On the remote host (client):
nrpe.cfg:
#############################################################################
Sample NRPE Config File
Last Modified: 03-05-2003
NOTES:
This is a sample configuration file for the NRPE daemon. It needs to be
located on the remote host that is running the NRPE daemon, not the host
from which the check_nrpe client is being executed.
#############################################################################
PORT NUMBER
Port number we should wait for connections on.
NOTE: This must be a non-priviledged port (i.e. > 1024).
NOTE: This option is ignored if NRPE is running under either inetd or xinetd
server_port=5050
SERVER ADDRESS
Address that nrpe should bind to in case there are more than one interface
and you do not want nrpe to bind on all interfaces.
NOTE: This option is ignored if NRPE is running under either inetd or xinetd
#server_address=192.168.1.1
ALLOWED HOST ADDRESSES
This is a comma-delimited list of IP address of hosts that are allowed
to talk to the NRPE daemon.
NOTE: The daemon only does rudimentary checking of the client’s IP
address. I would highly recommend adding entries in your
/etc/hosts.allow file to allow only the specified host to connect
to the port you are running this daemon on.
NOTE: This option is ignored if NRPE is running under either inetd or xinetd
allowed_hosts=nagios_ip
NRPE USER
This determines the effective user that the NRPE daemon should run as.
You can either supply a username or a UID.
NOTE: This option is ignored if NRPE is running under either inetd or xinetd
nrpe_user=nagios
NRPE GROUP
This determines the effective group that the NRPE daemon should run as.
You can either supply a group name or a GID.
NOTE: This option is ignored if NRPE is running under either inetd or xinetd
nrpe_group=nagios
COMMAND ARGUMENT PROCESSING
This option determines whether or not the NRPE daemon will allow clients
to specify arguments to commands that are executed. This option only works
if the daemon was configured with the --enable-command-args configure script
option.
*** ENABLING THIS OPTION IS A SECURITY RISK! ***
Read the SECURITY file for information on some of the security implications
of enabling this variable.
Values: 0=do not allow arguments, 1=allow command arguments
dont_blame_nrpe=0
DEBUGGING OPTION
This option determines whether or not debugging messages are logged to the
syslog facility.
Values: 0=debugging off, 1=debugging on
debug=0
COMMAND TIMEOUT
This specifies the maximum number of seconds that the NRPE daemon will
allow plugins to finish executing before killing them off.
command_timeout=60
INCLUDE CONFIG FILE
This directive allows you to include definitions from an external config file.
#include=<somefile.cfg>
INCLUDE CONFIG DIRECTORY
This directive allows you to include definitions from config files (with a
.cfg extension) in one or more directories (with recursion).
#include_dir=
#include_dir=
COMMAND DEFINITIONS
Command definitions that this daemon will run. Definitions
are in the following format:
command<command_name>]=<command_line>
When the daemon receives a request to return the results of <command_name>
it will execute the command specified by the <command_line> argument.
Unlike Nagios, the command line cannot contain macros - it must be
typed exactly as it should be executed.
Note: Any plugins that are used in the command lines must reside
on the machine that this daemon is running on! The examples below
assume that you have plugins installed in a /usr/local/nagios/libexec
directory. Also note that you will have to modify the definitions below
to match the argument format the plugins expect. Remember, these are
examples only!
The following examples use hardcoded command arguments…
command{check_swap]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_swap -w 75 -c 90
command[check_mem]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_mem -w 75 -c 90
command[check_users]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_users -w 5 -c 10
command[check_load]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_load -w 15,10,5 -c 30,25,20
command[check_disk1]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_disk -w 20 -c 10 -p /
command[check_disk2]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_disk -w 20 -c 10 -p /dev/hdb1
command[check_zombie_procs]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -w 5 -c 10 -s Z
command[check_total_procs]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -w 150 -c 200
The following examples allow user-supplied arguments and can
only be used if the NRPE daemon was compiled with support for
command arguments AND the dont_blame_nrpe directive in this
config file is set to ‘1’…
#command[check_users]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_users -w $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$
#command[check_load]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_load -w $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$
#command[check_disk]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_disk -w $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$ -p $ARG3$
#command[check_procs]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -w $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$ -s $ARG3$
On my Nagios server:
Here I define the NRPE check command in checkcommands.cfg:
check_nrpe
define command{
command_name check_nrpe
command_line /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_nrpe -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -p $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$
}
and in services.cfg:
define service{
name nrpe-service
is_volatile 0
active_checks_enabled 1
passive_checks_enabled 1
parallelize_check 1
obsess_over_service 1
check_freshness 0
notifications_enabled 1
event_handler_enabled 1
flap_detection_enabled 1
failure_prediction_enabled 1
process_perf_data 1
retain_status_information 1
retain_nonstatus_information 1
register 0
check_period 24x7
contact_groups admins
notification_period 24x7
}
define service{
use nrpe-service
name nrpe-ram
service_description RAM Usage
check_command check_nrpe!5050!check_mem
normal_check_interval 10
retry_check_interval 1
register 0
notification_interval 15
max_check_attempts 2
notification_options u,c,r
}
define service{
use nrpe-service
name nrpe-swap
service_description SWAP Space
check_command check_nrpe!5050!check_swap
normal_check_interval 10
retry_check_interval 1
register 0
notification_interval 15
max_check_attempts 2
notification_options u,c,r
}
define service{
use nrpe-service
name nrpe-disk
check_command check_nrpe!5050!check_disk1
service_description Disk Space
register 0
normal_check_interval 60
retry_check_interval 1
notification_interval 180
max_check_attempts 3
notification_options w,u,c,r
}
define service{
use nrpe-service
name nrpe-cpu
check_command check_nrpe!5050!check_load
service_description CPU Load
register 0
normal_check_interval 5
retry_check_interval 1
notification_interval 15
max_check_attempts 2
notification_options u,c,r
}
define service{
use nrpe-swap
host_name wmp-04
}
define service{
use nrpe-disk
host_name wmp-04
}
define service{
use nrpe-ram
host_name wmp-04
}
define service{
use nrpe-cpu
host_name wmp-04
}
So I basically define a template in my services.cfg file for all my NRPE checks, and then adding services to be checked works wonderfully (as long as the port NRPE is listening on stays constant).
This is a pretty basic setup. I’m not using xinetd or arguments or anything like that, but it works for me…
Note that all the plugins I reference in nrpe.cfg have been installed there on the remote host.
Hope it helps.