
CheckService 2
==============

I'm glad to announce that the development of CheckService 2 already
has ben started. It shouldn't take long for CS2 to replace this Checkservice.

What can one expect?

* Configure/install system:
  - Fixing the fact that one might have to change all those
    #!/usr/local/bin/perl lines if perl is located somewhere else.
  - If you change the install destination, the configure system will modify
    configfile accordingly.
  - Dependency checks.
  - It's possible to release fast.

* Grouping:
  Finally, CS will get decent grouping support. One can configure check-
  and warningplugin defaults per group, override these in a subgroup, etc
  and at last in a host configuration file.
  CS2 will support grouplevels as deep as the file system supports (using
  directories).

* Server/client model:
  CS2 will provide a daemon. This daemon will produce a state file which
  a client locally can read. Later on CS2 will get a network server
  for clients to (authenticated) retrieve configuration and state.

* XML 1.0:
  Configuration of the main program, groups, hosts and plugins is done
  in XML. The format is standardized by DTDs. Also the state is in XML
  replacing huge logfiles.
  The DTDs are not finished, but already available at:
  http://www.linvision.com/checkservice/dtd/

* CSD:
  CS2 will feature the (above mentioned) daemon which performs the checks.
  Checkservice will dynamically reread the host configuration every cycle,
  so restarting is not necessary. 
  Note: The CS2 _focusses_ on the daemon/server and the state format. I
        will NOT write & maintain any clients except the cs-client mentioned
        below, but I hope to include contribbed clients.

* Backward compatibility:
  CS2 will come with cs-client. This client is really only an example client
  but can parse and output the state information in the 'old' CS1 format.

* Releases:
  I can release CS2 versions/fixes ten times as fast as CS 1.*
  First there will be some CS2 pre-releases versioned 1.9.*.

  WARNING: One should NOT replace CS1 which such a version.. 1.9.6 will
           be the first release to include most of features CS 1.* had and
           extend on them.

If there are any suggestions, please mail us at cs-devel@lists.luon.net
or join the list at http://lists.luon.net/cs-devel

Paul <paul@luon.net>
