[Web4lib] ethernet cable alarm

[McMorris,Don]

Maybe you don't need an alarm that the cable is unplugged, but software that monitors the loss of connectivity...

What I'm thinking is something that pings the server every 10 or 15 seconds.  If it gets a reply, it does nothing.  If at one moment it cannot connect, it will cause an action (IE: make the PC speaker continuously alarm, start a full screen application which flashes alternating black-and-white saying "Don't touch my cables!", something like that.

Or, the server will ping the clients.  If ping fails, it sends a windows messenger (winpopup, net send) message to whatever workstation "Client CRKRPC1 lost connectivity"

Don't ask me how to go about the program, but I would think that something can be done fairly easily in 
VBSCRIPT.



I think I could do something with quickbasic and bat files.  Basically, it would work as follows:
1) Server has a script that runs every 10 seconds, looking up the contents of d:\shared\tester.txt (a number), adds 1 to the value, and outputs the value to d:\shared\tester.txt
2)every 15 seconds, client has script1 copy the file from file://domctrl/shared/tester.txt to c:\tester.txt
3)every 30 seconds, client has script2 look up contents of c:\tester.txt.  If the number in it is not equal the value in c:\tester2.txt, it copies the file c:\tester.txt to c:\tester2.txt and exits... if the value is equal, the alarm sounds (they would be equal if the file copy failed, meaning cable unplugged)
4)Server has a script running at a closed time (IE: 3:00 AM) resetting d:\shared\tester.txt to 1.

This, I could do with a series of batch files and a quickbasic file.  Heck, I may even be able to make it a quickbasic-only program, meaning you could run it as a service (and the user wouldn't be aware of it, unless he can open task manager!).


Good luck in whatever you choose, be it physical security or software like I suggest.

--Don

------------------------ 
"Proudly serving the 964 residents of the Village of Salem, NY" 


Donald J McMorris Jr. 
Assistant Librarian 
Bancroft Public Library 
181 South Main St 
PO Box 515 
Salem, NY 12865 
Phone/Fax: (518) 854-7463 
www.slibrary.org 
XIZ / SALS-SLM 

www.slibrary.org/staff/don.mcmorris/blog/




From: helene bjorseth
Sent: Wed 11/2/2005 6:58 PM
To: Web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] ethernet cable alarm


Hi.
We are having a problem with patrons who are bypassing our Internet
computer reservaton system.
They are logging into a computer and then unplugging the network cable.
This disconnects them from the time management server.
They then reboot the machine and reattach the cable after it boots up.
They can then sit all day and the clock that times the machine is frozen
(on the server) at the moment they unplugged the cable. They usually  do
it when there is 8 or 10 minutes left in their session so it is not really
obvious. Our policy is to extend extra time if there is no one waiting, so
it is not unusual to see several computers with 10 or so minutes left on
the clock. If we catch them they insist that "the clock just disappeared"
and they didn't do anything to cause the malfunction.

My question is -
Does anyone know of a security device that will make an audible alert if
the network cable is unplugged - or a device that will make it impossible
to re-connect to the network for 10 or 15 minutes?
Or can anyone think of another way to stop these guys?


-- 
Helene Bjorseth
Electronic Resources / Reference Librarian
Highland Park Public Library
494 Laurel Ave.
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-432-0216

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