Sinfo is a networked software that delivers comprehensive system information about every host connected to your local network.
The demon or sinfod distributes the system information, based on UDP broadcasts on the local network. It also receives broadcasts from all other demons, managing a list of the most recent information. The user program, sinfo, uses the local loop-back interface to connect to the demon and display the updated information, using the ncurses library. The software architecture produces minimal network load, as each node cooperatively broadcasts its information, resulting in O(N) load, where N is the number of nodes in the network.
Software systems like rup(1), which aim to monitor cluster load, use a polling scheme, where every node has to request system information from each other, resulting in O(N**2) network load.
The information broadcasted includes CPU information-speed and number of CPUs, network node hostname, hardware type, host processor type, the operating system name, version and release, uptime, load average, current load (user, nice, system, and idle times), memory usage (RAM, and swap space), network traffic (send, and received by network card) and the top 5 processes.
To install the software, use the `configure' shell script to guess the system-dependent variables used for compilation. Then, create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package. It may also create one or more `.h' files, which contain system-dependent definitions- and a shell script, config.status. Running 'configure' takes some time, and while running, it prints the features being checked for.
Compile the package using the `make' command and run the self-tests using `make check.' To install the software, use `make install.' After installation, remove the program binaries and object files using `make clean.' If you need to compile the same package for a different computer system, use `make distclean.'.
In a more recent release, the networking code of the demon uses the asio library, enhancing the efficiency and capability of the software.
Version 0.0.25: N/A