 | | |
| Nagios: System and Network Monitoring | 
| Author: Wolfgang Barth
Publisher: No Starch Press
Category: Book
List Price: $44.95
Buy New: $12.00
You Save: $32.95 (73%)
Buy New/Used from $10.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  (2 reviews)
Sales Rank: 474557
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7 x 1.1
ISBN: 1593270704
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.6
EAN: 9781593270704
ASIN: 1593270704
Publication Date: May 30, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Nagios: System and Network Monitoring shows how to configure and use Nagios, an open source system and network monitoring tool. Nagios makes it possible to continuously monitor network services (SMTP, POP3, HTTP, NNTP, PING, etc.), host resources (processor load, disk and memory usage, running processes, log files, etc.), and environmental factors (such as temperature). When Nagios detects a problem, it communicates the information to the sys admin via email, pager, SMS, or other user-defined method; current status information, historical logs, and reports can also be accessed via a web browser. Nagios System and Network Monitoring covers the Nagios core, all standard Nagios plug-ins and selected third-party plug-ins, and shows readers how to write their own plug-ins. The book covers Nagios 2.0 and is backwards compatible with earlier versions.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Best for Nagios admins who want specific details on plug-ins September 4, 2006
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
I recently received review copies of Pro Nagios 2.0 (PN2) by James Turnbull and Nagios: System and Network Monitoring (NSANM) by Wolfgang Barth. I read PN2 first, then NSANM. Both are excellent books, but I expect potential readers want to know which is best for them. The following is a radical simplification, and I could honestly recommend readers buy either (or both) books. If you are completely new to Nagios and want a very well-organized introduction, I recommend PN2. If you are somewhat familiar with Nagios and want detailed descriptions of a wide variety of Nagios plug-ins, I recommend NSANM.
NSANM strengths lie in the depth of coverage of certain elements when compared to PN2. PN2 devotes 7 pages to host checks, while NSANM's Ch 7 offers 21 pages. PN2 supplies 8 pages on service checks, but NSANM's Ch 6 gives 46 pages. This level of detail can be very useful. For example, NSANM's explanation of check_squid also shows to to configure Sguid to allow access to its cache manager.
NSANM shares more information on certain background protocols like SNMP. PN2's SNMP section is about 7 pages, whereas NSANM's Ch 11 is 36 pages. NSANM demonstrates more aspects of Nagios' Web interface and the CGI programs generating pages. I thought author Wolfgang Barth made very effective use of diagrams, like the network topology explanation in Ch 4, the service checks in Ch 5, and notification in Ch 12.
NSANM includes some material not mentioned in PN2, like using Nagios with Cygwin. Sometimes the books are very complementary, as shown by PN2's discussion of NSClient++ and NSANM's overview of NSClient and NC_Net.
NSANM is lacking coverage of security, redundancy, and failover, however. PN2 does address these critical issues. Beware the some of the "chapters" in NSANM are very short -- like Ch 8 (2 pages!) and Ch 19 (barely 6 pages). I think short sections like those should have been integrated into longer chapters or moved into the appendices.
Overall, NSANM is a very good book. I believe new Nagios readers should read PN2, and strongly consider NSANM as a complementary reference volume.
A nice solid Nagios introduction a la No Starch Press July 25, 2006
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Bookspecs:
70+ plugins described !!
464 pages
The book (in a typical No Starch Press style) gives a clear, concise rundown about Nagios in general.
As such it is a well written and sound introduction to the Nagios topic.
After having read No Starch*s Nagios book you will know exactly how Nagios works inside.
The thorough explanations, flow charts and many tips and tricks leave no doubt that after you
finished the book you know your way around any Nagios installation.
What is remarkable is, that even though the Nagios topic is fairly young, the authors manage
to describe more than 70+ plugins. !!
One of the features of this book was for me basically a new level of "Usability" - or should I
say "reading quality" ? The text contains virtually "links" to related or refered to sections in
other chapters. That allows the reader to quickly jump back and forth to follow up on something.
A BIG time-saver and from my point of view much appreciated.
Beginners or junior system administrators will find No Starch's Nagios book an excellent choice.
It doesnt come with all the latest bells and whistles but it certainly covers more than 80% of
what the average joe sysadmin needs to know.
>> Please find a more detailed review and book comparisons by deploying my profile. <<
|
|
|
Powered by: Dknc, inc. and Amazon.com | | 
For your safety and security, orders are processed through amazon.com
|
|
|
|