I thought that WHMCS was all that we would need as far as server status software. Something recently sparked my interest if doing WHMCS off-network would be sufficient or if utilizing a third party server status software would be a better solution, any ideas?

WHMCS is great, but really it's not a server monitoring program. While it does check for ports on a server, there's much more to monitoring the server than what WHMCS can do.

Check out Nagios. This will allow you to not only get alerts on outages, but also monitor scripts on the server, check disk spaces, CPU usage, Memory and if you program on it, you can even get it to restart certain services based on conditions.

I've used many programs over the years, and even quite a few PAID software programs, but Nagios still remains one of the Top Dogs when it comes to server monitoring. And since it's open source, it's an even sweeter deal.

This definitely looks like a sweet deal. I'm going to have to give it a whirl. I understand that there is a lot that WHMCS couldn't do, but what I was getting at is someone wanted something to monitor the server load/uptime which WHMCS does, but not as in-depth as what this program does. Thanks for the share!

Iv previously and currently used a script called Status2k, it allows as many others to monitor ports etc as well as cpu,diskspace and memory in real time.

It is however a paid service but for the price (minimal) i had no problem signing up, especialy with the ability to monitor multiple servers and display the status directly to customers via an external site as well as the status site iteself.

although im yet to use nagios

csn-uk: How would you compare the features of Nagios to Status2K. Status2K is one server monitoring service that was recommended prior to starting this thread.

Status2k is great too - used to have it here years ago. HyperSpin is another that's out there.

If you're looking to use a remote service to monitor your site, HyperSpin are great products. The only problem I have with paid solutions like that however is once you have more than a handful of servers to monitor it gets to be an expense that you should really not have. Imagine monitoring a dozen servers with 10 ports/nodes on each - that's 120 nodes to monitor. With HyperSpin, that's $288/month for 5 minute intervals. Go with 1 minute and you're paying $1008/month! Save that money, hire a programmer to configure Nagios with all the extra bells and wistles you want, and you'd be better off.

One thing to be aware of when setting up a montor for your servers however, please set it up at a different datacenter. This way you're monitoring OUTSIDE of your network. Often times you can have a network issue and be ok within the datacenter but NOT ok outside. Some systems allow you to setup multiple remote locations for monitoring also.

Watch the price when you're adding multiple nodes, since you'll have a minimum of 9 per server to monitor (http, https, pop3, smtp, imap, ftp, ssh, ping, mysql), and then any additional that you want (control panel login ports, special ports/programs). Adds up quickly when you think about it. Don't just monitor PING, that doesn't give you real results for uptime/downtimes.

Status2k.com is preferred

Not yet sure James, currently going to give Nagios a go over the week and compare the two , and steave I couldn’t agree more the prices for monitoring are rising considerably, however the advantage (not sure of nagios on this yet) is that it can monitor potentially an “unlimited” number of servers obviously dependant on cpu/ram and connection on the server you install it on.

That said if I am remembering rightly the prices where around $14/6months per install (limited to 1 domain at a time) meaning potentially you could monitor externally your servers from another hosting provider or another web server elsewhere and display the live uptime/online/offline/usages on a webpage easily .

Take in mind however I’m still just playing with nagios at this moment, although Status2k has a trial period, so trialling both wouldn’t go a miss

Status2k is nice, but I can't remember the things that turned me off it. I believe it was the logging or trending of data and generation of reports. And there was something about the status being publicly viewable.

Nagios DOES allow you to monitor as many machines as you want (we monitor over 4,000 nodes/ports/scripts currently on 300+ servers). You can also run multiple instances of Nagios on various machines that then report back to a central system - allows for monitoring from various locations in the world.

While we don't allow users to log into the system to view the reports, we do generate reports for our dedicated users so they can see uptimes/downtimes/trends etc.

Nagios take a bit to setup, but it's worth the time invested. Status2k worked right out of the box however and is great for smaller operations I'm sure. We just needed more flexability and some custom monitoring of files to pull version information etc.

I would always go with a product that is more extensive when it comes to what it offers. Regardless of how complex it may seem, sometimes the easiest solution isn't the best solution for the long run.

I would like at Nagios and EzeeLogin for server provisioning.

We also create our own scripts internally to administer the network. Nagios has plenty of plugins for you to choose from though.

EzeeLogin is good too. I have that sitting around here somewhere, but never put it into full production.

I also have to weigh in for Nagios. Even our local competition uses it.

I like Status2k for its ease of use and it really is easy to allow all your clients to see how your servers are doing.

Nagios has simple plugin and remote monitoring system supported with SSH/SSL encryted tunnels, you can use it easily for linux and other Unix variants.