HddStatus 

To install HddStatus on your system you need PHP (with cURL support), Smartmontools and an internet connection. All you have to do is put the HddStatus script (written in PHP) somewhere on your hard disk.

HddStatus is currently in beta. You can register online to create an account to monitor one hard disk. Please, contact betarequest@hddstatus.com with the following information if you would like to monitor more disks:

• Username registered online
• Number of systems where you plan to install the script
• Operating System(s)
• Total number of hard disks you plan to monitor

Your account will be adjusted accordingly. Once you are fully registered (email confirmation required), a download link will appear.

The script is written in PHP, therefore anybody can look at it (it is not encrypted in any way). There is nothing hidden in it and this makes it easier to trust it. Put it in any directory, then make sure that PHP is installed on your system by executing:


If everything went fine, you should see some lines describing the options available for the script, like:


otherwise either PHP is not installed or the script is unreadable. In order to install PHP on your system, you should run a command like:


Your system might use a different package manager (like apt-get) or use a different package name (like php-cli or simply php). Complete this step before proceeding to the next one.

Execute the following command to verify that requirements are satisfied:


The output should look like:

You will see some error message if anything wasn't found. The main requirements are Smartmontools and cURL. Most systems have a package manager (like yum or apt-get) and the commands to install those required components are:


The exact package names might slightly differ. Once you have installed the missing packages, repeat that command to verify their availability to the script.

Now let the script discover supported drives for you and generate the skeleton of the configuration file by executing the following command:


The output will be something like:


Now edit the resulting configuration file with your favourite text editor (this tutorial uses nano):


You must enter your real UserId and UserPass. In the hdds section you are allowed to modify only the desc field that contains the description of that drive. This description should be kept short, yet descriptive enough to let you identify the drive. Once you have done with the editing, you can run the following command to see what the script will actually parse:


The output should look like:

Now that you have configured everything on your side, you have to inform HddStatus servers about your new hard disks. The command that, from now on, you will execute is:


If any hard disk in the configuration file is currently unknown the HddStatus servers (i.e. not linked to your account) HddStatus will add it to the suggestions archive for your account. Visit HddStatus web site, log in using your user id and password and convert suggestions to valid entries. If the new hard disk replaces one that is no longer in the system, remove the old one from valid entries. This procedure makes it very easy to add new hard disks to your account. Once you have successfully added your hard disk(s) to your account, simply repeat the


command again. On HddStatus web site, under your account, you will now see that the report for your hard disk has been properly processed by the HddStatus servers.

In the future, the script might evolve into a fully featured daemon. At the moment, you must configure your system to send new reports to HddStatus servers every once in a while. You can use crontab for this task. Run the following command:


And add a line like the following:


NOTE: "35" is the minute when to execute the command and "3,11,19" means that the command must be executed at 3, 11 and 19 o'clock. Use different (random) values in your setup to spread the load on the servers. It is useless to send a report every minute (your account will be banned if you do so). Sending a report every day would be absolutely fine. Sending it every 2 to 12 hours would be ok too.

It is quite easy. Just go to the "Configure it" step above and follow the process. The autodiscovery option will add to the current configuration any new drive it finds. Remember to remove from the configuration file the entries for the hard disks that are no longer in your system.