SSC Serv, the System Statistics Collection Service

SSC Serv is a service for Microsoft® Windows®, which collects system statistics and submits them to a central statistics server. It is similar to and compatible with collectd, a free and open-sourced solution for UNIX® systems.

What SSC Serv can do

Available data sources:
  • CPU usage
  • Disk usage
    (throughput, #operations)
  • Memory utilization
  • Interface traffic
  • Partition usage
    (free/used bytes)
  • Terminal Services
The purpose of SSC Serv is to collect performance data from the operating system. This data is then sent over the network to a server which stores the data for later processing or visualization. The service is very lightweight and can collect high-resolution statistics without affecting system performance in any noticable way. Contrary to collectd, SSC Serv is a client only: It can sent it's data to an instance of collectd, but it cannot receive data from another SSC Serv or collectd instance.

Full, but plain, Windows® support

Image of the main configuration window
SSC Serv is developed using the core Windows® API. This not only allows for a very small memory footprint, but also avoids clumsy dependencies like the .Net-framework or weird MFC-DLLs. Yet, SSC Serv is fully integrated in the system: The service can be controlled like any other service on the system, using the Services Control Manager. Configuration is done using the "SSC Service" applet in the Control Panel. And, in the best of UNIX® traditions, the daemon can be uninstalled without any leftover files or dead registry keys clogging the system.

Intended application

Without a collectd instance running as a server on an UNIX® machine, SSC Serv doesn't make any sense. It's more or less an outpost of collectd on a foreign system. So the intended application clearly is to integrate Windows® machines in an existing or future collectd setup.

SSC Serv is not collectd

Although their design and concept are similar, SSC Serv is not a port of collectd to the Windows® platform. SSC Serv has been developed explicitely for the Windows® platform and is a native Windows® application. It does not need any transition layers such as Cygwin. Also collectd is free and open-sourced software, while SSC Serv is proprietary, commercial and (to date) closed-source software.