My main use cases include monitoring of servers and services. Some of them are outside our network and some are inside the network.
Regional Portfolio Manager at First in Business Solutions
Efficiently monitors servers and services, both inside and outside the network
Pros and Cons
- "The notifications are definitely one of the most valuable features of Nagios Core. We know what to look for and what to expect when things are down."
- "There is room for improvement in the graphics."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Nagios Core sends notifications when things are out of sync. However you set it up, t will send a notification. So that's the notification that we're looking for.
What is most valuable?
The notifications are definitely one of the most valuable features of Nagios Core. We know what to look for and what to expect when things are down.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in the graphics.
Another are of improvement is the ability to host and service by other web interfaces rather than configuration files.
Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about Nagios Core. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 15 years. I am a system integrator so I recently installed the latest version 4.4.17.
So, I work with the latest version of Nagios Core.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. In my environment, only I am using the solution. But we definitely plan to increase the usage.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate my experience with the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one being difficult and ten being easy.
It was pretty easy. The deployment is really quick, it took us about an hour to deploy the solution in our organization.
What about the implementation team?
I pretty much followed my own notes from previous experience. So I followed a document and deployed the solution. One person is enough for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's free.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have used Centreon package about five years ago. It's a pretty old one, I guess there is a newer one now. I found that pretty easy to use as well. It was quite impressive. It had some features that Nagios didn't. It has a much nicer web interface and so on. And integrated nicely into RPE.
What other advice do I have?
I tell people to go for it. It really works well. The community version is free of charge, and it's not that difficult to set up and use.
Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Manager, IT at kas
Provides immediate alerts if something goes down
Pros and Cons
- "Monitoring with Nagios Core is helpful because it provides immediate alerts if something goes down, such as a server, or wireless router, or if there's a cable break. This allows us to respond promptly to any issues."
- "The interface could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Nagios for network monitoring of our devices. All devices are listed on Nagios, which alerts us if they are running properly or if there is a shutdown or any issues like a network break. Alerts are generated, and we receive notifications via email or SMS.
How has it helped my organization?
Monitoring with Nagios Core is helpful because it provides immediate alerts if something goes down, such as a server, or wireless router, or if there's a cable break. This allows us to respond promptly to any issues.
What is most valuable?
It effectively monitors our computers, including their disk space, processor usage, and temperature.
What needs improvement?
The interface could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nagios Core for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
300 users are using this solution. If the device is increased, we will increase it.
I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
For any problem, we Google it to easily find a solution.
How was the initial setup?
Integrating mobile device notifications with Nagios Core, such as through Core SMS, is challenging.
It takes a while to set it up but once set up, it is very reliable. Deployment takes one to two hours to complete.
I rate the initial setup a six or seven out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.
What other advice do I have?
We receive timely alerts for any breakdown or shutdown. Without them, we wouldn't know about issues until users complain. With Nagios' alert system, we receive notifications before users even notice a problem.
I highly recommend it to system administrators and network administrators. Nagios Core makes life easier with email and SMS alerts, ensuring you stay informed and can address issues promptly
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 26, 2024
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Nagios Core
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about Nagios Core. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Specialist at ADDI
It's a free and flexible solution that integrates well with other products
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature depends on the project. It's great if you need to check to ensure a service is running 24/7. I can use the full solution for free, and it's flexible. If I need to add a dashboard, I can integrate it with Nagios. Cloud synchronization is wonderful."
- "The mapping is a little hard."
What is our primary use case?
We use Nagios to monitor networking infrastructure and services.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature depends on the project. It's great if you need to check to ensure a service is running 24/7. I can use the full solution for free, and it's flexible. If I need to add a dashboard, I can integrate it with Nagios. Cloud synchronization is wonderful.
What needs improvement?
The mapping is a little hard.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Nagios Core for three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nagios is 100 percent stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Nagios is appropriate for companies of all sizes, but a larger enterprise might require a bigger IT team. The largest team I've seen was 50 people. You can easily scale Nagios up, but I've never done it.
How are customer service and support?
