Tools and tricks for monitoring your network

KEEPING WATCH

Article from Issue 92/2008

Author(s): JOE CASAD

If you can’t monitor everything yourself, why not let your computers watch your computers? This month we examine some practical techniques for network monitoring.

You can’t inspect a computer network the way you inspect a line of show dogs. Dozens of processes are at work at any moment – all within a motionless rack or an innocuous beige case – and no one has enough eyes to watch the status of everything. While you stop to fill out another requisition form, files fly down wires, web servers serve up pages, data servers accept and log transactions, and CPUs execute millions of instructions every second. The need for network monitoring has been around for nearly as long as the need for networks. This month, we look at some tricks and tools for keeping watch.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF

Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Print Subs

Digisubs

TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS

US / Canada

UK / Australia

Related content

Network Monitoring Intro

Are your systems behaving? Is your newest workstation too busy for its memory? Stay ahead of problems on your network with the free and versatile monitoring tool known as Nagios.

more »
check_logfiles

The Nagios check_logfiles plugin helps you monitor your logfiles – even if the logs rotate and change names.

more »
Nagios Workshop

Nagios monitors your network and provides early warning for problems with hosts and services.

more »
Open Source Monitoring Tools

Open source tools such as Hobbit, Nagios, and monit provide system monitoring for large or small networks.

more »
Network Management Intro

Professional admins with tightening IT budgets are always looking for new tools that will help them do more with less. This month we feature some popular open source applications for deploying, configuring, updating, and monitoring software and systems on the network.

more »

comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

Network_Monitoring_Intro.pdf (321.07 kB)

News

Old Vulnerabilities Are Kept Alive Through Bad Configuration

HP's annual Cyber Risk report offers a bleak look at the state of IT.
Linus Torvalds Announces Linux 4.0

But what do the big numbers really mean?
Microsoft Frees CoreCLR

.NET , CoreCRL , open source

.NET Core execution engine is the basis for cross-platform .NET implementations.
New Trojan Attacks Linux Servers

Xnote

The Xnote trojan hides itself on the target system and will launch a variety of attacks on command.
Cisco Releases Annual Security Report

Spammers go low-volume, and 90% of IE browsers are unpatched.
Zero Day Exploits Target Flash

Adobe scrambles to release patches for vulnerable Flash Player.
Intel Unveils Compute Stick

Four-inch-long computer on a stick lets you boot a full Linux system from any HDMI display device.
Obama Proposes Personal Data Notification Law

New statute would require companies to report break-ins to consumers.
TGXf Project Warns of File Transfer through Screen Pixels

Weird data transfer technique avoids all standard security measures.
Industry Giants Announce a Fix for the Password Mess

FIDO alliance declares the beginning of the end for old-style login authentication.