Let’s check out together the features and improvements included in the new Pandora FMS release: Pandora FMS 765.

What’s new in the latest Pandora FMS release, Pandora FMS 765

NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Improved network maps

Multiple changes have been made to network maps to improve the usability, performance and network map setup.

• Map drawing and refreshing is automatic and dynamically reflects the changes in the network, highly improving the existing display in previous versions.
• The possibility of deleting “Pandora FMS” node as well as all its relationships has been added. Usability has also been improved in manual relationship management between nodes.
• Added linking between network maps. When there is a dummy node pointing to another network map, it will be possible to access that map from the options of the dummy node. 

New report type: System module inventory

The new type of report “System module inventory” has been created, through which you will see an inventory of the modules generated in your Pandora FMS installation registered by module name, remarking the necessary information for those modules that have the same module name.

Sending reports by mail as an alert action

A new feature has been added to Pandora FMS alert system whereby it is possible to send reports by email in PDF thanks to its incorporation as new actions/commands within Pandora FMS.

Support for Ubuntu 22.04

Ubuntu 22.04 is officially supported by Pandora FMS server

New scheduled downtime option. Disable modules

A new feature has been added within the scheduled downtimes. Now you may choose the option to disable modules without stopping the agent itself.

History database in Metaconsole

Just as it existed in Pandora FMS nodes, there is now the possibility of having a history database within the Metaconsole.

Pandora WMIC package for ARM systems

Usage in ARM environments is growing, and we have created an ARM-supported binary for environments that use the Satellite to remotely monitor Windows environments.

IP console access control

Diferentes usuarios solicitaron controlar el acceDifferent users requested to control access to the console by source IP, which can be defined individually by user. We implemented it so that masks can also be defined, e.g.: 192.168.100.*

Plugin imap open

Plugin with which emails can be filtered or the number of emails of an account through a series of filters. Useful for detecting whether an alert email arrived or to look for a certain email.

Plugin Azure Hubs enterprise

Plugin with which to monitor a space of names of Event Hubs. It returns several types of metric, like SuccesfulRequests, CapturedBytes or ActiveConnections.

Plugin Azure Postgresql enterprise

Plugin with which to monitor an Azure PostgreSQL data server and to receive metrics such as cpu_precent, memory_percent, storage_used or active_connections, among others.

Plugin Cisco inventario enterprise

Inventory plugin with which to show the configuration of a Cisco device.

Plugin Xenserver enterprise

Updated python2 plugin to python3. Added macros all_vm and all_sr to discard virtual machine agent and MR agent creation if required.

Plugin Openweathermap enterprise

Plugin with which to remove weather data from a zone through the openweathermap API, entering the area’s coordinates.

In Pandora FMS we are in luck, we now have Pandora FMS RHEL8 software certification.

Some called it impossible, others the next step to take, whatever the case everyone received it with applause!

But hold on…

What is Pandora FMS RHEL8 software certification?

This certification now features a set of executable tests for partners that produce results that are then reviewed by Red Hat. 

Your non-containerized software is certified when test results show successful interoperability with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in a safe and supportable manner using best practices. 

Once verified, you can promote your product(s) in the Red Hat Ecosystem catalog.

In addition, Red Hat will grant partners a free limited subscription to TSANet for collaborative customer case management to improve their ongoing user experiences.

Does anyone give more?

Why Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8?

Well, because Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the industry leader in enterprise Linux deployments, is the foundation of Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud portfolio, providing the underlying engine for developing and deploying complex workloads across physical, virtual, private, and public cloud environments in a more secure and controlled way. 

After just a few months, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 is already the number one RHEL version among developers, with hundreds of thousands of downloads.

*Don’t worry, if you need to learn more about RHEL 8, visit the developer page  RHEL 8.

 Certification Features

This new Red Hat Enterprise Linux software certification means that:

• Our executable is verified with a Red Hat seal of approval.
• Our products are differentiated by being more compatible, interoperable and safe.
• We get a limited TSANet membership (courtesy of Red Hat) to improve your customers’ long-term support and experiences.
• We get free technical support for the certification.

 Benefits for partners

The benefits that partners receive from this certification include:

• Have your certified software published and promoted in the new Red Hat Ecosystem catalog.
• Co-branded product overview.
• Exposure to Red Hat sales.
• The opportunity to participate in Red Hat Partner Connect podcasts.
• Awareness in Social Networks

 Advantages for the client

The benefits that clients receive from this certification include:

• A higher degree of operationality assurance when using Red Hat certified products.
• Mitigate security risks through verified best practices.
• Improved supportability of Red Hat and Red Hat partners through TSANet.

