SocketStation connects to any type of data source. This flexibly comes via a plug-in architecture.
SocketStation includes plug-ins for all commonly encountered protocols. Below are some popular examples:
Executes a command and retrieves any output. This type of connection usually takes advantage of the Dialogger feature to script the command interaction.
Periodically executes an SQL query and retrieves the response rows.
Periodically performs a GET request and retrieves the responses.
Listens as an SNMP manager, converting the binary traps to XML for easier processing. It can also forward the raw traps to other SNMP managers. See TrapStation for full-featured SNMP trap handling.
Connects to an existing socket server.
Creates a server process for receiving data from clients. This makes it easy to broadcast data from your own in-house scripts and applications... Your develops can just open a simple socket and start writing logs to it. SocketStation takes care of authorization, buffering, replication, etc.
Continuously monitors a log, and immediately posts new data as it is appended to the file.
Implements the Telnet protocol. It is usually used with the Dialogger feature to script a login id, password, and command execution.
Open a secure shell to a remote server. It is usually used with the Dialogger feature to script a one-time or periodic poll command.
An open API ensures that customized and proprietary plug-ins can be developed for you, or even by you. Below are some example plug-ins developed for our customers:
To receive alarms from a large telecom server, a CORBA client was wrapped as a plug-in.
A telecom server exported alarms via Java's Remote Method Invocation (RMI) interface. An RMI plug-in was developed to subscribe to the alarms.
The Nimbus network management system's database was interfaced to collect alerts generated by the system, and then broadcast the data in an XML format.
The NetWatch network management system's database was interfaced to collect alerts generated by the system, and then broadcast the data in a custom format.
An SNMP plug-in was developed to receive Netcool alerts, forwarded through a Netcool Gateway as SNMP traps. The traps were translated into a simplified XML format for real-time processing.
A security project required a pair of custom plug-ins. The first plug-in receives binary SNMP traps, and converts them to a specialized XML format. The customer's security system then scrubs the data. Approved traps are then translated back into SNMP by the second plug-in, for transmission to the final destination.
