Stuck on NRPE for OS X Server
Andrew Davis
nccomp at gmail.com
Thu Mar 19 15:57:13 CET 2009
One person suggested my openssl version might be too new (0.9.8). I just
removed it and installed 0.9.7i, older enough version to be safe and one
that I know another user has in a working configuration. After compiling
it, I then recompiled NRPE against it and copied the files in place. It
still fails with the same error.
/var/log/system.log shows:
Mar 19 10:45:17 seth xinetd[26057]: Started working: 1 available service
Mar 19 10:45:25 seth nrpe[26064]: Error: NRPE daemon cannot be run
as user/group root!
I had it set to run as nobody:nobody, but that wasn't working. I even
tried setting to run as daemon:wheel, but the same results. Finally, I
created a nagios user and configured /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe to run as
nagios:nagios and updated /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg to use the same. However,
all remote tests still result in the following:
From the server:
[nagios at nagios ~]$ /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_nrpe -H seth
CHECK_NRPE: Error - Could not complete SSL handshake.
From the client:
Mar 19 10:45:17 seth xinetd[26057]: Started working: 1 available service
Mar 19 10:45:25 seth nrpe[26064]: Error: NRPE daemon cannot be run
as user/group root!
Scouring Google shows that the "cannot be run as ... root" error is in
the nrpe.c code. What I can't figure out is why its trying to run as
root instead of the configured user...
Anyone running NRPE with xinetd for Mac's? I'm frustrated enough that I
almost just want to use check_by_ssh, but I'd prefer to get this working
and keep things consistent (ie: with NRPE). My /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg and
/etc/xinetd.d/nrpe are below:
seth:/etc/xinetd.d root# pwd
/etc/xinetd.d
seth:/etc/xinetd.d root# cat nrpe
# /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe
# description: NRPE
# default: on
service nrpe
{
flags = REUSE
socket_type = stream
port = 5666
wait = no
user = nagios
group = nagios
server = /usr/local/sbin/nrpe
server_args = -c /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg --inetd
log_on_failure += USERID
disable = no
only_from = 127.0.0.1 10.1.1.170
}
---------------------------
seth:/etc/nagios root# pwd
/etc/nagios
seth:/etc/nagios root# cat nrpe.cfg
#############################################################################
# Sample NRPE Config File
# Written by: Ethan Galstad (nagios at nagios.org)
#
# Last Modified: 11-23-2007
#
# 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.
#############################################################################
# LOG FACILITY
# The syslog facility that should be used for logging purposes.
log_facility=daemon
# PID FILE
# The name of the file in which the NRPE daemon should write it's
process ID
# number. The file is only written if the NRPE daemon is started by
the root
# user and is running in standalone mode.
pid_file=/var/run/nrpe.pid
# 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=5666
# 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=127.0.0.1
# 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
# ALLOWED HOST ADDRESSES
# This is an optional comma-delimited list of IP address or hostnames
# 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=127.0.0.1
# 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
# COMMAND PREFIX
# This option allows you to prefix all commands with a user-defined
string.
# A space is automatically added between the specified prefix string
and the
# command line from the command definition.
#
# *** THIS EXAMPLE MAY POSE A POTENTIAL SECURITY RISK, SO USE WITH
CAUTION! ***
# Usage scenario:
# Execute restricted commmands using sudo. For this to work, you
need to add
# the nagios user to your /etc/sudoers. An example entry for alllowing
# execution of the plugins from might be:
#
# nagios ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/
#
# This lets the nagios user run all commands in that directory (and
only them)
