[Web4lib] ethernet cable alarm

[Jayson Emery]

I think the program Freeping will do what your after.

I haven't done this but I believe you can set it up on a PC in your 
workroom and it will send a message to the pc of your choice on the 
network if any monitored PC looses connection.

http://www.tools4ever.com/products/free/freeping/

Jayson Emery
Computer System Support
Eastern Regional Libraries
Rear 511 Burwood Hwy
Wantirna Sth, Victoria, Australia, 3152

McMorris,Don wrote:

>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?
>
>
>  
>