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<TITLE>RE: [Nagios-users] Hosts with no services?</TITLE>
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<DIV><SPAN class=483274415-26062003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>So
create a passive "fping" service for those hosts and wrap a script around fping
to pipe the output into nagios.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=483274415-26062003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Nagios
will then only spawn off its own ping check when your "service" ping
fails. Not perfect, but until passive</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=483274415-26062003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>host
checks in 2.x it works pretty good...</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> John Senior
[mailto:js@irishbroadband.ie]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 26, 2003 5:16
AM<BR><B>To:</B> nagios-users@lists.sourceforge.net<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE:
[Nagios-users] Hosts with no services?<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT size=2>I disagree - I have many many devices on my network that I
just need to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>know are alive with a ping - these
devices just provide connectivity, things</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>like
switches, customer routers etc. A simple ping is all that's
required,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>no more. I have plenty of hosts with
more complex services (web, mail, dns</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>etc.) that
Nagios fits fine - but sometimes a ping is enough. I too am using</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>fping to provide the kind of info that I would rather
integrate into Nagios.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>Regards,</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>John.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=2>--</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>John Senior
<js@irishbroadband.ie> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>> -----Original Message-----</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
From: nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
[<A
href="mailto:nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net">mailto:nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net</A>]On
Behalf Of Dr. Dave</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Blunt</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> Sent: 26 June 2003 04:54</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> To:
'Carroll, Jim P [Contractor]'; 'Furnish, Trever G'</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> Cc: 'Nagios-Users List (E-mail)'</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
Subject: RE: [Nagios-users] Hosts with no services?</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>
Hi,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> I think I agree
with Jim. I guess I don't see why you would care if a</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> system was up if you didn't care about at least one service -
unless</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> that 'service' is keeping the room
warm. Why not pull the power cord</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
now? If you're not responsible for making sure the system is up
or</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> tracking some metric about specific services
then why even </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> configure it</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> in Nagios?</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> $.02</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> Dr. Dave Blunt</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
Manager of Information Technology, Virage, Inc.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
411 Borel Ave., Suite 100S</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> San Mateo, CA
94402</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> -----Original
Message-----</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> From:
nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> [<A
href="mailto:nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net">mailto:nagios-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net</A>]
On Behalf </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> Of Carroll,</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> Jim P [Contractor]</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Sent: Wednesday,
June 25, 2003 5:54 PM</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> To: Furnish, Trever
G</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Cc: Nagios-Users List (E-mail)</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> Subject: RE: [Nagios-users] Hosts with no services?</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> I suppose you could use check_dummy for your service check.
Caveat:</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> I've experienced hosts which are pingable
but are otherwise</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> worthless/dead. You've
stated yourself that you need to know that the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
box is alive. So what constitutes 'alive'? If I can ping a box but
a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> user cannot login to that box, is it still
alive? If I can't ping the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> box but when I
walk over to it, there are blinking lights and whirring</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> fans, is it still alive? If the main HDD activity light is
flickering</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> but bashing away on the console
doesn't get me any response, </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> is it still</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> alive? (These are purely rhetorical
questions.)</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> If you'd
like to know within 5 minutes that a user cannot use service</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> XYZ, then configure Nagios to monitor the health of that service
and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> check on it frequently. If you don't
mind that a user cannot </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> login to a</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> host between 5pm and 9am, then configure Nagios to not
bother checking</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> between those times (thus cutting
down on 'unnecessary' CPU </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> and network</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> traffic).</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> If you don't mind that your root filesystem is sitting at
99.99%</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> capacity, then don't bother with
check_disk. If you don't </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> mind the
load</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> average hitting 20 frequently, then don't
bother with check_load. If</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> you don't mind
that a HDD is starting to complain about bad </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>
blocks, then</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> don't bother with check_log2.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> Yes, I'm playing devil's
advocate here. If after everything I've said</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> you still find keeping a finger on the pulse of the corporate
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> systems to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> be
uninteresting, then take another look at check_dummy, and </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> replace the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> check_ping service with
it. (Bonus: You'll cut down on </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>
network traffic</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> and remote processing.
;)</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> jc</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> > -----Original Message-----</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> >
From: Furnish, Trever G [<A
href="mailto:TGFurnish@herff-jones.com">mailto:TGFurnish@herff-jones.com</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 2:16 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > To: Carroll, Jim P [Contractor]</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> > Cc: Nagios-Users List (E-mail)</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
> Subject: RE: [Nagios-users] Hosts with no services?</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> > </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>> > But why should you monitor something you don't care about,
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> generating </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> >
needless traffic and cpu overhead?</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> >
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > I too do a ping in the host check and a
redundant ping</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> > service check - but</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > it's still a waste. Sure there are other
services on the </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > box, but I don't</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > need to monitor them -- all I need is to know the
box is </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > alive, in which</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>> > case the extra ping is pointless and wastes resources.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > In a previous
life I did this with a little shell script and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
> fping. You</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> > lose the benefit of
being able to acknowledge individual </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > hosts
that way</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> > though. Then again, if you
allow your techs to log into the </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > system
doing</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> > fping, then adding a host a file
listing those to ignore </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> becomes easy.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>> > </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> > -t.</FONT>
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