Since 2006 my partner ConSol* and I offer 24/7 remote management services for Apple server and storage environments.
One of the big challenges is to discover issues before they become problems.
For this we use Nagios, an open source monitoring solution, which monitors our customers’ systems and informs us immediately if anything goes wrong.
Unluckily, in 2006 there were no appropriate Nagios plugins available which allowed for decent Xsan and Xserve monitoring, so ConSol* had to develop their own plugins, which we have been using at our client’s sites since then.
Today, you find an article at Xsanity, which describes how to install these plugins.
You can download the two plugins for free from the ConSol* Website.
Update: There’s also an article on the ConSol* site describing how to install and setup Nagios at http://www.consol.com/apple/tips-tricks/nagios-server-setup/.