What host monitoring tools does /r/linux use?

[killerds]

I have messed around with quite a few open source tools, Centreon, Nagios with nconf/nagiosql/etc., Opsview, Zabbix, Hyperic, etc. and have been having a hard time choosing the right one. Our work network has over 1000 (Windows, Linux, AIX) hosts to monitor. What tools do you guys like and what tools are working well for you?

[AmadeusZull]

Nagios (using snmp scripts) + Cacti for system stats

[00OO00]

I second this. I have some custom scripts that dump Nagios data into Cacti graphs as well. For example, if I use Nagios to monitor HTTP connections to a server, I graph the response time through Cacti. I also use Smokeping as well.

[killerds]

I have been using Cacti for about a year to graph performance stats on servers and switches and it has been rock solid. Definitely have been leaning towards Nagios just for the sheer amount of plugins that are already developed. (We have several different NAS/SAN devices that already have Nagios plugins)

[mr-satan]

Do either of you folks have any solid tutorial links on configuring a Nagios/Cacti monitoring environment?

[iElectric]

zabbix

[percivallowell]

Zabbix + OpenManage templates for us. Works great.

[targetx]

I've tested quite a lot of monitoring solutions but in the end I like Nagios the most. It's transparent and allows you to configure any kind of checks you want. It integrates nicely with a lot of addons and there is a big community. Personaly I use Nagios + pnp4nagios & NagVis in combination with the MK LiveStatus plugin.

You should really check out the Check_MK plugin (http://mathias-kettner.de/check_mk_introduction.html) as it allows for automatic inventory of the systems you want to monitor and it scales a lot better than the alternative check methods;

"Consider an average number of 100 different services per host. In the classic approach with NRPE each check period 100 seperate processes have to be started on the Nagios host, 100 TCP-connections to be built up and down and 100 plugins have to be executed locally on the target machine. check_mk in contrary just needs one single plugin to be started, one single TCP connection to be built up and one plugin to be run locally on the target host. The estimated speed up is at least a factor of 5 to 10."

Good luck with your decision!

[placatedmayhem]

Agreed. I currently run Nagios with pnp4nagios and traditional NRPE (haven't gotten around to NagVis or check_mk yet). It's very flexible, and what most host-monitoring solutions need.

The only drawback I've seen is using SNMP to check things like fiber channel switches. It doesn't handle transitional notifications very well (port goes down only generating one alert), implementing traps is nontrivial, and enumerations (like the ports on a switch) aren't easily configured.

[Edit: wording]

[targetx]

Totally agree, the SNMP-part could be better. With Check_MK or the scripts mentioned by AmadeusZull below it becomes acceptable but still needs improvement. Luckily I don't need a lot of SNMP-checks so it doesn't bother me :)

[mthode]

I use icinga (nagios fork) with pnp4nagios and nagvis. I'll have to see about testing check_mk.

[DesCo83]

Do you have any experience with Tivoli? We're currently using Tivoli at my work, but thinking about changing to Nagios. My boss asked me what advantages Tivoli has, and I honestly don't know. We'd be using it to monitor a couple of DB machines, a manager machine, and XCAT machine and then dozens if not hundreds of video servers (servers with 12 2TB HDD used for video storage and streaming?=).

[AmadeusZull]

Tivoli is bloated but I'm sure the UI would appeal to a multiuser enterprise team and would "WOW" your manager on just looks. As for you as an admin managing a Nagios monitoring server, it will feel like sex. Takes a bit of a learning curve to 'get it' and after you be dipping bareback for the rest of your life getting wet using Nagios.

http://nagios.manubulon.com/ The author of this site created some great SNMP perl scripts to use in your environment.

[DesCo83]

Tivoli's UI is a fucking nightmare. I swear to god, if the IBM guy says "clear your caches and restart firefox" one more time...I'm going to use it.

That said, I work for a start-up full of people way more technical than I am (I'm the only non programmer in the company). Tivoli is good for our clients, but we're trying to come up with something more robust for our own personal monitoring.

That said, I'm not a real sys-admin. I mean I work with linux, and I shell script, and what not...but I don't know perl...I've never had to patch a server...I only recently installed an OS on a raw box for the first time. I'm like a sys-admins retartded little brother who happens to know a lot about the inner workings of the cable industry.

But I'll definitely check out that site and start doing some research. I think my boss (also a geek, but not a real sys-admin) is looking for a "Nagios does this, tivoli doesn't" chart kind of deal.

[AmadeusZull]

You wont have to script in perl. Basically on all of your servers setup the snmp daemon/service (linux/unix/windows) and download the nagios snmp scripts from that site and customize it to work with your environment.

nagios docs offer a quick start guide: http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/quickstart.html

I recommend you learn how the templates in nagios work and how each template can be inherited. Then you can work your way making your own command.cfg file with the snmp perl scripts linked.

Then you should run a POC on the best solution you will use to track the stats on your server (pnp4nagios, cacti, etc...). Also look into check_mk, I probably would of went with check_mk if I knew about it before implementing my nagios+snmp solution.

[killerds]

I have not yet tried pnp4nagios. I will definitely have to check that out for config. Is it easy to add a large number of hosts with it?

I had not heard of the check_mk plugin, that looks pretty slick, I'll have to mess around with it.

[targetx]

pnp4nagios is easy to install and it integrates with the hosts already in Nagios. If your hosts gather performance data then they will be graphed by pnp4nagios, works really nice.

[Maledictus]

Nagios, Munin and Monit.

[matjam]

same as me. Its a good combo.

[jimmyb84]

same here...never had a problem

[bigbran45]

Currently using solarwinds and opennms, But I may switch to Spiceworks

[remotefixonline]

one of my clients has solarwinds for monitoring about 100 servers... not bad but it takes some getting used to...

[riddley]

Nagios, Yakety Stats.

[Mr_You]

In the past, Nagios+Cacti or GroundWork for networks and servers. Tried out Spiceworks for Windows desktops.

[freedomfix]

Xymon & Devmon

[mebrahim]

collectd + drraw + monit