Surprisingly often, system administrators first learn of problems when the help desk hotline starts ringing off the hook. It’s Bob in Accounting calling to complain he can’t print; it’s Amanda in Sales frantically phoning, trying to find someone to reboot the file server. Problems turn into crises unnecessarily because network monitoring tools can readily detect many kinds of problems as soon as they occur or as they emerge.
While most organizations have some sort of network monitoring in place — typically a collection of ad hoc scripts that check on individual services and resources connected to the network — these scripts tend to be an incomplete solution, and can become nightmarishly difficult to maintain as a network grows and knowledgeable staff leaves to join a startup in Maui. In many organizations, maintaining and monitoring the monitors is a chore.
Fortunately, there’s a better way. Nagios (http://www.nagios.com) is an open source network monitoring application available under the GNU Public License (GPL). Nagios is a modular platform that can easily be customized to monitor just about anything on your network. From web site availability to machine room temperature, from daemon status to the amount of toner in the printer in accounting, Nagios can monitor it all. Better yet, the latest release of the software (now in beta), Nagios 2.0, makes monitoring even easier.
Whether your network has a single vital server or one hundred, install Nagios 2.0 now — before your phone starts ringing (again).
The Nagios System
Every…
Please log in to view this content.
Not Yet a Member?
Register with LinuxMagazine.com and get free access to the entire archive, including:
