Zabbix vs Nagios

Difference Between Zabbix and Nagios

The Zabbix tool can be categorized into the monitoring application which is available as open-source that used for monitoring the performance of VMs (virtual machine), networks and servers and also capable of monitoring CPU utilization, network utilization and disk consumption on machines. The Nagios is another type of monitoring tool which is also available as an open-source that used for continuous monitoring of the IT components like network, infrastructure, and system and also used for checking the health of the system installed in the network. The Nagios tool sends immediately alert to the technician if something went wrong in the system.

Head to Head Comparison between Zabbix and Nagios (Infographics)

Below are the top 8 comparisons between Zabbix vs Nagios:

Key differences between Zabbix and Nagios

Let us discuss some key differences between Zabbix vs Nagios in the following points:

• One of the major differences between the two tools is that the Nagios tool is a continuous monitoring tool whereas the Zabbix tool is not. The Nagios tool is an open-source tool that is a continuous monitoring tool that is used for monitoring the health of system machines, network infrastructure, and architecture. The Zabbix tool is a type of monitoring tool that is used to monitor the network, servers, virtual machine
• The other difference between Zabbix vs Nagios is cost and installation steps. The Zabbix tool is much cheaper and easy to install on the user system and it does not require additional steps for installation. In the Nagios tool, the free version has very limited features. The premium version is better which is expensive and required additional support for the installation.
• The other difference between the Zabbix and Nagios tool is the monitoring components which they are used for. The Zabbix tool is used to monitor the networking system, CPU load statistics, and memory heap. The Nagios tool is used for continuous monitoring of applications, services, and systems.
• The other key difference in between Zabbix vs Nagios is sending alerts and alarms upon any raised issue. The Nagios tool sends immediate alerts when there is any unusual behavior observe on the system so that the appropriate action can be taken against the alert. In the Zabbix tool, there is no such functionality of sending alerts and notify the technical team.
• In the Zabbix tool, the data can be visualized in different forms like screens, graphs, overviews, and maps. As the tool is capable of monitoring the servers it gives actual statistics and information about performance data. In Nagios tool, the functionality of visualizing the data is not present which create problem to analyze the data and do monitoring of the system.
• The other major key difference between Zabbix vs Nagios is HA (high availability) and fixing issues automatically. The Nagios tool is capable to maintain the security of the system and the high availability of the system for other business operations. The Nagios tool is also capable of fixing the problems automatically when there is any situation arises. The Zabbix tool does not fix the issue automatically it requires technical support. The Zabbix can also be scalable from a small scale environment to a large scale environment.
• In Zabbix tool, there is one centralized web-based management interface that is used for managing the data in the database and to monitor the system. In Nagios tool, there is no centralized system to monitor the system and data. The Nagios tool uses the GUI that uses CGI for displaying the web pages. The web page includes graphs, buttons, and sound for notifying about the alerts. When an alert is raised more than one time then the hard alarm is immediately raised to notify the technician team.
• The Nagios tool offers different network monitoring services that are HTTP, SNMP, POP, SMTP, SSH, FTP and many more. The Zabbix tool is capable of monitoring the thousands of the metrics which are collected from the various virtual machine and physical machines.

Comparison Table of Zabbix vs Nagios

The below table summarizes the comparisons between Zabbix vs Nagios:

Conclusion

Zabbix tool and Nagios tool are both used for monitoring the system and health of the system. For choosing the tool the only factor which needs to be considered is the requirement and use of the tool. Both tools are capable of monitoring the servers, system and the performance of the system.

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