Adding a homebuilt warning light to your data center

STOP AND GO

Article from Issue 92/2008
Author(s):

A clever combination of Nagios and a doityourself traffic lights lets you know how your network is feeling.

If you need to manage a large number of computers and services, Nagios is an excellent option. Nagios monitors computers, network connections, and servers, displaying the current health state of a web interface with the colors green (okay), yellow (warning), and red (critical). It is a pity that the web interface is so unobtrusive. If everything is quiet on the network front, an administrator can easily close the browser window and overlook the Nagios warning messages in the general flood of email traffic. One day, I decided there must be a better way. Luckily, Nagios is very easy to adapt and extend. With a little scripting and some cheap electronic hardware, I built a simple traffic light that can sit on top of a switch, cabinet, or desk to show the current network status.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Nagios Workshop

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

    more »
  • Perl: Nagios Plugins

    You can build a plugin in Perl to harness the power of the Nagios monitoring tool.

    more »
  • Network Monitoring Intro

    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.

    more »
  • NagVis

    Want a topside view of possible problems? NagVis is an easy tool for visualizing the status of your network.

    more »
  • GroundWork

    GroundWork is a user-friendly front-end for the Nagios monitoring tool.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

038-041_nagiosampel.pdf (951.25 kB)

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux New Media Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source
njobs Europe
What:
Where:
Country:
Njobs Netherlands Njobs Deutschland Njobs United Kingdom Njobs Italia Njobs France Njobs Espana Njobs Poland
Njobs Austria Njobs Denmark Njobs Belgium Njobs Czech Republic Njobs Mexico Njobs India Njobs Colombia