Hi I’m new to Nagios.
We recently setup Nagios to monitor our systems, and we were successful in getting it up and running using the online nagios 3.0 manual. Setup was straightforward, and we managed to add most of our critical servers. The last change I made was to add switch monitoring. However, now I can’t seem to restart nagios.
I verified the configuration settings using ‘/usr/local/nagios/bin/nagios -v /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg’
and it came up with 0 errors/warnings
However running ‘/etc/init.d/nagios restart’
gives me:
‘Running configuration check… CONFIG ERROR! Restart aborted. Check your nagios configuration’
I’ve tried commenting windows, printer and switch leaving localhost.cfg (which i’ve never touched), but it still has the same result. I can’t debug this since the verifier doesnt find anything wrong.
What can I do to troubleshoot?
[blockquote]##############################################################################
NAGIOS.CFG - Sample Main Config File for Nagios 3.0.2
Read the documentation for more information on this configuration
file. I’ve provided some comments here, but things may not be so
clear without further explanation.
Last Modified: 05-19-2008
##############################################################################
LOG FILE
This is the main log file where service and host events are logged
for historical purposes. This should be the first option specified
in the config file!!!
log_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/nagios.log
OBJECT CONFIGURATION FILE(S)
These are the object configuration files in which you define hosts,
host groups, contacts, contact groups, services, etc.
You can split your object definitions across several config files
if you wish (as shown below), or keep them all in a single config file.
You can specify individual object config files as shown below:
cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/commands.cfg
cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/contacts.cfg
cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/timeperiods.cfg
cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/templates.cfg
Definitions for monitoring the local (Linu:evil: host
cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/localhost.cfg
Definitions for monitoring a Windows machine
#cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/windows.cfg
Definitions for monitoring a router/switch
#cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/switch.cfg
Definitions for monitoring a network printer
#cfg_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/printer.cfg
You can also tell Nagios to process all config files (with a .cfg
extension) in a particular directory by using the cfg_dir
directive as shown below:
#cfg_dir=/usr/local/nagios/etc/servers
#cfg_dir=/usr/local/nagios/etc/printers
#cfg_dir=/usr/local/nagios/etc/switches
#cfg_dir=/usr/local/nagios/etc/routers
OBJECT CACHE FILE
This option determines where object definitions are cached when
Nagios starts/restarts. The CGIs read object definitions from
this cache file (rather than looking at the object config files
directly) in order to prevent inconsistencies that can occur
when the config files are modified after Nagios starts.
object_cache_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/objects.cache
PRE-CACHED OBJECT FILE
This options determines the location of the precached object file.
If you run Nagios with the -p command line option, it will preprocess
your object configuration file(s) and write the cached config to this
file. You can then start Nagios with the -u option to have it read
object definitions from this precached file, rather than the standard
object configuration files (see the cfg_file and cfg_dir options above).
Using a precached object file can speed up the time needed to (re)start
the Nagios process if you’ve got a large and/or complex configuration.
Read the documentation section on optimizing Nagios to find our more
about how this feature works.
precached_object_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/objects.precache
RESOURCE FILE
This is an optional resource file that contains $USERx$ macro
definitions. Multiple resource files can be specified by using
multiple resource_file definitions. The CGIs will not attempt to
read the contents of resource files, so information that is
considered to be sensitive (usernames, passwords, etc) can be
defined as macros in this file and restrictive permissions (600)
can be placed on this file.
resource_file=/usr/local/nagios/etc/resource.cfg
STATUS FILE
This is where the current status of all monitored services and
hosts is stored. Its contents are read and processed by the CGIs.
The contents of the status file are deleted every time Nagios
restarts.
status_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/status.dat
STATUS FILE UPDATE INTERVAL
This option determines the frequency (in seconds) that
Nagios will periodically dump program, host, and
service status data.
status_update_interval=10
NAGIOS USER
This determines the effective user that Nagios should run as.
You can either supply a username or a UID.
nagios_user=nagios
NAGIOS GROUP
This determines the effective group that Nagios should run as.
You can either supply a group name or a GID.
nagios_group=nagios
EXTERNAL COMMAND OPTION
This option allows you to specify whether or not Nagios should check
for external commands (in the command file defined below). By default
Nagios will not check for external commands, just to be on the
cautious side. If you want to be able to use the CGI command interface
you will have to enable this.
Values: 0 = disable commands, 1 = enable commands
check_external_commands=1
EXTERNAL COMMAND CHECK INTERVAL
This is the interval at which Nagios should check for external commands.
