Nagios vs tcpdump

Nagios

Description: Nagios is an open-source monitoring system that allows administrators to monitor network infrastructure like servers, switches, applications, and services. It can notify users when issues arise and help identify problems in a timely manner.

Type: software

Pricing: Open Source

tcpdump

Description: tcpdump is a command-line network monitoring and data acquisition tool used to capture packet data flowing over a network. It can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network.

Type: software

Pricing: Free

Nagios Features

• Monitoring of network services (HTTP, SMTP, POP3, ICMP, etc)
• Monitoring of host resources (processor load, disk usage, etc)
• Simple plugin design for easy extensibility
• Alerting and notification when problems arise
• Web interface for viewing current network status, alerts and reports
• Support for SNMP polling for switch/router monitoring
• Remote monitoring capabilities with secure tunneling

tcpdump Features

• Packet capture and network traffic monitoring
• Capture filters for selective packet capture
• Reading packets from files for offline analysis
• Output to console, files, or other programs
• Decoding of various network protocols

Nagios

• Open Source

tcpdump

• Free