated)."

Comments

Re:first boxen!

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe it is now
times change and you sound like grandpa saying 'Back when I was young ....'

Re:first boxen!

[psyconaut]

Actually, boxen IS a word. I quote: [B]boxen[/B] \Box"en\ (b[o^]ks"'n), a. Made of boxwood; pertaining to, or resembling, the box (Buxus). [R.] The faded hue of sapless boxen leaves. --Dryden. [I]Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.[/I]