Possible discrepancy in Documentation and Functionality of Nagios v2.0b6

[Andreas Ericsson]

Zac wrote:
> Hello,
>    I have been running nagios 1.x for a long time now and am very excited to
> start using v2.  I have setup a development system and am re-organizing my
> config with some of the new features.  I have run into an issue that,
> according to the way I am interpreting the documentation should work.
> 
> What I am trying to do, is remove the hostgroup definitions in favor of
> putting the hostgroup line in the host definition template.  I am hoping to
> remove the long lists of hosts on the members line.  In the documentation it
> states that it can be "used as an alternative to (or in addition to) the *
> hostgroups* directive in host
> definitions<http://nagios5/docs/xodtemplate.html#host>."
> but this doesn't seem to be the case.  If I do not make a hostgroup
> definition, and only use the hostgroup line in the host definition, I get
> the error that the hostgroup doesn't exist.  If I create the hostgroup and
> put 1 host in the members line, everything works, but it breaks my
> templates, or puts a duplicate host or service in the group and makes my
> config files more confusing.  If I create a hostgroup with no members line,
> it errors out as well.
> 

The hostgroup still needs to be created. There doesn't have to be a 
"members" line, but there has to be hosts in the hostgroup. You can thus 
create a config such as this

define hostgroup{
	hostgroup_name  hostgrp
	alias           Alias for hostgrp
}

define host {
	use        the_template_that_includes_everything
	host_name  the_host
	hostgroups hostgrp
}


> My question is, is it planned that I can use the hostgroup directive in the
> host definition as a complete alternative to the hostgroup definition?


No. It's planned to replace/extend the "members" directive in the 
hostgroup object definition. Hostgroups aren't created on the spot.


>  I
> understand we need to define the alias for the host group, and I would be
> fine with creating the hostgroup definition and only populating the name and
> alias, but I really want to avoid duplication or messy members lines.


Then this is what you should do. I know for a fact that it works, so if 
you can't make it so, send me your configuration and I'll test it myself.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson at op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231


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