The Bandwidth Alarm software sends email or SMS notifications for sudden excess bandwidth usage. It serves as an alert system for companies and individuals who need to manage their bandwidth efficiently.
The program is designed to be simple, independent of the host system, and reliable at warning against complicated bandwidth monitoring systems failure. Therefore, it serves as insurance against loss in cases where lapses in concentration may result in thousands of pounds in damage. It's recommended to have multiple bandwidth monitoring schemes in place for extra security.
To configure and use the software, the user should invoke the program using the provided string, which will send the program's diagnostic output to the system logs in case the user doesn't receive email or SMS notification. The script is intended to be a stand-alone program, running continuously on a UNIX system. To change the settings, the user needs to edit the well-documented top file to point it at sendmail, tcpdump, and set the parameters for issuing an alarm. Finally, the user sets the email addresses or phone numbers to notify and account details at Clickatell to activate the SMS notification feature.
While the program is running, it logs alerts to stderr but can show users every reading it takes if they invoke it with the --verbose flag. The --test flag disables SMS and email sending, while the user can also tell the program to dump its current list of byte,packet counter pairs to stderr by sending it SIGALRM. Overall, this software is an excellent asset for monitoring bandwidth and preventing sudden spikes, and it's easy to use with its clear and concise documentation.