Netbeez: Network monitoring with Raspberry Pi | Hacker News Reader

Netbeez: Network monitoring with Raspberry Pi

netbeez.net

49 pointsdalton15 comments

Hi All, This is Stefano, NetBeez cofounder. We decided to build NetBeez because we felt the pain of supporting remote users without having proper data available to detect network and application performance issues. Users generally knew before us that this or that application was not working. The monitoring tools we were using only checked the status of routers and servers and were not good at detecting partial/performance failures that users experienced.

NetBeez agents monitor the network and applications from the user perspective. You can apt-get our software agent and install it on different linux boxes, then start running PING, DNS, HTTP, and Traceroute tests agains web applications. By doing so you catch two birds with one stone, because you validate (1) network connectivity and performance at the locations where the agents are installed and (2) detect problems with the web application itself. Also, you can understand if a problem is local (only affecting one location, thus most probably network related) or global (affecting all the locations, thus most probably web service related). We also have a Raspberry Pi image available on our website.

That's pretty much it, I hope you like it and please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you need help to setup or configure it.

I've got multiple physical egress points and multiple upstream providers so I do most of our monitoring myself. My home office (I work remotely) and phone -- the two places I receive alerts -- are both "off-net" so I've been looking for something simple and lightweight to "monitor the monitor" (and perhaps another important host or two) from outside the network.

I went to the Product Overview page, scrolled down, saw the pricing, and closed the tab. Perhaps I didn't learn enough about the product's features in the short amount of time I was on the site but the pricing just seems outrageous to me.

Edited to add background info: I'm evaluating alternatives to my current monitoring application, Opsview, which runs entirely from a single internal server. I'm looking for something that can be split across multiple servers in multiple sites (directly connected) so that I can monitor the (primary) monitoring system and be alerted if it is having issues (e.g. "A" monitors "B", "B" monitors "A").

If you want to jump on a call to discuss send me an email to panos@netbeez.net

RE pricing: we just released a free tier that allows you to install a software agent on your own Debian Linux (including Raspberry Pi) and use the NetBeez dashboard for free. You can sign up here: https://netbeez.net/free-instance-signup/

If you have other questions shoot me an email.

Yeah, thanks anyways, both for the offer of a call and for the free tier. However...

Salespeople are one of my least favorite types of people to talk to, right under bill collectors [0].

I'm also not a big fan of "free" services that require external (i.e. "out of my control") resources. I'm specifically looking for something that can be managed completely by myself with no assistance or resources needed by an third-party. Otherwise, there's always a chance that you'll change things. Then, I'll just be looking for alternatives.

Ironically, this is exactly why I'm looking for something now. I used Pingdom's "free plan" [1] as a simple up/down monitor but recently got an e-mail from them letting me know that, "We will no longer provide your existing free plan after January 28, 2016." [2]. Thus, here I am.

Of course, this is just me and my specific situation. I'm sure you've built a great product and it'll fill the needs of many customers.

[0]: At least you DO have pricing on your web site. I'll give you credit for that as a lot of companies don't. If I have to talk to someone on the phone just to get a price from you, though, I will never be your customer.

[1]: https://www.pingdom.com/

[2]: https://help.pingdom.com/hc/en-us/articles/206012222-Changes...

I am cofounder of the company, and an engineer by training.

I think jlgaddis assumed that you will get some sales-rep to speak to him.

This is a great team with an awesome product! Happy to see fellow Pittsburgh locals getting the attention they deserve.

Pittsburgh represent!

Thanks for the support guys! Go burgh!

>"Do all of the above form all your locations"<

C/P from webpage..."form" should likely be "from"...

Thank you, fixed!

Fellow 'burgh resident here :) Any plans to add other tests (ftp, smtp, random homebrew app port, etc) or is the focus going to stay on web applications?

The next in line is scheduled Iperf. Right now you can run Iperf manually between two agents or an agent and your own Iperf server. The scheduled Iperf will allow you to run the test periodically (e.g. every 2 hours), or specific times during the day(e.g. 8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 10:00 PM).

Apart from bandwidth, Iperf will give you jitter and packet loss.

...and by manually he means ad-hoc. Setting up the iperf client and server is automatic. :)

Let's go Pittsburgh startup! I was ecstatic to see netbeez on the front page.

Also, with us opening remote offices, this might be something that comes in handy.

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