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Shinken

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What Shinken is

Shinken is a free, open-source Python monitoring framework for large environments, available for self-hosted Linux and Windows deployments and other Python-capable systems. It monitors hosts and network services using check-plugin results for status and performance data. Nagios configuration standards and plugins can be reused. Role-specific daemons divide work, and additional daemons on other servers distribute load; spare instances support high availability. Business rules can trigger notifications from conditions such as three of five servers being down. Modules support NRPE and SNMP, while plugins can use WMI, SSH, TCP, UDP, ICMP and LDAP. Monitoring packs cover databases, network devices, operating systems, hypervisors, protocols, applications and storage. Integrations include Graphite, InfluxDB, MySQL, Oracle, WebUI, Thruk, Nagvis and PNP4Nagios. It is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License.

Who it suits

Shinken suits teams monitoring large or independent environments that can self-host Python software. It is also relevant to organizations reusing Nagios configurations and plugins.

What it does well

  • Free under the GNU Affero General Public License
  • Reuses Nagios configurations and plugins
  • Daemon architecture supports load distribution
  • Spare daemons provide high availability
  • Supports broad monitoring protocols and packs

What to know first

  • Check plugins are not included
  • Requires self-hosted installation
  • Configuration and setup are user-managed
  • Support uses a GitHub issue list

Verdict

Shinken provides a scalable, self-hosted monitoring framework with Nagios compatibility and distributed daemons. Its main limitation is that check plugins must be obtained separately or created.

Facts from Shinken's own pages

Architecture
Its architecture separates work across role-specific daemons, and additional daemons can be installed on other servers for load balancing. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Availability
The project describes high availability through spare daemons. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Business rules
Shinken supports business rules such as notifying when three of five servers are down. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Configuration imports
Documented configuration import sources include GLPI, Amazon EC2, MySQL, MongoDB, and Canonical Landscape. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Founded
2009 · shinken-monitoring.org, 28 Sept 2026
High availability
The documentation says Shinken daemons can have spare instances for high availability. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Installation
The documentation describes installation from PyPI with pip or from a source tarball on GNU/Linux and Unix, and manual setup.py installation on Windows. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Integrations
Documented data and interface integrations include Graphite, InfluxDB, MySQL, Oracle, WebUI, Thruk, Nagvis, and PNP4Nagios. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
License
Shinken is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Monitoring coverage
Documented plugin use cases include Unix/Linux and Windows servers, network devices, web and mail services, databases, and applications. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Monitoring packs
Shinken packs provide prebuilt check commands, host and service templates, discovery rules, and hooks for deployment and updates. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Nagios compatibility
Shinken supports the Nagios configuration standard and plugins, allowing existing Nagios configurations to be reused. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Notable limit
Check plugins are not distributed with Shinken and must be obtained separately or created by the user. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Platform support
The project README says Shinken works on operating systems and architectures that support Python, including Windows, GNU/Linux, and FreeBSD. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Product
Shinken is an open-source, Python-based monitoring framework designed to scale to large environments. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Project history
The project documentation says Shinken was created in 2009 and its first release was on December 1, 2009. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Protocols
Its integrated data-acquisition modules support NRPE and SNMP, while plugins can use protocols including WMI, SSH, TCP, UDP, ICMP, and LDAP. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Purpose
It monitors hosts and network services and uses check-plugin results to determine their status and performance data. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Scalability
The project describes adding daemons on other servers to distribute work through load balancing. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Security
The manual has a Security Considerations section, but the opened overview does not state a security certification or compliance claim. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026
Support
The project directs users to its GitHub issue list to report bugs and asks them to include reproduction steps, software version, and operating system version. · github.com, 11 Oct 2026
Who it is for
The project describes Shinken as a flexible monitoring framework for large environments and says realms can monitor independent environments or customers. · shinken.readthedocs.io, 11 Oct 2026

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