<html> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> I know this probably isn’t the proper forum to ask for help on this, so please disregard if you like. I currently use Nagios to monitor my network. I’d also like to tie in the alarm system on my datacenter so that I get a page if the door is opened. I’ve decided that the easiest way to do this without funding would be with a serial loopback connector connected to the siren output on my alarm with a normally closed relay. The idea is that the loopback connector will be wired across a normally closed relay, completing the loop. If an alarm condition occurs with the security system, tripping the siren will also trip the relay, interrupting the serial loopback connected to one of my Windows servers. The problem is, I am not a programmer. I know it should only take 5-10 lines of code to accomplish what I need. What I would like is a small program that transmits arbitrary data across the serial loopback connection. If that connection is broken, then a file like “alarm.txt” will be written to the hard drive. Using the Check_nt pluigin to check for the presence of this file will cause Nagios to send email and page alarms. So to sum up: Data loops continuously through serial loop If loop interrupted: write alarm.txt file Seems like it would be easy code to write, but like I said, I’m not a programmer at all… I’ve written about this issue before on this forum, but the suggestions I received required purchasing hardware and software my budget does not allow. If anyone has suggestions, I’d appreciate it. Rob Wirtz CNE, MCSE Senior Network Systems Analyst Computing and Network Services Kansas State University 2323 Anderson #146 Manhattan, KS 66502 785-532-3346 <a href="mailto:rob@ksu.edu">rob@ksu.edu</a> </div> </body> </html>