Big Brother Keeping a Watch on your Network?

Big Brother is a network monitor that uses a client-server architecture combined with methods which both push and pull data to monitor System and Network-delivered services for availability in real time. It gathers information from agents on your system and performs tests against the system being monitored. This data is then passed upstream to a central location where your current network status is displayed on a color-coded web page in near-real time, red for failure, green for fine. When problems are detected, you can be notified by e-mail, pager, or text messaging.

Big Brother Functionality

Big Brother includes support for testing ftp, http, https, smtp, pop3, dns, telnet, imap, nntp, and ssh servers. Support for additional tests is easily added. Because you can run multiple instances of Big Brother in parallel, BB clients can report into multiple Web Displays (BBDISPLAYs) and notification servers and you can be notified should your monitoring system fail.

Big Brother has a fairly sophisticated notification ruleset. You can notify based on time-of-day, machine, or the test that failed via email, Sendpage or SMS (the NT/Win2K server platform only supports e-mail currently). It allows reporting to determine whether Service Level Agreements are being met and you can access historical status information so you can see what problems occurred at any given time.

Operating Systems

The Big Brother server and BBNET functions run either on Unix/Linux or scaled-down on Microsoft Windows NT 4 or 2000. Client software is available for a wide range of systems Unix/Linux, NT/Win2K/Win2003 with additional user contributed clients for Netware, Mac OS 9, VMS, AS/400 and VM/ESA (available from Deadcat)

Interoperability

Included in Big Brother’s extensive range of plug-ins at Deadcat.net is a plug-in to use MRTG (Multi-Route-Traffic-Grapher), to allow you to perform trend analysis. MRTG will graph data gathered via SNMP, allowing you to set thresholds and be alerted when certain thresholds are met - bbmrtg-craigs_ver.pl.gz. There is also a plug-in for TempTrax IT Temperature Monitor, to allow remote monitoring and alerting of server rooms and devices - bb-temptrax.pl and trax.pl for Windows. Both MRTG and TempTrax Temperature Monitors are available from OPENXTRA.

Versions and Pricing for Big Brother

There are currently two versions of Big Brother available. Big Brother and Big Brother Professional Edition. Big Brother Professional Edition is an enhanced version of Big Brother with an easier installation. It has all of the features of Big Brother but adds additional functionality such as automatic configuration for 24/7 self-monitoring, integration with Quest Software’s Spotlight for greater diagnostic functionality and NT paging support.

Big Brother is distributed under a proprietary license that allows free use as long as you do not provide services based on BB’s technology.

Prices for the Big Brother Standard Edition are BB Server for Unix and NT $695, BB NT/W2K Client $79, Big Brother Professional Edition from $3500.

Conclusion

Big Brother is very competitively priced or free(!) depending on which version you opt for and there is a very comprehensive and impressive range of plug-ins available and demo versions are available as a download for your own evaluation. These brothers also sport a sense of humour - Big Brother sends all status reports from client to server over port 1984 (of course!)

However, my guess is that Big Brother is not for the beginner; Quest Software reckon on an hour to get the core up and running if you are an experienced systems administrator and setting up notifications may not be for those of a nervous disposition. Documentation is a little sparce although the user community and authors are very helpful.

See Also

Big Brother Website

Big Brother Plug-ins

MRTG Plug-in

How To Monitor Temperature With Big Brother And TempTrax

TempTrax Plug-in

TempTrax Plug-in Modified For Windows

TempTrax Temperature Monitor

About the Author

Annie Raynor Annie Raynor, Bsc(Hons), possesses extensive experience in IT marketing and PR, particularly in the field of network management. In 2003 she joined OPENXTRA as Marketing and Business Development Manager, part of her remit being to raise OPENXTRA’s profile and assist in its growth.