The history of this blog explaining what is what in the world of technology is long, we admit. Maybe one day we’ll release a compilation episode, sort of a cabaret musical thing, with all the info and even some special guests, why not! Meanwhile we also tell you what Active Directory is.

Remote network monitoring is a technical specialty that was born almost at the same time as networks themselves. Since then, many strategies have emerged when it comes to monitoring network elements. In this article we will talk about the current techniques based on SNMP polling and network statistic collection through Netflow, and we will also mention outdated systems such as RMON. Most techniques are purpose-oriented, so they are especially useful.

We already live in a post-apocalyptic future that has nothing to envy to great franchises like Mad Max or Blade Runner. Proof of this are pollution, pandemics and the fact that your most intimate secrets can be violated because your most impenetrable slogans are in a database of leaked passwords. Do you feel that pinch? It’s fear and cruel reality knocking at your door at the same time. But, well, let’s stand by. Just as Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford would do in their sci-fi plots.

Close your eyes. Imagine that, instead of being a good person reading this article at home, you are a newbie network administrator who must manage the IP addresses of thousands of devices networked on the extensive networks of a large company. At first you use your spreadsheet…, but it’s not enough!

Network monitoring is a set of automatic processes that help to detect the status of each element of your network infrastructure. We are talking about routers, switches, access points, specific servers, intermediate network elements, and other related systems or applications (such as web servers, web applications, or database servers).In other words, network monitoring can be understood as taking a look at all the connected elements that are relevant to you or your organization.

Prometheus seeks to be a new generation within open source monitoring tools. A different approach with no legacies from the past. For years, many monitoring tools have been linked to Nagios for its architecture and philosophy or directly for being a complete fork (CheckMk, Centreon, OpsView, Icinga, Naemon, Shinken, Vigilo NMS, NetXMS, OP5 and others). Prometheus software, however, is true to the “Open” spirit: if you want to use it, you will have to put together several different parts.