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IDEA: See if a user is logged in

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autohost:
We have 50 Windows XP patron stations in our university library.  I'd like to create an onscreen map showing which stations are available for use -- no one currently logged into them.  All users log in by a domain username.

I found PSTOOLS: psloggedon.exe  which I can use if I were to create this page on a Windows webserver, but I'd rather use a Linux solution.

IDEA:  I envision a very small app (very small memory footprint) on the patron station that would run when the user logs in (either by the START group, or AD user login script).  This app would respond with a simple string like 'yes' when contacted over the network on a certain port.  When the user logs out, the app would naturally stop running.

Example using port 5432:  http://lib-patron-2:5432

This way, I could easily use wget in PHP in Linux and then parse the results and display a nice floor layout showing which stations were available.

I suppose an alternative is for the app to always run, and return 'no' when a user is not logged in, and 'yes' when one is.

If you know of an already existing app that can do this, which I can call from Linux, please let me know.  Otherwise,  I'd love to have an app like described above.

If you think there is a better way to do it, let's talk about it.

mouser:
neat idea.

couple of comments:

there are of course more heavyweight tools for managing and keeping track of or tabs on large numbers of pcs in a setting like this; you should probably make sure there is no other existing bigger tool that you would want to use instead of this custom idea.

instead of a fancy check for being logged in you could just use a check of last activity on keyboard or mouse -- after a minute of non-use i think you could be pretty sure there was no one there.

otherwise, getting back to your original description -- do you mean that the way it's set up, users actually log in and out to the windows pcs using the built-in windows user login system?

autohost:
We're using a logout screensaver that auto logs out the user after 15 minutes of inactivity to help free up stations when users forget to logout.

Yes, all users have to login with their university acct and password.   The only local user on the stations is a local admin user that I occasionally have to use.

autohost:
Yes, using the built-in windows login system.

mouser:
so i have one more practical suggestion/idea for you:

a natural way to do this is as you suggested, an app that "would respond with a simple string like 'yes' when contacted over the network on a certain port."

however, a much more low-tech solution also seems like it would be feasible and MUCH easier to implement:

a small application that either ran on login/logout, or in the background constantly, and rather than respond to requests over a port (a process which could be a bit problematic both for security, firewall, and programming reasons), was simply configured to access a lan web page and REPORT IN.

In other words, a tiny program which would simply be configured to open a page like:
https://university.edu/library/reporting.php?stationid=34F&status=userloggedin&password=secretpassword

Seems to me that could have a number of nice benefits in addition to being easier to code.

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