Nagios vs Supervisord: What are the differences?

1. Configuration: Nagios uses configuration files written in a domain-specific language for defining hosts, services, and commands, while Supervisord uses an INI-file syntax for process configuration, making it simpler and more straightforward to set up and manage.

2. Monitoring: Nagios excels in monitoring various aspects of a system including network services, host resources, and environmental factors, with a focus on proactive issue detection, while Supervisord primarily focuses on process management and control, ensuring that specified processes are running as expected.

3. Alerting: Nagios provides extensive alerting capabilities through notifications, allowing users to receive alerts via email, SMS, or other methods when issues arise, whereas Supervisord does not include built-in alerting functionality, requiring external tools or scripts for notification.

4. Resource Usage: Nagios can be resource-intensive when monitoring a large number of hosts and services due to its architecture, often requiring dedicated hardware or a powerful server, while Supervisord is lightweight and has minimal resource overhead, making it suitable for smaller deployments or constrained environments.

5. Plugin Ecosystem: Nagios has a vast ecosystem of plugins developed by the community to extend its functionality and monitor various technologies, whereas Supervisord has a smaller set of plugins available, primarily focused on integrating with other tools and services.

6. Scope: Nagios is a comprehensive monitoring solution for monitoring IT infrastructure and services, offering a centralized platform for monitoring and alerting, while Supervisord is more specialized in managing and controlling processes on a single machine, typically used for managing applications or services.

In Summary, Nagios is a robust monitoring tool with extensive alerting capabilities and a wide range of plugins, while Supervisord is a lightweight process manager focused on process control and management on a single machine.