Mac OS X | IT & Network Administration | Internet / Web Servers | Whistle Blower

Whistle Blower - 3.1

enterprise server monitor & restart utility

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All Time:	(3.4)
This Version:	Not rated (0.0)
Current Version:	3.1
Release Date:	2003-05-12
License:	Commercial
Downloads (this version):	2,794
Downloads (all versions):	11,688
Price:	$90.00

Information Related to Version:

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Product Description:

Whistle Blower is a server monitoring and restart utility for the Macintosh. It will regularly connect to your servers and verify that they are responding properly. If a server fails to respond Whistle Blower can alert you via e-mail or send a page using either Simple Pager, MarkSpace's Page NOW! or Easypager. If you have a Master Switch from APC or a Power Key from Sophisticated Circuits Whistle Blower can actually restart a failing server without any further intervention from you.

Verification of returns from the servers allows you to make sure that your webserver is returning the proper content and not an error message. Whistle Blower is able to post form variables letting you verify that a CGI or online database is working properly. The shift notification makes sure that the person on duty over the weekend is the one that gets the page while still ignoring the scheduled downtime of the Sunday night reboot.

What's new in this version:

Email Cycle Task Send an email and receive the email to check every part of an smtp/pop system.
SMTP Authentication Email alerts and reports can be sent through smtp servers requiring authentication.
HTTP Action Make an http connection in response to an outage.
Improved OSX Performance and OSX Only Features:

Shell Script Task validate the return from a shell script.
Shell Script Action run a terminal command in response to an outage.
Log to Syslog Send log entries to the system log.
no longer runs as root Easier install no longer requires administrator password.

Operating System Requirements:

This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:

Mac OS X 10.4 PPC
Mac OS X 10.3.9
Mac OS X 10.3
Mac OS X 10.2
Mac OS X 10.1
Mac OS X 10.0
Mac OS Classic

Additional Requirements:

PPC
Mac OS 8.6 or higher with CarbonLib
or
Mac OS X 10.0 or higher

Feedback Summary:

This Version:
Overall Rating:	Not rated (0.0)	Features:	Not rated (0.0)	Support:	Not rated (0.0)
Ease of Use:	Not rated (0.0)	Quality / Stability:	Not rated (0.0)	Price:	Not rated (0.0)

Key to Types of Feedback:

Reviews Reviews Troubleshooting Usage Tips Developer Notes Commentary Featured Reviews

Works well, with older APC equipment - Version: 3.1, 6/6/2007 07:33AM PST

afterhours

I have read the feedback here on Whistleblower, and noted that in some releases of OS X, it would freeze (memory leak?). If I recall, that was in Panther.

I used this product with a server farm on an APC 9211 with the APC 9606 controller card installed. Worked really, really well if I didn't have any of its windows open constantly. Just ran in the background and would alert and/or restart various machines exactly as programmed. Used it for four years without any complaint other than that interface bug.

I'd like to see it mature and grow to control other APC equipment. We've moved on to a more reliable AP7900 for some of our clients, and Whistleblower can 'see' the devices via telnet, but cannot accurately map the outlet ports to make it work. Hopefully, James Sentman hasn't completely abandoned the software and we'll see updates or feature growth in the future.

CPU hog that changs frequently in both 9 and X - Version: 3.1, 3/3/2004 07:55PM PST

langstraad

I've tested various versions of WhistleBlower since it first appeared. It would be an fairly elegant solution if it actually worked like it should. Massive memory leaks, huge CPU hog, often becomes unresponsive. Strangely, these behaviors haven't changed significantly in the last three years.

Does a lot of work very well - Version: 3.1, 2/20/2004 10:54AM PST

chesters

Whistle Blower keeps track of a dozen 24/7 systems that are widely scattered about my site. It is so useful that it runs on a dedicated Mac G4 in the corner of my office, with voice and e-mail announcements of outages, so I can fix them. I don't understand the complaints about the lack of a history, since the main window displays a percentage up-time, and the log window lists when systems came and went. At the moment, the main bug is that WB gradually consumes all the CPU under Panther unless the main status window is closed. The author has been active with support until recently, when his web site became bombarded with spam. Good stuff.