System integrity test module

Purpose

System integrity test is a procedure of searching out a difference in the current state of files and teir prior state.

This module is purposed for the number of following operations:

Well configured periodical integrity testing gives the opportunity to reveal the dangerous changes that was done to the system.

Module control panel

Control panel gives access to the three main groups of control elements: "Configuration and execution", "Log files" and "Configured directories and files". Elements in the first group is used to configure the execution mode and monitoring its status. The second group provides access to the resulting reports of the test procedures. Configuration of the objects for examination is made by the use of the elements in the third group.

Configuration and execution

Elements in the first group are subdivided into the following subgroups: "Execution options" and "Execution control".

Elements is the first subgroup is used to configure periodical execution of the integrity test. The "Periodic execution" parameter is used to define the automatic execution period ("daily", "weekly" and "monthly" modes) or completely disable it ("off" mode). The medhod(s) by which the resulting report is obtained can be selected by the use of the reporting mode adjustment elements (entitled as "Reporting options"): log writing is controlled by the "Write log" switch, mailing of the report is controlled by the "Send by mail" switch. The switches are independent, thus the selection of a combination of modes is possible. The additional value "Number of log rotations" determines the number of log files stored on the disk when the addition of a newer one makes the oldest one to be removed. All modifications done to the control elements are made effective by the use of the "Set" button.

The second subgroup is purposed to start and stop the integrity test procedure on demand. The "Execution status" field represents the current test process state ("running" or "not running"). If the test isn't currently in progress it can be started by the use of the "Run" button (it only accessible if the process isn't running). Otherwise, the "Kill" button is accessible and can be used to stop the active test procedure.

Log files

This control group is purposed for accessing the resulting report log files stored on the disk. Information on them is represented in the form of a table, showing the name, modification date and the size of a file. Values in the table can be refreshed be the use of the "Refresh" button.

The log file contents can be read on the separate page linked to the file name under the "view" label.

Configured directories and files

The last control group also contains a table representing the number of directories and files to be examined by the integrity test procedure. The currently configured objects is listed in two columnns, including the name and the description of a directory. For the user specified, non-standard directories the special description is not provided.

One or more filesystem objects can be added to the configured set by the use of the "Add" button. The path is determited by the pattern in the "Path" field. A pattern is used to define the shared parts and possible variations of a number of paths: symbol '*' is used to represent any number of symbols of any value, symbol '?' is used for one symbol of any value and the '[..]' construction defines the set of symbol values for one position, where '..' is the set defined by the enumeration of symbols or as symbol range using '-' symbol as delimiter.

The "Delete" button is used to remove a number of marked paths from the configured set.

Reading a log file

Contents of a log file is displayed on the separate page linked to the name of the file in the "Log files" table under the "view" label. As the size of a file can be large it is accessed part by part. The file and part related information is displayed in the number of fields on the top of the page, prior to the part data. At the bottom of the page, following the part data, the number of paging controls are placed. The reading process is analogous to the common book reading: the "<" and ">" buttons is used to turn pages (parts). The "Jump" button is used to go to the part with the specified number (by the use of the field near the button). The first and last page (part) can be easly accessed by the use of the "<<" and ">>" buttons.

The number of lines per part is controlled by the value of the "Lines per page" field. New entered value is used in the next paging action.