Discussion:
[Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Steve Huff
2007-08-13 19:51:08 UTC
Permalink
Hello folks!

I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon installation;
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the wrong way.

Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?

Essentially, I'd like to do as little per-host configuration as
possible; I'd like to be able to define service templates for each of
the services I'll need to monitor, then arrange hosts into groups
such that all the machines in each group have a certain service
template assigned to them (e.g. all the web servers get a web_server
template, which tells Nagios to monitor HTTP and HTTPS service; when
we bring a new web server into production, I create a host entry for
the new web server which says that it's part of the web_server group,
and Nagios starts monitoring HTTP and HTTPS service on it).

I specifically want to avoid the situation where every time we bring
a new machine online, I have to define all the services on it
individually, then go through all the various host group and service
group definitions and add entries to them one by one.

Is this a reasonable scheme, or should I be approaching this problem
a different way?

thanks,
-Steve

P.S. I have tried a couple of web-based Nagios configurators (Fruity,
NagiosQL); in each case I end up with invalid Nagios configurations,
which again leads me to suspect that I'm trying to set up Nagios in a
configuration for which it was not designed.
--
Steve Huff - Systems Administrator, Harvard-MIT Data Center -
***@hmdc.harvard.edu
Jim Avery
2007-08-13 20:30:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon installation;
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the wrong way.
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I would give
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page just at the
moment.

An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form, printed form or
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.

Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather than trying to
do everything at once.

hth,

Jim
Russell Adams
2007-08-14 00:16:59 UTC
Permalink
My $0.02:

Use a text editor and version control.

Minimize and automate as much as practical.

Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.

Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).

Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.

Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng & Logmuncher)
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.

Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .

Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy caused
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.

Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon installation;
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the wrong way.
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I would give
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page just at the
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form, printed form or
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather than trying to
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
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Syd Alsobrook
2007-08-13 20:14:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Steve Huff
Essentially, I'd like to do as little per-host configuration as
possible;
I use templates only for the base config options such as check frequency and
such. To minimize service definition duplication I use service and host
groups. One example is that I have a host group for any debian servers and in
the config I assign all the services that should be a part of what I call the
base os including a combonation of snmp and nrpe services to that host group.
Now when I stand up a new debian server I add it to the debian host group and
it automatically get 8 services assigned to it.

As for the web based config tools. I have never found one that worked the way
I like to config Nagios and I have been doing it for almost 10 years.

Hope this helps,
Syd
--
Syd Alsobrook
IT Tag Team, Inc.
518-598-6025
http://www.ittagteam.com
Matthew Joyce
2007-08-13 23:57:13 UTC
Permalink
I think you do have the right idea except I wouldn't define templates
for each service, instead only for distinct service types.

Define Hosts
Assign Host to Hostgroups
Define Services based on Service Templates + tweaks.
Assign Services to Hostgroups
Assign Services to Servicegroups

There may always be specific scenarios where certain services are only
for specific hosts.
You have to decide whether to define a host group for a single host, I
don't.

I'm no keen on the web based config interfaces, I was scared off by the
problems I read in the forums, and the bugs in the bug trackers. I'm
happy carving stuff from ascii.
Though, if there was a rock solid offering I might try it.

I have written a couple of scripts to help fabricate service
dependencies, useful for NRPE and SNMP dependant checks.

Also, consider using Bazaar (http://bazaar-vcs.org/) for config file
version control.
It's a breeze to setup, requires python.
After any significant changes I just run `bzr commit -m 'tweaked foo'`
and a new revision is created.


Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Steve Huff
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 5:51 AM
Subject: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation; however, setting up Nagios has been more
difficult than I had expected, which makes me wonder if I'm
going about it the wrong way.
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
Essentially, I'd like to do as little per-host configuration
as possible; I'd like to be able to define service templates
for each of the services I'll need to monitor, then arrange
hosts into groups such that all the machines in each group
have a certain service template assigned to them (e.g. all
the web servers get a web_server template, which tells Nagios
to monitor HTTP and HTTPS service; when we bring a new web
server into production, I create a host entry for the new web
server which says that it's part of the web_server group, and
Nagios starts monitoring HTTP and HTTPS service on it).
I specifically want to avoid the situation where every time
we bring a new machine online, I have to define all the
services on it individually, then go through all the various
host group and service group definitions and add entries to
them one by one.
Is this a reasonable scheme, or should I be approaching this
problem a different way?
thanks,
-Steve
P.S. I have tried a couple of web-based Nagios configurators
(Fruity, NagiosQL); in each case I end up with invalid Nagios
configurations, which again leads me to suspect that I'm
trying to set up Nagios in a configuration for which it was
not designed.
--
Steve Huff - Systems Administrator, Harvard-MIT Data Center -
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
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Matthew Joyce
2007-08-14 04:08:01 UTC
Permalink
Good advice.


