Munin is free, open-source, self-hosted software for monitoring resource trends and performance problems across networks. Its master-and-node architecture has a master connect regularly to monitored nodes and collect metrics; the maker says servers are polled every five minutes. Munin displays those measurements as graphs in a web interface and stores the data in RRD files. It can monitor computers, networks, SANs, applications and weather measurements. More than 500 plugins are available, and users can create plugins in any language. Alerts can notify administrators when plugin data exceeds defined limits, using command-line tools or integrations with Nagios and Icinga. SNMP plugins collect information from remote machines. TLS can encrypt master-to-node communication, with certificate verification against a shared certificate authority. Packaged installation uses munin-node on each monitored node and munin on the master, which the project recommends instead of source installs. Deployments described by the maker range from a home Raspberry Pi to clusters exceeding 100 nodes. The latest stable release listed is 2.0.69, posted November 22, 2021.
Who it is for
Munin suits administrators who want self-hosted monitoring for computers, networks, applications or other measurable systems. Its plugin model also fits teams needing custom metrics or integrations with Nagios and Icinga.
What is good
- Free and open-source
- Graphs metrics through a web interface
- More than 500 available plugins
- TLS support for node communication
- Scales from Raspberry Pi to 100-plus nodes
What to know first
- Latest stable release listed from 2021
- Packaged installation requires master and node packages
- Private support and training no longer provided by named lead developer
Verdict
Munin provides broad, plugin-based monitoring with graphs, alerting and self-hosted deployment. Its older listed release and stated support limitation are important considerations for adoption.
Munin plans and pricing
All plansCompared on hardware monitoring software
- Service monitoring
- Yes
- Deployment model
- self-hosted
- OS coverage
- multiple
- Agentless monitoring
- Yes
