Nagios + Windows

Nagios
1

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had a guide or knew the steps involved in setting up Nagios to monitor a Windows Server.

I cant seem to find much in the way of a guide but perhaps I just cant make sense of what is infront of me. I read alot in the forums about Nrpe and NSCA but im not sure what they actually do, even after reading up on them (Im very green)

nrpe - Daemon and plugin for executing plugins on remote hosts
nsca - Daemon and client program for sending passive check results across the network

Is this what i need to install / Configure? Or what other tools / addins do people recommend? Thanks

2

Look around nagiosexchange.org/
There are clients/daemons that you can use to check windows.

3

I use nc_net, since it’s a passive check and uses nsca. Most people use active solutions whish is a bad thing to do.

4

Thanks Jakkedup, ive been through that link but its all very new and I still cant make sense of it. I went out and got a book at the weekend on Nagios so Im hoping that will explain alot to me and generally improve my base knowledge.

Thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

5

nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/2_0/
Reading the above url would help alot also.

6

Monitoring windows can be a real pain. I plan on writing a nice HOWTO on this subject RSN.

For now let me state your options (keywords you can enter into Google for example):

  • SNMP
  • NSClient
  • NRPEnt
  • NSClient++

NRPEnt is a daemon that works with the check_nrpe script and configures kind of like the normal NRPE daemon. NSClient uses all kinds of WinNT internal counters.

NSClient++ is a combination of NRPEnt+NSClient.

Using SNMP is the most versatile, but also -very- difficult for the beginner.

7

Excellent Cailin_Coilleac I certainly will look forward to reading it.

8

You do realize that RSN is actually a rather sarcastic term? :slight_smile:

RSN = Real Soon Now = “I’ll believe it when I see it”… So I -do- plan on doing it, but therre’s no guarantee about when it comes up.

9

Ahhh ok :slight_smile: Ill figure it all out soon enough

10

Or you could use nc_net, like I first posted. That would make your nagios check a passive solution, which is a 800% better solution than ANY active solution like NS client.

11

I’ll put it up on my list… thanks :slight_smile:

12

This is actually what I am currently looking at along with another program called Oreon which I hope will make the front end alot easier to configure.