Nagios support is good. They also have a complete knowledge base, so if you need to figure something out, you can find everything about the solution in one place.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Pandora about seven years ago, so I can only speak about the capabilities of the solution as it existed at the time. Pandora was excellent, but the documentation was too complicated.
How was the initial setup?
It depends on infrastructure, but normally Nagios is easy to deploy, and I could do it by myself. It usually takes two or three days, but I needed a week for one deployment. You need to install and configure everything and deploy the agents on various servers.
After deployment, you need to do periodic updates and patching. You download the latest pack from the Nagios server with the client. You can do an ATT update depending on if you have Red Hat or Windows between the platforms.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Systems Architect at Rezgateway
It prevents disasters long before they can take place
Pros and Cons
- "It has made the life of the network operations staff more proactive in managing the resources of the infrastructure. It prevents disasters long before they can take place."
- "It is a bit slow due to latency."
What is our primary use case?
We use Nagios to monitor hundreds of CentOS cloud servers (and a few Legacy Windows servers). Nagios is monitoring well over 5000 service endpoints. Some plugins were handwritten in PHP, Perl, Python, Java and Bash.
How has it helped my organization?
It has made the life of the network operations staff more proactive in managing the resources of the infrastructure. It prevents disasters long before they can take place.
What is most valuable?
- Historical Alert records/data
- Plugins
- Data sources (MySQL)
- Grouping of services and servers
We use the Alerting and Graphing to minimize the downtime. The old RRD Graph module is now used by Grafana. We outgrew the old PNP4Nagios a few weeks back.
What needs improvement?
The GUI of the Core is still a long way off, but the features are 100 percent above average. It would be great to see better UI themes which could be configured by Netadmin or instructions that help combine graphs and Nagios.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never had stability issues. Nagios has been stable for over 10 years. Although, we never left it running for more than two weeks without uploading new services, plugins, and threshold changes, then restarting it..
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No scalability issues, though it is a bit slow due to latency. However, after tweaking the Nagios and off-loading the graphing to NPCD, I was able to scale the Nagios to more than 5000 services checks with 0.5s latency.
How are customer service and technical support?
The end-users love quick alerting and Grafana dashboards.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution. Nagios was the first solution that we started using 10 years ago.
How was the initial setup?
Since its Nagios, it is a bit time consuming, but worth the effort. It took a few hours setting up the entire environment, including RRD, PHP, Apache, Nagios, PNP4Nagios, Perl, Python, OpenSSL, etc.
What about the implementation team?
We did an in-house installation.
What was our ROI?
We have saved a lot of time, money, and effort in reducing disaster times, which is owed to Nagios quick alerting.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The Nagios Core (PNP4Nagios + Core) is free and can be setup by Netadmin within a few hours. The only additional cost is the cloud server.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
10 years ago, there were not too many options.
What other advice do I have?
There are thousands upon thousands of plugins. This is a winning product. Nothing can match the plugins, even I have contributed about six plugins.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager, Database & System Administration at Awash International Bank
Helpful to observe threats at the web containers, data source, and components under monitoring
Pros and Cons
- "The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."
- "The initial setup process could be easier."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for this solution is an APM for application performance monitoring. For example, we deployed the solution on-premises so we could observe the solution. We look at the threats at the web containers, the data source, and all these components under this monitoring.
What is most valuable?
The application performance monitoring feature is valuable. We primarily use it for user experience monitoring and determining which layer the problem happened to resolve it.
What needs improvement?
The initial setup process could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable but we are still familiarizing ourselves with tool and have not scaled largely yet.
How are customer service and support?
We do not have experience with customer service and support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup process could be easier. For example, the setup for infrastructure monitoring is straightforward, but in the case of application monitoring, it is more complicated.
What about the implementation team?
We primarily implement through vendor teams.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but the initial setup process could be easier. I recommend the solution to users who want a more diverse environment for monitoring.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Strategic Staffing Solutions at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Monitors our entire production environment, alerts us to any issues that may occur
Pros and Cons
- "Key features include the GUI interface, its notification capabilities, and the real-time reporting."