This value works of the interval_length you specify later. If you leave
that at its default value of 60 (seconds), a value of 1 here will cause
Nagios to check for external commands every minute. If you specify a
number followed by an “s” (i.e. 15s), this will be interpreted to mean
actual seconds rather than a multiple of the interval_length variable.
Note: In addition to reading the external command file at regularly
scheduled intervals, Nagios will also check for external commands after
event handlers are executed.
NOTE: Setting this value to -1 causes Nagios to check the external
command file as often as possible.
#command_check_interval=15s
command_check_interval=-1
EXTERNAL COMMAND FILE
This is the file that Nagios checks for external command requests.
It is also where the command CGI will write commands that are submitted
by users, so it must be writeable by the user that the web server
is running as (usually ‘nobody’). Permissions should be set at the
directory level instead of on the file, as the file is deleted every
time its contents are processed.
command_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/rw/nagios.cmd
EXTERNAL COMMAND BUFFER SLOTS
This settings is used to tweak the number of items or “slots” that
the Nagios daemon should allocate to the buffer that holds incoming
external commands before they are processed. As external commands
are processed by the daemon, they are removed from the buffer.
external_command_buffer_slots=4096
LOCK FILE
This is the lockfile that Nagios will use to store its PID number
in when it is running in daemon mode.
lock_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/nagios.lock
TEMP FILE
This is a temporary file that is used as scratch space when Nagios
updates the status log, cleans the comment file, etc. This file
is created, used, and deleted throughout the time that Nagios is
running.
temp_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/nagios.tmp
TEMP PATH
This is path where Nagios can create temp files for service and
host check results, etc.
temp_path=/tmp
EVENT BROKER OPTIONS
Controls what (if any) data gets sent to the event broker.
Values: 0 = Broker nothing
-1 = Broker everything
= See documentation
event_broker_options=-1
EVENT BROKER MODULE(S)
This directive is used to specify an event broker module that should
by loaded by Nagios at startup. Use multiple directives if you want
to load more than one module. Arguments that should be passed to
the module at startup are seperated from the module path by a space.
#!!!
WARNING !!! WARNING !!! WARNING !!! WARNING !!! WARNING !!! WARNING
#!!!
Do NOT overwrite modules while they are being used by Nagios or Nagios
will crash in a fiery display of SEGFAULT glory. This is a bug/limitation
either in dlopen(), the kernel, and/or the filesystem. And maybe Nagios…
The correct/safe way of updating a module is by using one of these methods:
1. Shutdown Nagios, replace the module file, restart Nagios
2. Delete the original module file, move the new module file into place, restart Nagios
Example:
broker_module= [moduleargs]
#broker_module=/somewhere/module1.o
#broker_module=/somewhere/module2.o arg1 arg2=3 debug=0
LOG ROTATION METHOD
This is the log rotation method that Nagios should use to rotate
the main log file. Values are as follows…
n = None - don’t rotate the log
h = Hourly rotation (top of the hour)
d = Daily rotation (midnight every day)
w = Weekly rotation (midnight on Saturday evening)
m = Monthly rotation (midnight last day of month)
log_rotation_method=d
LOG ARCHIVE PATH
This is the directory where archived (rotated) log files should be
placed (assuming you’ve chosen to do log rotation).
log_archive_path=/usr/local/nagios/var/archives
LOGGING OPTIONS
If you want messages logged to the syslog facility, as well as the
Nagios log file set this option to 1. If not, set it to 0.
use_syslog=1
NOTIFICATION LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want notifications to be logged, set this value to 0.
If notifications should be logged, set the value to 1.
log_notifications=1
SERVICE RETRY LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want service check retries to be logged, set this value
to 0. If retries should be logged, set the value to 1.
log_service_retries=1
HOST RETRY LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want host check retries to be logged, set this value to
0. If retries should be logged, set the value to 1.
log_host_retries=1
EVENT HANDLER LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want host and service event handlers to be logged, set
this value to 0. If event handlers should be logged, set the value
to 1.
log_event_handlers=1
INITIAL STATES LOGGING OPTION
If you want Nagios to log all initial host and service states to
the main log file (the first time the service or host is checked)
you can enable this option by setting this value to 1. If you
are not using an external application that does long term state
statistics reporting, you do not need to enable this option. In
this case, set the value to 0.
log_initial_states=0
EXTERNAL COMMANDS LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want Nagios to log external commands, set this value
to 0. If external commands should be logged, set this value to 1.
