We want to monitor (from a central server at HQ) the health and performance status of multiple machines [mostly Windows >-( ] at each of multiple customer sites despite them being NAT'd/firewalled.
We assume all the remote systems will be able to initiate outbound connections through whatever protective layers are between them and the Internet, so we'll want to rig those remote systems with agents such that they each periodically "phone home" to report status to HQ's central server [ probably Linux ;-> ] as we'll generally not be able initiate such contact in the other direction. So we're evaluating network monitoring packages and, at least for now, I've arbitrarily limited our choices to those mentioned in this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_network_monitoring_systems ...since this much larger list: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/nmtf/nmtf-tools.html ...makes my brain hurt. I'd be interested in hearing recommendations (pro or con) about those or other network monitoring packages with an emphasis on our situation, ie. gathering info from multiple remote systems that aren't directly IP addressable from HQ. Research so far indicates Zabbix, Pandora and OpenNMS are good candidates so I'd be particularly interested in comments about them. Most such packages have most of their features in common with many of the others, but FWIW some of our criteria are: - Configuring/extending the behaviors of agents and server is assisted via abstractions like groups and templates, where possible/appropriate. - When scripting is necessary, commonly used languages are supported (eg. Perl/Python/etc preferred over Rexx/Tcl/etc). - Pretty charts/graphs/reports to impress management. Bonus: trending/prediction. - Windows agent cooperates with WMI and such; Windows log files can be scraped & relayed. - Other entities at HQ (eg. trouble calls to Customer Service) can feed into server's notion of a system's status. - Events of interest trigger arbitrarily scriptable responses. - WWW based access to central server. Bonus: access control on a per-user basis. _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