As usual, around here we could not be happier!

Tell me, what about you?

How will you make the most out of this wonderful chance? 

 

As you know, this summer half of Spain has been on drought alert. A consequence, without a doubt, of the extreme summer heat and rain scarcity. 

Andalusia was one of the most affected.

Therefore, companies and public administrations in the area have raised the alarm. Especially because of environmental and economic effects. 

Thank heaven and science, technology experts already point out some solutions to reduce the impact of this type of phenomenon.

Pandora FMS and drought monitoring

Nowadays, many cities go for digital and technological help to improve resource management. 

One of the most popular practices among companies is monitoring. It is known that this can work, without a doubt, as a defense against catastrophes such as the one that devastated Andalusia this summer. 

“Monitoring systems improve the effectiveness of any workforce. And, therefore, their resource management.” 

Indicates Sancho Lerena, general director of the monitoring company Pandora FMS. 

“Monitoring how reservoirs are falling, the level of rainfall compared to the usual figures, or even finding out whether household water consumption is increasing significantly can help anticipate scenarios such as the current lack of water.”

This type of approach, monitoring, is increasingly used. For now public administrations are adapting, but this is already something common in the business field. 

Monitoring can reduce the workload in the retail sector by 30%. In addition, it can triple the response time to citizen service. Which, frankly, would be very good for any public administration.

Andalusia and its battle against drought

Andalusia has already referred to the year 2022 as one of the driest of the last 50 years. 

The Doñana National Park has been one of the most affected scenarios, along with the rest of the reference reservoirs, which are below 11% of flow.

These circumstances are also having a negative economic impact. For the time being, olive oil production in 2022 is expected to be reduced by 50%. The poorest year of the last decade, compared to over one million tons in 2021.

But initiatives to alleviate these problems have already been set in motion, many of them proving the effectiveness of monitoring. 

Malaga, just as any other example, has recently started a test project to monitor the operation of the counters of 8,000 households with older residents or dependents. The administration will be able to identify strange behaviors through this method. Such as families with long periods of inactivity in water consumption or households in which an increase in consumption may be a sign of a resident accident.

And the CSIC is leading a different case focused exclusively on environmental control. A monitoring system that analyzes meteorological drought nationwide, providing experts with additional information to predict the phenomena of the coming months.

This is where Pandora FMS is proposed as the key to measure, for example, how widespread water use is in particular months and therefore predict some measures in case a drought is foreseen during the year.

Do you think Pandora FMS could help you too?

We tell you how:

Pandora FMS, an international benchmark in system monitoring, becomes technology partner of the French company M81.

The French platform has extensive experience in the sector since its creation in 1988 and is currently considered one of the great experts when it comes to monitoring IBM i systems.

Thanks to this agreement, Pandora FMS will transfer this type of solutions to Spanish companies to improve IT management and the efficiency of the different work areas.

Pandora FMS and the French company M81 become partners

The alliance between Pandora FMS and M81 represents a notable developing point in the Spanish technology sector, since in recent decades no national company had been able to count on monitoring solutions for IBM i systems.

Formerly known as AS400, it is widespread among big companies with IT infrastructures that deal with large amounts of data.

The M81 monitoring software for IBM i, considered a legacy or outdated system, allows to improve the efficiency of the resources of companies that are based on large IT infrastructures.

In addition to increasing the ability to manage and organize internal data, it saves time for employees, who can devote their efforts to other  company areas.

M81 was founded in 1988

Since then, it has been developing solutions for IBM i to become one of the world’s leading experts in these systems.

The French company works for large insurance companies such as the American Marsh & McLennan or AXA, for banks such as the German DZ Bank or the Portuguese Caixa Geral de Depósitos; for companies in the industry such as ArcelorMittal (considered the largest steelmaker in the world) and for logistics companies such as Heppner.

In addition, it is also established in the pharmaceutical, luxury and oil sectors.

The M81 solution ranges from advanced monitoring to the recovery of failed databases.

Despite being aimed at performing very complex tasks, its implementation is characterized by its simplicity and easy handling for teams, achieving the objective of reducing the workload of the workforce and reorienting those efforts in areas most in need.

M81 and Pandora FMS

After the agreement reached with Pandora FMS, this type of technology will be available for large Spanish and international companies that continue to use the IBM i system, also known as AS400 and considered a legacy system.

