Essential SNMP, 2nd Edition

JFFNMS

I enjoyed working through the JFFNMS (Just For Fun NMS) demo—without reading through any documentation first. Intuitive features and navigation make this monitoring package stand out from the crowd.

Supported operating systems include Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and, of course, Unix and Linux. JFFNMS is web-based and is written in PHP. It contains typical features such as a status map, events console, and performance graphs (using RRDtool).

The Hosts map view allows you to break down the display into hosts for different customers. A pull-down menu lets you select a single customer's data, further refining the view.

The Performance view shows thumbnail graphs of all the different objects. This screen could serve as a morning wake-up call; it provides a quick way to get a broad view of the health of all your devices.

A few features stand out; the database backend uses MySQL. It has an integrated syslog monitoring facility. JJFNMS provides auto discovery and monitoring capabilities for real-world environments, including APC UPS, Apache and IIS monitoring, and Compaq Insight Manager Monitoring, just to name a few.

JFFNMS offers the ability to set up SLA thresholds. It comes with some useful presets such as logging an event when memory usage goes above 80%.

The maps display the various monitored components with mouse-over pop ups that lead you right to the graphs while continuing to display the events page below.

Another nice feature is the ability to choose different ...