From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Adolf Belka To: development@lists.ipfire.org Subject: Re: pmacct (was Core Update 156) Date: Tue, 11 May 2021 15:51:27 +0200 Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <9CD0683E-36DA-4294-8643-3A2072218495@ipfire.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============6566830827753170260==" List-Id: --===============6566830827753170260== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Michael, On 11/05/2021 15:17, Michael Tremer wrote: > Hello, >=20 >> On 11 May 2021, at 13:42, Adolf Belka wrote: >> >> Hi Michael, >> >> On 11/05/2021 13:29, Michael Tremer wrote: >>> Hello, >>>> On 11 May 2021, at 12:16, Adolf Belka wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi Michael, >>>> >>>> With the release of Core Update 156 out of the way is pmacct good to go = for Core Update 157 or are further changes required. >>> I did not have any plans. The conversation around this has just died anot= her time and I do not really remember where we left it. >> >> Maybe that is my fault. After flagging it for Core Update 156 and it not m= aking it I presumed I should wait until all Core Update 156 release actions h= ad been completed as everyone would be busy with that. I didn't want to be a = nuisance with chasing it up. >=20 > No I am not pointing any fingers and I am not annoyed with it being brought= up again. >=20 >>> I really do not want to carry around stuff that nobody cares about and th= at the conversation has died multiple times suggests just that. In fact we ar= e trying to drop more dead stuff because if nobody updates it and nobody uses= it, what is the point? >> I understand your point about not wanting dead wood in the addons but I do= n't believe this will be in that category. It will be supported by myself. It= is being used currently by Jon, Erik and @hellfire to my knowledge as local = addons. >=20 > Yes, I am sure you will update the package, but how does a user use it? Goi= ng to the console is a different kind of add-on. Why do we carry vnstatd as w= ell as pmacct? >=20 >>> What is your view of the things around pmacct? Is it ready? What do users= gain from having it in the distribution? >> The v2 update patches were to implement the IPFire Initscript template, re= move all other daemons except pmacct and pmacctd, remove the example config f= iles from /etc/pmacct. The v2 patch set was submitted into patchwork on 27th = March. I believe it is ready for release. >> https://patchwork.ipfire.org/project/ipfire/list/?series=3D1869 >> In terms of what users gain from having it in the distribution this is als= o in the patch commit and I paste it in here as reference. >> ---------------------------------------- >> - What is it? >=20 > I know what it is. I am just asking the question from the angle of the aver= age IPFire user: If I install it, what can I do with it? Go the configuration= file and figure out how to set it up? I could run Debian instead of IPFire t= hen if I do not get any graphical user interface, etc. >=20 >> pmacct is a monitoring tool for network management tasks. Data collected >> can be used for analysis and troubleshooting purposes to maintain the >> health of the network. pmacct can collect, replicate and export network >> information. It can cache in memory tables, store persistently to SQLit= e3 >> and output to flat-files like CSV, formatted, and JSON. >> - Why is it needed? >> To monitor data usage (IP-based or MAC-based data accounting) down to t= he >> client level. Net-Traffic will monitor traffic for the entire RED, GREE= N, >> etc. networks, but it cannot pinpoint which client is using lots of dat= a. >> Connections will take a snapshot but not show day by day sums. pmacct c= an >> help admins keep tabs on users that use too much data. >> - What are the use cases? >> An ISP may implement data caps and if the limit is over-run then you ha= ve >> to pay for every additional xxGB of data used. Typical charges can be >> around $10 per 50GB. With pmacct you can identify the high users and ta= ke >> action, hopefully before the limit is breached. >=20 > I can=E2=80=99t because I cannot see this on the web UI. Do I build custom = SQL queries to figure this out? Users who can do that can compile pmacct for = themselves, too. >=20 >> - This is being introduced as a command line only tool. However, at a later >> date, if it is useful to enough additional users a WUI page could be >> developed as discussed in the development mailing list >> https://lists.ipfire.org/pipermail/development/2021-January/009174.html >=20 > What is the benefit of CLI-only tools? OK, you are saying that with IPFire being a web UI based system then new addi= tions really need to have a WUI provided otherwise the bulk of people won't b= e able to use it. Those people who can cope on the command line with no problems can also build= the addons as local versions. So if we believe that something has benefits for IPFire we need to look at it= in the context of IPFire for all users. Regards, Adolf. >=20 >> ---------------------------------------- >>> Apart from that, I wanted to close Core Update 157 pretty much this week = because the big things have been merged so far. We have some Python 2 migrati= on stuff on the list which can wait for 158, it is important but not urgent. >> Then if it is too late for Core Update 157 then I would like to have it co= mmitted for Core Update 158. >> >> Regards, >> Adolf. >>> Did I miss anything? >>> -Michael >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> Adolf. >>>> >>>> On 07/04/2021 18:43, Adolf Belka wrote: >>>>> Hi All, >>>>> >>>>> I submitted the v2 version of pmacct about 10 days ago based on the inp= ut to the first version. Is this package good to go for CU156 or is further d= iscussion still needed. >>>>> >>>>> I am currently updating bash/readline and a patch will probably be subm= itted later today or tomorrow. Looking at the changes in bash from 5.0 to 5.= 1 I don't see anything that says this update needs to go into CU156 so I woul= d leave it for CU157. >>>>> >>>>> Regards, >>>>> Adolf. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 07/04/2021 17:04, Michael Tremer wrote: >>>>>> Hello, >>>>>> >>>>>> I would like to formally close Core Update 156 as soon as possible to = merge it into =E2=80=9Cmaster=E2=80=9D and release it to a wider audience for= testing. >>>>>> >>>>>> Does anyone have any changes that *must* be in this update? >>>>>> >>>>>> I have the following things on my list: >>>>>> >>>>>> * Dropping macvtap support: This is broken and I do not think that we = would need this because we have bridges. Please review my proposed patch: htt= ps://lists.ipfire.org/pipermail/development/2021-April/009858.html >>>>>> >>>>>> * Jonatan wanted to drop the other templates for the web UI >>>>>> >>>>>> * Peter has some sysctl changes >>>>>> >>>>>> Apart from that I would like to move our attention to testing this upd= ate and collecting patches for the next update. Core Update 156 is already qu= ite large (15 MB compressed on x86_64) and so I would reject any larger chang= es unless really necessary. >>>>>> >>>>>> Lots of thanks to Adolf for putting in so many hours to update all the= se packages that have received so little love in the past. Especially Perl is= one of those which take ages and ages :) >>>>>> >>>>>> Best, >>>>>> -Michael >>>>> >=20 --===============6566830827753170260==--