Remote CPU and RAM tracking

[StateWolf]

Hi all,

I am setting up a webserver using a classic Mac OS (either 8.1 or 8.6) using MacHTTP.

My question is: how can I remotely see the CPU load, RAM usage, and any other statitics remotely? I know that some Windoze based servers can display graphs of the past few hours they are active but how can I do that on the Mac? (preferably free)

Is there a utility that can simply create a GIF and update it every 15 minutes or so? (I can put that file in the site's folder)

I am not above using a "creative" solution. I just want to have this Mac running without a monitor running as a webserver and have the abilty to check up on it from time to time when I am away.

(And no, it won't run OS X - it is a 225 MHz 603e)

Thanks a lot!

[1337_5L4Xx0R]

edit: Oops! Ignore this entire post. Didn't read carefully: You can't run OSX. Run linux? Then read on.

The best solution I can think of is called GKrellM. It uses less than 1% CPU usage on my TiBook 867mhz, uses VERY little network bandwidth (like ~3KB/sec) to monitor a remote machine, and allows you to monitor, well, EVERYTHING in realtime.

How do you get it to work? I assume Fink has GKrellM ready to rock (anyone care to comment?), so install fink on the remote machine, use Fink to install GKrellm and all of it's dependancies, then figure out how to start gkrellmd at boot time. There's an /etc/gkrellmd.conf file you need to tweak to allow ONLY your local machine to access. You can put your IP address in here if it is static (doesn't change over reboots/time), or if it is dynamic, use a service like http://dyndns.org to give your local machine and/or remote machine a static domain name regardless of your IP address. Still there? good.

Then get & install Fink/GKM on your local machine. Done? Now start X11 (available from Apple's website if you don't already have it), open an xterm, and type:

gkrellm2 [remote machine's IP address or DN] &

You are now monitoring your remote machine in realtime. You can see CPU usage spike, ram usage, network usage, etc etc. There are also lot's of plugins available for gkrellm to extend it's functionality.

I use GKrellm in linux all the time to monitor my Wallstreet laptops from my TiBook.

An easier but nowhere near as good solution: SSH into the remote machine and run 'screen'. Type 'top -o cpu', then Control-a followed by Control-c, in the blank window type netstat. Then Control-a Control-a to switch between 'screens'. Beware: Top is a Processor pig, eating about 10% cpu just monitoring processes.