Network Monitoring Solutions

So I got my degree/certs and am looking into starting my own Consultant business. I'm looking into Network Monitoring solutions for small business and was wondering what you guys would recommend? I want to monitor individual computers/servers and look at statistics. Be able to remote view to any computer on the network for end-user problems etc..

I was looking at Spiceworks and it looked very interesting for something being free, but I'm new to the game and am willing to take in all the information I get. So anything you guys got off the top of your head go head and spindle em off

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Comments

KenC

Nagios seems to be the standard. Not sure you should be consulting if you are only new in this game.

MAC_Addy

PRTG is awesome! I highly recommend it.

chaser7783

We use Zenoss here. We monitor a mix of Windows workstations/Servers, and embedded Linux devices and servers. Currently we are monitoring around 3k devices. We are able to see disk usage, and monitor critical services, and are sent e-mail alerts based on rule sets, and if the devices go offline.

Petrinoda

So far so good guys. Keep em coming.

Ken. I agree with you to an extent. That's why I'm getting a list together. I'm trying them all out on a test environment to see how they interact in different situations/scenarios. Once I feel comfortable/confident with my selection I will start going out and getting clientele and offering them a 30 day free trial of my services.

KenC

chaser7783 wrote: »

We use Zenoss here. We monitor a mix of Windows workstations/Servers, and embedded Linux devices and servers. Currently we are monitoring around 3k devices. We are able to see disk usage, and monitor critical services, and are sent e-mail alerts based on rule sets, and if the devices go offline.

@chaser How would you deal with a situation where there is a network connectivity issue with a device or location is down i.e. how are you alerted to problems in this scenario?

@OP - it is meant as constructive comment. Experience brings you to problem resolution much quicker than when you first start out. You don't want your clients to see you in your learning phase.

DarthVader

I really dont mean to be critical, but....
It might be difficult for you to get consultant work those CompTIA certs. I understand that Certs aren't everything but when you are trying to get people who dont know you to trust you and give you their business it helps if you have more credibility.
Sorry

Petrinoda

I didn't update my credentials here.. I also hold the CCNA which I acquired last week. I'm currently going for my CCNP by the end of the year as well.

onesaint

+1 for Nagios & PRTG.

Honestly, I don't think the certs will go as far as your sales capabilities, knowledge (experience), and ability to simply communicate why a company needs your technology as opposed to what they have in place now. Laying out a business plan and the technologies you're going to use is a good way to start, but you're going to need to sell to get things moving.

Good luck!

Shanman

Nagios is great for network monitoring. Look at Rancid for your device backups and Cacti for graphing.

chaser7783

KenC wrote: »

@chaser How would you deal with a situation where there is a network connectivity issue with a device or location is down i.e. how are you alerted to problems in this scenario?

@OP - it is meant as constructive comment. Experience brings you to problem resolution much quicker than when you first start out. You don't want your clients to see you in your learning phase.

When you set the alerts you can have a hold down timer, until the alert goes out. You also set in intervals how often Zenoss can check the devices for status. The way our sites are, we have a 5min down time, so after 5min of downtime in Zenoss an e-mail alert goes out to me and then we contact the sites.
One reason we like Zenoss is it is built on Pyton, and you can write you own monitoring packages for them. We have a package that check our internal database for new devices or ones that have been removed, and then in turn will update the Zenoss db.

Pretty much if you can code it in pyton you can get Zenoss to do it. I looked at Nagios but from what I saw and what i was told it was a task to set up, especially since we have 3k devices. In Zenoss we can batch add devices(or write a custom Python package to automate it) set them to their respective monitoring groups and you are up and running in no time.

Petrinoda

onesaint wrote: »

+1 for Nagios & PRTG.

Honestly, I don't think the certs will go as far as your sales capabilities, knowledge (experience), and ability to simply communicate why a company needs your technology as opposed to what they have in place now. Laying out a business plan and the technologies you're going to use is a good way to start, but you're going to need to sell to get things moving.

Good luck!

I agree with everything you just said. I'm doing my homework though on specific targets around my area. It's going to be one of those learn and take hits along the way sort of things. I'm okay with that. In order to succeed.. It's a possibility you have to fail 10 fold in order to get there. I'm already willing to accept that fact, but I'm not going to stop. I'm going to hit the pavement harder than The Hulk did in the first one.

networkjutsu

I've used the following: SNMPc by Castle Rock, CA eHealth (formerly by Concorde), EMC Smarts (they renamed it now), and SolarWinds. EMC Smarts is probably the hardest to configure to reach its full potential.

Darian929

chaser - it seems to me like zenoss is just a front-end for Nagios. From you described it is much like nagios on the hold down etc.

Ken - I agree with most people here that holding a few certs does not mean you should go out and handle a companies monitoring solution. I would recommend you first learn about monitoring solutions in general and how they work. There are a lot of things that go into having the right monitoring configuration (thresholds, whether to use sms/email, what types of checks like pings/latency etc.) It's better to start of with a good reputation than a bad one.

Good luck!

KenC

chaser7783 wrote: »

When you set the alerts you can have a hold down timer, until the alert goes out. You also set in intervals how often Zenoss can check the devices for status. The way our sites are, we have a 5min down time, so after 5min of downtime in Zenoss an e-mail alert goes out to me and then we contact the sites.

I think I understand you know - I was imagining a scenario whereby there is an individual monitoring server at each remote site (monitoring all servers at that site) as opposed to you having a monitoring server that monitors servers at all the remote sites. Thanks for getting back to me chaser.

chrisone

MAC_Addy wrote: »

PRTG is awesome! I highly recommend it.

+1 ! I downloaded PRTG 30 day unlimited evaluation and i hade the core of our network monitored within a day or 2. Very easy and very detailed and thorough in reporting and statistics. Presented it to the company and they liked it, however they ended up NOT spending the money for it

ptilsen

Nagios, Kasea, Spiceworks, Labtech, PRTG. Look over the features, test them out, see what you like. Honestly, they all suck in some way or another. They all have cool features and will do some things really well, others not so well. It all comes down to what you want the solution to be.

I've used Labtech a lot and I have to say it does a lot of things really well. The reports and dataviews are awesome, and it can actually be a very good deployment solution. However, the agents are about the most fickle software you'll see in the post-Win9x world. They break more often than any single hardware or software component in a computer does. The monitors don't work right half the time; erratic things happen inexplicably; the support is awful; and the interface is nigh impossible to navigate when it even works. The said thing is, it's still better than some of the other solutions.

I can't stress enough to be diligent in picking the solution that's right for your goals. Again, they all suck and they're all amazing. Figure out your vision for what you will do and what you need, then thoroughly test each and every solution yourself. Read reviews and compare features, but gets hands-on until you're comfortable with them, both in dealing with the flaws and fully utilizing the features.