Transcript ISM4220 Assignment 2 – Network Management

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?
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Ganglia
Nagios
Observium
OpenNMS
SolarWinds
Spiceworks
Zabbix
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.
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:
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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
How will user support work?
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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.
Who uses Zabbix? (Continued)
• Some of Zabbix’s clients include the following:
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Petrobras, the largest company in Latin America
T-Systems, the Chinese subsidiary of T-Mobile
The City of Mesa, Arizona
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.”
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
Windows 7 Node
Windows 7 Node
Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Linux Web Server
ISP
Linksys EA 3500 WAP
Cable Modem
References
• Kovaks, K. (2014). Zabbix vs Nagios comparison. http://kkovacs.eu/zabbixvs-nagios/
• Wallen, J. (2012). Five free network monitoring tools.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-network-monitoringtools/
• Zabbix. (2014). Zabbix home page. http://www.zabbix.com/