It would be a crime to claim to be a person who is interested in Open source monitoring systems, and then not talk about Zenoss. So, even though I had started the deep dive into CRMs, I thought It is my duty to come back and give it the proper respect that it deserves.

Monitoring tools have been there for a long long time. In that time they have built a large user base. The longer the users have been using the product, the tougher it is to break into the already existing market. This is where the difference between Proprietary and Open Source software come into play. The best thing about Open Source is the feel that it makes you feel…”Hell yea, I am contributing to a worthy cause. This, from now on is MY cause!!”

Zenoss is one such tool which came into being very recently, in an age when we already had a lot of established proprietary as well as open source tools. What we saw then, was a crusade for Zenoss which popularized the usage, and bringing up the download count to rival established tools like Nagios.

A quick glance though the highlighted features of Zenoss:

Model Driven Management

• Maintains a comprehensive model of every device – hardware, software, virtualization and network relationships.
• Model immediately as each server is instantiated
• Provides comprehensive management using functions built into operating systems and applications by manufacturers.

Dynamically changing technologies

• The hardest part is to keep up with the change.
• Can’t wait for months to integrate existing technologies and implement a package.
• Less administrative work every day with more accurate results.

The list of features is almost endless. You will most definitely love to have a look at the various screen shots of Zenoss here. Trust me, It looks good. The temptation to switch to Zenoss gets greater when we come to hear that It is compatible with almost all custom Nagios plugins you may be using. I guess its high time that one stand up and proclaim, “Yea, Zenoss is MY cause!”

About the Author

Jeevan Joseph has been with Bobcares for a year, and is now heading the Public Relations wing of the company. He has worked as a developer as well as a technical support in the past for startups to Datacenters.

Jeevan, after graduating in Electronics and Communications Engineering, turned into the web-hosting domain out of the passion for open source. As an eloquent orator, he spends his spare time with the Toastmasters, and have given sessions to over 2500 people in the past 4 years.