Huzzar! A Truly Free Network Management Information System Exists

NMIS (Network Management Information System) is open source, it’s free, and it’s powerful enough to handle the majority of day-to-day network management tasks for most organizations. That’s a fact.

That means you can get real visibility and control without a commercial price tag. And when the time comes that you need more—things like compliance auditing, advanced visualization, or automation—you don’t have to start over. Plug our modules directly into NMIS, so you can build on what you already have.

That’s kind of the philosophy behind NMIS: give you a strong, capable foundation from day one, it’s basic but powerful and when set up correctly can truly be the workhorse to help you tame the network.

More Than Enough for Most Organizations

Across thousands of deployments, NMIS9 consistently covers more than 80% of what most organizations need. Out of the box, you’ll find performance monitoring, fault management, configuration visibility, and reporting that stack up against many commercial platforms.

For a lot of teams, NMIS alone is more than enough. And because it’s open source, there are no license restrictions, hidden costs, or artificial limits on scaling. Monitor as much as you need, on your terms.

Built to Work With Any Device

Networks aren’t uniform. And in today’s networks, that we see that can’t be any truer. A kaleidoscope of routers, switches, firewalls, servers, wireless controllers, cloud(s) platforms, and more. NMIS is designed to work across that diversity.

Its adaptable data model and extensive device library mean it can talk to just about anything on your network—regardless of vendor. Instead of juggling multiple tools, NMIS gives you one central platform that sees the whole picture.

Real Data, Real Insight

Knowing whether a device is up or down is the bare minimum. NMIS goes deeper, pulling in detailed metrics and turning them into insights you can act on.

With configurable thresholds and trend analysis, NMIS helps you identify issues early, optimize performance, and avoid outages. It’s the kind of visibility that makes network operations easier and decision-making sharper.

Growing With You

We maintain NMIS open source for the global networking community. We keep it updated, add support for new devices, and help organizations get the most out of their deployments.

And when you need more, our modules are ready to extend NMIS even further. Each one integrates directly into your NMIS environment:

• opEvents – powerful event and alert management to streamline troubleshooting and response.

• opConfig – configuration monitoring and compliance, helping you stay on top of changes across your network.

• opCharts – rich data visualization and custom dashboards, making complex information easy to understand and act on.

Together, these modules bring enterprise-grade capabilities while letting you keep NMIS as the foundation. You only add what you need, when you need it—without disrupting what’s already working.

Why Free Matters

In a market crowded with expensive solutions, NMIS proves that free doesn’t mean limited. It means accessible, adaptable, and supported by a community—and by us at FirstWave.

A truly free Network Management Information System exists. And it’s ready to run on your network today.