4 Free Must Have Android Apps for Sysadmins

System Administrators/Engineers have a lot of responsibilities. The top priority is uptime. There are a number of tools we rely on that help us stay on top of our networks health but we can’t always have a laptop/netbook strapped to our chest. Now these days we can do a lot of things on our smartphones. Here are 4 Android Apps I use daily to make sure I am covered.

Nagroid aka Nagios for Android

Nagroid is an unofficial nagios client for android devices. Sure you can get emails but this wonderful app gives you notifications. At the moment there is only basic viewing support implemented and the developer has said future versions will improve. The Problems screen shows all problems reported by nagios (depending on the “Unhandled Only” option). All hosts with problems and hosts where at least one services has a problem are listed.

ConnectBot - An SSH Client for Android

ConnectBot is a Secure Shell client for the Android platform. Its ultimate goal is to create a secure connection through which you can use a shell on a remote machine and transfer files back and forth to your phone. I use this to access my tmux session so I can check what’s going on in irssi (IRC).

Take and/or Read your Evernotes

Evernote for Android allows you to create text notes, snap photos, and record audio. In addition, you can easily attached files to your notes. Free subscribers can add PDFs, text, audio, or image files. Premium subscribers can attach any file they like, as long as the total note size is under 25MB. When creating your notes, Evernote for Android lets you specify titles, tags, and destination notebooks. Since I store all of my Network Documentation in Evernote, you can imagine how useful this app can be.

Maglight Replacement

I hate carrying around a mini MagLight so I rely on this simple application that lets me control the LED Light on my Motorola DROID or Milestone. It includes a 15 min auto time limit to prevent accidental battery drain. Please note, application will only function on the Motorola DROID/MILESTONE. If you don’t have a Droid, fear not there are many other flash light type apps in the Android Market.