Hi All,
We are being asked "Why Xymon?". We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored *graphing and historical trending *ease of use *light weight/low resource *multiple scripting languages support (any) *redundant (warm standby) *cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else *support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
I'd ask "why not Xymon"? It obviously has a proven track record in your company. It can be a significant task to replace an existing monitoring solution with some thing new and integrate it into your processes. If they want to use offshore resources, why not let them help manage the existing system? I've used many different monitoring solutions and I always come back to Xymon. Once I show it's simplicity and ease of extensibility, others want to use it.
How easy will it be to add new monitors to the in-house application? Add new servers to monitor? What support level can you expect? Many of these you already have stated. There used to be a PPT out there about using Hobbit/Xymon. Not sure what happened to that or how current it is.
=G=
From: Xymon <xymon-bounces at xymon.com> on behalf of Gore, David W (David) <david.gore at verizon.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:20 AM To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Hi All,
We are being asked "Why Xymon?". We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored *graphing and historical trending *ease of use *light weight/low resource *multiple scripting languages support (any) *redundant (warm standby) *cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else *support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
One more point I want to throw into this discussion is the security aspect. All our Xymon agents (also at the master server) are running under non priviledged accounts.
Even for (Unix) Xymon client rollout we don't need special rights (agent start is controlled by a user cronjob created during rollout, no entry in /etc/init.d or the like).
There are only very special tests which really needs extra permissions, and most of the time there is a workaround available to avoid this.
This minimizes the possible impact from monitoring to the system, and does not conflict with security concerns of admins and management, and saved a lot of discussions.
I don't know any other solution which is able to work like that.
Norbert
From: Galen Johnson <Galen.Johnson at sas.com> To: "xymon at xymon.com" <xymon at xymon.com> Date: 06/04/2014 03:22 PM Subject: Re: [Xymon] Why Xymon? Sent by: "Xymon" <xymon-bounces at xymon.com>
I'd ask "why not Xymon"? It obviously has a proven track record in your company. It can be a significant task to replace an existing monitoring solution with some thing new and integrate it into your processes. If they want to use offshore resources, why not let them help manage the existing system? I've used many different monitoring solutions and I always come back to Xymon. Once I show it's simplicity and ease of extensibility, others want to use it.
How easy will it be to add new monitors to the in-house application? Add new servers to monitor? What support level can you expect? Many of these you already have stated. There used to be a PPT out there about using Hobbit/Xymon. Not sure what happened to that or how current it is.
=G=
From: Xymon <xymon-bounces at xymon.com> on behalf of Gore, David W (David) <david.gore at verizon.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:20 AM To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Hi All,
We are being asked “Why Xymon?”. We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored *graphing and historical trending *ease of use *light weight/low resource *multiple scripting languages support (any) *redundant (warm standby) *cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else *support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
I too would ask "why not Xymon??". You've been using it since 2005, and Big Brother before that, so obviously it is doing what you need it to do.
How long has the in-house app been available? Does it do anything Xymon can't do? Why not switch it to Xymon? If it came along after Xymon, why was it even developed when there was already a working monitoring system?
Ralph Mitchell On Jun 4, 2014 9:22 AM, "Galen Johnson" <Galen.Johnson at sas.com> wrote:
I'd ask "why not Xymon"? It obviously has a proven track record in your company. It can be a significant task to replace an existing monitoring solution with some thing new and integrate it into your processes. If they want to use offshore resources, why not let them help manage the existing system? I've used many different monitoring solutions and I always come back to Xymon. Once I show it's simplicity and ease of extensibility, others want to use it.
How easy will it be to add new monitors to the in-house application? Add new servers to monitor? What support level can you expect? Many of these you already have stated. There used to be a PPT out there about using Hobbit/Xymon. Not sure what happened to that or how current it is.
=G=
*From:* Xymon <xymon-bounces at xymon.com> on behalf of Gore, David W (David) <david.gore at verizon.com> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:20 AM *To:* xymon at xymon.com *Subject:* [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Hi All,
We are being asked “Why Xymon?”. We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored
*graphing and historical trending
*ease of use
*light weight/low resource
*multiple scripting languages support (any)
*redundant (warm standby)
*cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else
*support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
You guys should know that is not how it works with management types?
Or to share what I know so far, they would respond because our platform has a dedicated off shore support team and an on shore development team. And I could argue cost and they may say but our platform supports many more teams outside of your own.
Norbert made some good points on security that I can use in our favor. Thank you Norbert.
And thank you Mark and Galen for providing feedback.
~David W Gore
From: Xymon [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] On Behalf Of Ralph Mitchell Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 12:00 PM To: Galen Johnson Cc: xymon at xymon.com Subject: Re: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
I too would ask "why not Xymon??". You've been using it since 2005, and Big Brother before that, so obviously it is doing what you need it to do.