Note: This option does not include logging of passive service
checks - see the option below for controlling whether or not
passive checks are logged.
log_external_commands=1
PASSIVE CHECKS LOGGING OPTION
If you don’t want Nagios to log passive host and service checks, set
this value to 0. If passive checks should be logged, set
this value to 1.
log_passive_checks=1
GLOBAL HOST AND SERVICE EVENT HANDLERS
These options allow you to specify a host and service event handler
command that is to be run for every host or service state change.
The global event handler is executed immediately prior to the event
handler that you have optionally specified in each host or
service definition. The command argument is the short name of a
command definition that you define in your host configuration file.
Read the HTML docs for more information.
#global_host_event_handler=somecommand
#global_service_event_handler=somecommand
SERVICE INTER-CHECK DELAY METHOD
This is the method that Nagios should use when initially
“spreading out” service checks when it starts monitoring. The
default is to use smart delay calculation, which will try to
space all service checks out evenly to minimize CPU load.
Using the dumb setting will cause all checks to be scheduled
at the same time (with no delay between them)! This is not a
good thing for production, but is useful when testing the
parallelization functionality.
n = None - don’t use any delay between checks
d = Use a “dumb” delay of 1 second between checks
s = Use “smart” inter-check delay calculation
x.xx = Use an inter-check delay of x.xx seconds
service_inter_check_delay_method=s
MAXIMUM SERVICE CHECK SPREAD
This variable determines the timeframe (in minutes) from the
program start time that an initial check of all services should
be completed. Default is 30 minutes.
max_service_check_spread=30
SERVICE CHECK INTERLEAVE FACTOR
This variable determines how service checks are interleaved.
Interleaving the service checks allows for a more even
distribution of service checks and reduced load on remote
hosts. Setting this value to 1 is equivalent to how versions
of Nagios previous to 0.0.5 did service checks. Set this
value to s (smart) for automatic calculation of the interleave
factor unless you have a specific reason to change it.
s = Use “smart” interleave factor calculation
x = Use an interleave factor of x, where x is a
number greater than or equal to 1.
service_interleave_factor=s
HOST INTER-CHECK DELAY METHOD
This is the method that Nagios should use when initially
“spreading out” host checks when it starts monitoring. The
default is to use smart delay calculation, which will try to
space all host checks out evenly to minimize CPU load.
Using the dumb setting will cause all checks to be scheduled
at the same time (with no delay between them)!
n = None - don’t use any delay between checks
d = Use a “dumb” delay of 1 second between checks
s = Use “smart” inter-check delay calculation
x.xx = Use an inter-check delay of x.xx seconds
host_inter_check_delay_method=s
MAXIMUM HOST CHECK SPREAD
This variable determines the timeframe (in minutes) from the
program start time that an initial check of all hosts should
be completed. Default is 30 minutes.
max_host_check_spread=30
MAXIMUM CONCURRENT SERVICE CHECKS
This option allows you to specify the maximum number of
service checks that can be run in parallel at any given time.
Specifying a value of 1 for this variable essentially prevents
any service checks from being parallelized. A value of 0
will not restrict the number of concurrent checks that are
being executed.
max_concurrent_checks=0
HOST AND SERVICE CHECK REAPER FREQUENCY
This is the frequency (in seconds!) that Nagios will process
the results of host and service checks.
check_result_reaper_frequency=10
MAX CHECK RESULT REAPER TIME
This is the max amount of time (in seconds) that a single
check result reaper event will be allowed to run before
returning control back to Nagios so it can perform other
duties.
max_check_result_reaper_time=30
CHECK RESULT PATH
This is directory where Nagios stores the results of host and
service checks that have not yet been processed.
Note: Make sure that only one instance of Nagios has access
to this directory!
check_result_path=/usr/local/nagios/var/spool/checkresults
MAX CHECK RESULT FILE AGE
This option determines the maximum age (in seconds) which check
result files are considered to be valid. Files older than this
threshold will be mercilessly deleted without further processing.
max_check_result_file_age=3600
CACHED HOST CHECK HORIZON
This option determines the maximum amount of time (in seconds)
that the state of a previous host check is considered current.
Cached host states (from host checks that were performed more
recently that the timeframe specified by this value) can immensely
improve performance in regards to the host check logic.