# without asking for a password. If you do this, make sure you
don't give
# random users write access to that directory or its contents!
# command_prefix=/usr/bin/sudo
# 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
# CONNECTION TIMEOUT
# This specifies the maximum number of seconds that the NRPE daemon will
# wait for a connection to be established before exiting. This is
sometimes
# seen where a network problem stops the SSL being established even
though
# all network sessions are connected. This causes the nrpe daemons to
# accumulate, eating system resources. Do not set this too low.
connection_timeout=300
# WEEK RANDOM SEED OPTION
# This directive allows you to use SSL even if your system does not have
# a /dev/random or /dev/urandom (on purpose or because the necessary
patches
# were not applied). The random number generator will be seeded from
a file
# which is either a file pointed to by the environment valiable
$RANDFILE
# or $HOME/.rnd. If neither exists, the pseudo random number
generator will
# be initialized and a warning will be issued.
# Values: 0=only seed from /dev/[u]random, 1=also seed from weak
randomness
#allow_weak_random_seed=1
# 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=<somedirectory>
#include_dir=<someotherdirectory>
# 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_disks]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_disk -m -e -w
10% -c 5%
command[check_load]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_load -r -w 5.0
-c 10.0
command[check_memory]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_memory.pl -w
10% -c 5%
command[check_swap]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_swap -a -w 50%
-c 20%
command[check_ntp]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_ntp_time -H
10.1.1.14 -w 1.0 -c 1.5
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
command[check_users]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_users -w 25 -c 50
A. Davis
Email: nccomp at gmail.com
"There is no limit to what a man can accomplish
if he doesn't care who gets the credit." - Ronald Reagan
Andrew Davis wrote:
> My /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe is below:
>
> # /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe
> # description: NRPE
> # default: on
> service nrpe
> {
> flags = REUSE
> socket_type = stream
> port = 5666
> wait = no
> # user = nobody
> user = daemon
> # group = nobody
> group = wheel
> server = /usr/local/sbin/nrpe
> server_args = -c /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg --inetd
> log_on_failure += USERID
> disable = no
> only_from = 127.0.0.1 10.1.1.170
> }
>
> Originally, it was set to nobody:nobody. As a test, I set it to
> daemon:wheel. In all cases, it gives the "cannot run as root" error. I
> guess I can try making a Nagios user & group and testing with that.
> A. Davis
> Email: nccomp at gmail.com
>
> "There is no limit to what a man can accomplish
> if he doesn't care who gets the credit." - Ronald Reagan
>
>
>
> Allan Clark wrote:
>> Reply is bottom-posted.
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 16:57, Andrew Davis <nccomp at gmail.com
>> <mailto:nccomp at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> If I'm reading this correctly, the line about "NRPE daemon cannot
>> be run as user/group root!" is directly from the source code of
>> NRPE. Its not an xinetd thing. I've confirmed that xinetd is
>> running and listening on port 5666. I tried changing the
>> owner/group from nobody:nobody to another unprivileged user, but
>> it didn't work. Same results. It appears that despite my
>> configuring the /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg and the /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe
>> files to use a user other than root, it still tries to start it
>> as the root user and thus when an incoming connection comes in,
>> it gives the "NRPE daemon cannot be run as user/group root!"
>> error. Any thoughts on how to rectify this? Since NRPE is working
>> fine on Linux, is this just a Mac OS X thing? Any help would be
>> immensely appreciated.
>>
>> AD
>>
>>
>> Andrew Davis wrote:
>>> FYI: /var/log/system.log on the client shows:
>>>
>>> Mar 18 16:08:07 shu xinetd[29066]: START: nrpe pid=557
>>> from=10.1.1.170
>>> Mar 18 16:08:07 shu nrpe[557]: Error: NRPE daemon cannot be run
>>> as user/group root!
>>>
>>> whether I do the default test (with SSL) or use the -n flag to
>>> test w/o SSL. The odd thing is that the nrpe config in
>>> /etc/xinetd.d is set to run as nobody:nobody and
>>> /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg is owned by nobody:nobody. Only
>>> /usr/local/sbin/nrpe is owned by root (as it should be), but is
>>> also set to 755 perms. I've compared to a Linux box I have with
>>> NRPE and xinetd working properly and the permissions are identical.
>>>
>>> I'm stumped...
>>>
>>> Andrew Davis wrote:
>>>> I have two Mac OS X servers, one running 10.3, the other
>>>> running 10.4. Neither can be upgraded to 10.5 due to third
>>>> party s/w constraints. Both are PPC based XServe's.
