If you're a system or network administrator, you need monitoring tools. You have to know, at all times, the status of your systems so you can optimize performance and head off potential problems. Thankfully, plenty of tools are available to help you stay in the know about your systems. Some of these products are costly and do quite a lot. But others are free and do just as much — and in some cases, more. That's right. More.

I want to introduce you to five system and/or network monitors that do more than you'd think they could do. From this list of products you will certainly find one or more tools that will serve your needs.

14 go-to tools for Mac sysadmins. Cross-platform network tool. The free GeekTool app lets users display bits of information on a Mac desktop. Users can monitor MacOS X activity with /var. Pandora FMS is a performance monitoring, network monitoring, and availability management tool that keeps an eye on servers, applications and communications. It has an advanced event correlation system that allows you to create alerts based on events from different sources and notify administrators before an issue escalates. Network Monitoring Tool carries out the monitoring and analysis of the performance of any IP network. Through a easy and intuitive web interface you can check all gathered device data such as interface traffic, CPU load, disk usage, memory usage, and so on. MAC - IP Scanner for Win7 is the world leading tool for network management and network analysis. This famous tool is designed for both network administrators in the office and LAN users at home. MAC - IP Scanner for Win7 keeps your networks under security control.

Is there a shortcut for grap tool mack. Note: This list is also available as a photo gallery.

1: Observium

Observium (Figure A) is 'an autodiscovering PHP/MySQL/SNMP-based network monitoring [tool].' It focuses on Linux, UNIX, Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Foundry, HP, and more. With Observium, you'll find detailed graphs and an incredibly easy-to-use interface. It can monitor a huge number of processes and systems. The only downside is a lack of auto alerts. But to make up for that, you can set Observium up alongside a tool like Nagios for up/down alerts.

Network Monitoring Tool For Mac

Figure A

Observium

2: Ganglia

Ganglia (

Best Monitoring Software Mac

Figure B) is a 'scalable distributed monitoring system' focused on clusters and grids. It gives you a quick and easy-to-read overview of your entire clustered system. This monitor has been ported to many platforms and is used on thousands of clusters around the world. Anyone who employs server clusters should have Ganglia monitoring that system. Ganglia can scale to handle clusters with up to 2,000 nodes.

Figure B

Ganglia

3: Spiceworks

Spiceworks (Figure C) is becoming one of the industry standard free network/system monitoring tools. Although you have to put up with some ads, the features and Web-based interface can't be beat. Spiceworks monitors (and autodiscovers) your systems, alerts you if something is down, and offers outstanding topographical tools. It also allows you to get social with fellow IT pros via the Spiceworks community, which is built right in.

Figure C

Spiceworks

4: Nagios

Nagios (Figure D) is considered by many to be the king of open source network monitoring systems. Although not the easiest tool to set up and configure (you have to manually edit configuration files), Nagios is incredibly powerful. And even though the idea of manual configuration might turn some off, that setup actually makes Nagios one of the most flexible network monitors around. In the end, the vast number of features Nagios offers is simply unmatched. You can even set up email, SMS, and printed paper alerts!

Figure D

Nagios

5: Zabbix

Zabbix (Figure E) is as powerful as any other network monitoring tool, and it also offers user-defined views, zooming, and mapping on its Web-based console. Zabbix offers agent-less monitoring, collects nearly ANY kind of data you want to monitor, does availability and SLA reporting, and can monitor up to 10,000 devices. You can even get commercial support for this outstanding open source product. One unique Zabbix feature is the option to set audible alerts. Should something go down, have Zabbix play a sound file (say, a Star Trek red alert klaxon?).

Figure E

Zabbix

Your choice

There are many tools available for the monitoring of systems and networks. The tool you choose could determine your ability to handle your job efficiently. Make sure you take a look at one or more of the applications above. With some unique features on offer, these tools stand out above the rest.

Do you use any of these monitoring tools? What other top contenders would you add to the list?

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Best Mac Network Tools

Mac OS X already comes with a solid system monitor, but it’s not that great to just glance at your overall system health. For that, we like Monity, which sits in your Notification Center for easy access to a wealth of information.

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Best Network Monitoring Tool Mac

Monity

Platform: Mac OS X
Price: $2.99
Download Page

Features

General system monitoring in the Notification Center
Monitors systems stats, memory, battery, and disk usage
Data is easily accessible from anywhere in OS X
Easy to rearrange panels and customize the appearance
Detailed space usage for each disk
Battery information for Bluetooth devices
Detailed breakdown of memory usage

Where It Excels

Monity’s real appeal is the fact it manages to hit the Goldilocks zone of system monitors. It’s lightweight and cheap, offers a solid amount of monitoring data, and doesn’t overwhelm you with options. The fact it’s in your Notification Center (as opposed to the menubar, like many other options), means it’s out of your way unless you really need it. It also means you can easily pull it up with a keyboard shortcut. Really, Monity’s main appeal is the fact it packs a lot of information into a small space without being too intrusive. If you’re really just looking for a simple system monitor that stays out of the way, Monity works perfectly.

Where It Falls Short

Monity doesn’t have a ton of options and if you’re more interested in graphs instead of stats, you’re out of luck with Monity. The only way it displays data is with numbers, so while the design is certainly acceptable, it’s nothing to write home about it. Similarly, you can’t customize the data you see on a very granular level, so if you’re only interested in monitoring specific processes, Monity will fall short for you. Likewise, it’s missing temperature data. Monity only works in the Notification Center, so if that’s not something you’re interested in, then you’ll want to take a look at other options.

The Competition

Activity Monitor, the utility that comes with Mac OS X, is a pretty solid system statistics monitor. You can see CPU, memory, network, and disk activity/usage, plus it breaks down everything by task. You can (force) quit tasks as needed, investigate what they’re doing, and organize them however you want. For the most part, Activity Monitor will be enough for most users so it’ll do the job just fine if you don’t need to constantly monitor your system activity.

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