- OpenStack Swift is an object storage platform that uses a proxy server, ring, object servers, account server, and replication to store and retrieve objects. - Key components to monitor include hardware failures, operating systems, Swift cluster health using tools like swift-dispersion-report, and cluster telemetry using swift-recon. - Existing monitoring options that integrate with OpenStack Swift today include Nagios plugins that check Swift functionality and dispersion, and the Zenoss ZenPack that monitors Swift metrics via swift-recon.