“The agreement is not only good for our company, but it means ending decades of delay in the Spanish sector that works with IBM i Systems,” says Sancho Lerena, CEO of Pandora FMS.

The Spanish company, a specialist in system monitoring, has taken its solutions to international giants such as Rakuten, Toshiba or Repsol.

Also Spanish reference companies such as El Pozo or Prosegur, in addition to working for public administrations such as the EMT or the Digital Madrid area.

In total, more than 50,000 installations in 53 different countries, a figure that will continue increasing now following the agreement reached with M81.

“M81 is a reference company in the sector, so the alliance reached is a success. But, in addition, it means opening a window for opportunities for companies that have IBM i because they will be able to reduce costs and improve their management following the steps of the great international brands “, explains Lerena.

The work is hard and there are high expectations, but we don’t give up! The fight goes on and every day we are happier with what we achieve and what we mean to our users.

Therefore, Pandora FMS is proud to announce its mention as an  Emerging Favorite  in 2022 Shortlist for Server Monitoring Software and APM by   Capterra, a free online service that helps organizations find the right software.

Pandora FMS is always among the favorites. Capterra knows this

*As many of you may already know, Capterra Shortlist is an independent assessment that evaluates user reviews and online search activity to generate a list of market leaders in the software space that offer the most popular solutions. (Have a look at the Capterra Shortlist methodology here.)

As it could not be otherwise, our CEO and colleague Sancho Lerena has wanted to make some comments on this achievement:

“The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Sometimes it seems that one does not give enough thanks and there is much to thank, both to our coworkers and users, and even the Capterra platform itself. 

Especially because there are so many contributions and because it is absolutely always a huge honor to receive this kind of mention.”

Here is a sample of our recognition in table format:

More achievements

Well, and that’s not all.

Pandora FMS is also recognized as a Noteworthy Product in Capterra Shortlist for Application Performance Management Software.

Our users have made it possible!

With an overall rating of 4.6 out 5, we received some stellar reviews on Capterra:

“For a long time, we were looking for a monitoring solution that could ensure the resiliency of our web applications and finally, with the help of the Pandora FMS team, we found the right tool. 

Pandora FMS is an out-of-the-box monitoring solution that allows you to monitor your applications and systems and has a very intuitive interface that allows you to build your dashboards in no time. We can not wait to see what the future holds for Pandora FMS.”

[Kumar B.]

“Pandora FMS is a very handy monitoring tool for daily use. Accurate with metrics and useful reporting function for analysis of server performance. 

We are planning to widely distribute the agent across more servers for our customers.”

[Neil W.]

“Pandora FMS the perfect balance between price and quality.”

[Oskar R.]

The question now is, do you want to be the only one not to get on board with such a popular, effective and acclaimed product as Pandora FMS? As you see, you will hardly regret it! We’re counting on you!

The technology company Pandora FMS, specialized in system monitoring, takes a step further towards growth becoming the first national technology capable of offering monitoring solutions, both for IBM i systems (formerly known as AS400) and for much more modern systems.

A development that, after several decades, means the full coexistence of IBM i with more recent systems.

PFMS and monitoring system integrated with IBM i

Pandora FMS, through the solution developed by the French company M81, will provide this service to multiple important customers. 

*M8 developed monitoring software for IBM i. 

After the agreement, Pandora FMS will be the first and only one in Spain to be able to combine solutions for both up-to-date systems and IBM i.

The agreement with M81 is a key alliance

The French company has been working in the sector since 1988, becoming one of the benchmarks both nationally and internationally. 

In addition to being specialized in IBM i, they provide solutions such as database recovery after serious failures or advanced monitoring to improve IT team operations.

IBM i, also known as AS400, is a system considered as legacy or obsolete that has 34 years of history. 

Its versions have been updated and improved throughout all this time. The evidence is that many multinationals keep it still in their structure. 

The so-called IBM Power System and the IBM i operating system continue to be recognized, but IT managers and CEOs are choosing to work with open servers and operating systems that offer many possibilities available in the market.

Therefore, they stopped working with IBM Power System and IBM i.

Due to this legacy system status, companies that use IBM i recognize the need to develop their own verifications or buy solutions that improve their IT structure performance and optimize their costs. 

Until now, they could only hire specialized monitoring systems as far as IBM is concerned. 

However, after the development of Pandora FMS and M84, Spanish companies will be able to implement a single powerful monitoring system that combines the management of both newer systems and IBM i.

