We primarily use the solution for monitoring ops for computers and our server. We're considering adding other device monitoring as well and at points of sale.
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Nagios Core Buyer's Guide
Download the Nagios Core Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: June 2022
What is Nagios Core?
This is IT infrastructure monitoring's industry-standard, open-source core. Free without professional support services.
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Sr. System Administrator at Guj Info Petro Limited
Well priced, lightweight and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "Other products are good but from the configuration point of view Nagios is really very lightweight. The price is really good in my opinion. Another important thing is that my Nagios engine still works with Dual core 8GB ram for the last 10 years."
- "Bandwidth monitoring is the pain point for me because Nagios Core does not monitor bandwidth effectively like Cacti does."
What is our primary use case?
The overall objective to use Nagios Core is "organization doesn't want to pay high monitoring cost" & still wanted to monitor entire data center infra. So, deployed Nagios Core to monitor typical server resource utilization parameters such as CPU, Memory & Disk Utilization. Later, we configured PNP4Nagios which provides graphical level representation & to see when the WARNING & CRITICAL Level crosses. PNP4Nagios became very useful to get all historical (mostly past 1 year) records when asked.How has it helped my organization?
Primarily, our focus was to monitor basic things such as CPU, Memory & Storage/Disk Utilization. Later, we understood that integrating multiple products & deploying additional services under monitoring will surely increase our productivity. So, we moved ahead to integrate PNP4Nagios, NagVis, Nagios BPI, Nagios Read Only Dashboard to increase our productivity & to judge the incident before it happens. Now, our Nagios Core is a complete product & we're happy to be a part of it.What is most valuable?
We found Nagios Core a great product. Started working with Nagios Core when RHEL 5 was there & since then it is still in functioning mode and various types of hosts and services have been configured such as the IBM AIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Cisco Routers & Switches & certain gateway level firewalls. (Fortigate, Juniper netscreen, Checkpoint, Radware) As my knowledge gains, I've stated deploying additional plug-ins to increase our productivity like monitoring DATA CENTER Temperature using Cisco 3560/3560 Chassis Temperature. This was really helpful especially when your DATA CENTER doesn't have a dedicated temperature sensor mechanism. Nagios Exchange is a great source of plug-ins. To date, total 127 Hots & 729 Services are being monitored under Nagios on an old Intel Dual Core, 4 GB RAM Desktop Computer.!!! Our future plan is to have a HA (High Availability) Setup for Nagios Core. To achieve this, we'll be using Apache Heartbeat (HA Proxy) for 2 individual Linux nodes with Common NFS Storage for Apache nodes. For backup mechanism, we would us "rsync" between NFS Node & Cloud Node over a secure "site to site' VPN connection. Only the disadvantage of Nagios Core is it's shell based interface. Like Nagios XI, Core doesn't have an intuitive dashboard to configure everything (Hosts & Services) in GUI. Certain open source tool GUI configuration tools are also available but never used it as their -ve reviews. We monitor both kind of checks. Active & Passive. However, Active checks mostly works well in my architecture. Also, I do provide Nagios Core training/support as per the end client need. Also, I've prepared custom Nagios Core documents for those who wants to learn & deploy. The biggest difference in Nagios Core & XI is, everything comes pre-built with Nagios XI, while for Nagios Core, all add-ons needs to be configured individually. So, Nagios Core requires hard coded system administrator, who understands advanced Linux commands, Editing of files, Directory permissions, Nagios Log Generation etc.What needs improvement?
Recommendation: 1 Provide a user friendly GUI to configure various hosts/services using a graphical frontend. Recommendation: 2 To monitor bandwidth utilization statistics (Just like Cacti) under Nagios Core. I completely understood that Nagios is actually an incident management system, not a bandwidth monitoring tool. So, I tried a lot to integrate Cacti into Nagios but the results are not satisfactorily.Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core
June 2022
Learn what your peers think about Nagios Core. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2022.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nagios Core for 10 years.What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The most stable one.What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I am the only one using it. I have deployed the same product in other companies, also. With Nagios, I have integrated the SMS gateway, as well as email services, email relay, and PNP for Nagios in a graphical representation. Everything is configured within the Nagios system. I'm trying to deploy more and more tools as per my organization's expectations and my expertise like Nagios BPI, the Business Process Intelligence tool.How are customer service and support?