How long has the in-house app been available? Does it do anything Xymon can't do? Why not switch it to Xymon? If it came along after Xymon, why was it even developed when there was already a working monitoring system?
Ralph Mitchell On Jun 4, 2014 9:22 AM, "Galen Johnson" <Galen.Johnson at sas.com<mailto:Galen.Johnson at sas.com>> wrote: I'd ask "why not Xymon"? It obviously has a proven track record in your company. It can be a significant task to replace an existing monitoring solution with some thing new and integrate it into your processes. If they want to use offshore resources, why not let them help manage the existing system? I've used many different monitoring solutions and I always come back to Xymon. Once I show it's simplicity and ease of extensibility, others want to use it.
How easy will it be to add new monitors to the in-house application? Add new servers to monitor? What support level can you expect? Many of these you already have stated. There used to be a PPT out there about using Hobbit/Xymon. Not sure what happened to that or how current it is.
=G=
From: Xymon <xymon-bounces at xymon.com<mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com>> on behalf of Gore, David W (David) <david.gore at verizon.com<mailto:david.gore at verizon.com>> Sent: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:20 AM To: xymon at xymon.com<mailto:xymon at xymon.com> Subject: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Hi All,
We are being asked “Why Xymon?”. We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored *graphing and historical trending *ease of use *light weight/low resource *multiple scripting languages support (any) *redundant (warm standby) *cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else *support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com<mailto:Xymon at xymon.com> http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
One of the best things to do is to say "Well, lets run them side by side and see what the results look like".
In any case, keep Xymon running.... you'll need it :)
Gore, David W (David) wrote:
You guys should know that is not how it works with management types?
Or to share what I know so far, they would respond because our platform has a dedicated off shore support team and an on shore development team. And I could argue cost and they may say but our platform supports many more teams outside of your own.
Norbert made some good points on security that I can use in our favor.
Thank you Norbert.And thank you Mark and Galen for providing feedback.
~David W Gore
*From:* Xymon [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] *On Behalf Of *Ralph Mitchell *Sent:* Wednesday, June 04, 2014 12:00 PM *To:* Galen Johnson *Cc:* xymon at xymon.com *Subject:* Re: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
I too would ask "why not Xymon??". You've been using it since 2005, and Big Brother before that, so obviously it is doing what you need it to do.
How long has the in-house app been available? Does it do anything Xymon can't do? Why not switch it to Xymon? If it came along after Xymon, why was it even developed when there was already a working monitoring system?
Ralph Mitchell
On Jun 4, 2014 9:22 AM, "Galen Johnson" <Galen.Johnson at sas.com <mailto:Galen.Johnson at sas.com>> wrote:
I'd ask "why not Xymon"? It obviously has a proven track record in your company. It can be a significant task to replace an existing monitoring solution with some thing new and integrate it into your processes. If they want to use offshore resources, why not let them help manage the existing system? I've used many different monitoring solutions and I always come back to Xymon. Once I show it's simplicity and ease of extensibility, others want to use it.
How easy will it be to add new monitors to the in-house application? Add new servers to monitor? What support level can you expect? Many of these you already have stated. There used to be a PPT out there about using Hobbit/Xymon. Not sure what happened to that or how current it is.
=G=
*From:* Xymon <xymon-bounces at xymon.com <mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com>> on behalf of Gore, David W (David) <david.gore at verizon.com <mailto:david.gore at verizon.com>> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 4, 2014 8:20 AM *To:* xymon at xymon.com <mailto:xymon at xymon.com> *Subject:* [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Hi All,
We are being asked “Why Xymon?”. We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
We started using Xymon when we lost our first level 24x7 monitoring group and have not looked back since. Now we are being asked to use an in-house application and offshore assets.
Some of the Xymon features we like are:
*big picture of all our apps via the nonongreen page, application, OS, network and databases monitored
*graphing and historical trending
*ease of use
*light weight/low resource
*multiple scripting languages support (any)
*redundant (warm standby)
*cost (free) thanks Henrik and everyone else
*support via the mailing list,
We have been using Xymon from the beginning back in 2005. Before using Xymon/Hobbit we used Big Brother.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
~David W Gore
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com <mailto:Xymon at xymon.com> http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
-- Sean MacGuire sean at maclawran.ca
Key West +1 305 390 0888 The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay
Gore, David W (David) wrote:
You guys should know that is not how it works with management types?
Or to share what I know so far, they would respond because our platform has a dedicated off shore support team and an on shore development team. And I could argue cost and they may say but our platform supports many more teams outside of your own.
Norbert made some good points on security that I can use in our favor. Thank you Norbert.
And thank you Mark and Galen for providing feedback.