On a global scale

As a sign of the potential IBM i has, there are institutions such as the Government of Andorra that have this type of technology. 

Although it is usually the financial and logistics sectors the ones that are managed the most through the old AS400, now known as IBM i. 

Logistics giants such as Cargo Partner, banks such as DZ Bank or insurance companies such as Marsh & McLennan are some of the examples of large formations related to the world of IBM i.

Monitoring and growth

Monitoring, it should be remembered, is one of the bases of the efficient growth of any company today. 

According to internal data from Pandora FMS, there are digital administrations that have improved their response time by 200%. 

In the retail sector, the workload can be reduced by up to 30% thanks to resource optimization. 

Percentages that translate into cost savings for large multinationals and, above all, IT resource optimization for other areas.

“From now on, Spanish companies that used IBM i will no longer have to acquire different monitoring services to be able to manage their entire infrastructure.

Thanks to the M81 software and its integration with Pandora FMS solution, a legacy system like IBM i will be easy to monitor like any other system,”

explains Sancho Lerena, CEO of Pandora FMS

“This also shows that the IT sector continues to grow in Spain.

Despite having waited for a long time, this development is a turning point for companies that still have systems, such as IBM i, which, despite being legacy, continue to have a lot of influence on IT management for the business of many companies,” highlights the chairman of the Spanish company.

Food retailers reduce the workload accumulated by their IT areas by almost 30% thanks to monitoring.

Controlling data and extensive information from the whole company, by controlling, supervising and ordering everything through the same system, allows to reduce the times of action in the face of possible errors and failures, improves resource management and organization and increases the effectiveness of the business activity.

In addition, monitoring saves costs.

IT monitoring and retailers, what you need to know

Large food distribution firms carry out continuous processes to guarantee the supply of products on the shelves, so the volume of information generated by executing these tasks throughout the day is remarkable. 

If you add to that amount of data the diversity of systems in the IT structure with which retailers work on a daily basis, the route to obtain valuable, clear and practical information becomes even more complicated. 

The difficulty is greater if, in order to analyze these data, there are unqualified personnel without the support of a reliable platform to make their work easier.

This situation highlights that the fact of not having a monitoring system multiplies the actions necessary to obtain information on the activity of the technological structure of the company or the state of each of its facilities:

This slows down a company’s power to act and its ability to react. 

That, after all, translates into a loss of value both economically and in terms of performance, especially concerning the area of human resources.

What do we achieve with monitoring in the retail sector?

Through monitoring, it is possible to access, even remotely, the entire IT structure of a company. 

That is, by means of a central console you may organize and control an entire technology park. 

This, despite being able to present a heterogeneous panorama with a wide diversity of systems that sometimes do not support each other, goes under the command of a monitoring system by which it can be accessed.

Monitoring makes it possible to replace an existing system and it is also capable of coexisting with others. 

The kind of flexibility that is essential in the sector, because it allows to integrate new stuff to the existing system. 

This observability implies the ability to bring together all data sources and provide useful information for the company. 

The more complex IT systems are, the more important it is to simplify their monitoring.

That way, servers from different operating systems can be monitored by the same controller. 

And in turn, every time an error is detected anywhere in the park, the information can immediately reach those responsible, shortening the reaction time and anticipating more serious internal operating situations.

Monitoring, in addition to making control and error anticipation easier within the company’s performance, it also helps to find out aspects as simple as the state of the toner of a series of printers, or the time workers clocked in. 

Monitoring companies ends up leading to cost savings and service improvement.

Thanks to appliying monitoring systems, retailers in the food sector acquire a tool that enhances the control of the technological infrastructure that guarantees the traceability of their products throughout the distribution chain; from its origin to its arrival to the final customer or to sales establishments. 

In addition, the implementation of this data technology allows monitoring the status of the systems from a centralized position and anticipating breakdowns and errors, saving workload and improving delivery times.

In the food market there have already been companies that have opted for this development of their structures. 

An example of this is Fripozo, belonging to the Fuertes Group, which implemented a monitoring system thanks to its agreement with the Spanish company Pandora FMS. 

As a result of this adaptation, it achieved higher responsiveness to any system failure that could affect the control and distribution of deep-frozen food.

In this particular case, one of the concerns for the company was to achieve some degree of flexibility. 

That is, that something specific could be monitored without this involving a large investment of time and local resources without external intervention. 

Fripozo, after this association with Pandora FMS, managed to reach that goal.