Nagios Core, which is an open source product has a very limited scalability features. Large Nagios solutions have bigger problems as Nagios core doesn't provide much scalability until you design a de-centralized architecture. Basically, Nagios uses a group of remote servers & services that are configured to perform various kinds of checks. This design makes Nagios difficult to scale, as large fleets quickly reach the limit of vertical scaling, and Nagios does not easily scale horizontally. For me, I've configured a total of 7 different Nagios Core Servers to monitor hundreds of nodes. Using this methodology, I can be able to cover different groups of infrastructure & all those Nagios Core Servers transmit real time data on an independent Nagios dashboard tool named MNTOS (Multi Nagios Tactical Dashboard System). Here, I just need to monitor MNTOS Dashboard which shows all statistics & can jump on that Nagios Server directly if MNTOS shows any kind of WARNING/CRITICAL Alerts. In summary, you need to put too much efforts to scale Nagios Core to justify organization's actual requirements.Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I tried to use Zabbix, however I was much more confident with Nagios being a Linux System Administrator. Working on a shell prompt is my hobby & that's the main reason I choose & continue nagios core. I'm not using any other products and I am not even considering any further products.How was the initial setup?
Setup is straight-forward & well documented.What about the implementation team?
I'm the only person who manages Nagios Core & relevant services. Once deployed, I provided raining to some Linux engineers so that they can manage it during my unavailability. So, everything in in-house. Also, we've a roll back option to restore the last configuration if something goes wrong. In most cases, junior linux engineers make a mistake in nagios host/service configuration files. So, prior to make any changes, they need to make a backup copy under the same directory level.What was our ROI?
Saved million of rupees just because of Nagios Core. Else, a Tier-III Data Center requires a paid tool for end-to-end monitoring. Even, my organization endorse Nagios Core Community & put reviews.What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In my opinion, the price is very competitive compared to other products. Just compare it with "SolarWinds, Check MK" etc.. Other products are good but from the configuration point of view Nagios is really very god & easy to understand. For me, Nagios isn't pricy if you compare the features & services offered. It can easily run on a basic desktop level hardware to monitor 100s of hosts & services.Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Nope. I just googled it & found Nagios Core on the top based on the reviews, use cases & manageability.What other advice do I have?
My advice to anyone considering using Nagios Core is, from the data center point of view you should try & deploy Nagios Core especially when you need an end to end, full functional monitoring system, but organizations doesn't want to spend too much in 24x7 monitoring system. Nagios is really very good from that point of view. If you are paying, Nagios XI is good. If you don't pay, Nagios core is also good. But Nagios Core needs more expertise. You need to put too much effort into configuring different kinds of services. Installation is straight-forward. I don't have any advice other than that Nagios Core is a starting point for everyone to learn data center monitoring systems. I bought Nagios XI just because certain organizations wants to manage it at their own. Else, I would strongly recommend Nagios Core only. One a scale of one to ten, I would give Nagios Core a 10 out of 10.Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid CloudDisclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Efficient and easy to manage with good stability
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is quite efficient."
- "It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The solution is quite efficient.
The system's alerts are quite good.
The solution is very complete and mostly easy to manage.
What needs improvement?
The latest version is a bit more difficult. There have been some changes that have not really improved the solution.
We have a new manager coming in, and they will watch and see over the course of the year if the solution needs any specific improvements. We're still in the process of testing the solution.
The implementation and deployment might need to be slightly improved.
It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly.
It would be good if the solution had some sort of alarm system to alert managers to any issues. We get good alerts, they just need to get to the right person more efficiently.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used the solution over the last 10 months or so. It's been almost a year. We initiated the product in 2020.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is quite good. We haven't had any issues per se. It's been reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't had any issues with scalability. If a company needs to expand it, it should be able to.
We have about 100 hosts and about 10 servers at this point and maybe 19 at the point of sale.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't really have technical support from the solution. We rely instead on learning the solution and focusing on documentation if we need assistance. There's also a community online that's quite helpful.