>>>>
>>>> Trying to compile nrpe with:
>>>>
>>>> ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc/nagios --enable-ssl
>>>>
>>>> Initially, I got the "cannot find ssl libraries" error:
>>>>
>>>> ~
>>>> checking for SSL headers... SSL headers found in /usr/local/ssl
>>>> checking for SSL libraries... configure: error: Cannot find
>>>> ssl libraries
>>>>
>>>> I downloaded the latest openssl and built it with:
>>>>
>>>> ./config --prefix=/usr/local shared
>>>> --openssldir=/usr/local/openssl
>>>> make
>>>> make test
>>>> make install
>>>>
>>>> I then had to edit ~/src/nrpe/configure and change the
>>>> reference from libssl.so to libssl.dylib
>>>>
>>>> After that, nrpe compiled cleanly and I was able to move
>>>> ~src/nrpe/src/nrpe to /usr/local/sbin and start xinetd up. I've
>>>> confirmed that port 5666 is open and xinetd is running:
>>>>
>>>> /usr/local/src/nrpe-2.12/src root# ps waux|grep xinet|grep
>>>> -v greproot 29066 0.0 -0.0 27484 308 ?? Ss
>>>> 3:53PM 0:00.02 /usr/sbin/xinetd -pidfile
>>>> /var/run/xinetd.pid -stayalive
>>>> /usr/local/src/nrpe-2.12/src root# netstat -an|grep
>>>> 5666tcp4 0 0 *.5666
>>>> *.* LISTEN
>>>>
>>>> However, when connecting from the remote server, I get:
>>>>
>>>> /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_nrpe -H host.mydomain.org
>>>> <http://host.mydomain.org>
>>>> CHECK_NRPE: Error - Could not complete SSL handshake.
>>>>
>>>> The same test but w/o SSL gives yields:
>>>>
>>>> [nagios at nephilim src]$ /usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_nrpe
>>>> -n -H host.mydomain.org <http://host.mydomain.org>
>>>> CHECK_NRPE: Received 0 bytes from daemon. Check the remote
>>>> server logs for error messages.
>>>>
>>>> So two questions:
>>>>
>>>> 1) I'm a UNIX guy, but obviously Mac's are A) different and B)
>>>> a tad different being BSD-based. So what's the proper way to
>>>> stop/restart the xinetd daemon?
>>>> 2) Any thoughts on SSL handshake error? I've googled it, but
>>>> I'm not getting very far.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone have a step-by-step for compiling nagios plugins and
>>>> NRPE from source on OS X 10.x (specifically 10.3 and 10.4)? I'm
>>>> using NRPE for all other internal hosts, so I prefer to use it
>>>> for the Mac's too. I know I could do it via check_by_ssh and
>>>> get around this, but I prefer to use NRPE if I can.
>>>> --
>>>>
>>
>>
>> On a Mac, your xinetd is a bolt-on over the launchd that's there by
>> default; you've obviously got it running. Since you're in
>> /etc/xinetd.d/<something>, you need to cnfigure a different username
>> via xinetd's config. Look for a /etc/xinetd.d/nrpe file, or similar,
>> containing the config for your nrpe service. I tend to grep for the
>> port number in order to find the file. Remember to check /local/*
>>
>> The time service has an example with juicy comments:
>>
>>
>> service time
>> {
>> # This is for quick on or off of the service
>> disable = yes
>> ...
>> ...
>> # External services must fill out the following
>> # user =
>> # group =
>> ...
>> ...
>> }
>>
>>
>> Take a look there, see if you can choose a better username and/or
>> group and if your port of xinetd honours it. I don't know if you
>> have a nrpe user, or run it as nobody.
>>
>> A better option would be a proper launchd config, allowing you to
>> shutdown xinetd if you're installing it there for this purpose only,
>> but then it's a Mac-only thing, and would be more difficult to
>> maintain for non-Mac people.
>>
>> Allan
>>
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