I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post incident
forensics.

I'd also add :
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing what is going
on and a notification blizzard.

I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems obvious but
it's easy to start monitoring because you can.

Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng & Logmuncher)
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy caused
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Jim Avery
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Post by Jim Avery
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Post by Jim Avery
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Mike Hawley
2007-08-14 04:26:51 UTC
Permalink
Has anyone tried using the Oreon installation for Nagios?

I have installed it and I have found it to be very difficult to add devices
for monitoring... It also does not help that most of the support
pages/documents are in French!!!

I have reverted back to the tried and true method of .cfg files.


Mike Hawley

-----Original Message-----
From: nagios-users-***@lists.sourceforge.net
[mailto:nagios-users-***@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Matthew
Joyce
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:08 PM
To: nagios-***@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?

Good advice.


I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post incident
forensics.

I'd also add :
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing what is going on
and a notification blizzard.

I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems obvious but it's
easy to start monitoring because you can.

Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng & Logmuncher)
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy caused
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Jim Avery
--- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX
and a browser.
Post by Jim Avery
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/
_______________________________________________
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::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and
OS when reporting any issue.
Post by Jim Avery
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Russell Adams
2007-08-15 22:07:36 UTC
Permalink
We should start a list of these on the Wiki (we do have a wiki now,
right?).

I'd be curious to see what feedback is received and what other ideas
are proposed.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Good advice.
I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post incident
forensics.
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing what is going
on and a notification blizzard.
I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems obvious but
it's easy to start monitoring because you can.
Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng & Logmuncher)
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy caused
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Jim Avery
--- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX
and a browser.
Post by Jim Avery
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/
_______________________________________________
Nagios-users mailing list
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::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and
OS when reporting any issue.
Post by Jim Avery
::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent
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_______________________________________________
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Russell Adams
2007-08-16 02:48:59 UTC
Permalink
So, there's a wiki on NagiosExchange, and NagiosCommunity.

Does someone have a preference? Which is more popular?

I'd be happy to start a topic.
Post by Russell Adams
We should start a list of these on the Wiki (we do have a wiki now,
right?).
I'd be curious to see what feedback is received and what other ideas
are proposed.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Good advice.
I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post incident
forensics.
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing what is going
on and a notification blizzard.
I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems obvious but
it's easy to start monitoring because you can.
Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng & Logmuncher)
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy caused
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier read
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be to
start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Jim Avery
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Anthony Montibello
2007-08-16 06:15:47 UTC
Permalink
Personally, I would like to see the NagiosCommunity wiki become more
populated.

I would assume it would be moderated by at least Ethan which would assist
keeping high integrety.
and he has been keeping the Blog updated with some interesting articals and
events.

I am hoping to find some time in the next few weeks to put together some
overview documentation on NC_net and Windows monitoring to contribute. I
think it would be nice if any SNMP experts could contribute something to
help SNMP beginers get there feet wet.

tony (author of NC_Net)
Post by Russell Adams
So, there's a wiki on NagiosExchange, and NagiosCommunity.
Does someone have a preference? Which is more popular?
I'd be happy to start a topic.
Post by Russell Adams
We should start a list of these on the Wiki (we do have a wiki now,
right?).
I'd be curious to see what feedback is received and what other ideas
are proposed.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Good advice.
I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post
incident
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
forensics.
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing what is going
on and a notification blizzard.
I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems obvious but
it's easy to start monitoring because you can.
Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck when systems
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng &
Logmuncher)
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine as needed.
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This saves you from
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you should only use
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to confine SNMP to
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully. Apathy
caused
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation you need to
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth published by
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier
read
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should be able to
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation would be
to
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
--- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX
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Post by Jim Avery
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_______________________________________________
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::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and
OS when reporting any issue.
Post by Jim Avery
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Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
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browser.
Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/
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Post by Russell Adams
Post by Matthew Joyce
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Post by Russell Adams
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Matthew Joyce
2007-08-16 01:51:49 UTC
Permalink
I agree and would be happy to contribute.
Also, v3 is going to bring some changes regarding config options and
strategies, having some best practices available will be useful for the
transition.