Too high of a value for this option may result in inaccurate host
states being used by Nagios, while a lower value may result in a
performance hit for host checks. Use a value of 0 to disable host
check caching.
cached_host_check_horizon=15
CACHED SERVICE CHECK HORIZON
This option determines the maximum amount of time (in seconds)
that the state of a previous service check is considered current.
Cached service states (from service checks that were performed more
recently that the timeframe specified by this value) can immensely
improve performance in regards to predictive dependency checks.
Use a value of 0 to disable service check caching.
cached_service_check_horizon=15
ENABLE PREDICTIVE HOST DEPENDENCY CHECKS
This option determines whether or not Nagios will attempt to execute
checks of hosts when it predicts that future dependency logic test
may be needed. These predictive checks can help ensure that your
host dependency logic works well.
Values:
0 = Disable predictive checks
1 = Enable predictive checks (default)
enable_predictive_host_dependency_checks=1
ENABLE PREDICTIVE SERVICE DEPENDENCY CHECKS
This option determines whether or not Nagios will attempt to execute
checks of service when it predicts that future dependency logic test
may be needed. These predictive checks can help ensure that your
service dependency logic works well.
Values:
0 = Disable predictive checks
1 = Enable predictive checks (default)
enable_predictive_service_dependency_checks=1
SOFT STATE DEPENDENCIES
This option determines whether or not Nagios will use soft state
information when checking host and service dependencies. Normally
Nagios will only use the latest hard host or service state when
checking dependencies. If you want it to use the latest state (regardless
of whether its a soft or hard state type), enable this option.
Values:
0 = Don’t use soft state dependencies (default)
1 = Use soft state dependencies
soft_state_dependencies=0
AUTO-RESCHEDULING OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will attempt to
automatically reschedule active host and service checks to
“smooth” them out over time. This can help balance the load on
the monitoring server.
WARNING: THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE - IT CAN DEGRADE
PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN INCREASE IT, IF USED IMPROPERLY
auto_reschedule_checks=0
AUTO-RESCHEDULING INTERVAL
This option determines how often (in seconds) Nagios will
attempt to automatically reschedule checks. This option only
has an effect if the auto_reschedule_checks option is enabled.
Default is 30 seconds.
WARNING: THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE - IT CAN DEGRADE
PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN INCREASE IT, IF USED IMPROPERLY
auto_rescheduling_interval=30
AUTO-RESCHEDULING WINDOW
This option determines the “window” of time (in seconds) that
Nagios will look at when automatically rescheduling checks.
Only host and service checks that occur in the next X seconds
(determined by this variable) will be rescheduled. This option
only has an effect if the auto_reschedule_checks option is
enabled. Default is 180 seconds (3 minutes).
WARNING: THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE - IT CAN DEGRADE
PERFORMANCE, RATHER THAN INCREASE IT, IF USED IMPROPERLY
auto_rescheduling_window=180
SLEEP TIME
This is the number of seconds to sleep between checking for system
events and service checks that need to be run.
sleep_time=0.25
TIMEOUT VALUES
These options control how much time Nagios will allow various
types of commands to execute before killing them off. Options
are available for controlling maximum time allotted for
service checks, host checks, event handlers, notifications, the
ocsp command, and performance data commands. All values are in
seconds.
service_check_timeout=60
host_check_timeout=30
event_handler_timeout=30
notification_timeout=30
ocsp_timeout=5
perfdata_timeout=5
RETAIN STATE INFORMATION
This setting determines whether or not Nagios will save state
information for services and hosts before it shuts down. Upon
startup Nagios will reload all saved service and host state
information before starting to monitor. This is useful for
maintaining long-term data on state statistics, etc, but will
slow Nagios down a bit when it (re)starts. Since its only
a one-time penalty, I think its well worth the additional
startup delay.
retain_state_information=1
STATE RETENTION FILE
This is the file that Nagios should use to store host and
service state information before it shuts down. The state
information in this file is also read immediately prior to
starting to monitor the network when Nagios is restarted.
This file is used only if the preserve_state_information
variable is set to 1.
state_retention_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/retention.dat
RETENTION DATA UPDATE INTERVAL
This setting determines how often (in minutes) that Nagios
will automatically save retention data during normal operation.