Their documentation is very complete and they have pretty good policies in place.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did previously use a different solution. We still use it. It continues to monitor our network. We have a new CTO that is looking to make changes. We're evaluating more economical options.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is initially a little bit complex.
The process took several months. Originally, we were using Linux systems.
What about the implementation team?
We didn't have installers or another company assist us. We handled the implementation ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers and end-users. We don't have a business relationship with Nagios.
We're using the latest version of the solution.
We're still in the early days in terms of usage. We're still feeling the solution out and testing it for its acceptability within the greater framework of our organization's requirements. We're looking to test it at the point of sale to see how successfully it operates.
Overall, I would recommend the solution to other organizations.
I would rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core
June 2022
Learn what your peers think about Nagios Core. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2022.
608,010 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Partner Technical Support & Escalation Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
We are using the free version, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to
Pros and Cons
- "It is fairly easy to set up, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to."
- "We're using the free version, which limits us in terms of the things that we can do. If we had the paid version, a lot of our issues would probably go away. For example, we can't isolate instances that are being built or updated with the production ones. When they're being built, on Nagios, they're showing in red. It'd be nice to be able to partition those off until they're all green, and then we can bring them into the environment. This is probably because we've got the free version and not the paid version. If we went for the paid version, it would probably allow us to do exactly what we want to or remove the restrictions that we have, but if we are able to isolate instances in the free version, it would make life much easier."
What is our primary use case?
It is used for monitoring services on a bunch of virtual machines.
In terms of the version, we're fairly up to date. We are perhaps not the most up-to-date, but we're fairly current.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides visibility of the platforms.
What is most valuable?
It is fairly easy to set up, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to.
What needs improvement?
We're using the free version, which limits us in terms of the things that we can do. If we had the paid version, a lot of our issues would probably go away. For example, we can't isolate instances that are being built or updated with the production ones. When they're being built, on Nagios, they're showing in red. It'd be nice to be able to partition those off until they're all green, and then we can bring them into the environment. This is probably because we've got the free version and not the paid version. If we went for the paid version, it would probably allow us to do exactly what we want to or remove the restrictions that we have, but if we are able to isolate instances in the free version, it would make life much easier.
In terms of new features, we're just using it for what it is. We are using what we've got now. We don't have any additional requirements as far as I'm aware.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is fine. There are no concerns there. Our biggest challenge is that we get a lot of timeouts, but that seems to be because of our network setup. There are a whole bunch of spurious events being reported, but they're more timeouts in getting to the Nagios agents.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It seems to be all right at the moment. We don't seem to be having any problems with that. We have upwards of 20 users, and it is being used on a daily basis.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted them for a long time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Nagios is the first one.
How was the initial setup?
From what I heard, it didn't seem difficult to set up. It was quite straightforward.
We're still rolling out and deploying new instances of VMs that we want to monitor. It's an ongoing process.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed it ourselves. Its maintenance is done by one or two people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it to others. It does what it is supposed to. It is pretty good.
I would rate it an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Feb 26, 2022
Flag as inappropriateSenior Software Engineer at Peristent Systems
A good solution with alerting features
Pros and Cons
- "Dashboard provides monitor of total assets."
- "Would benefit from aggregations if a particular server goes down."
What is our primary use case?
We use Nagios for one of our customers to monitor all the servers, firewalls, routers, and cameras. While monitoring the server we get alerts, this enables us to raise a ticket and notify end users that we are aware of the issue before they need to notify us.
We have 80 people using the dashboard and getting the alerts. Depending on the number of servers, routers, and firewalls we are monitoring in current clusters. When one cluster goes down, it will automatically take data from another cluster.
We support 24/7 because our client is a financial company, if the critical servers go down, they would face financial issues.
What is most valuable?
The features of Nagios Core that we find most valuable are the plugins we use, we can check the uptime and see how many servers and routers and create groups accordingly. From these groups, we can check how many servers and routers go down.
We also like the alerting features. One of the dashboards they provide monitor total assets and how many are up and how many are down.
What needs improvement?
If we need to process quicker, we use third party plugins to avoid downtime.
Nagios Core would benefit from aggregations if a particular server goes down.
