There are a variety of open-source network management tools available for enterprises that need to monitor the data center network and servers. Nagios not only supervises the operations of network components, servers and applications, but also offers the ability to create plug-ins and scripts to meet specific needs. For small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) looking for their first heterogeneous management tool or looking to upgrade, Nagios offers a viable management tool.

Nagios Components

The Nagios server was developed to run on the Linux OS. There are various builds available that allow it to run under most Unix OSes as well. Once installed and operational, Nagios can monitor and report on a heterogeneous data center environment, including Microsoft Windows servers and applications. The use of plug-ins, both in the Nagios server and on monitored devices, allows monitoring of numerous different devices and applications.

As with any network management tool, the administrator defines the services and hosts that are to be monitored. For application-specific...