If you set this value to 0, Nagios will not save retention
data at regular interval, but it will still save retention
data before shutting down or restarting. If you have disabled
state retention, this option has no effect.
retention_update_interval=60
USE RETAINED PROGRAM STATE
This setting determines whether or not Nagios will set
program status variables based on the values saved in the
retention file. If you want to use retained program status
information, set this value to 1. If not, set this value
to 0.
use_retained_program_state=1
USE RETAINED SCHEDULING INFO
This setting determines whether or not Nagios will retain
the scheduling info (next check time) for hosts and services
based on the values saved in the retention file. If you
If you want to use retained scheduling info, set this
value to 1. If not, set this value to 0.
use_retained_scheduling_info=1
RETAINED ATTRIBUTE MASKS (ADVANCED FEATURE)
The following variables are used to specify specific host and
service attributes that should not be retained by Nagios during
program restarts.
The values of the masks are bitwise ANDs of values specified
by the “MODATTR_” definitions found in include/common.h.
For example, if you do not want the current enabled/disabled state
of flap detection and event handlers for hosts to be retained, you
would use a value of 24 for the host attribute mask…
MODATTR_EVENT_HANDLER_ENABLED (8) + MODATTR_FLAP_DETECTION_ENABLED (16) = 24
This mask determines what host attributes are not retained
retained_host_attribute_mask=0
This mask determines what service attributes are not retained
retained_service_attribute_mask=0
These two masks determine what process attributes are not retained.
There are two masks, because some process attributes have host and service
options. For example, you can disable active host checks, but leave active
service checks enabled.
retained_process_host_attribute_mask=0
retained_process_service_attribute_mask=0
These two masks determine what contact attributes are not retained.
There are two masks, because some contact attributes have host and
service options. For example, you can disable host notifications for
a contact, but leave service notifications enabled for them.
retained_contact_host_attribute_mask=0
retained_contact_service_attribute_mask=0
INTERVAL LENGTH
This is the seconds per unit interval as used in the
host/contact/service configuration files. Setting this to 60 means
that each interval is one minute long (60 seconds). Other settings
have not been tested much, so your mileage is likely to vary…
interval_length=60
AGGRESSIVE HOST CHECKING OPTION
If you don’t want to turn on aggressive host checking features, set
this value to 0 (the default). Otherwise set this value to 1 to
enable the aggressive check option. Read the docs for more info
on what aggressive host check is or check out the source code in
base/checks.c
use_aggressive_host_checking=0
SERVICE CHECK EXECUTION OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will actively execute
service checks when it initially starts. If this option is
disabled, checks are not actively made, but Nagios can still
receive and process passive check results that come in. Unless
you’re implementing redundant hosts or have a special need for
disabling the execution of service checks, leave this enabled!
Values: 1 = enable checks, 0 = disable checks
execute_service_checks=1
PASSIVE SERVICE CHECK ACCEPTANCE OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will accept passive
service checks results when it initially (re)starts.
Values: 1 = accept passive checks, 0 = reject passive checks
accept_passive_service_checks=1
HOST CHECK EXECUTION OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will actively execute
host checks when it initially starts. If this option is
disabled, checks are not actively made, but Nagios can still
receive and process passive check results that come in. Unless
you’re implementing redundant hosts or have a special need for
disabling the execution of host checks, leave this enabled!
Values: 1 = enable checks, 0 = disable checks
execute_host_checks=1
PASSIVE HOST CHECK ACCEPTANCE OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will accept passive
host checks results when it initially (re)starts.
Values: 1 = accept passive checks, 0 = reject passive checks
accept_passive_host_checks=1
NOTIFICATIONS OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will sent out any host or
service notifications when it is initially (re)started.
Values: 1 = enable notifications, 0 = disable notifications
enable_notifications=1
EVENT HANDLER USE OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will run any host or
service event handlers when it is initially (re)started. Unless
you’re implementing redundant hosts, leave this option enabled.
Values: 1 = enable event handlers, 0 = disable event handlers
enable_event_handlers=1
PROCESS PERFORMANCE DATA OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will process performance
data returned from service and host checks. If this option is
enabled, host performance data will be processed using the
host_perfdata_command (defined below) and service performance
data will be processed using the service_perfdata_command (also
defined below). Read the HTML docs for more information on
performance data.
Values: 1 = process performance data, 0 = do not process performance data
process_performance_data=0
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA PROCESSING COMMANDS
These commands are run after every host and service check is
performed. These commands are executed only if the
enable_performance_data option (above) is set to 1. The command
argument is the short name of a command definition that you
define in your host configuration file. Read the HTML docs for
more information on performance data.
#host_perfdata_command=process-host-perfdata
#service_perfdata_command=process-service-perfdata
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA FILES
These files are used to store host and service performance data.