Comparing Nagios UI and Nagios Core, in Nagios Core we need to do some coding while Nagios XI has everything in UI. If you go with Nagios XI the developer task is minimized because they help provide the UI. With Nagios Core, we need to log into the Linux servers and we need to change that particular directory. We need to write a code for each and every server.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Nagios Core for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We deploy Nagios on a cloud, so there are features like plugins. The help desk tickets plugins so we can monitor the lock files as well from main server and create dashboards.
The security-related features also are there to monitor antivirus and install or not on each and every server.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were working with ELK. Due to costing we switched to Nagios Core because it is free for the alerting feature.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Nagios Core is straightforward. We installed as per the steps mentioned in Nagios' documentation. It can be deployed in a day.
What about the implementation team?
I completed the installation myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Most of the features in Nagios Core are free. Most plugins are free.
What other advice do I have?
When considering Nagios Core you should consider how many servers, firewalls and routers you need to monitor. Then determine which services need to be monitored by Nagios Core and how many service alerts are needed so you can create clusters and keep your gig size and RAM size accordingly.
I would rate Nagios Core a 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jan 20, 2022
Flag as inappropriateNetwork Operations Center Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Open-source, good reporting and online documentation, but the GUI needs improvements
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the reports and the way it generates the report in a graphical manner."
- "The scalability needs improvement, it's not scalable at this time."
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the reports and the way it generates the report in a graphical manner. The creating availability, the ratios, the uptime, downtime, and the outages.
What needs improvement?
Most of the issues have been covered through Nagios XI, but they could select some of the small features that are in the paid version and include them as part of Nagios Core.
Especially the graphical user interface in terms of configuration when you add in hosts, you have to use CAC and CLI to add hosts. You could use the GUI to add hosts instead.
The scalability needs improvement, it's not scalable at this time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Nagios Core for a couple of years.
We are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nagios Core is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is not scalable at all. If you want to add an AI, or if you wanted to monitor different types of metrics, you won't get the most out of it.
It's not scalable, which is important these days when you want to see more data and how your network is performing.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not contacted technical support. Most of the online documentation is helpful.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
I can't say how long it took to deploy as we had several deployments at the same time, but it was not a problem at all. We didn't have any issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the open-source, unpaid version.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it for small network deployments or if you have other open source applications or other metrics like utilization, CPU. So if you're running alongside other open source applications and in the small space, it works. But anything beyond that is not recommended.
I would rate Nagios Core a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Systems Administrator at Mentor Graphics
Useful network connectivity checks, reliable, but graphical interface lacking
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good."
- "Nagios Core can improve the graphical interface, it would make things a little easier."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Nagios Core mainly for servers. We check the network hardware connectivity. We check for the availability of the network and for hardware failures.
We have deployed Nagios Core on a VM and it's working very well. The specs of the VM are very low because it doesn't require so much storage
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good.
What needs improvement?
Nagios Core can improve the graphical interface, it would make things a little easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nagios Core for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Nagios Core has been good in our usage.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Nagios Core is scalable for our needs. We don't have many servers and network activity, we have approximately 200 nodes, and it's fulfilling our requirements.
We do not have plans to increase our usage of the solution this time but maybe in the future.
How are customer service and support?
We do not have support for this solution, it is free.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used another solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Nagios Core is not complicated, once you are used to it, it can be easy. The full implementation took us approximately three hours.
I rate the initial setup of Nagios Core a three out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We maintain Nagios Core in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version of Nagios Core.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
This solution can meet basic requirements. If someone is using it on a larger scale they might have difficulty managing it.
I rate Nagios Core a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 23, 2022
Flag as inappropriateInformation systems manager at Golfera
It's a stable solution for infrastructure monitoring, but it's complex to set up and use
What is our primary use case?
I'm primarily using Nagios Core to monitor infrastructure like servers, virtual machines, and telephone usage like IP-DECT antennas. I don't use all of Nagios Core's data functionality. I only use the monitoring features.
What needs improvement?
The dashboard and monitoring features could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Nagios Core for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nagios Core is stable.
How was the initial setup?
The Nagios Core setup is complex, but I can handle it all myself.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Nagios Core seven out of 10. Nagios Core is not easy to use, so I don't recommend it for everyone.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jan 19, 2022
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Download our free Nagios Core Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2022
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