I'm not saying BPs will necessarily change, but ways to achieve them
might.
I for one hope service dependencies will become less long winded and
more flexible. (grumble)


Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute Australia for
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Of Russell Adams
Sent: Thursday, 16 August 2007 8:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
We should start a list of these on the Wiki (we do have a
wiki now, right?).
I'd be curious to see what feedback is received and what
other ideas are proposed.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Good advice.
I'm happy to say we can tick most of those boxes.
For logs I've been using the free Splunk, quite handy for post
incident forensics.
Pay attention to host parents and service dependencies.
Getting them right can be the difference between knowing
what is going
Post by Matthew Joyce
on and a notification blizzard.
I'd also propose only monitoring what you need to, seems
obvious but
Post by Matthew Joyce
it's easy to start monitoring because you can.
Matthew Joyce
02 9382 0051 | IT Manager | Children's Cancer Institute
Australia for
Post by Matthew Joyce
Medical Research
-----Original Message-----
Russell Adams
Sent: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] Nagios best practices?
Use a text editor and version control.
Minimize and automate as much as practical.
Try out NACE. Make a template, setup a query to find systems to
apply it to. Don't be the administrative bottleneck
when systems
Post by Matthew Joyce
need to be added, or they won't be. Set standards and let
automation do the work for you.
Make sure you have two methods for notification. Email is good,
backup IXO/TAP/SMS via modem on POTS is better (Sendpage).
Have a dedicated UPS on your Nagios system. Power's out,
notifications continue.
Use a trending (Torrus) and log monitoring (Syslog-ng
& Logmuncher)
Post by Matthew Joyce
tool in conjunction with Nagios to ensure all your bases are
covered. Tie them in to use Nagios notification engine
as needed.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Consider using SNMP for common checks on platforms with decent
snmpd's (Linux, Windows 2000+, AIX 5.3, etc). This
saves you from
Post by Matthew Joyce
deploying NRPE everywhere, minimizing the client side software.
(This'll start a flame war, so I'll point out you
should only use
Post by Matthew Joyce
SNMP on an internal network and use host ACL's to
confine SNMP to
Post by Matthew Joyce
read only queries from the Nagios server and one alternate for
upgrades. ) Check out Patrick Proy's snmp plugins,
http://nagios.manubulon.com/ .
Choose what you monitor and how you notify carefully.
Apathy caused
Post by Matthew Joyce
by too many off hours notifications is a real problem when that
important message goes out. I'd suggest email for all
notifications, but SMS only for critical services in a critical
state.
Good luck!
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Hello folks!
I'd like to roll out Nagios to replace our aging Mon
installation;
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
however, setting up Nagios has been more difficult than I had
expected, which makes me wonder if I'm going about it the
wrong way.
Post by Jim Avery
Post by Steve Huff
Can you recommend a Nagios best practices document or howto?
The relevant page in the official Nagios documentation
you need to
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
look for is "Time-Saving Tricks For Object Definitions". I
would give
Post by Jim Avery
you the url, but for some reason I can't get to that page
just at the
Post by Jim Avery
moment.
An excellent introduction to Nagios which goes through how to
configure it is the book 'Nagios' by Wolfgang Barth
published by
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
NoStarch Press. You can buy it online in .pdf form,
printed form or
Post by Jim Avery
both. It's getting slightly dated now, but IMO it's an easier
read than some of the alternatives if you're just starting out.
Using hostgroups and templates judiciously you should
be able to
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
achieve what you want pretty easily. My recommendation
would be
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
to start with a simple config and expand from there rather
than trying to
Post by Jim Avery
do everything at once.
hth,
Jim
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Matthew Joyce
--
Post by Jim Avery
--- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX
and a browser.
Post by Jim Avery
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >>
http://get.splunk.com/
Post by Matthew Joyce
Post by Jim Avery
_______________________________________________
Nagios-users mailing list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-users
::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and
OS when reporting any issue.
Post by Jim Avery
::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent
to /dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------------
PGP Key ID: 0x1160DCB3 http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/
Fingerprint: 1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F 66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Matthew Joyce
--- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX
and a browser.
Post by Matthew Joyce
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/
_______________________________________________
Nagios-users mailing list
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::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and
OS when reporting any issue.
Post by Matthew Joyce
::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent
to /dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------------
PGP Key ID: 0x1160DCB3 http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/
Fingerprint: 1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F 66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and
a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >>
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