Performance data is only written to these files if the
enable_performance_data option (above) is set to 1.
#host_perfdata_file=/tmp/host-perfdata
#service_perfdata_file=/tmp/service-perfdata
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA FILE TEMPLATES
These options determine what data is written (and how) to the
performance data files. The templates may contain macros, special
characters (\t for tab, \r for carriage return, \n for newline)
and plain text. A newline is automatically added after each write
to the performance data file. Some examples of what you can do are
shown below.
#host_perfdata_file_template=[HOSTPERFDATA]\t$TIMET$\t$HOSTNAME$\t$HOSTEXECUTIONTIME$\t$HOSTOUTPUT$\t$HOSTPERFDATA$
#service_perfdata_file_template=[SERVICEPERFDATA]\t$TIMET$\t$HOSTNAME$\t$SERVICEDESC$\t$SERVICEEXECUTIONTIME$\t$SERVICELATENCY$\t$SERVICEOUTPUT$\t$SERVICEPERFDATA$
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA FILE MODES
This option determines whether or not the host and service
performance data files are opened in write (“w”) or append (“a”)
mode. If you want to use named pipes, you should use the special
pipe (“p”) mode which avoid blocking at startup, otherwise you will
likely want the defult append (“a”) mode.
#host_perfdata_file_mode=a
#service_perfdata_file_mode=a
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA FILE PROCESSING INTERVAL
These options determine how often (in seconds) the host and service
performance data files are processed using the commands defined
below. A value of 0 indicates the files should not be periodically
processed.
#host_perfdata_file_processing_interval=0
#service_perfdata_file_processing_interval=0
HOST AND SERVICE PERFORMANCE DATA FILE PROCESSING COMMANDS
These commands are used to periodically process the host and
service performance data files. The interval at which the
processing occurs is determined by the options above.
#host_perfdata_file_processing_command=process-host-perfdata-file
#service_perfdata_file_processing_command=process-service-perfdata-file
OBSESS OVER SERVICE CHECKS OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will obsess over service
checks and run the ocsp_command defined below. Unless you’re
planning on implementing distributed monitoring, do not enable
this option. Read the HTML docs for more information on
implementing distributed monitoring.
Values: 1 = obsess over services, 0 = do not obsess (default)
obsess_over_services=0
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE SERVICE PROCESSOR COMMAND
This is the command that is run for every service check that is
processed by Nagios. This command is executed only if the
obsess_over_services option (above) is set to 1. The command
argument is the short name of a command definition that you
define in your host configuration file. Read the HTML docs for
more information on implementing distributed monitoring.
#ocsp_command=somecommand
OBSESS OVER HOST CHECKS OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will obsess over host
checks and run the ochp_command defined below. Unless you’re
planning on implementing distributed monitoring, do not enable
this option. Read the HTML docs for more information on
implementing distributed monitoring.
Values: 1 = obsess over hosts, 0 = do not obsess (default)
obsess_over_hosts=0
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE HOST PROCESSOR COMMAND
This is the command that is run for every host check that is
processed by Nagios. This command is executed only if the
obsess_over_hosts option (above) is set to 1. The command
argument is the short name of a command definition that you
define in your host configuration file. Read the HTML docs for
more information on implementing distributed monitoring.
#ochp_command=somecommand
TRANSLATE PASSIVE HOST CHECKS OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will translate
DOWN/UNREACHABLE passive host check results into their proper
state for this instance of Nagios. This option is useful
if you have distributed or failover monitoring setup. In
these cases your other Nagios servers probably have a different
“view” of the network, with regards to the parent/child relationship
of hosts. If a distributed monitoring server thinks a host
is DOWN, it may actually be UNREACHABLE from the point of
this Nagios instance. Enabling this option will tell Nagios
to translate any DOWN or UNREACHABLE host states it receives
passively into the correct state from the view of this server.
Values: 1 = perform translation, 0 = do not translate (default)
translate_passive_host_checks=0
PASSIVE HOST CHECKS ARE SOFT OPTION
This determines whether or not Nagios will treat passive host
checks as being HARD or SOFT. By default, a passive host check
result will put a host into a HARD state type. This can be changed
by enabling this option.
