# Understanding Monitors in MaxScale

In MariaDB MaxScale, monitors perform the following tasks:

* Deciding whether a server is up or down.
* Deciding whether a server is the primary server or a replica server.
* Performing automatic failover when the primary server fails (for certain kinds of deployments).

## Monitors Supported by MaxScale

MaxScale supports different monitors for different kinds of deployments:

| Deployment Type                                                                                                                    | Monitor                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [MariaDB Replication](https://app.gitbook.com/s/SsmexDFPv2xG2OTyO5yV/ha-and-performance/standard-replication)                      | [MariaDB Monitor (mariadbmon)](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/maxscale-archive/archive/mariadb-maxscale-21-06/mariadb-maxscale-2106-maxscale-21-06-monitors/maxscale-mariadb-monitor-usage/maxscale-mariadb-monitor-usage-mariadb-monitor/understanding-maxscales-mariadb-monitor) |
| [Galera Cluster](https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/docs-server/blob/test/en/mariadb-galera-cluster-quickstart/README.md)      | [Galera Monitor (galeramon)](https://mariadb.com/docs/maxscale/maxscale-archive/archive/mariadb-maxscale-21-06/mariadb-maxscale-2106-maxscale-21-06-monitors/maxscale-mariadb-monitor-usage-galera-monitor#understanding-maxscales-galera-monitor)                                    |
| [Multi-Node Enterprise ColumnStore](https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/docs-server/blob/test/en/mariadb-columnstore/README.md) | MariaDB Monitor (mariadbmon)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ColumnStore 1.2                                                                                                                    | ColumnStore Monitor (csmon)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| Xpand                                                                                                                              | [Xpand Monitor (xpandmon)](https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/docs-server/blob/test/en/mariadb-maxscale-2208-xpand-monitor/README.md)                                                                                                                                             |
| Amazon Aurora                                                                                                                      | Aurora Monitor (auroramon)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |

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