[CLUE-Talk] Linux Desktop App.: N/W Monitoring with Java-based MARS

[Jim Intriglia]

Monitoring with MARS
By Eric Foster-Johnson


A short while ago, I covered the system monitoring and managing tool
OpenNMS. Well MARS (Monitoring Application for Resources and Servers),
a Java-based package available at http://www.altara.org/mars.html, is
another great tool.

Unlike many other Java tools, MARS will run with an old 1.1.7 Java
runtime engine (JRE), along with more modern 1.2 or later JREs. MARS
can monitor a number of network services, including SMTP, POP3, and
IMAP email servers, as well as HTTP Web servers, FTP file servers, and
SSH (secure shell) servers. Using SPOTS, MARS can also monitor UNIX
system load averages, disk space usage, and free memory. SPOTS
(Something Placed On That System) is the MARS equivalent of agents.
Large commercial monitoring packages, such as BMC PATROL, run agents on
a system to report on its resources.

Aside from being a handy monitoring tool, knowing about MARS is
important from a career perspective. Administrators should know about a
variety of system monitoring tools. Even a small amount of knowledge
covering a number of tools can be very helpful. Inevitably, the
organization you want to work for will use a monitoring tool that you
don't have experience with. If you have run a number of monitoring
tools, however, you will be more prepared in the event that you need to
learn a new one.

About the author(s)
----------------
Eric Foster-Johnson wrote 14 books on Linux, UNIX, programming, and
open source tools. He can be reached at erc at pconline.com or
http://www.pconline.com/~erc/.
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