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Pandora FMS pros and cons

Vendor: Pandora FMS
4.6 out of 5
193 followers
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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Pandora FMS is lightweight, efficiently monitoring up to 200 agents with just 4GB of RAM.
Pandora FMS offers comprehensive graphical reports on connected devices, aiding in planning and tracking of new stations.
It provides auto-discovery and automatic network topology detection features, enhancing network monitoring.
It supports custom module creation with minimal scripting knowledge, utilizing existing open-source checks for flexibility.
Pandora FMS is reliable, feature-rich, and supports unusual protocols, illustrating its maturity and depth.

CONS

The definition of local Software Agents in the open-source version can become very tedious.
Pandora FMS requires proper training to get 100% out of it.
Support is good but limited to online communication, with no option for direct calls.
The product lacks APIs for integration with other systems.
Real-time monitoring and mainframe integration need improvement.
 

Pandora FMS Pros review quotes

MC
Apr 1, 2021
It is easy to create your own custom modules if you just know a little bit of scripting. If you have unique requirements, you can just make your own modules. You can even grab checks from other vendors. There are open-source checks for various things such as SMTP, etc. There is a long list of different ones from Nagios. You can just use them, and within seconds, you get yourself a check that is monitoring whatever you need. It is really flexible. I guess that's why they call it Pandora Flexible Monitoring System (FMS). It is reliable. It does the job, and it alerts. It is also surprisingly feature-rich. Our network guy just recently asked about a particular protocol to monitor the bandwidth on the network, which is not a common protocol. When I looked it up, and I found that they cover it. It is very mature for a not-so-known product.
Aug 31, 2023
What I value most about Pandora FMS is the simplicity of working with it.
Sergio Ortiz Vega - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 18, 2022
The administration of the console is very easy. I like that Pandora FMS is interactive and easy to manage.
Learn what your peers think about Pandora FMS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Jul 9, 2019
The official forum is active enough to answer most of the high-end technical questions that you may have.
it_user1149426 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 19, 2019
Pandora FMS provides us with a general report (graphical) about all of the connected devices, which helps with planning new stations and tracking them.
CN
Jul 9, 2019
I like this solution a lot because it has a very large Hispanic community and the platform looks very friendly.
Jul 3, 2019
The solution is so lightweight that with only 4GB of ram, it allows keeping track of up to two hundred agents from a single console.
JG
Jul 10, 2019
Thanks to its flexibility, I have been able to adapt the tool to our servers and find out quickly how their console works.
MM
Aug 25, 2022
Pandora's architecture is interesting. It's open so you can easily extend and enhance it. It's simpler to customize Pandora compared to other solutions. It's also scalable enough to support large environments.
reviewer1093260 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 14, 2019
The most valuable feature is that it is an all-in-one monitoring system.
 

Pandora FMS Cons review quotes

MC
Apr 1, 2021
Their support is good, but it is just online communication. It would be great to be able to just call someone and talk to them instead of always writing. It works well for me because I am a decent communicator in email, but some people might find it difficult to describe in a written fashion and communicate with them that way. There is a learning curve to the interface, but once you get used to it, it is actually very powerful. They have a lot of options, but people struggle with the interface. They've improved it though, and it is getting better. They need to keep improving the learning curve to help buy-in. I'm the guy that manages it, so I'm comfortable with it. They can refine the upgrade agents to be easier. They can also do more refinement in end-user usability because not everyone is strong technically, and people who aren't strong technically might be averse to the product, even though it has come a long way. It has a complete GUI and everything.
Aug 31, 2023
The price for Pandora FMS is expensive.
Sergio Ortiz Vega - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 18, 2022
Pandora FMS is relatively new, and the interface with the older version crashes at times. We have several different operating systems, such as Linux and Windows, and Pandora does not run as well in these.
Learn what your peers think about Pandora FMS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Jul 9, 2019
Pandora FMS is an overall great monitoring solution, but it does not have a community that is as large as Zabbix or Nagios.
it_user1149426 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 19, 2019
It would be useful if Pandora FMS included an ISO image (or «software appliance») for each big company that leases virtual private machines (VPS), just like in AWS.
CN
Jul 9, 2019
I find that this software is resource heavy, and demands a lot of processing capacity.
Jul 3, 2019
When it comes to the definition of local Software Agents for the first time in the open-source version, it can become very tedious.
JG
Jul 10, 2019
I sincerely believe that Pandora needs new ideas for functionality closer to advanced device security monitoring.
MM
Aug 25, 2022
Pandora could deliver better analytics out of the box. You can work around these limitations with the help of other tools like Grafana. The shortcomings are mostly on the graphical side. The built-in report generators are a bit limited in some areas.
reviewer1093260 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 14, 2019
Improvements are needed for server and network discovery, including service-based discovery.