Values: 0 = passive checks are HARD, 1 = passive checks are SOFT
passive_host_checks_are_soft=0
ORPHANED HOST/SERVICE CHECK OPTIONS
These options determine whether or not Nagios will periodically
check for orphaned host service checks. Since service checks are
not rescheduled until the results of their previous execution
instance are processed, there exists a possibility that some
checks may never get rescheduled. A similar situation exists for
host checks, although the exact scheduling details differ a bit
from service checks. Orphaned checks seem to be a rare
problem and should not happen under normal circumstances.
If you have problems with service checks never getting
rescheduled, make sure you have orphaned service checks enabled.
Values: 1 = enable checks, 0 = disable checks
check_for_orphaned_services=1
check_for_orphaned_hosts=1
SERVICE FRESHNESS CHECK OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will periodically
check the “freshness” of service results. Enabling this option
is useful for ensuring passive checks are received in a timely
manner.
Values: 1 = enabled freshness checking, 0 = disable freshness checking
check_service_freshness=1
SERVICE FRESHNESS CHECK INTERVAL
This setting determines how often (in seconds) Nagios will
check the “freshness” of service check results. If you have
disabled service freshness checking, this option has no effect.
service_freshness_check_interval=60
HOST FRESHNESS CHECK OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will periodically
check the “freshness” of host results. Enabling this option
is useful for ensuring passive checks are received in a timely
manner.
Values: 1 = enabled freshness checking, 0 = disable freshness checking
check_host_freshness=0
HOST FRESHNESS CHECK INTERVAL
This setting determines how often (in seconds) Nagios will
check the “freshness” of host check results. If you have
disabled host freshness checking, this option has no effect.
host_freshness_check_interval=60
ADDITIONAL FRESHNESS THRESHOLD LATENCY
This setting determines the number of seconds that Nagios
will add to any host and service freshness thresholds that
it calculates (those not explicitly specified by the user).
additional_freshness_latency=15
FLAP DETECTION OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will try
and detect hosts and services that are “flapping”.
Flapping occurs when a host or service changes between
states too frequently. When Nagios detects that a
host or service is flapping, it will temporarily suppress
notifications for that host/service until it stops
flapping. Flap detection is very experimental, so read
the HTML documentation before enabling this feature!
Values: 1 = enable flap detection
0 = disable flap detection (default)
enable_flap_detection=1
FLAP DETECTION THRESHOLDS FOR HOSTS AND SERVICES
Read the HTML documentation on flap detection for
an explanation of what this option does. This option
has no effect if flap detection is disabled.
low_service_flap_threshold=5.0
high_service_flap_threshold=20.0
low_host_flap_threshold=5.0
high_host_flap_threshold=20.0
DATE FORMAT OPTION
This option determines how short dates are displayed. Valid options
include:
us (MM-DD-YYYY HH:MM:SS)
euro (DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM:SS)
iso8601 (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
strict-iso8601 (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS)
date_format=us
TIMEZONE OFFSET
This option is used to override the default timezone that this
instance of Nagios runs in. If not specified, Nagios will use
the system configured timezone.
NOTE: In order to display the correct timezone in the CGIs, you
will also need to alter the Apache directives for the CGI path
to include your timezone. Example:
<Directory “/usr/local/nagios/sbin/”>
SetEnv TZ “Australia/Brisbane”
…
#use_timezone=US/Mountain
#use_timezone=Australia/Brisbane
P1.PL FILE LOCATION
This value determines where the p1.pl perl script (used by the
embedded Perl interpreter) is located. If you didn’t compile
Nagios with embedded Perl support, this option has no effect.
p1_file=/usr/local/nagios/bin/p1.pl
EMBEDDED PERL INTERPRETER OPTION
This option determines whether or not the embedded Perl interpreter
will be enabled during runtime. This option has no effect if Nagios
has not been compiled with support for embedded Perl.
Values: 0 = disable interpreter, 1 = enable interpreter
enable_embedded_perl=1
EMBEDDED PERL USAGE OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will process Perl plugins
and scripts with the embedded Perl interpreter if the plugins/scripts
do not explicitly indicate whether or not it is okay to do so. Read
the HTML documentation on the embedded Perl interpreter for more
information on how this option works.
use_embedded_perl_implicitly=1
ILLEGAL OBJECT NAME CHARACTERS
This option allows you to specify illegal characters that cannot
be used in host names, service descriptions, or names of other
object types.
illegal_object_name_chars=`~!$%^&*|'"<>?,()=
ILLEGAL MACRO OUTPUT CHARACTERS
This option allows you to specify illegal characters that are
stripped from macros before being used in notifications, event
handlers, etc. This DOES NOT affect macros used in service or
host check commands.
