OpsView vs Prometheus: What are the differences?

Introduction

This markdown code provides a comparison between OpsView and Prometheus, highlighting the key differences between the two monitoring tools.

1. Architecture: OpsView is a centralized, agent-based monitoring system that uses SNMP to collect data from devices. It offers a hierarchical architecture with a master server and distributed pollers. Prometheus, on the other hand, is a decentralized, agentless monitoring system that uses pull-based scraping to collect data from exporters. It follows a federated architecture with independent Prometheus servers.

2. Data Collection: OpsView relies on SNMP for data collection and requires SNMP agents to be installed on the monitored devices. It mainly collects performance data such as CPU, memory, and network usage. Prometheus, on the other hand, supports various data collection methods including exporters, which act as intermediaries to scrape and expose metrics. It can collect metrics related to different systems, applications, and services.

3. Data Storage: OpsView stores collected data in a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. It offers long-term retention by archiving data into separate tables or databases. Prometheus, in contrast, has its own time-series database built-in. It stores all collected metrics locally and uses a compressed, replicated, and distributed storage format. It supports efficient querying and retention of data.

4. Alerting and Notification: OpsView provides built-in alerting and notification mechanisms. It supports threshold-based alerting, where alerts are triggered based on predefined conditions. Notifications can be sent via various channels such as email, SMS, or integrations with third-party tools. Prometheus also offers alerting capabilities but relies on its Alertmanager component for defining and managing alerts. It supports flexible rules and integrations for sending notifications.

5. Service Discovery: OpsView relies on manual configuration for adding and monitoring devices. It requires the addition of hosts and services through its web interface or configuration files. Prometheus, on the other hand, provides dynamic service discovery capabilities. It can automatically discover and monitor new targets based on predefined discovery mechanisms such as DNS, Kubernetes, or file-based discovery.

6. Community and Ecosystem: OpsView is a commercial tool that offers professional support and enterprise features. It has a dedicated community but a smaller ecosystem compared to Prometheus. Prometheus is open-source and has a strong community and extensive ecosystem. It has a wide range of integrations, exporters, and plugins developed by the community, making it more flexible and extensible.

In Summary, OpsView and Prometheus differ in their architecture, data collection methods, data storage, alerting, service discovery capabilities, and community/ecosystem size.