What is it and...
What can it do for me?

DISKTOOL is an XView based GUI program, running on SunOS 4.1.x, Solaris 2.x, FreeBSD, or Linux, that monitors one or more filesystems and alerts the user when a filesystem has reached a critical threshold of available space.

In a typical case, DISKTOOL can be run on a fileserver with command line options to monitor all system and user home partitions with the DISPLAY set back to your local screen. In an engineering environment, especially dealing with CAD/CAE data, available disk space is a major concern so that models do not get corrupted or lost. DISKTOOL can be configured to give sufficient warning of these critical situations.

DISKTOOL can be left iconified on the desktop and configured to un-iconify when a critical situation develops. If the un-iconifing is toggled off, critical conditions can still be observed as the icon will change from:

to:

The ew0200 at the bottom of each of these icons indicates the name of the machine being monitored so that more than one DISKTOOL may be run, each from a different server, without confusion. DISKTOOL can also be configured to execute any unix command or script when a file system becomes critical. With this method, a script could be written to send E-Mail to all the users on the critical filesystem informing them to clean up any unnecessary files.

Usage:

Command line usage is as follows:


 Usage: disktool <options> [-t <int>] filesystem [[-t <int>] filesystem ]...

[-t, -threshold <int>] (value in MBs to determine a critical disk, default=5)

 options:
[-c, -cmd <cmdline>]   (command to be executed upon critical condition)
[-d, -delta]           (display delta since previous poll)
[-h, -horizontal]      (default is vertical layout)
[-i, -interval <int>]  (in seconds, default=180)
[-l, -lineup <int>]    (# of gauges to lineup before starting new row
			or col{depending on layout}, default=10)
[-r, -repeat <int>]    (repeat rate for critical condition signal, default=0)
[-s, -spacing <int>]   (spacing, in pixels, between gauges, default=0{Auto})
[-u, -used]            (reverses gauge display to show used instead of avail)

DISKTOOL Parameters can be changed on the fly by either keyboard accelerators or the pop-up Properties window accessed by clicking the right mouse button on one of the gauges.

What's new at Version 2.0...

Can now add filesystem on the fly
- On the Properties pop-up window, the Filesystem item is now an editable field where a new filesystem can be typed in and the threshold and units can be adjusted before pressing the "Add Filesystem" button.
Can now remove filesystem on the fly
- A delete button has been added to the Properties pop-up window to remove the current selected filesystem from the DISKTOOL main gauge window.
Allow action after x number of polls
- Previous to this release, DISKTOOL would only signal a critical condition once for each filesystem and would only reset if the filesystem re-gained available disk space and went above critical. Now through the cmdline option, "-r", or the properties pop-up window, a value can be specified as to how often a signal will be sent. A value of "0" is the default and specifies the old method of only one signal when the filesystem first goes critical. Any other positive integer value specifies the number of polls before the signal is repeated. This will happen indefinitely until the filesystem rises above the critical condition.
Force a filesystem poll with middle mouse button click
Added deltas
- If "-d" cmdline option is specified, DISKTOOL will continually display a delta since the last poll. The color will reflect whether there was a gain or a loss. By default, green for gain and red for loss.
Added keyboard accelerators
- +,- Respectively, increase & decrease the polling interval
  by 10 seconds with each keypress.
- = Displays polling interval in the left footer for 1 second
  before returning to the timestamp display.
- h,v Respectively, change to horizontal or vertical layout.
- p Forces an immediate filesystem poll.
- q,x Quits DISKTOOL.
Added -cmd cmdline option
- Can now specify the command to be executed when a filesystem being monitored goes critical from the DISKTOOL command line.
Added KB parsing of cmdline args
- Any threshold value containing a 'K' will be understood to be KB's, anything else will default to MB's.
Now checks for more than MAX_GAUGES filesystems
- Now will not crash if more then MAX_GAUGES filesystems are specified.
Now has a Min. width
- No longer truncates the timestamp in the footer if only one filesystem is specified with a short name (ie. /) in horizontal layout.
Added -used cmdline option
- Reverses the function of the gauge displays to show disk space used instead of the default, disk space avail.

Download your copy today!

DISKTOOL is available in source form now from it's new home at TheCore. It comes complete with a README file, Makefile and Manpage.

Disktool Ver. 2.0c

Y2K Statement

The closest Disktool comes to using a date is its time stamp routine. This routine utilizes time_t values which are 32 bits on all modern UNIXes and should work correctly until approximately 2038 A.D. having said this, Disktool should be fully Y2K compliant, but is highly dependent upon the underlying UNIX operating system and runtime libraries, updates for which may be available from the vendor of your UNIX system, in advance of the year 2038.

Help Section

Have you been running disktool for a while now and wondered why you just couldn't get your bourne shell script to recognize the BYTES and DISK environment variables I advertised for the command execution when a disk goes critical?? Well it's because I never exported them!! Yes, my fault.....Actually, this is a problem I have been aware of for a while. I just thought I had fixed it quite a while ago only to find out recently that it was still there. Well, download Disktool Ver. 2.0c and the problem is finally fixed!

...and now back to my Home Page