Server monitoring

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Posted by: Doozer, on 1/8/2010, in category "Blog"
Views: this article has been read 759 times

So one part of my network reorganization that I'd been meaning to do for awhile was get some sort of server monitoring software. I was going to write my own program, but then I decided I didn't need to reinvent the wheel as this isn't a new problem. I was sure there were dozens hundreds of programs out there that I could try for free. And sure enough, I stumbled across one fairly early on that seems to suit my needs, at least for now.

Servers Alive! is the name. Free download (although there's a pay-version with a few features unlocked), and so far it seems to be working pretty well. What impressed me was the versatility. You can do a variety of things including monitoring hard drive space and pinging IPs (as I'm showing in the image), to checking for specific database services or other system processes on remote machines. You can even have the monitor start a service if it discovers the service has stopped. It can alert you in a vareity of ways including coloring (the red/green above is fully customizable), emails, text messages, even MSN messages.

I've only had it going for about a week, but I think I'll probably stick with it. If I was writing my own code, I'd change the layout a bit, but you can't argue esthetics with a program that provides so many tools for free.

In the meantime, one thing I should add to my previous post about my network is that part of the reason this got spraked now is because I've decided to migrate my DVD collection onto my fileserver for easy access from the modded Xbox. I don't have that many DVDs (or I didn't think so), but it's amazing how fast space disappears when you're adding 7gb at a time. especially considering I still have the entire James Bond 007 Box Set to rip...