1BLINKENLIGHTS(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation BLINKENLIGHTS(1)
2
6 blinkenlights - DNSSEC-Tools rollerd GUI
7
9 blinkenlights <rollrec-file>
10
12 blinkenlights is a GUI tool for use with monitoring and controlling the
13 DNSSEC-Tools rollerd program. It displays information on the current
14 state of the zones rollerd is managing. The user may control some
15 aspects of rollerd's execution using blinkenlights menu commands.
16 blinkenlights creates a window in which to display information about
18 each zone rollerd is managing. (These zones are those in rollerd's
19 current rollrec file.) As a zone's rollover status changes,
20 blinkenlights will update its display for that zone. Skipped zones,
21 zones listed in the rollrec file but which are not in rollover or
22 normal operation, are displayed but have very little useful information
23 to display.
24 The user may also select a set of zones to hide from the display.
26 These zones, if in the rolling state, will continue to roll; however,
27 their zone information will not be displayed. Display state for each
28 zone will persist across blinkenlights executions.
29 Menu commands are available for controlling rollerd. The commands
31 which operate on a single zone may be executed by keyboard shortcuts.
32 The zone may be selected either by clicking in its "zone stripe" or by
33 choosing from a dialog box. Display and execution options for
34 blinkenlights are also available through menu commands. More
35 information about the menu commands is available in the MENU COMMANDS
36 section.
37 blinkenlights is only intended to be started by rollerd, not directly
39 by a user. There are two ways to have rollerd start blinkenlights.
40 First, rollctl may be given the -display option. Second, the -display
41 option may be given on rollerd's command line.
42
44 blinkenlights takes the following options:
45 -display
47 Tells rollerd to execute blinkenlights as a child process.
48 -maxzones
50 Tells blinkenlights how many zones to display.
51 -Version
53 Displays the version information for blinkenlights and the DNSSEC-
54 Tools package.
55 -help
57 Displays a usage message and exits.
58
60 The blinkenlights window is laid out as a series of "stripes". The top
61 stripe contains status information about rollerd, the second stripe
62 contains column headers, and the bulk of the window consists of zone
63 stripes. The list below provides more detail on the contents of each
64 stripe.
65 See the WINDOW COLORS section for a discussion of the colors used for
67 the zone stripes.
68 · rollerd information stripe
70 The information stripe contains four pieces of information:
72 rollerd's current rollrec file, the count of rolling zones, the
73 count of skipped zones, the count of zones to be displayed, and the
74 amount of time rollerd waits between processing its queue,
75 Coincidentally, that last datum is also the amount of time between
76 blinkenlights screen updates.
77 · column headers stripe
79 This stripe contains the column headers for the columns of each
81 zone stripe.
82 · zone stripes
84 Each zone managed by rollerd (i.e., every zone in the current
86 rollrec file) will have a zone stripe which describes that zone's
87 current state. The stripe is divided into four sections: the zone
88 name, the current rollover state, and the zone's DNSSEC keys.
89 The zone name section just contains the name of the zone.
91 The rollover state section contains the rollover phase number, a
93 text explanation of the phase, and the amount of time remaining in
94 that rollover phase. The phase explanation is "normal operation"
95 when the zone isn't currently in rollover.
96 The DNSSEC key section contains two subsections, one for the zone's
98 ZSK keys and another for the zone's KSK keys. Each subsection
99 contains the names of the signing sets active for the zone. The
100 ZSK subsection lists the Current, Published, and New ZSK keys; the
101 KSK subsection lists the Current and Published.
102 See the WINDOW COLORS section for a discussion of the colors used
104 for the zone stripes.
105
107 The default blinkenlights configuration uses window coloring to provide
108 visual cues and to aid in easily distinguishing zone information. The
109 default window coloring behavior gives each zone stripe has its own
110 color and the rollover state section of each zone stripe is shaded to
111 show the zone's phase. Window coloring can be turned off (and on) with
112 configuration options and menu commands.
113 Color Usage
115 The two window coloring behaviors are discussed more fully below:
116 · zone stripe colors
118 Each rolling zone's stripe is given one of three colors: blue,
120 red, or green. The color is assigned on a top-down basis and the
121 colors wrap if there are more than three zones. So, the first zone
122 is always blue, the second zone red, the third zone green, the
123 fourth zone blue, etc.
124 The colors do not stay with a particular zone. If a rolling zone
126 becomes a skipped zone, the zone stripes will be reassigned new
127 colors to account for that skipped zone.
