System Monitoring

Monitoring system status, health, and load is a useful tool for understanding how each system is working, by itself and in relationship to other connected systems. It is not within the scope of this book to cover the "how" of system monitoring, as there are many other sources for this information. However, whatever software you use for monitoring should conform to industry standard interfaces like Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP). Even HVAC systems and UPS systems can be connected to the network and run SNMP agents to give useful information on the health of the data center and support systems.