[kwlug-disc] Prometheus for multiple server monitoring?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

I have been using Nagios 4 for years to monitor servers and services on
them (e.g. does a server respond to ping? Is SSH up? Is Drupal up).
Then if things are not working, I get an email that something is down, and
another when it is back up.

Having switched the monitoring server from Linode to OVH (more on why
later), I had to install everything, and realized that Nagios4 has some
drawbacks.
Nagios itself is fine, if you know your way around the configuration files,
and does its job.
Writing a monitoring script is easy and can be done in sh/bash, Perl,
Python or whatever you like.

But its web interface is based on CGI and force-installs Apache, and PHP as
mod_php, which is inefficient and conflicts with the established way of
running PHP as FastCGI (FPM). Or if you use Nginx, and don't want Apache on
your server.

I am considering something else, like Prometheus, with its Alertmanager,
with the native Web UI, or maybe with Grafana.
Prometheus is light weight, and can even run on a Raspberry Pi.
It also provides resource usage, so it replaces tools like Munin.
But it is more geared towards "metrics" (numeric values) rather than
"uptime" (server/service up/down).

Is anyone using Prometheus for monitoring many machines (local and remote)?
If not Prometheus, then what other solutions are you using for monitoring?


As an aside:
The reason I switched from Linode (Akamai) to OVH, is because the latter
offers much more CPU for the same price or less).
OVH was out of VPS units in Canada for a while, but now they are available
at Beauharnois.

P.S. For some geekiness, look up the Beauharnois hydroelectric facility. It
is on the old course of the St. Lawrence River, before the seaway was
diverted further south for larger ships.
It is really cool.
I saw it a couple of years ago on a trip to Montreal, but sadly didn't go
to the visitor centre.


-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
Fast Reliable Drupal
Drupal performance optimization, hosting and consulting.
"Sooner or later, this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going
to blow up in our faces." -- Dr. Carl Sagan
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