128 Skipped zones are not colored with these three colors. Stripes for
130 skipped zones are colored either grey or a color set in the
131 configuration file. If you choose to use a non-standard color for
132 skipped zones your should ensure that it is not one of the colors
133 used for rolling zones' stripes. Modifying the skipcolor
134 configuration field allows the skipped-zone color to be changing.
135 The colors configuration field can be used to turn on or off the
137 use of colors for zone stripes. If stripe coloring is turned off,
138 then every stripe will be displayed using the skipcolor color.
139 · rollover-state shading
141 The only portion of a zone stripe that changes color is the status
143 column; the color of the rest of the zone stripe stays constant.
144 Before a zone enters rollover, the status column is the same color
145 as the rest of the stripe. When the zone enters rollover, the
146 status column's color is changed to a very light shade of the
147 stripe's normal color. As the rollover phases progress towards
148 rollover completion, the status column's shade darkens. Once
149 rollover completes, the status column returns again to the same
150 shade as the rest of that stripe.
151 The shading configuration field can be used to turn on or off the
153 use of shading in the rollover-state column. If shading is turned
154 off, then the zone stripe will be a solid color.
155 See the CONFIGURATION FILE section for information on setting the
157 configuration fields.
158 Colors Used
160 The color names are taken from the X11 rgb.txt file (X11 1.1.3 -
161 XFree86 4.4.0 for MacOS X.) If these aren't available in your rgb.txt
162 file, similar names should be selected. The actual red/green/blue
163 values used are given below to assist in finding suitable replacements.
164 These values were taken from the rgb.txt file.
165 Blue Shades:
167 blue 0 0 255
169 lightblue2 178 223 238
170 darkslategray1 151 255 255
171 skyblue1 135 206 255
172 steelblue1 99 184 255
173 turquoise1 0 245 255
174 cornflower blue 100 149 237
175 dodger blue 30 144 255
176 Red Shades:
178 red 255 0 0
180 pink 255 192 203
181 lightsalmon1 255 160 122
182 tomato 255 99 71
183 indianred 205 92 92
184 violetred1 255 62 150
185 orangered1 255 69 0
186 firebrick1 255 48 48
187 Green Shades:
189 green 0 255 0
191 darkseagreen1 193 255 193
192 darkolivegreen1 202 255 112
193 lightgreen 144 238 144
194 seagreen1 84 255 159
195 spring green 0 255 127
196 greenyellow 173 255 47
197 lawngreen 124 252 0
198
200 A number of menu commands are available to control the behavior of
201 blinkenlights and to send commands to rollerd. These commands are
202 discusses in this section.
203 File Menu
205 The commands in this menu are basic GUI commands.
206 · Quit
208 blinkenlights will stop execution.
210 Options Menu
212 The commands in this menu control the appearance and behavior of
213 blinkenlights.
214 · Row Colors (toggle)
216 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the coloring of zone
218 stripes. If row coloring is turned off, zone stripes will all be
219 the same color. If row coloring is turned on, zone stripes will be
220 displayed in varying colors. See the WINDOW COLORS section for a
221 discussion of row coloring.
222 · Status Column Shading (toggle)
224 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the shading of the
226 zone status column. If shading is turned off, the zone stripes
227 will present a solid, unchanging band of color for each zone. If
228 shading is turned on, the color of the zone status column will
229 change according to the zone's rollover state.
230 · Skipped Zones Display (toggle)
232 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the display of skipped
234 zones. If display is turned off, zone stripes for skipped zones
235 will not be displayed. If display is turned on, zone stripes for
236 all zones will be displayed.
237 · Modification Commands (toggle)
239 In some situations, it may be desirable to turn off blinkenlights'
241 ability to send commands to rollerd. This menu item is a toggle to
242 turn on or off this ability. If the commands are turned off, then
243 the "Zone Control" menu and keyboard shortcuts are disabled. If
244 the commands are turned on, then the "Zone Control" menu and
245 keyboard shortcuts are enabled.
246 · Font Size
248 This menu item allows selection of font size of text displayed in
250 the main window.
251 Normally, changing the font size causes the window to grow and
253 shrink as required. However, on Mac OS X there seems to be a
254 problem when the size selected increases the window size to be
255 greater than will fit on the screen. If the font size is
256 subsequently reduced, the window size does not shrink in response.