In addition to Fripozo, other distributors such as Salvesen Logistics have also confirmed operational improvements after monitoring their IT structure. 

The company, which like Fripozo took its chances on the Spanish Pandora FMS, came to reveal a reduction of 24% of the workload of its IT area. 

As revealed from their organization, the attention that was constantly paid to the health of the system was focused on improving services and products.

The sector, with more and more competition, is devoted to a necessary organization of the internal data that are produced throughout the same day in a company. 

Any mistake can lead to a chain failure, a misuse of their own resources and a point in favor of competition in the market.

“The monitoring carried out by systems such as Pandora FMS represents clear economic savings for companies that implement it in their IT infrastructure. Reaction times to any failure are shorter and therefore have less impact on the company. But, in addition, internal processes have also been improved as different business models have been discovered“,

explains Sancho Lerena, CEO and founder of Pandora FMS.

The increasing use of new technologies by the population has increased the risk of theft. Not only on the street can one fall victim to thieves, but one can also lose sensitive information such as passwords or banking keys in the cloud.

In this case it is even easier not to realize that virtual robbers are committing a crime. 

In addition, security no longer depends on you, but the security of third parties, those we shared our data with, becomes important.

What you don’t know about the security of your platforms

How can you maximize individual security on the network? 

Easy-peasy. 

Periodically modifying passwords and following some basic tips. 

The first thing is to know whether the user has been affected by any breach in any platform. The process could be complex for someone who is not really used to all of this, but there are free and secure portals where you may just enter some identifying data of your account to find out whether the passwords are in danger.

Haveibeenpwned.com is one of the examples. 

*As if it were a Google search engine, users only have to enter their email or phone number to find out whether the passwords of that profile have been leaked. 

In case that leak is confirmed (a message appears in just one second and in a very intuitive red color), the procedure is simple: 

Go to all those accounts and change the password. 

As experts indicate, you have to set different passwords depending on the platform.

Security monitoring

Security monitoring is used to control key security aspects, such as backup verification, or the execution of anti-virus security programs.

The most powerful organizations on the market are a clear example of the importance of cloud security and data protection. 

Until recently there was a specific department to manage all IT information and its protection, but the increase of that data bag and the increase of the danger in the cloud have turned monitoring into the most effective solution. 

Monitoring the IT structure of a company means centralizing the control of all the information and, in addition, it allows to alert and anticipate each error. 

In addition, those in charge, both of the IT structure and of data security, do not have as much workload and can perform their functions 100%. 

“Our monitoring solution, for example, strengthens security where it is installed. 

Businesses are placing increasing emphasis on the security of their IT information, and monitoring is critical to that end. 

Any failure or error is reported instantly, so action is faster and losses smaller. 

However, ordinary users should not forget that their information is also valuable for cyber criminals”, underlines the expert at Pandora FMS, aware of the interest of large organizations in protecting their data with systems such as monitoring.

Conclusion

Cybercrime has increased over time. 

Users, given the number of processes that must be developed online, share more and more information. 

A scenario that has made companies take their chances on monitoring systems such as that of Pandora FMS and that extends to individuals the need to protect their data on the network.

There is quite a wide range of solutions offered by monitoring as a service to any company, from performing any analysis to detect the root cause of the issue to determining the path of the failure.

Here goes…

Our opinion on monitoring as a service

One of the most important and obvious benefits it brings to the table is that it solves training problems of workers involved or just solves the shortage of talent of these workers right away. 

It may sound a bit harsh… but it is what it is. 

The increase in the amount of information available in companies, and the obligation to be able to manage this IT structure well means that workers must constantly be better qualified.

In addition, the increasing importance of IT means that infrastructure managers have a certain amount of work overload. 

Something that with a monitoring system does not happen! 

Rather the other way around, monitoring as a service establishes a theoretical bridge between technology and business, drawing a scheme where you can easily detect where the source of the problem is, saving time and actions to the operating team.

Monitoring reduces the importance of the traditional involvement of people from different areas of the organization and the work overload that managers in this process may have. 

To sum up, monitoring systems control all data and allow access to information from the same platform, avoiding that those in charge of this area have to stay aware of several fronts without fully concentrating on a single one. 

Also inactivity cost is reduced!

Let’s get to the point!

“You must take into account that the transformation of a given company implies that there is more software. 

And, therefore, more business areas that depend on technology. A series of changes that imply the need to hire more competent profiles. 

Everything with the aim for all pieces to fit perfectly, both the computer and its software as well as the network and the technician who handles it “. 

