Because the dominant cloud vendor by market share, AWS—in efforts to rein again management of its public cloud ecosystem—has expanded its plethora of built-in console choices to go head-to-head with main third party-developed instruments. For instance, Amazon Inspector now allows native automated safety assessments whereas AWS CodePipeline presents steady supply and launch automation providers, all from inside AWS. And for holding a eager eye on EC2 situations and utility, there’s Amazon CloudWatch for native monitoring of AWS cloud assets. Let’s have a look at how it stacks up in opposition to Nagios, the main open supply infrastructure monitoring platform.
There is definitely no scarcity of infrastructure monitoring instruments lately, particularly on the subject of watching over cloud-based deployments. That mentioned, few open supply enterprise monitoring platforms are as ubiquitous and well-respected as Nagios. Varied forks exist for the open supply venture; for the sake of this comparability, we’ll be specializing in Nagios Core—the foundational monitoring/alerting engine upon which hundreds of Nagios initiatives are constructed, and Nagios XI, the business providing constructed on Core.
Amazon CloudWatch
CloudWatch is AWS’ native element for real-time monitoring of AWS cloud assets: EC2 situations, EBS volumes, Elastic Load Balancers, RDS situations, and extra. As a local AWS providing, the service is immediately accessible from throughout the AWS administration console.
The Amazon CloudWatch interface. Supply: aws.amazon.com.
The service dashboard mechanically generate graphs and charts representing cloud infrastructures metrics like learn/write bandwidth, throughput, latency, CPU utilization, and request counts, amongst others.
The Amazon Cloudwatch service structure. Supply: docs.aws.amazon.com.
CloudWatch alarms may be set as much as alert directors through Amazon Easy Notification Service (SNS) as soon as sure thresholds are surpassed or adjustments in state are detected. Several types of actions may be configured per alarm kind—for instance, to invoke auto-scaling insurance policies for scaling up/down AWS assets primarily based on server load.
Nagios
The Nagios UI. Supply: nagios.org.
Nagios started as NetSaint—a rudimentary MS-DOS utility for pinging Novell Netware servers and relaying machine statuses through numeric pages, with prolonged performance supplied by exterior third-party functions. Now known as Nagios Core, the platform has since turn out to be the preeminent platform for IT infrastructure monitoring. Nagios XI encompasses and augments Core with web-based dashboards, configuration/customization, wizards, and reporting for streamlined enterprise use.
Aspect-by-Aspect Scoring: Amazon CloudWatch vs. Nagios1. Functionality Set
CloudWatch
Nagios
4/5
4/5
2. Ease of Use
Nagios is a robust monitoring platform—however with this energy comes a steep studying curve. Shortcomings in usability and class are addressed with Nagios XI, the enterprise providing constructed on prime of Nagios Core. Nonetheless, XI’s streamlined interface and visible administration console come at a hefty enterprise value. In distinction, Amazon CloudWatch’s centralized monitoring service is simple to arrange and handle, albeit restricted in its capabilities.
CloudWatch
Nagios
3/5
3/5
3. Neighborhood Help
Because the longstanding chief in open supply infrastructure monitoring, Nagios has a constructed up a large following of group supporters through the years, with a myriad of on-line assist assets besides. In terms of CloudWatch, nevertheless, group assist assets are restricted.
CloudWatch
Nagios
3/5
4/5
4. Launch Charge
Since its public beta launch again in 2009, CloudWatch has seen a comparatively restricted quantity of releases through the years. In distinction, each Nagios Core and Nagios XI endure common month-to-month releases and have advanced considerably since their preliminary releases.
CloudWatch
Nagios
3/5
5/5
5. Pricing and Help
A monitoring system will not troubleshoot a configuration error. A configuration take a look at script will.
Nagios Core is a free, open supply providing—however for the enterprise options and capabilities that include XI, be ready to shell out a fairly penny. On the low finish, pricing begins at $1,995 and tops out at $6,495 (enterprise version) for limitless nodes.
True to AWS’ metered pricing mannequin, CloudWatch could be a bit exhausting to cost—albeit, monitoring for many organizations are clearly less expensive than Nagios XI. For instance, every dashboard prices $3.00/month and detailed monitoring for EC2 situations prices $3.50 per occasion/month.
CloudWatch
Nagios
4/5
3/5
6. API and Extensibility
As an internet service, CloudWatch presents a fully-realized REST API in addition to SDKs for constructing customized functions with widespread languages akin to PHP, Java, Python, .NET, and Ruby, amongst others. Equally, each Nagios Core and XI function RESTful APIs for customized integrations and extending the choices’ capabilities to carry out further duties.
CloudWatch
Nagios
5/5
5/5
7. third Get together Integrations
Once more, Nagios Core was designed to be built-in with third get together software program since its inception—the web site contains a slew of plugins for extending the platform’s options, from netflow and bandwidth evaluation to Nessus scan checks and Unicenter Service Desk ticket monitoring. CloudWatch may be prolonged/built-in with third get together choices utilizing its REST API and SDK, however does not supply any out of the gate.
CloudWatch
Nagios
2/5
5/5
8. Firms that Use It
Each monitoring platforms are used extensively by main enterprises and organizations; as a local net service of AWS, CloudWatch garners many customers from the main public cloud vendor’s huge buyer base. A few of Nagios’ open supply Core providing and enterprise XI marquee clients embody Comcast, DHL, Sony, Siemens, Yahoo, and Toshiba.
CloudWatch
Nagios
5/5
5/5
9. Studying Curve
As talked about beforehand, Nagios’ essential disadvantage is its notoriously steep studying curve—even with the streamlined enterprise providing Nagios XI, the platform may be daunting for much less technically-inclined customers. CloudWatch isn’t as sophisticated an providing as Nagios and subsequently is much less of a problem to grasp for non-techies.
CloudWatch
Nagios
4/5
2/5
10. Safety ranking
AWS CloudWatch scores a decent 770 out of 950, whereas Nagios is available in decrease at 637 out of 950.
Scoreboard and Abstract
CloudWatch
Nagios
Functionality set
4/5
4/5
Ease of use
3/5
3/5
Neighborhood assist
3/5
4/5
Launch price
3/5
5/5
Pricing and assist
4/5
3/5
API and extensibility
5/5
5/5
third get together integrations
2/5
5/5
Firms that use it
5/5
5/5
Studying curve
4/5
2/5
Safety ranking
770
637
Whole
3.7/5
3.9/5
Amazon CloudWatch—albeit rudimentary—is a reliable monitoring resolution for AWS-based cloud infrastructures. For monitoring multi cloud deployments, superior metrics and reporting, and a number of different enterprise options, Nagios XI is the higher choice. Nonetheless, the 2 are generally utilized in tandem—for organizations deploying into AWS’ public cloud, CloudWatch can be utilized as a simple place to begin for monitoring; XI’s CloudWatch plugin can then configured to tug in metrics for a consolidated view.