The following macros are stripped of the characters you specify:
$HOSTOUTPUT$
$HOSTPERFDATA$
$HOSTACKAUTHOR$
$HOSTACKCOMMENT$
$SERVICEOUTPUT$
$SERVICEPERFDATA$
$SERVICEACKAUTHOR$
$SERVICEACKCOMMENT$
illegal_macro_output_chars=`~$&|'"<>
REGULAR EXPRESSION MATCHING
This option controls whether or not regular expression matching
takes place in the object config files. Regular expression
matching is used to match host, hostgroup, service, and service
group names/descriptions in some fields of various object types.
Values: 1 = enable regexp matching, 0 = disable regexp matching
use_regexp_matching=0
“TRUE” REGULAR EXPRESSION MATCHING
This option controls whether or not “true” regular expression
matching takes place in the object config files. This option
only has an effect if regular expression matching is enabled
(see above). If this option is DISABLED, regular expression
matching only occurs if a string contains wildcard characters
(* and ?). If the option is ENABLED, regexp matching occurs
all the time (which can be annoying).
Values: 1 = enable true matching, 0 = disable true matching
use_true_regexp_matching=0
ADMINISTRATOR EMAIL/PAGER ADDRESSES
The email and pager address of a global administrator (likely you).
Nagios never uses these values itself, but you can access them by
using the $ADMINEMAIL$ and $ADMINPAGER$ macros in your notification
commands.
admin_email=nagios@localhost
admin_pager=pagenagios@localhost
DAEMON CORE DUMP OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios is allowed to create
a core dump when it runs as a daemon. Note that it is generally
considered bad form to allow this, but it may be useful for
debugging purposes. Enabling this option doesn’t guarantee that
a core file will be produced, but that’s just life…
Values: 1 - Allow core dumps
0 - Do not allow core dumps (default)
daemon_dumps_core=0
LARGE INSTALLATION TWEAKS OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will take some shortcuts
which can save on memory and CPU usage in large Nagios installations.
Read the documentation for more information on the benefits/tradeoffs
of enabling this option.
Values: 1 - Enabled tweaks
0 - Disable tweaks (default)
use_large_installation_tweaks=0
ENABLE ENVIRONMENT MACROS
This option determines whether or not Nagios will make all standard
macros available as environment variables when host/service checks
and system commands (event handlers, notifications, etc.) are
executed. Enabling this option can cause performance issues in
large installations, as it will consume a bit more memory and (more
importantly) consume more CPU.
Values: 1 - Enable environment variable macros (default)
0 - Disable environment variable macros
enable_environment_macros=1
CHILD PROCESS MEMORY OPTION
This option determines whether or not Nagios will free memory in
child processes (processed used to execute system commands and host/
service checks). If you specify a value here, it will override
program defaults.
Value: 1 - Free memory in child processes
0 - Do not free memory in child processes
#free_child_process_memory=1
CHILD PROCESS FORKING BEHAVIOR
This option determines how Nagios will fork child processes
(used to execute system commands and host/service checks). Normally
child processes are fork()ed twice, which provides a very high level
of isolation from problems. Fork()ing once is probably enough and will
save a great deal on CPU usage (in large installs), so you might
want to consider using this. If you specify a value here, it will
program defaults.
Value: 1 - Child processes fork() twice
0 - Child processes fork() just once
#child_processes_fork_twice=1
DEBUG LEVEL
This option determines how much (if any) debugging information will
be written to the debug file. OR values together to log multiple
types of information.
Values:
-1 = Everything
0 = Nothing
1 = Functions
2 = Configuration
4 = Process information
8 = Scheduled events
16 = Host/service checks
32 = Notifications
64 = Event broker
128 = External commands
256 = Commands
512 = Scheduled downtime
1024 = Comments
2048 = Macros
debug_level=0
DEBUG VERBOSITY
This option determines how verbose the debug log out will be.
Values: 0 = Brief output
1 = More detailed
2 = Very detailed
debug_verbosity=1
DEBUG FILE
This option determines where Nagios should write debugging information.
debug_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/nagios.debug
MAX DEBUG FILE SIZE
This option determines the maximum size (in bytes) of the debug file. If
the file grows larger than this size, it will be renamed with a .old
extension. If a file already exists with a .old extension it will
automatically be deleted. This helps ensure your disk space usage doesn’t
get out of control when debugging Nagios.
max_debug_file_size=1000000
[/blockquote]