Explains Sancho Lerena, CEO of Pandora FMS, as you surelyl know, an international reference in monitoring.

An example of this need is that the growth of hybrid infrastructures is 25% per year according to IDC data. 

For that reason, many companies are taking their chances on taking out their IT monitoring infrastructure to save money and especially time.

This process of getting the entire IT organization under the umbrella of the same system also helps the infrastructure manager, as they have higher capacity to manage its records. 

On the one hand, it collects all the data despite the fact that it is a large volume. 

And, secondly, it concentrates access to all that information on a single centralized console.

In conclusion, we get over the lack of time for the worker to be aware of fundamental tasks such as security or data management. 

It also gets rid of the possible lack of capacity to adapt to the different operating systems that may exist in the same company. 

And, lastly, the workload involved in facing a constant data flow where any minimal error must be detected is minimized. 

Systems such as Splunk, Datadog or Pandora FMS itself help in the process.

Conclusions

Through monitoring, it is possible to use information in a reactive way, anticipating problems and alerts received; preventive, since analyses are obtained that help to be prepared for any worst-case scenario; and retrospective, since the emerged crises are also studied to find out the extent of their impact and know how to take measures properly in the future.

What is Pandora FMS Open Source?

Pandora FMS Open Source is not a freemium software, it is not bloatware nor shareware (*Wink for those born before the 80s). Pandora FMS is licensed under GPL 2.0 and the first line of code was written in 2004 by Sancho Lerena, the company’s current CEO.

At that time, free software was in full swing and MySQL was still an independent company, as was SUN Microsystems. Today there are thousands of users of the Open Source version that regularly download updates through the system that we designed for that specific purpose.

We do not know more about the subject (neither their names, nor their companies…) because, above all, we respect privacy.

We consider Pandora FMS to be a real free software. The project has been active in Sourceforge since 2004 and we have all the awards granted by this entity that leads Open Source. All the code is available on Github in real time, but we do believe that there is something more important and that is the documentation we have available in five languages (Spanish, English, French, Japanese and Russian), with a level of depth that allows you to get the most out of it without having to pay for certifications, training or consulting.

Printed, the manual has more than 1,000 pages (per language) and is maintained by our professional development team, Q&A, translators and professional documentalists. We also have a public forum where we solve questions, with more than 15,000 messages.

We believe that freedom consists in offering users options, not just giving them part of the pieces of a puzzle without instructions.

Pandora FMS Enterprise

However, Pandora FMS has a version based on a commercial license that extends some of the features present in Pandora FMS OpenSource version. This license incorporates additional source code that is not publicly available or free of charge.

These features are oriented to demanding professional environments that require some automation and more specific tools already created to use them in operation and with professional support so that if something fails they can ask and get a patch if necessary. It is exactly for these types of environments that we designed Pandora FMS Enterprise.

If you want to use Pandora FMS Community and have doubts about whether it will be enough for your organization: Don’t hesitate!, it is not a question of size, we have users of the Open version with thousands of agents and who have been using it for years.

Obviously the main benefit of the Enterprise version is that you will have someone to support you at all times. Whether it is some problem with an update or throughout the installation of a plugin. But there are many small differences that can be key to optimizing your day-to-day management.

Next we will describe some of the Enterprise features. If you want to try them yourself, you can test the waters of a 30-day trial version, but let us show it to you at an online meeting and you’ll save yourself the trouble of messing with the software. Your time is valuable and while our documentation is extensive, PFMS has plenty of features.

Services

Services are the way to show in a simple and visual way what things are like in your organization, classified into different entities that in turn are made up of other services and / or metrics.

That way you may perform an automatic root cause analysis and find out when a service is affected, where the source is and even have it displayed in the form of a tree:

Services complement the existing display options in Pandora FMS and allow system managers to define weight rules that have their systems’ redundancy to alert only in case of need, not when something irrelevant fails.

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Policies

The need arose from a client who managed many computers with different purposes and technologies. They found out that monitoring Windows 2000 computers was different from monitoring Windows 2003, and that of course the Redhat Linux had different needs from the Debian Linux. It also had differentiated database environments, such as DB2 or MySQL.

Base monitoring could be “compartmentalized” into different sets of checks that could be standardized, so that any Linux machine that had Oracle could be monitored the same. That way, we made sets of checks that could be easily deployed to machine groups.

Thanks to policies, it is possible to homogenize monitoring and to deploy standard monitoring by technologies.

