Observium
Encyclopedia
Observium is a PHP/MySQL-based Network Observation and Monitoring System (NOMS) which collects data from devices using SNMP
and presents it via a web interface. It makes heavy use of the RRDtool
(written by Tobi Oetiker) package. Observium has a number of simple core design goals driving its development: minimum interaction, maximum automation and maximum accessibility of information. These design goals have resulted in a slightly unconventional monitoring system with almost no individually customisable settings per device, and where almost everything that can be monitored is automatically discovered.
Observium doesn't seek to totally replace other Open Source projects such as Nagios
or Cacti (software) but rather to supplement them with greater understanding of certain devices and technologies. For this reason it's common to see Observium deployed alongside Nagios
or Mon to provide alerting and Cacti to provide customised graphing of arbitrary metrics.
Observium integrates specific support for a number of vendor and platform specific features such as Dell OMSA on Linux platforms, Net-SNMP statistics as well as a number of Cisco
-specific features such as Cisco Discovery Protocol
, inventory tracking and VLAN tracking. The FreeBSD
-based firewall, m0n0wall
http://m0n0.ch/wall/tools.php, was modified to allow Observium to identify and monitor it.
Observium uses the GeSHi
, RANCID and jpgraph software packages to extend its features, and can be integrated with Nagios
to provide alerts and Collectd
to provide more detailed graphs for UNIX-like hosts.
Observium has specialised support for IPv6
address tracking, VRF
and Pseudowire tracking, VLAN tracking via VTP-MIB and QBRIDGE-MIB, BGP session tracking via BGP4-MIB, CISCO-BGP4-MIB and BGP4-V2-MIB-JUNIPER and device inventory tracking via ENTITY-MIB.
The most recent change was due to a potential trademark conflict.
Simple Network Management Protocol
Simple Network Management Protocol is an "Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more." It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor...
and presents it via a web interface. It makes heavy use of the RRDtool
RRDtool
RRDtool aims to handle time-series data like network bandwidth, temperatures, CPU load, etc...
(written by Tobi Oetiker) package. Observium has a number of simple core design goals driving its development: minimum interaction, maximum automation and maximum accessibility of information. These design goals have resulted in a slightly unconventional monitoring system with almost no individually customisable settings per device, and where almost everything that can be monitored is automatically discovered.
Observium doesn't seek to totally replace other Open Source projects such as Nagios
Nagios
Nagios is a popular open source computer system and network monitoring software application. It watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong and again when they get better....
or Cacti (software) but rather to supplement them with greater understanding of certain devices and technologies. For this reason it's common to see Observium deployed alongside Nagios
Nagios
Nagios is a popular open source computer system and network monitoring software application. It watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong and again when they get better....
or Mon to provide alerting and Cacti to provide customised graphing of arbitrary metrics.
Observium integrates specific support for a number of vendor and platform specific features such as Dell OMSA on Linux platforms, Net-SNMP statistics as well as a number of Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
-specific features such as Cisco Discovery Protocol
Cisco Discovery Protocol
The Cisco Discovery Protocol is a proprietary Data Link Layer network protocol developed by Cisco Systems. It is used to share information about other directly connected Cisco equipment, such as the operating system version and IP address...
, inventory tracking and VLAN tracking. The FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
-based firewall, m0n0wall
M0n0wall
m0n0wall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs...
http://m0n0.ch/wall/tools.php, was modified to allow Observium to identify and monitor it.
Observium uses the GeSHi
GeSHi
GeSHi or Generic Syntax Highlighter is a free software library that allows syntax highlighting of source code for several markup and programming languages. The program is written in PHP and is bundled or available as an add-on in popular web-based applications, such as Dokuwiki, Mambo, MediaWiki ,...
, RANCID and jpgraph software packages to extend its features, and can be integrated with Nagios
Nagios
Nagios is a popular open source computer system and network monitoring software application. It watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong and again when they get better....
to provide alerts and Collectd
Collectd
collectd is a UNIX-daemon which collects, transfers and stores performance data of computers and network equipment. The acquired data is meant to help system administrators maintain an overview over available resources in order to detect existing or looming bottlenecks.The first version of the...
to provide more detailed graphs for UNIX-like hosts.
Observium has specialised support for IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
address tracking, VRF
VRF
In IP-based computer networks, Virtual Routing and Forwarding is a technology that allows multiple instances of a routing table to co-exist within the same router at the same time...
and Pseudowire tracking, VLAN tracking via VTP-MIB and QBRIDGE-MIB, BGP session tracking via BGP4-MIB, CISCO-BGP4-MIB and BGP4-V2-MIB-JUNIPER and device inventory tracking via ENTITY-MIB.
Historical Names
Observium has been known as Kikker (2006), Project Observer (2006–2008), ObserverNMS (2008–2010) and Observium.The most recent change was due to a potential trademark conflict.
See also
- Network monitoringNetwork monitoringThe term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
- RRDtoolRRDtoolRRDtool aims to handle time-series data like network bandwidth, temperatures, CPU load, etc...
The primary data-storage format used by Observium - SNMP The primary statistics-collection protocol used by Observium
- CollectdCollectdcollectd is a UNIX-daemon which collects, transfers and stores performance data of computers and network equipment. The acquired data is meant to help system administrators maintain an overview over available resources in order to detect existing or looming bottlenecks.The first version of the...
Provides more detailed statistics on linux and unix hosts