Project Observer is a software that automatically discovers and manages Cisco and Linux networks. Its main focus is on network management with a specialized approach towards these two network types.
Project Observer is an autodiscovering network management system that is designed to focus mainly on Cisco and Linux networks. It is designed with the capability of automatically generating network diagrams. The software works by automatically discovering networks based on CDP data that is collected through SNMP. Currently, IP subnet SNMP scanning is not available, but it is planned for future updates.
The main strength of Project Observer lies in its ability to easily navigate large ISP style networks. However, it has also been designed to be competent in monitoring Unix servers and services such as Apache. This is the third incarnation of the design, with the original being "Brockrigg" written by Simon Woodward for Onyx Internet, and the second being "Kikker" written by the reviewer for Entanet International.
Project Observer has been written based on what was learnt during the Kikker development, and it is expected to be a more flexible and useful piece of software. With the exception of the unfinished diagram drawing code, Project Observer is far superior to the Kikker implementation. Currently, the reviewer is using Project Observer as his primary network management/graphing system, but it is not yet classified as production software.
The reviewer welcomes users to test the software by downloading it and emailing him to provide feedback. Project Observer has been developed to work with Cisco Catalyst 2950, 3548XL, 3550, Cisco 7200, Linux Debian / Ubuntu, FreeBSD (m0n0wall / pfSense), and most other Linux and Cisco hardware. The software requires Perl 5.8+ and SNMP::INFO, PHP 5.x, MySQL 5.x, Apache, RRDTool, fping, wget, and complete SNMP MIBs in order to function.
The main strength of Project Observer lies in its ability to easily navigate large ISP style networks. However, it has also been designed to be competent in monitoring Unix servers and services such as Apache. This is the third incarnation of the design, with the original being "Brockrigg" written by Simon Woodward for Onyx Internet, and the second being "Kikker" written by the reviewer for Entanet International.
Project Observer has been written based on what was learnt during the Kikker development, and it is expected to be a more flexible and useful piece of software. With the exception of the unfinished diagram drawing code, Project Observer is far superior to the Kikker implementation. Currently, the reviewer is using Project Observer as his primary network management/graphing system, but it is not yet classified as production software.
The reviewer welcomes users to test the software by downloading it and emailing him to provide feedback. Project Observer has been developed to work with Cisco Catalyst 2950, 3548XL, 3550, Cisco 7200, Linux Debian / Ubuntu, FreeBSD (m0n0wall / pfSense), and most other Linux and Cisco hardware. The software requires Perl 5.8+ and SNMP::INFO, PHP 5.x, MySQL 5.x, Apache, RRDTool, fping, wget, and complete SNMP MIBs in order to function.
What's New
Version 0.4.1: N/A