- "Making it a little easier to configure and set up from the start would help. There are multiple layers that you have to wade through to be able to set it up, to do it the right way, and to get it to do what you want it to do."
What is our primary use case?
It's monitoring all of our production environment and alerting us to any issues that might pop up.
How has it helped my organization?
The benefits are that it's free and it allows us to monitor all of our production. So it gives us a comfort level of knowing that if there is a problem that pops up, we get notified.
What is most valuable?
- GUI interface
- Notification capabilities
- Real-time reporting
What needs improvement?
In terms of any further features, that would bump us into their paid product. For what we get and what we use, and all the libraries that are available, it's pretty robust.
However, for the version we're using, making it a little easier to configure and set up from the start would help. There are multiple layers that you have to wade through to be able to set it up, to do it the right way, and to get it to do what you want it to do.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has been rock solid.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
So far, it has met our needs. As far as I know, from reading blogs and the like, it can go to many more servers and even multiple data centers. It seems like it's pretty scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Tech support has been pretty good. There have been a couple of occasions where we've had to pick up the phone and call, and for the most part, they are very prompt, very quick, very responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I had used this solution before and there wasn't anything in place here that was any good, so it was a no-brainer for me.
My most important criteria when selecting a vendor are
- flexibility
- supportability
- scalability.
How was the initial setup?
I set the whole thing up. It wasn't complex, it was just that I had to do a lot of planning. If you follow your plan then you won't end up in trouble. If you deviate from the plan, you are going to have trouble.
What other advice do I have?
We have the ability right now to see and create reports to tell whether or not we're meeting our SLAs on our production servers, through it. That is something that we wrote and implemented as a plug-in.
I would rate this solution a nine out of 10 because it's relatively easy to implement and the cost is great, it's free.
My advice would be, save yourself a lot of time - go get it and install it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Linux System Administrator at Amity Software Systems Limited
A stable and easy-to-set up open-source monitoring tool
Pros and Cons
- "We mostly use Nagios Core to integrate with Python and Bash Script."
- "Nagios Core does not have a graphic display."
What is most valuable?
We mostly use Nagios Core to integrate with Python and Bash Script. If there is a requirement from the client to monitor these services, and Nagios Core does not have the features, we integrate Python and Bash Script with Nagios Core to monitor the services.
What needs improvement?
Nagios Core does not have a graphic display.
For how long have I used the solution?
My company has worked with Nagios Core for the last six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Nagios Core ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Nagios Core ten out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
Nagios Core's initial setup was not difficult for me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nagios Core is a cheap solution.
What other advice do I have?
Nagios Core is a world-famous open-source monitoring tool. It is easy for us to showcase a Nagios Core demo to the client.
Overall, I rate Nagios Core ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Admin Sys Linux at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Offers robust monitoring capabilities but has limited scalability
Pros and Cons
- "What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services."
- "Nagios Core is limited in terms of distributed setups, and there is no central view for remote data centers."
What is our primary use case?
I use Nagios Core for basic monitoring of my systems and services.
What is most valuable?
What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services.
What needs improvement?
I have found Nagios Core to be challenging in terms of its centralized architecture and configuration complexities, especially in a Microsoft environment. Making optimizations or changes often requires reinstalling the server, which can be inconvenient.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nagios Core for over a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable product. I would rate the stability as a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Nagios Core is limited in terms of distributed setups, and there is no central view for remote data centers. However, it is scalable in sizing, allowing for easy updates and upgrades without much complication. Just need to adjust settings in the software during the process. I would rate the scalability as a six out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with Centreon in my organization as well.
How was the initial setup?
The installation of Nagios Core was relatively straightforward with no major complexities. My team managed to install it within a day. Maintaining it is straightforward for us. We don't do frequent updates; it is a one-time install. The only ongoing task is occasional security adjustments, mainly related to access control.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Nagios Core for CentOS organizations, especially for simpler evaluations or smaller projects where a significant investment isn't required. It is suitable for those without extensive monitoring needs. Overall, I would rate the solution as a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: February 2025
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