Thus a system can have different policies applied (e.g. base operating system, database, application X, network performance, etc.) and for every time you modify the policy, it can get “synchronized” with those systems that are subscribed to said policy, in a totally automatic way.

Of course, exceptions can always be made to policies at individual level, and each system can have unlimited policies in addition to custom monitoring. Using policy monitoring can save system administrators a huge amount of time.

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Customization and OEM

If you need to sell your own monitoring product, with your own brand and full customization not only of its look, but also of its installers, command path, running services, ISO installation images, Windows agents, logos, manufacturer and product names, Pandora FMS Enterprise has different customizing levels.

The most basic, and included as standard in any Enterprise license, allows you to customize the appearance of the console so that it does not look like Pandora FMS but your own product, with your own brand.

If what you need is to go further, and generate a software with another name and that from the installation process to the name of the database everything is alien to Pandora FMS, then OEM customization is what you need. We can even generate update packages specific to your OEM (or teach you how to do it so you can fend for yourself).

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History DB

Pandora FMS Enterprise has a secondary storage system in an additional database. The system automatically transfers the data from more than N days to the history database and when it needs it to make reports or graphs, it uses both databases to gather information.

This allows you to have an almost unlimited data history (several years) without compromising the speed of access to day-to-day data.

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Delegated authentication in Active Directory

Whether you need your installation to rely on an Active Directory to authenticate users, or to automatically create them at login, assigning them specific profiles or filtering them through a blacklist, this feature is designed specifically for professional environments like yours.

It has advanced options such as delegating to a secondary server, excluding administrators, complementing it with double authentication through Google Auth and many other options.

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Remote control

Remotely control and access your systems, whether windows workstations, Linux or Windows servers, or Raspberry or similar embedded systems. Access the remote shell as if you were in front of it, the remote desktop, or copy files both ways. All this from the same Pandora FMS WEB console, fully integrated into your asset management.

In the Enterprise version you may have your own on-premise infrastructure of eHorus servers so that all communication among your systems can be managed and controlled, with total autonomy from third parties and with maximum security and confidentiality.

In the community version, however, you may use our Cloud servers, up to a maximum of five devices for free.

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Satellite Servers

Satellite servers allow headless remote monitoring of entire networks of equipment in a distributed way. Install Satellite servers in the networks of your clients, they will obtain metrics of all kinds of devices around them, exploring what they have around them automatically and sending the information to the central server where you may manage it as if they were normal agents.

Satellite servers are perfect for making deployments in remote sites, customer offices or inaccessible environments. They can be installed on Raspberry, or any type of container.

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User Experience (UX) Monitoring

Nothing like observing things pretending to be a real user, if possible from the same chair as the real user. This is what user monitoring consists of, replicating a transaction from beginning to end, step by step, calculating the time it takes in each step, and verifying that each step is completed correctly.

That way you will not only find out whether it fails, but you will also know where, and how long each step takes. You may even take a screenshot to know what the fault looked like. This can be done for web applications (even if they have Java, Flash, HTML5, etc.), and also for traditional desktop applications. It can be done centrally (WUX) or in a distributed way so that the probes perform the tests from different geographical locations.

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Remote agent deployment

We know that deploying agents and configuring them is one of the most burdensome points of deploying monitoring. That is why we created a tool that allows, providing credentials, to connect to Windows or Linux systems to copy the agent and carry out its unattended installation.

It allows you to customize the installation, by different networks, environments or groups of machines. From dozens to thousands of systems can be installed or upgraded from the agent deployment console.

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Omnishell

Omnishell is a Pandora FMS Enterprise feature that is used for orchestration (IT automation). It is a fully native tool integrated into the console that uses PFMS agents to execute command blocks on selected targets.

A use example would be to configure the auto-start of the HTTPD service on CentOS 7 systems massively. Another example could be to install a manual patch on those Windows machines that you select from a list. It can be one or several hundred machines.

The system is designed to be executed on hundreds of systems simultaneously and wait for the order to be executed, showing on the screen the progress, machine by machine:

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Auto Provisioning and automatic agent configuration

It implements an automatic mechanism by which it can apply policies and changes to newly provisioned agents, so that after deployment, monitoring configuration is automated, assigning it group(s), monitoring policies, alerts, etc.

This customization is done based on rules. For example, having a certain IP range, a specific brand or custom field, or a hostname with a certain pattern. In addition, after you make the configuration change, you may generate a custom action.

