November 28, 2011 1:38 PM
Gaining an Edge with Opsview Open Source Monitoring
Not all open source IT monitoring systems are made equal. Just as IT infrastructures vary according to the size, location and type of business, so the systems that monitor and report on their performance must be flexible, easy to scale and configure to meet the demands of an ever changing business.Opsview gives you the edge with open source monitoring by offering an easy to install and configure system that delivers enhanced functionality in a highly scalable, commercially supported system.
If you’re replacing your existing monitoring solution, or evaluating systems for implementation, here are 10 reasons why you should consider Opsview:
1. Flexibility
Opsview’s open source monitoring system is designed with ease of use and flexibility at its heart. Based on Nagios® Core, the installation, configuration and upgrade to Opsview doesn’t require highly specialised knowledge or additional investment into expensive specialist hardware or integration skills. It is essentially an enterprise IT window onto performance and availability, watching hosts and services, alerting users to problems or issues and allowing them to track their resolution.2. A Single Tool for Monitoring all Environments
IT environments are becoming increasingly diverse with a mix of physical, virtual and cloud environments as IT departments continually strive to do more with less. Using a mix of proprietary IT management tools to monitor these environments causes unnecessary complexity which could lead to slower fault resolution times and hamper overall monitoring effectiveness. Opsview delivers a ‘single pane of glass’ view across this mix of layers, hosts and components helping ensure IT SLAs are met and keeping costs down by removing the need for multiple software licences or subscriptions.3. Direct Access to Source Code
As an open source developed suite, and unlike more expensive proprietary alternatives, Opsview allows end users direct access to the source code, enabling IT departments to make changes to the root system. This enables a business to optimize individual IT monitoring requirements, for instance, tweaking status views so that they can be graphically represented in a way that delivers meaningful, at-a-glance information depending on the level of detail required.
However, considering how much pressure IT budgets are under nowadays, most enterprises don’t want to use their own in-house software engineering staff to tinker with the source code of third-party applications. So Opsview Enterprise edition includes software maintenance to ensure you receive critical software fixes quickly and with minimum disruption to business.
4. Strength in Numbers
Where proprietary software development is closed to all but the biggest enterprise customers, the Opsview community lies at the heart of our development model, supporting over 15,000 users. Their feedback is invaluable when developing and refining new features that continuously improve the suite. The variety of different environments monitored by the community enables the identification of the widest range of problems possible before any code is certified for inclusion in Opsview Enterprise edition.5. Open Platform
Opsview is an open source application that encourages tight, two-way integration with other systems such as ticketing and help-desk consoles. In doing so, Opsview offers a cost-effective way to upgrade your core monitoring and performance management capabilities with minimal disruption to existing procedures and processes.6. Easy Migration from Other Systems
Another key consideration for the value of any IT monitoring system is not just only how easy it is to use, but also how simple it is to take on in the first place. That’s why Opsview makes migration easy. The use of standard frameworks such as Catalyst and Perl DBI make development straightforward and developer documentation supported by the strong open source community is freely available online. Opsview’s integration and compatibility characteristics mean you don’t have to replace existing monitoring agents and that it will work with existing plug-ins. That way you don’t lose any of the value already invested in existing monitoring capabilities - you enhance and strengthen them. Opsview also provides APIs for system configuration, monitoring data re-use, and the automatic population and update of host information. This is particularly useful for integrating Opsview Enterprise edition with other IT management tools.
7. Lower Costs
The open nature of Opsview locks down cost because your IT department is not supporting unique versions, nor is an army of consultants required to just carry out an upgrade. It also means display of system status information on everything from a company intranet or website, to the publishing of performance and availability metrics on a customer portal is possible from a single monitoring solution rather than multiple point solutions generating siloed reports and metrics.
8. No Vendor Lock-In
As well as on-going licence fees, using proprietary software often means being ‘locked-in’ with the vendor with no option to customize the software to fit your needs. Opsview gives you the flexibility and control of a home-grown system, perfectly tailored to your needs, but with commercial support, development roadmap and community feedback platform.9. Field Tested for Monitoring Complex Infrastructures
Opsview is used in all types of monitoring environments because it’s easy to install and configure and delivers an open platform with a large, active community of contributors and enthusiasts. However, mission critical business applications and services demand high performance and availability. This is where Opsview Enterprise edition comes in to its own. From Airports to Banks, Service Providers and even the Military, Opsview Enterprise stands its ground in the most rigorous monitoring environments. With integrated redundancy, high availability and scalable architecture, Opsview Enterprise edition is designed to help organisations toward uninterrupted business operations.10. Fair Pricing on Commercial Products
Unlike proprietary solutions, the commercial version of Opsview offers entry points for all types and sizes of business. SME and large enterprise IT estates can get professionally supported, total monitoring coverage for disparate systems without having to part with hundreds of thousands a year for the privilege.Discover Opsview today - download Opsview Community edition or view a live demo of Opsview Enterprise edition.
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