Nagios is an open source enterprise monitoring software that will help you keep track of servers and their services across a network. With Nagios you'll certainly spend more time planning your infrastructure in a proactive way than reacting to preventable problems. And when problems happen you'll beat your users into noticing them, maybe skipping all the stress incoming calls and emails. Network administration is not an easy job but having Nagios by your side will make your workload lighter.
How do learn a new piece of open source software? Maybe you go on line and check the software's official documentation, scavenge forums, Google like crazy, send emails (and wait wait wait) or im friends. Then maybe you print some pages, write some annotations or place sticky notes with the bits of information you need to keep handy. At the end you will learn how to use the software, but in a highly inefficient fashion indeed.
Packt publishing in October 2008 released Learning Nagios 3.0. A great book that documents all you need to know to get yourself started with Nagios and develop the skills necessary to become a network administrator ninja. No network problem will go unnoticed and no user will be left behind. Your boss will be happy, you will add value to your company as you develop your career.
The first part of the book will show you how to install and configure Nagios. All the steps you need to take for a successful installation are included using a straight to the point prose. Also you'll grasp how to include most commonly used services in business like DHCP, SMTP, POP3, MySQL and even UPSes. Cool ain't it?
One of the best chapters is chapter 11 (Not the one you use to declare bankruptcy). It teaches you how to extend Nagios. Along this chapter you'll learn how to make Nagios check the tables in a MySQL database. Think of the possibilities, it's not just about the network hardware and it's services, it's about business critical applications. If something is not included with Nagios, you can build it with any programming language you think fits you best. And if you come up with something you think others might benefit from, you can consider giving it back to the Nagios project! That's the beauty of of Open Source applications.
Other great piece of information included with this book is how you can teach your services/applications/scripts to speak to Nagios (a.k.a. Passive Checks). Nagios doesn't have to work as a hall monitor checking the halls up and down. Applications can report to Nagios too! (I wished I had Nagios back when I used to manage applications with Flexlm licensing).
In overall, Learning Nagios 3.0 is a book you want to have by your side in your daily activities as a network administrator. It'll be a great documentation source you'll like to go back to anytime you need it and will be a good starting point for new projects or ideas you may have around your network.
You'll find some minor grammatical errors in the book, but they are certainly no show stoppers. Think Packt publishing must be aware of most of them and they will be taken care of in following editions.
At this point I don't own any other Nagios related book, but after reading Learning Nagios 3.0 I don't really feel the need to have any other book but this one.
Bonlebon
How do learn a new piece of open source software? Maybe you go on line and check the software's official documentation, scavenge forums, Google like crazy, send emails (and wait wait wait) or im friends. Then maybe you print some pages, write some annotations or place sticky notes with the bits of information you need to keep handy. At the end you will learn how to use the software, but in a highly inefficient fashion indeed.
Packt publishing in October 2008 released Learning Nagios 3.0. A great book that documents all you need to know to get yourself started with Nagios and develop the skills necessary to become a network administrator ninja. No network problem will go unnoticed and no user will be left behind. Your boss will be happy, you will add value to your company as you develop your career.
The first part of the book will show you how to install and configure Nagios. All the steps you need to take for a successful installation are included using a straight to the point prose. Also you'll grasp how to include most commonly used services in business like DHCP, SMTP, POP3, MySQL and even UPSes. Cool ain't it?
One of the best chapters is chapter 11 (Not the one you use to declare bankruptcy). It teaches you how to extend Nagios. Along this chapter you'll learn how to make Nagios check the tables in a MySQL database. Think of the possibilities, it's not just about the network hardware and it's services, it's about business critical applications. If something is not included with Nagios, you can build it with any programming language you think fits you best. And if you come up with something you think others might benefit from, you can consider giving it back to the Nagios project! That's the beauty of of Open Source applications.
Other great piece of information included with this book is how you can teach your services/applications/scripts to speak to Nagios (a.k.a. Passive Checks). Nagios doesn't have to work as a hall monitor checking the halls up and down. Applications can report to Nagios too! (I wished I had Nagios back when I used to manage applications with Flexlm licensing).
In overall, Learning Nagios 3.0 is a book you want to have by your side in your daily activities as a network administrator. It'll be a great documentation source you'll like to go back to anytime you need it and will be a good starting point for new projects or ideas you may have around your network.
You'll find some minor grammatical errors in the book, but they are certainly no show stoppers. Think Packt publishing must be aware of most of them and they will be taken care of in following editions.
At this point I don't own any other Nagios related book, but after reading Learning Nagios 3.0 I don't really feel the need to have any other book but this one.
Bonlebon
