The OpenNMS Network Monitoring Tool
Network monitoring is a term used to describe all the process involved in managing a network in terms determining and controlling the data traffic together with identifying slow and failing network devices . It also manages system overloads, device crushes as well as critical network connections. For example, to find out if a server is functioning properly, a request for a page is sent to the server and the response is evaluated in terms of response time and uptime and compared with the expected result. Failures are declared as so if the response time is beyond the expected or there is no response at all and is referred to as ‘time-out’ .
Therefore, to get accurate and reliable network monitoring process, specialised software called Network Monitoring Software or Tool is used. A good example of such software is the OpenNMS network management and monitoring tool developed under open source model. This tool is supported by a community that improves on it as well as The OpenNMS Group Corporation.
This tool is written in Java thus is independent of any platform as long it supports Java SDK version 1.5 or higher. Most of the operating systems in used currently such as Solaris, Mac OS X, Linux and Windows have these precompiled binaries .
The OpenNMS monitoring tools works on an algorithm referred to as the ‘publish and subscribe’ massage bus to manage events and notifications. In this method, a process is said to publish or offer events, while others request or subscribe for the events. This makes the starting and ending of event easy to manage.
The software also has the ability of adding or removing network devices automatically as long as the Internet Protocol (I.P) range is provided. The technology behind such a configuration is known as XML, in which the user can script the code to perform this automation or simply use the web-based interface to add new devices.
This network management tool has won several awards with the latest being the 2010 Infoworld Best of Open Source Award.
References
Johnson, M. (2011). Network Monitoring: What You Need to Know for IT Operations Management. Emereo Pty Limited.
Lammle, T. (2006). CCNA INTRO: Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies Study Guide: Exam 640-821. John Wiley & Sons.
Lee, D. (1999). Enhanced IP services for Cisco networks. Cisco Press.
Schubert, M., Bennett, D., Gines, J., Hay, A., & Strand, J. (2008). Nagios 3 enterprise network monitoring: including plug-ins and hardware devices. Syngress.
Vladimirov, A., Gavrilenko, K., & Mikhailovsky, A. (2005). Hacking exposed Cisco networks: Cisco security secrets & solutions. McGraw-Hill Prof Med/Tech.