257 · Zones to Display
259 This menu item allows selection of the number of zones to be
261 displayed in the main window.
262 General Control Menu
264 The commands in this menu are GUI interfaces for the rollctl commands
265 related to general zone management.
266 · Run the Queue
268 rollerd is awoken and runs through its queue of zones. The
270 operation required for each zone is then performed.
271 · Skip Selected Zone
273 The selected zone will be moved to the skipped state. This only
275 has an effect on rolling zones. A zone may be selected by clicking
276 on its zone stripe. If this command is selected without a zone
277 having been selected, a dialog box is displayed from which a
278 currently rolling zone may be chosen.
279 · Skip All Zones
281 All zones will be moved to the skipped state. This has no effect
283 on currently skipped zones.
284 · Halt Rollerd
286 rollerd's execution is halted. As a result, blinkenlights'
288 execution will also be halted.
289 ZSK Control Menu
291 The commands in this menu are GUI interfaces for the rollctl commands
292 related to ZSK-specific zone management.
293 · Roll Selected Zone's ZSK
295 The selected zone's ZSK will be moved to the rollover state. This
297 only has an effect on skipped zones. A zone may be selected by
298 clicking on its zone stripe. If this command is selected without a
299 zone having been selected, a dialog box is displayed from which a
300 currently skipped zone may be chosen.
301 · Roll All Zones' ZSK
303 All zones' ZSKs will be moved to the rollover state. This has no
305 effect on currently rolling zones.
306 KSK Control Menu
308 The commands in this menu are GUI interfaces for the rollctl commands
309 related to KSK-specific zone management.
310 · DS Published Selected Zone
312 This command is used to indicate that the selected zone's parent
314 has published a new DS record for the zone. It moves the zone from
315 phase 6 to phase 7 of KSK rollover.
316 · DS Published All Zones
318 This command is used to indicate that all the zones in KSK rollover
320 phase 6 have new DS records published by their parents. It moves
321 all these zones from phase 6 to phase 7 of KSK rollover.
322 Display Menu
324 The commands in this menu provide control over what is being displayed.
325 There are commands for displaying and hiding both zone stripes, columns
326 of key sets, columns of rollrec names, and columns of zonenames.
327 The zonestripe commands allow all, some, or none of the zone stripes to
329 be displayed. Undisplayed rolling zones will continue to roll, but
330 they will do so without the blinkenlights window indicating this.
331 The data column commands allow individual columns of data to be hidden
333 or displayed. The zone status column may not be hidden. Only one of
334 the rollrec name and zonename columns may be hidden at a time.
335 · Zone Selection
337 A dialog box is created that holds a list of the zones currently
339 managed by rollerd. The user may select which zones should be
340 displayed by clicking on the zone's checkbox. Zones with a
341 selected checkbox will be displayed; zones without a selected
342 checkbox will not be displayed.
343 · Display All Zones
345 All zones will be displayed in the blinkenlights window.
347 · Hide All Zones
349 No zones will be displayed in the blinkenlights window.
351 · Rollrec Name (toggle)
353 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the display of rollrec
355 names. If display is turned off, the column holding the rollrec
356 names will be removed from the display and the display window will
357 shrink. If display is turned on, the column holding the rollrec
358 names will be restored to the display and the display window will
359 be expanded.
360 When displayed, the rollrec names will always be the left-most
362 columns.
363 · Zone Name (toggle)
365 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the display of rollrec
367 names. If display is turned off, the column holding the rollrec
368 names will be removed from the display and the display window will
369 shrink. If display is turned on, the column holding the rollrec
370 names will be restored to the display and the display window will
371 be expanded.
372 When displayed, the rollrec names will always be the left-most
374 columns.
375 · KSK Sets (toggle)
377 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the display of KSK
379 signing set names. If display is turned off, the columns holding
380 the KSK signing set names and labels will be removed from the
381 display and the display window will shrink. If display is turned
382 on, the columns holding the KSK signing set names and labels will
383 be restored to the display and the display window will be expanded.
384 When displayed, KSK signing sets will always be the right-most
386 columns.
387 · ZSK Sets (toggle)
389 This menu item is a toggle to turn on or off the display of ZSK
391 signing set names. If display is turned off, the columns holding
392 the ZSK signing set names and labels will be removed from the
393 display and the display window will shrink. If display is turned
394 on, the columns holding the ZSK signing set names and labels will
395 be restored to the display and the display window will be expanded.
