Re: [Nagios-users] Which tool is best for me: Nagios, OpenNMS, or something else?

[Lars Stavholm]

Mike Hamrick wrote:
 I can't speak for OpenNMS, but I think for Nagios the answer for a lot
 of your questions is going to be:
 
 There isn't a way of doing this with the standard nagios plugin
 package, but someone has probably written a plugin that does this,
 check the Nagios Exchange site.
 
 % Confirm each machine is up/pingable/reachable [obviously!]
 
 Obviously.
 
 % nmap each machine to make sure correct ports (varies by machine) and
 no others are open
 
 This isn't a standard nagios plugin, however somebody has a plugin that
 does this, a quick google search found:
 
 http://ubermonkey.wordpress.com/2006/09/28/nagios-nmap-plugin/
 
 % Not all tests all the time: some tests should run less frequently
 (reduce the load);
 
 You can define the check_interval on a service by service basis.
 
 % For machines running httpd, download several pages, diff to last
 copies of these pages, report big differences...
 
 I'm guessing you'll have to code this plugin yourself in nagios.
 
 % For machines running sendmail, send a test email to one of the other
 machines running sendmail, which then confirms receipt; alert if not
 received. Also do other mail routing/delivery tests.
 
 This is becomming a frequently asked question on this list.  Various
 people have written plugins to do this, but it's been my experience
 that most people who need this end up writing their own.
 
 % For machines running popd/imapd, simulate login to confirm
 authentication is working (popd/imapd auth isn't always local for us)
 
 See default answer.  A quick google search found this page, which
 confirms authentication on pop/imap.
 
 http://www.jhweiss.de/software/nagios.html
 
 % Monitor files in /etc (eg, passwd, shadow, crontab) for changes.
 
 You could do this with tripwire and then write a plugin that reads
 the snmp trap, or trap logfile.

Or, you could use check_rootkit plugin from
http://nagiosexchange.org and rkhunter from
http://www.rootkit.nl (comes preinstalled on
SuSE Linux 10.x).
/Lars

 % Ideally, the something bad has happened reporting can be
 configured-- it may be OK for mailq -v to be large for 10-15
 minutes, but not for 30 minutes (for example).
 
 You can do this with nagios.  You can check every five minutes and
 not go to a hard failure state until the check has failed six times.
 
 Mike


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[Nagios-users] Unnecessary host_name and for type loops/multiple check_commands?

[Kelly Jones]

Thanks to everyone who suggested nagios-- I have now started using
it... so here come the newbie questions...

I'm paranoid that someone will attack my DNS providers, so I want to
confirm my hostnames look up correctly. I wrote this command:

; this is different from check_dns
define command {
 command_name confirm_dns
 command_line check_dns $ARG1$ -s 63.226.12.96 -a $ARG2$
}

which confirms that a given hostname resolves to a given address using
the public DNS server 63.226.12.96.

Here's one service that checks this:

define service {
 use service-defaults ; just a bunch of trivial defaults
 service_description DNS-HOST1
 host_name localhost
 check_command confirm_dns!host1.mycompany.com!1.2.3.4
}

My questions:

% Is host_name localhost really necessary here? There's no reference
to $HOSTADDRESS$ anywhere in confirm_dns, but if I don't define
host_name, nagios complains.

% I want to check about 20 hostnames.

 % Any shortcut to writing 20 6-line service definitions?
 % Can I use a for loop or something?
 % Use multiple check_command's in a single service (doesn't seem to to work)?

Of course, I can write a Perl one-liner or something to populate the
config file, but that seems kludgey. Having looping behavior in the
config file directly would be really useful for other reasons too.

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to understand and assimilate technology. We feel that resistance to
new ideas and technology is unwise and ultimately futile.

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