[rhn-users] User accounting software

[nathan r. hruby]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2005, Pete Masse wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Is there some software out there that would work on RH that keeps track of 
> users login in and out and how much time the spent during each session? I've 
> been working on something but time hasn't allow for much progress.  I just 
> thought there might be something available from Redhat or some third party 
> vendor.  This would be used to keep track of how much to charge users as per 
> their time usage.

What you want is process accounting.  Install the psacct package and then
do a "rpm -ql psacct" to find the programs and man pages associoated with
it.  this will allow you to figure out who's running what and how much CPU
time they be eating.

Other than that, the "last" command will tell you when users are logged
and and you can calulate wall clock time they were logged in.

Personally, chargebacks based on CPU or wall-clock usage is kinda silly.
It's probably easier (both technically and for users to grok) to charge a
flat rate based on services offered.

-n
-- 
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nathan hruby <nhruby at uga.edu>
uga enterprise information technology services
production systems support
metaphysically wrinkle-free
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