Zenoss Core Network And System Monitoring

A step-by-step guide to configuring, using, and adapting this free Open Source network monitoring system

Implement Zenoss core and fit it into your security management environment using this easy-to-understand tutorial guide.

For system administrators, network engineers, and security analysts, it is essential to keep a track of network traffic. At some point it will be necessary to read the network traffic directly instead of monitoring application level details. Network security audits, debug network configurations, and usage patterns analyzing can all require network traffic monitoring. This task can be achieved by using network monitoring software, or network sniffers, that sniff the traffic and display it on your computer on the network.

Zenoss is an enterprise network and systems management application written in Python/Zope that provides an integrated product for monitoring availability, performance, events and configuration across layers and across platforms. Zenoss provides an AJAX-enabled web interface that allows system administrators to monitor availability, inventory/configuration, performance, and events. Whether you monitor five devices or a thousand devices, Zenoss provides a scalable solution for you.

This book will show you how to work with Zenoss and effectively adapt Zenoss for a System and Network monitoring. Starting with the Zenoss basics, it requires no existing systems management knowledge, and whether or not you can recite MIB trees and OIDs from memory is irrelevant. Advanced users will be able to identify ways in which they can customize the system to do more, while less advanced users will appreciate the ease of use Zenoss provides.

The book contains step-by-step examples to demonstrate Zenoss Core’s capabilities. The best approach to using this book is to sit down with Zenoss and apply the examples found in these pages to your system.

What you will learn from this book

• Understand how Zenoss Core works and what it can do for you
  
• See how to install and set up Zenoss Core
  
• Buildan inventory of your network using Zenoss Core
  
• Monitor the operational status of devices and components
  
• Generate events and manage them from the Event Console
  
• Manage users, define alerting rules, and customize event views.
  
• Administer Zenoss Core, perform backups and updates
  
• Extend Zenoss Core with ZenPacks, Nagios plugins, and command line utilities
  
• Troubleshoot Zenoss Core

Approach
The book starts by covering installation and configuration, before moving onto administration and dashboard usage.The book contains step-by-step instructions for setting up and using a working, capable Zenoss system.

Who this book is written for
From small business to a large enterprise, this books helps organizations collect data, monitor, and report on their IT assets. Zenoss Core offers a feature-rich, accessible solution to organizations that lack the financial resources to purchase a proprietary monitoring solution or the technical resources.

This book makes no distinction about your existing systems management knowledge or lack; thereof and assumes everyone is new to Zenoss Core. The emphasis is on configuring and administering a monitoring environment from the comforts of a graphical web interface.

About the Authors
Mike Badger is a technical writer with a BS in Technical and Professional Communication from the Pennsylvania College of Technology/Penn State. For 15 years, he has bridged the communication gap between developers and users and specializes in helping users understand, troubleshoot, and use technology.