How about the dedicated (and free) development team that you have with Xymon? Or the fact that your own dedicated off short support team and on shore dev team can work on xymon to build/extend/improve/customise xymon however you require. If you need your own car, do you start also have to re-engineer the wheel, and the tyre, etc? or do you just take one that someone else has made, and then apply your customisations (assuming your company is not in the monitoring business, in which case, your business probably demands enough USP's that you will need to build your own from scratch).
In fact, that is probably the best thing to remember, most IT departments exist to support "the business", they aren't supposed to be inventing, building, and creating their own "things"....
Just my 0.02c, which probably won't help at all, but there it is.
Regards, Adam
-- Adam Goryachev Website Managers www.websitemanagers.com.au
Extensibility.
I have yet to see a monitoring challenge that I've not been able to meet with Xymon, either through an extension that somebody else has cooked up, or through my own. The 'XY' in Xymon really means anything, and that's what I've found it good to be for, monitoring anything. Whenever the conversation comes up, I say that Nagios, Zabbix, Solarwinds, What's up, SCOM, or any other monitoring application is merely that, an application, but Xymon is different. It's a monitoring platform. You begin with the basics and there are no limits to what it can do. I've got extensions that check for a file backup in three lines of bash, try doing that with one of the other platforms. I've got PowerShell and VB extensions for the Windows guys, python, bash, and Perl extensions for the Unix guys, and SNMP for the network guys. They all plug in together and work nicely. This amalgamation would, to be best of my knowledge, not be possible with any other monitoring system. Plus, easily accessible performance trending graphs, and I've got an incredible affinity for graphs.
In addition, the only other major opponent I've seen in the monitoring arena is Nagios, but Nagios folds at over 2000 tests per interval, while Xymon doesn't even sweat. Seriously, I've got a Xymon box with over 10,000 tests that runs a load of .01 with 1 vCPU and a gig of RAM. You can't beat that.
Jamison Maxwell Jamison at newasterisk.com
-----Original Message----- From: Xymon [mailto:xymon-bounces at xymon.com] On Behalf Of Adam Goryachev Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:00 PM To: xymon at xymon.com Subject: Re: [Xymon] Why Xymon?
Gore, David W (David) wrote:
You guys should know that is not how it works with management types?
Or to share what I know so far, they would respond because our platform has a dedicated off shore support team and an on shore development team. And I could argue cost and they may say but our platform supports many more teams outside of your own.
Norbert made some good points on security that I can use in our favor. Thank you Norbert.
And thank you Mark and Galen for providing feedback.
How about the dedicated (and free) development team that you have with Xymon? Or the fact that your own dedicated off short support team and on shore dev team can work on xymon to build/extend/improve/customise xymon however you require. If you need your own car, do you start also have to re-engineer the wheel, and the tyre, etc? or do you just take one that someone else has made, and then apply your customisations (assuming your company is not in the monitoring business, in which case, your business probably demands enough USP's that you will need to build your own from scratch).
In fact, that is probably the best thing to remember, most IT departments exist to support "the business", they aren't supposed to be inventing, building, and creating their own "things"....
Just my 0.02c, which probably won't help at all, but there it is.
Regards, Adam
-- Adam Goryachev Website Managers www.websitemanagers.com.au _______________________________________________ Xymon mailing list Xymon at xymon.com http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
On 2014-06-04 07:20, Gore, David W (David) wrote:
Hi All,
We are being asked "Why Xymon?". We have some answers but I was hoping someone else may have been more eloquent and articulate than myself in defending the use of Xymon. Perhaps you could share your wisdom?
If you have 1000 servers that are all identical and all need the exact same services monitored you will find that Nagios, Zabbix, etc are very well fit for this task. It is very easy to define monitoring parameters, apply that to a group, and add all your servers to this group.
If you have 1000 servers and they all have unique monitoring requirements you will find yourself tearing our your hair in frustration trying to set them up on Nagios, Zabbic, etc. Especially if you're using Zabbix you'll quickly need to replace your mouse as it will run out of clicks just about the time you are diagnosed with carpal tunnel.
Xymon is quite possibly the most flexible and easy to manage monitoring solution I've seen so far. It often gets overlooked or chided because it doesn't have a fancy web interface with the latest HTML5 and node.js and whatever else the kids these days think they need to spice up their text documents, but it scales very well and won't let you down.
And for those that do have 1000 servers which are all identical -- the Xymon syntax is simple enough you could easily automate hosts.cfg and analysis.cfg entries if needed.
participants (8)
-
david.gore＠verizon.com
-
feld＠feld.me
-
Galen.Johnson＠sas.com
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jamison＠newasterisk.com
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mailinglists＠websitemanagers.com.au
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norbert.kriegenburg＠de.ibm.com
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ralphmitchell＠gmail.com
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sean＠maclawran.ca