An Easier Interface To Open-Source ManagementAn Easier Interface To Open-Source Management

In a move to make its open-source IT-management software more accessible to more users, GroundWork Open Source Solutions Inc. last week revealed its GroundWork Monitor Architect, or Monarch. The Web-based tool introduces a graphical interface for systems administrators to use when configuring the company's GroundWork Monitor application to manage applications, databases, servers, and networks.

GroundWork Monitor is a combination of open-source technologies. At its core is the Nagios open-source host, service, and network-monitoring application, which, along with products such as OpenNMS and Big Sister, has emerged to provide more accessible open-source alternatives to large, expensive IT monitoring software bundles. On top of Nagios, GroundWork has included PerfParse to facilitate the storage and analysis of binary performance data produced by Nagios. Now Monarch eliminates the need for administrators to configure their management software using a command line.

To make Nagios easier to use and better suited to bigger business environments, GroundWork offers plug-in applications that return status information to Nagios and send notifications out to administrative contacts via E-mail or instant message. Nagios, which is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2, provides current status information, historical logs, and reports that can all be accessed via a Web browser.

GroundWork has raised $11.5 million in venture-capital funding to expand its offerings and build out sales programs.