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Collections

Deploying advanced monitoring requires bringing scripts and small applications (ours, yours or from third parties) to the monitored systems, to be executed by the agent in the form of plugins.

Collections allow you to gather this set of files and send them them to agents in an integrated way in the policies. That way, using plugins is something simple and transparent for the final operation.

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Log collection

Pandora FMS can collect logs from any source that supports syslog or through software agents (Windows and Linux). Such logs can be plain text files, or Windows system events.

They will be collected by Pandora FMS monitoring agent and sent to the server along with the monitoring data. So if you already have agents installed, you may collect logs from those systems conveniently and quickly, and without additional software or licenses.

Unlike monitoring data that is stored in a conventional SQL database, logs are stored in a separate Elastic system. You will be able to store gigabytes worth of logs and keep them for a long time (you will only need more disk space). You may set up alerts or search through your data sources. It is the ideal complement to comprehensive monitoring, and fully integrated into the console.

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Inventory Alerts

PFMS inventory allows you to obtain data of many types: installed software packages, users with access to the equipment, installed patches, hardware devices, firmware and version of the base system, license or serial number, etc.

Alerts allow you to generate actions in case of finding or not finding certain data on a computer with inventory information (whitelist / blacklist).

For example, what if you know that there is a vulnerable version in your systems? Well, you could create an alert that notifies you if someone is using it. Or on the contrary, if you need an application installed on all your systems and someone does not install it, you may find out in real time.

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Metaconsole / Command Center

The Command Center is the jewel in the crown of Pandora FMS.

It serves the purpose of centrally controlling an unlimited number of independent Pandora FMS instances (each with its server, its console and its databases) so that you may manage dozens of thousands of agents from a single point, while these systems are in turn managed by independent instances.

This federated management system ensures uniformity and ease of management. It is a robust system where one system failing does not affect the rest of the systems, and where growth is fully horizontal and distributes loads automatically.

We have clients with more than 40,000 agents and more than one million metrics collected.

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High Availability (HA)

In critical environments and/or with lots of load, it is possible that it is necessary to distribute the load among several machines and make sure that if any Pandora FMS component fails, the system will stay online.

PFMS has been designed to be modular but it is also designed to work collaboratively with other components and to be able to take on the burden of those that failed. The most critical component is the database (MySQL/Percona) that can be configured in Active/Passive mode so that in case of failure, a read-only node is automatically activated and the system continues to operate without pause, and without data loss.

This system is integrated into Pandora FMS console.

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Discovery Cloud

Discovery Cloud allows, through a fully pre-installed and centralized system, to configure native connectors (through APIs) with the most widespread public cloud providers: Amazon, Azure and Google.

You will be able to get it hooked onto your instances and explore the resources available for monitoring: machines, disks, databases and other elements.

The advantage of this system is that you may get information about the services dynamically, without installing agents. In addition, if you later install agents, you may add both monitoring approaches. Through the credential container system you may even monitor different Amazon instances, for example.

In the case of Amazon, you will also be able to find out the cost of active services.

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Discovery Applications

As with cloud providers, Discovery allows out-of-the-box to monitor some extended technologies centrally and remotely: Oracle, SAP R3, DB2, SQL Server, and VmWare virtualization (through the vCenter API).

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Enterprise ACL’s

Along with OEM features, it allows you to customize not only the look, but the feature accessible by all types of users (including administrators). That way you may limit the functions of a PFMS instance, even making the menus disappear.

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Comparison table Open Source vs Enterprise

Features	Open source	Enterprise
Tech support	In community forums, by volunteers	Worldwide hourly coverage. 24×7 optional
Professional services
Professional certification		Several levels
Operating model	on-premise	on-premise SaaS (MaaS)
Remote monitoring SNMP, WMI and with plugins
Monitoring with agents
Reports, dashboards and visual consoles
Alerts system
Multi-user and multi-tenant
Netflow
Network Configuration Manager
IPAM	(764 version)
Mobile Console APPs
High Availability	(Manual)	(Integrated)
Distributed Servers (Satellite)
Policies
Services
AD Authentication
Historical DB
Remote control	Only SaaS	SaaS and On-premise
Transactional monitoring of user experience (UX)
IT Service Manager	Partial
Remote agent deployment
Omnishell
Agent autoconfiguration / autoprovisioning
Command center (Metaconsole)
Collections
HA
Correlated alerts
Inventory alerts
Log collection
Discovery Cloud
Discovery Applications
Enterprise ACL’s
OEM and Partial Customization	Partial