The document discusses a thesis on monitoring networks using Nagios. It outlines the objectives to understand the basic theory behind network monitoring tools, identify the functionalities a monitoring system should have, and examine if Nagios is suitable for small to medium organizations. A mixed methodology is used including literature review and lab experiments. Findings from questionnaires and the experiment show that Nagios complies with industry standards and meets the monitoring needs of small/medium organizations with no significant costs. Future work is proposed to extend Nagios' monitoring capabilities to additional network devices and servers.

1. Author: Eleftherios Iliopoulos
Advisor: Pandithas Ioannis
Monitoring Networks Using Nagios
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2. Contents
• Introduction
• Research Questions
• Contribution / Rationale of this Thesis
• Objectives
• Methodology
• Findings
• Budget
• Conclusions - Future Work
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3. Introduction
• While network availability is a crucial element for a
successful galvanization, it can also be an element
of business failure.
• Therefore the availability of hardware or network
services for your network is essential.
• Centralized management of network via monitoring
tools inspires stuff to monitor the status of
hardware devices or services throughout the
organization.
• In terms of monitoring, the selection of a monitoring
tool rely on what services being monitored and the
goals for the monitoring.
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4. Research Questions (1)
• RQ1: What is the basic theory behind a
network monitoring tool?
• RQ2: What are the technical
(functionalities) and the non-technical
criteria when we choose a network
monitoring tool based on theoretical
frameworks and industry standards?
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5. Research Questions (2)
• RQ3: How effectively does Nagios perform
the network monitoring functionalities,
theoretical frameworks and industry
standards? Is Nagios suitable for small /
midsize organizations?
• RQ4: How effectively does Nagios Core 3.x
with its functionalities satisfy a small /
midsize organization in practice?
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6. Contribution
• This Thesis relates the actual
requiremets for monitoring of a
small / medium organization with
FCAPS standards and Nagios'
Fuctionalities.
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7. Objectives (1)
• The basic theory behind a network monitoring
tool. This is done by literature review.
• Identification of functionalities (tasks) which
should be performed by a Network Monitoring
System. This is done by literature review.
• Proving by examining real life cases that Nagios
is the suitable choice of network monitoring for a
small / medium enterprise. This is done by
literature review.
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8. Objectives (2)
• Designing lab experiment using pc, routers,
switches and servers for usability testing.
• Investigation into how well Nagios addresses
the functionalities by conducting and analyzing a
lab experiment with participants who are
performing network monitoring related jobs in
network industry.
• Outlining the suggestions based on the analysis
of all empirical results of the study.
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9. Methodology (1)
• The Mixed Methodology is adopted in order to
answer the Research Questions.
• The concurrent triangulation design approach
which the focus is on cross - validating by other
data since the results should be the same, is
applied.
• Quantitative and Qualitative data are collected
concurrently but they are analyzed separately
within a stage of the research process.
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10. Methodology (2)
• The Qualitative method was used to answer
RQ1, RQ2 and RQ3 based on the finding of
literature review and then conducting
questionnaires.
• Experiment which is one the most common
quantitative method is performed for testing
against predefined benchmarks for answering
RQ4. A post-test questionnaire will be obtained
from the six participants for verification of the
results after the experiment.
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11. Findings (1)
• We use the questionnaire at the end of the
literature review as a crosscheck of our
investigation. Summary of positive answers for
Nagios as it is shown in the Findings (2) verify
the relation between FCAPS and Nagios'
functionalities.
• A post-test questionnaire crosschecks via
participants the results of a laboratory which
tries to simulate a basic network infrastructure
using Nagios.
• Nagios' implementation does not have any
serious cost for a small / medium organisation.
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12. Findings (2)
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13. Findings (3)
Summary of positive answers of
Usability testing for Nagios from Post –
Test Questionnaire.
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14. Budget
Product Units / Participants Costs Per Unit Total Cost
Nagios Server 1 0 $ 0 $
Ubuntu OS 1 0 $ 0 $
Personal Computer 1 0 $ 0 $
Switch(es) 3 0 $ 0 $
Router(s) 3 0 $ 0 $
Kingsoft Office Suite 1 0 $ 0 $
EaseUS Partition Manager 1 0 $ 0 $
Participants in
Test Session
6 0 $ 0 $
Total Costs 0 $
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15. Conclusions - Future Work (1)
• Technical and non-technical factors which
influenced with monitoring expectations of
a small / medium organization are
indentified.
• Our research prove that Nagios
functionalities comply with industry defined
and FCAPS standards for a small /
medium organization.
• Experts with deep knowledge in
computing industry verify Nagios’
importance.02/29/16 15

16. Conclusions - Future Work (2)
• Future work includes readings on:
I. Routers (Check IOS version, Power Supply and Check Load)
II. A firewall appliance (Check highest connections number,
Check memory free, Check memory used and Check
connection number)
III.Switches (Check CPU utilization status, Check memory
utilization status and Check VRRP status).
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) will prompt
errors notifications for Windows Servers.
• Immediate response of Nagios can be extended by using .awk
package to allow automated configuration.
• Nagios plug-ins for monitoring intrusion detection can be
added.
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17. Any Questions?
Thank You!!!
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