The KSysguard Handbook
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# 2.2. The Sensor Browser

The sensor browser displays the registered hosts and their sensors in a tree form. Click on the tree handles to open or close a branch. Each sensor monitors a certain system value.

## 2.2.1. Connecting to other hosts

To connect to a new host user Connect Hosts from the File menu. A dialog box will appear and allows you enter the name of the host you want to connect to. Below the name you can choose the connection method. The default is ssh, the secure shell. Alternatively the rsh, the remote shell, can be used. Click OK to establish the connection. Shortly afterwords the new host will appear in the sensor browser and you can browser the list of sensors.

To establish a connection a program called ksysguardd is started on the new host. This program must be installed on the machine and needs to be included in your `PATH`. Unfortunately the ssh does not source your `.profile` file, so your regular `PATH` setting will not be available. Instead it uses a default `PATH` like `/bin:/usr/bin`. Since KDE is very likely not installed in these directories you need to create or update a file in your home directory. The file is called `environment` and needs to be in a hidden directory called `.ssh`. See the manual page for ssh for more details. The file needs to contain a line like the following:

     PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/opt/kde2/bin

assuming that ksysguardd can be found under `/opt/kde2/bin/ksysguardd`.

| For experts: ksysguardd is a very small program that is only linked against the libc. So it can also be used on machines that do not have a full blown KDE installed such as servers. If you choose the custom command option in the host connector you need to specify the complete command to start ksysguardd.

| When using ssh you should make sure that you have your identity.pub installed on the remote machine and the host key of the remote machine is already registered on your machine. The easiest way to check this is to type ssh `remotehost ksysguardd` in a shell. If you are greeted by ksysguardd you can type `quit` and everyting is in order.

## 2.2.2. Disconnecting hosts

To disconnect from a host, select the hosts in the sensor browser and choose Disconnect Host from the File menu. In case you still have sensors in use, the display frames will be greyed and the displays wont update any longer.

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