Linking Servers

Linking servers means using a monitoring plugin with your servers to send information to the manager.

Why bother linking?

• The manager was initially made to be used with servers linked to monitoring plugins so it is recommended to get the best out of your manager's features.
• Linking allows you to know when the server has actually finished loading and is ready to take players. Without it the server will be online according to the manager as soon as the process starts
• Linking allows you to detect unresponsive states of your servers. If your server's process is running and its stuck in an infinite loop or it has stopped functioning properly the manager will not be able to recognize that malfunction without linking.
• Linking allows monitoring plugins to send usage data like TPS, RAM, CPU, online players, or anything that the plugin sends the manager will receive and display in your monitor screen. (The messages depend on the monitoring plugin used)

How do i link?

Each monitor plugin has its own instructions on how to point it to write to the monitor folder. After setting up the monitor data file simply go the server's settings and use link the manager will then attempt to locate the monitor data file and start reading from it.

Available monitoring plugins

More plugins for different server types will be made in the future.

SMMonitor

Author: Ben Burum (Owner of play.rockpartymc.com).

Platform: Spigot servers.

Key features:

• Light weight
• Displays RAM, TPS, CPU, and Online players

Download here

For developers

If you are a developer feel free to make your own monitoring plugin that sends your own customized messages to be displayed in the manager as it is extremely easy to make as long as you know how to write to a file and schedule a repeating task.

How it works

A monitoring plugin sends information periodically to the manager through writing a simple text file which we will call the monitor data file. For the manager to read this information three conditions must be met:

• The file must be named servername.monitordata
• The file must exist in the Communication's directory this can be changed in the manager's settings.
• The text file's layout should be as follows
  1. The first line only has one long number specifying the interval between your plugin's writing. This is used to determine unresponsive states since if a server fails to send information within 2 or 3 intervals the server is considered NOTRESPONDING.
  2. The second line only has one long number that is obtained by calling System.currentTimeMillis(). This will signify the exact time of which the writing was done
  3. After the second line you are absolutely free to add as many lines and as many custom usage messages as you like. The manager will read them all and display them line by line in the monitor screen.

In conclusion, simply have your plugin run a repeating task that writes to a file with the specifications above and you're all set. Don't forget to message me so i can add your plugin to the list above for all to benefit 👍 .

For more information on how to make your own contact me on discord.