Best practices

Using Templates

Whenever possible, service templates should be used. They make it easier to add new hosts and can therefore be set up quickly.

The best way to work with templates is to create a template for all possible services. For example, this could be a template called “Linux generic” with checks for the CPU, main memory and disk usage. But it could also be a template for MySQL with a check for MySQL, in which a check for port 3306 is also set up.

Variables can be used to set up services in a uniform manner and, if the values ​​need to be adjusted slightly, can be changed for individual hosts. For example, if you set up a check for a network interface, the network interface can be different on each host. A variable can then be used to predefine a value that can then be overwritten when setting up the host. Variables can also be defined when registering hosts.

It is even possible to tag templates with simple keywords (so-called tags) that can then be used to register a new host. This way, a host is added directly to the templates to which the keywords apply.

Of course, there are checks that cannot be easily implemented using templates, such as HTTP checks. These can then be easily added directly to a host.

Encryption

Communication between the individual components should always be encrypted. The Bloonix server, Bloonix agent and Bloonix satellites can be configured quite easily in this regard.