Customer Story
SVA
Leading Systems Integrator SVA Leverages Icinga to Deliver Robust Monitoring for Multi-Cloud Environments.
SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH, a leading German IT systems integrator, specializes in delivering innovative solutions that combine public and private cloud infrastructures. At the heart of their monitoring strategy lies Icinga, chosen for its scalability, automation capabilities, and flexibility.
Founded in 1997, SVA is one of Germany’s leading IT service providers, employing over 3,300 staff across 28 locations. SVA’s corporate goal is to combine high-quality IT products from leading manufacturers with SVA’s project expertise, service spectrum, and flexibility to develop optimal solutions for customers. SVA offers comprehensive IT solutions, including data center infrastructure, cloud computing, and enterprise monitoring. Their expertise spans managed services, data protection, and IT automation, delivering customized solutions to enterprises across industries.
The Challenge
We have around 100 zones now, and each one typically has a dedicated satellite.
Monitoring a Growing, Hybrid Environment
In 2020, SVA launched its Multi-Cloud Managed Service (MCMS) division to provide customers with fully managed services, including Azure Virtual Desktop, Backup-as-a-Service, Managed Kubernetes, Microsoft 365, and more.
SVA’s MCMS environment spans both private and public clouds, accommodating diverse customer needs. Each customer receives a dedicated infrastructure stack, including management servers, domain controllers, and customer-specific virtual machines like application servers or terminal servers. All of this infrastructure requires constant monitoring to meet stringent SLAs.
“We have around 100 zones now, and each one typically has a dedicated satellite,” explains Lasse Wackers, a systems engineer at SVA MCMS. “Altogether, we’re monitoring close to 2,300 hosts and about 50,000 checks. It’s the largest Icinga cluster we’ve built, and it keeps growing.”
The complexity of this hybrid environment presented unique challenges: handling overlapping IP address spaces across customer environments, ensuring smooth integration with existing tools, and maintaining high levels of automation to minimize manual effort.
The Solution
Why Icinga?
SVA evaluated several monitoring solutions. Ultimately, Icinga stood out for its open-source nature, strong API support, and modular architecture.
“Automation was non-negotiable for us,” says Wackers. “We needed a system that could integrate seamlessly with our existing tools like Ansible Automation Platform and Netbox. Icinga’s API made this incredibly easy. Plus, we liked its clean and simple interface.”
Another key factor was Icinga’s ability to work with satellites, allowing for distributed monitoring across SVA MCMS’s complex infrastructure. This architecture ensures that each customer’s environment is isolated and efficiently monitored.
We needed a system that could integrate seamlessly with our existing tools like Ansible Automation Platform and Netbox. Icinga’s API made this incredibly easy.
Implementation and Evolution
The initial implementation of Icinga at SVA MCMS went smoothly, thanks to the team’s experience with the tool. “I’d used Icinga in a previous company, so setting it up here was straightforward,” Wackers recalls. “The main challenge was automating the integration of satellites into the cluster, especially with overlapping IP ranges in customer environments. But once we solved that, everything fell into place.”
Over time, the team automated nearly every aspect of the monitoring setup. New customers are onboarded through a single form, which feeds into Ansible workflows that deploy the entire stack, including Icinga.
“Leveraging Icinga Director, we’ve built everything to be fully automated,” says Philip Baier, a systems specialist. “When a new customer comes on board, their environment is ready within hours, with all monitoring configured. It saves us so much time.”
Handling Growing Complexity
As SVA MCMS’s infrastructure grew, so did its reliance on Icinga’s flexibility. For example, the team faced challenges with dynamic instances, which frequently scale up and down based on customer demand. By integrating custom PowerShell scripts with Icinga’s API, they automated downtime handling to avoid unnecessary alerts.
“At one point, we wrote 30GB of debug logs per hour trying to track down an issue,” Wackers says. “It was a nightmare.” But with help from Carsten Köbke, Icinga partner CKC, the handling of zones was restructured and “the cluster has been rock solid ever since”, says Lasse Wackers.
When a new customer comes on board, their environment is ready within hours, with all monitoring configured.
Success
Customers only see what’s relevant to them. It’s simple, and it works.
Delivering Value to Customers
While the primary use case for Icinga is internal monitoring, SVA MCMS also offers customers access to tailored dashboards. “Our philosophy is: as much as necessary, as little as possible,” Philip Baier explains. “Customers only see what’s relevant to them—green or red statuses, nothing more. It’s simple, and it works.”
This simplicity extends to SLA reporting, a critical feature for SVA MCMS. Icinga generates monthly availability reports, which SVA MCMS uses to prove SLA compliance to its customers.
Icinga is incredibly streamlined. It’s easy to manage, and it scales effortlessly.
Looking Ahead
SVA MCMS continues to innovate with Icinga, for example integrating it with external secret vault to improve security around sensitive credentials. They’re also exploring Icinga’s Kubernetes module to enhance container monitoring, their new managed service offering.
“We want a single pane of glass for all our systems,” says Wackers. “Icinga is our central monitoring system. It alarms us when something’s wrong, and it’s flexible enough to adapt to our evolving needs.”
A Smooth Journey
Reflecting on their journey with Icinga, Philip Baier highlights its intuitive design and automation-friendly features. “Icinga is incredibly streamlined. It’s easy to manage, and it scales effortlessly. It just fits the way we work.”
For SVA MCMS, Icinga isn’t just a monitoring tool—it’s an integral part of their commitment to delivering reliable, cutting-edge managed services.
Outcomes
- Monitoring over 2,300 hosts and 50,000 checks across 100 zones with ease.
- Fully automated onboarding process for new customers, reducing setup time to hours.
- Tailored views for customers, focusing on simplicity and relevance.
- Reliable monitoring ensures SLA reporting accuracy and builds customer trust.
- Incorporation of external secret vault for secure credential management.
- Exploring Kubernetes monitoring with Icinga to support containerized workloads.
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