396 When displayed, ZSK signing sets will always be immediately to the
398 right of the zone status column.
399 · Hide All Keysets
401 Turns off display of the KSK and ZSK signing set names.
403 · Show All Keysets
405 Turns on display of the KSK and ZSK signing set names.
407 Help Menu
409 The commands in this menu provide assistance to the user.
410 · Help
412 Display a window containing help information.
414
416 Several aspects of blinkenlights' behavior may be controlled from
417 configuration files. Configuration value may be specified in the
418 DNSSEC Tools configuration file or in a more specific rc.blinkenlights.
419 The system-wide blinkenlights configuration file is in the DNSSEC-Tools
420 configuration directory and is named blinkenlights.conf. Multiple
421 rc.blinkenlights files may exist on a system, but only the one in the
422 directory in which blinkenlights is executed is used.
423 The following are the available configuration values:
425 colors Turn on/off use of colors on zone stripes.
427 fontsize The size of the font in the output window.
428 maxzones The number of zones to display.
429 modify Turn on/off execution of rollerd modification commands.
430 noshow Turn off display of particular columns.
431 shading Turn on/off shading of the status columns.
432 showskip Turn on/off display of skipped zones.
433 skipcolor The background color used for skipped zones.
434 The rc.blinkenlights file is only searched for in the directory in
436 which blinkenlights is executed. The potential problems inherent in
437 this may cause these blinkenlights-specific configuration files to be
438 removed in the future.
439 This file is in the "field value" format, where field specifies the
441 output aspect and value defines the value for that field. The
442 following are the recognized fields:
443 Empty lines and comments are ignored. Comment lines are lines that
445 start with an octothorpe ('#').
446 Spaces are not allowed in the configuration values.
448 Choose your skipcolors carefully. The only foreground color used is
450 black, so your background colors must work well with black.
451 The noshow command controls display of the various data columns. The
453 command valid values are:
454 rollrecs Turn off display of the rollrec names column.
456 This value may not be used with "noshow zonenames".
457 zonenames Turn off display of the zonenames column.
458 This value may not be used with "noshow rollrecs".
459 kskset Turn off display of the KSK signing set columns.
460 zskset Turn off display of the ZSK signing set columns.
461
463 blinkenlights is implemented in Perl/Tk, so both Perl and Perl/Tk must
464 be installed on your system.
465
467 blinkenlights has several potential problems that must be taken into
468 account.
469 development environment
471 blinkenlights was developed and tested on a single-user system
472 running X11 using a relatively small number of zones. While it
473 works fine in this environment, it has not been run on a system
474 with many users or in a situation where the system console hasn't
475 been in use by the blinkenlights user.
476 long-term performance issues
478 In early tests, the longer blinkenlights runs, the slower the
479 updates become. This is probably a result of the Tk implementation
480 or the way Tk interfaces with X11. This is pure supposition,
481 though.
482 This performance impact is affected by a number of things, such as
484 the number of zones managed by rollerd and the length of rollerd's
485 sleep interval. Large numbers of zones or very short sleep
486 intervals will increase the possibility of blinkenlights'
487 performance degrading.
488 This appears to have been resolved by periodically performing a
490 complete rebuild of the screen. blinkenlights keeps track of the
491 number of screen updates it makes and rebuilds the screen when this
492 count exceeds a threshold. The threshold is built into
493 blinkenlights and stored in the $paintmax variable. This threshold
494 may be adjusted if there are too many screen rebuilds or if
495 blinkenlights' performance slows too much. Raising the number will
496 reduce the screen rebuilds; lowering the number will (may) increase
497 performance.
498 display irregularities
500 If the user modifies the number of zones to be displayed, then
501 sometimes the blinkenlights window is left in an irregular state.
502 The requested number of zones are displayed, but there is a large
503 grey void above and below the zone display. This is an occasional
504 problem and will be fixed as time allows.
505
507 Copyright 2006-2011 SPARTA, Inc. All rights reserved. See the COPYING
508 file included with the DNSSEC-Tools package for details.
509
511 Wayne Morrison, tewok@users.sourceforge.net
512
514 bubbles(8), rollctl(8), rollerd(8), zonesigner(8)
515 Net::DNS::SEC::Tools::timetrans(3)
517 Net::DNS::SEC::Tools::keyrec(5), Net::DNS::SEC::Tools::rollrec(5),
519perl v5.12.4 2011-10-12 BLINKENLIGHTS(1)