Evaluating Network Monitoring Solutions Nathan Freeman InSat T-Shirts Evaluating Network Monitoring Solutions Nathan Freeman

What is our goal? InSat is a small business producing T-shirts that satirize American politics. The business is currently being operated out of the founders’ home. Currently, budgets are tight, and the business needs a network monitoring solution that is powerful and scalable, but free of cost.

Does free network management software exist? A variety of organizations offer free network management solutions. Some are open-source, and some are not. Some are more powerful than others. Some are relatively user-friendly, and some are more complicated.

What are some leading providers of free network management software? Ganglia Nagios Observium OpenNMS SolarWinds Spiceworks Zabbix These are among the most popular providers of free network management software.

Which networking solution is best suited to InSat’s needs? I recommend Zabbix. According to Zabbix’s Web site, Zabbix is an “enterprise-class open source distributed monitoring solution.” Zabbix enables network managers to receive notifications through e-mail or SMS whenever an important event occurs. The Zabbix project began in 1998 and is still actively supported. For example, you could configure Zabbix so you receive a notification whenever a device is in danger of failing, or when a possible security threat occurs – or, heaven forbid, the network goes down.

What can Zabbix do? Free to download and install, and is open-source Highly scalable and can be deployed in organizations both large and small Relatively easy to install and configure Supports wide variety of configuration settings Discovers network devices automatically

What are Zabbix’s system requirements? Zabbix has relatively light system requirements: Compatible with both Windows and Linux At least 128 MB physical memory At least 256 MB hard disk space Depending on level of detail for reporting capabilities, logs may consume a few GB per year Zabbix will run properly on any modern computer, and will not put a major strain on server resources or network bandwidth.

How will user support work? Open-source solutions do not always have the same support options as paid network monitoring software. However, Zabbix offers a wealth of documentation online. Zabbix also has a support forum for dealing with any problems that might occur. Fortunately, Zabbix is known for its user-friendliness, minimizing the need for support in the first place. I will maintain detailed documentation while installing Zabbix, and ensure that another employee understands how to configure Zabbix.

Who uses Zabbix? Organizations from all around the world have chosen Zabbix. These industries include healthcare, financial services, and governments. Zabbix’s scalability makes it appropriate for many different kinds of organizations, with a wide variety of IT needs. Zabbix has been used in heavily-regulated industries with complex security requirements. If it’s powerful enough for a bank or a healthcare provider, it’s powerful enough for a small business that sells T-shirts.

Who uses Zabbix? (Continued) Some of Zabbix’s clients include the following: Petrobras, the largest company in Latin America T-Systems, the Chinese subsidiary of T-Mobile The City of Mesa, Arizona These are some of the most well-known users of Zabbix, but hundreds of organizations around the world use Zabbix.

Why did Mesa choose Zabbix? According to Zabbix’s Web site, the City of Mesa currently monitors 250 devices with Zabbix (servers mostly, with a couple of switches and 4‐5 databases included in the figure). Joe Sugihara, Assistant CIO: “Before Zabbix we had another solution that did a good job handling SNMP and providing point-in-time status. We were interested in a tool that could handle more server related data, including WMI information, and provide a historical view as well as facilitate trend analysis. On top of all this, we had little to no budget.” This example shows some of the kinds of capabilities that InSat might need to support, either now or in the future.

What are the long-term benefits of using Zabbix? Availability: Managers receive a notification whenever a component of the network goes down, allowing problems to be fixed quickly. Performance: Keep track of bottlenecks that slow down network devices, servers, and individual workstations. Security: Monitor irregular activity and receive notifications of potential security breaches.

Will Zabbix make InSat more profitable? A fast, reliable network means employees will be able to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. InSat’s staff will have more time to focus on activities that add value to the organization and less time on “fighting fires.” Customers will always be able to access our Web site, our most important engine of growth.

InSat Network Diagram

References Kovaks, K. (2014). Zabbix vs Nagios comparison. http://kkovacs.eu/zabbix- vs-nagios/ Wallen, J. (2012). Five free network monitoring tools. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-network-monitoring- tools/ Zabbix. (2014). Zabbix home page. http://www.zabbix.com/