Zabbix is the best open source-based NOC platform you can find
September 17, 2019
Zabbix is the best open source-based NOC platform you can find
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Zabbix
In the beginning, we started using Zabbix in a small deployment, running the Linux box, deployed as a docker container. As we got familiar with the infrastructure, we decided to start using to basically monitor some servers. As we got confident, we started to monitor all the servers on-premise and some servers on a private cloud and finally, we included the network assets. Currently, it's been used just by our IT department and our main goal is to have a tool capable to monitor and early detect infrastructure issues to act as quick as possible.
Pros
- Zabbix is capable of monitors servers using its own agent. With that, it can collect detailed information about the asset and store it in its own database. Once that information is stored, Zabbix can alert potential issues and even be used to evaluate and run analysis for capacity planning.
- Zabbix servers are very simple to deploy. You can run on a Windows box, Linux box or even in Docker containers. It's very scalable and robust and doesn't need too many resources to run.
- Due to its open framework, you can easily integrate Zabbix to other front end platforms, like Grafana. We did that to leverage our previous knowledge to present graphics in Grafana with data sourced by Zabbix.
Cons
- Having worked with other similar tools, I tend to say that the user experience could be improved in some areas. The elements on the user interface are a little confusing, the concept behind them could be a little more intuitive.
- The discovery process could be improved, giving suggestions and filling some fields with common options, for example.
- When you add a host that runs it's own Zabbix agent, like a server, it's easy to manage. On the other hand, if you want to add a host which is a network device, for example, you need to run extra steps to ensure you'll see the information you want. That could be improved by using some kind of wizard or tutorial on the interface to guide you.
- The positive impact is that, In general, these kinds of platforms tend to be very expensive if you go on the market for commercial versions. Considering this is an open-source platform, you can save a lot of money on licenses and consulting and use that money to empower your own team to build your customized NOC solution.
- As a company that operates 24x6, it's very important that we keep all the systems running. Although we have several ways to improve availability with clusters, cloud,etc., monitoring and alerting is still one of the most efficient ways to keep the business running.
Although we still use Cisco Prime for network devices, when comparing Zabbix with Nagios, for example, you see that Zabbix is more robust, stable, easy to deploy and has an enterprise focus that other tools don't have. Also, the fact that the Zabbix community is very active is also a relevant point in favor of it. You can count on the community to help you a lot.
Do you think Zabbix delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Zabbix's feature set?
Yes
Did Zabbix live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Zabbix go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Zabbix again?
Yes
Comments
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