<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.32.2"> </HEAD> <BODY> Hello all. I'm seeing an unexpected behavior in my nagios installs, and I'd appreciate some insight as to what I did incorrectly. This is nagios version 3.2.3 compiled from source. I added the $HOSTALIAS$ macro to the emails nagios generates, as often information in the alias makes it clearer which device has the problem. The host email looks like this: # 'notify-host-by-email' command definition define command{ command_name notify-host-by-email command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "***** Nagios *****\n\nNotification Type: $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\nHost: $HOSTNAME$\nAbout: $HOSTALIAS$\nState: $HOSTSTATE$\nAddress: $HOSTADDRESS$\nInfo: $HOSTOUTPUT$\n\nDate/Time: $LONGDATETIME$\n" | /usr/bin/mail -s "** $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ $HOSTNAME$ is $HOSTSTATE$ **" $CONTACTEMAIL$ } The same modifications were made to the notify-service-by-email as well. This works somewhat as intended, it does add an "About:" line, but the value for $HOSTALIAS$ is not consistent. In the /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/localhost.cfg file the host is defined as: define host{ use linux-server host_name localhost alias old gray box on the metal stand address 127.0.0.1 hostgroups linux-servers } When I click on Host followed by localhost in the web interface for nagios, I get a page with this data at the top: Host old gray box on the metal stand (localhost) In addition, the line "old gray box on the metal stand" is listed as the alias for localhost in /usr/local/nagios/var/objects.cache: define host { host_name localhost alias old gray box on the metal stand address 127.0.0.1 check_period 24x7 check_command check-host-alive When I receive a host email about localhost, the About: line in the email which should to my understanding contain the value of $HOSTALIAS$, instead has "localhost" listed where the $HOSTALIAS$ (old grey box on the metal stand) is expected. Here is the text of a recent email: <TT>***** Nagios *****</TT> <TT>Notification Type: RECOVERY</TT> <TT>Service: current load</TT> <TT>Host: localhost</TT> <TT>About: localhost</TT> <TT>Address: 127.0.0.1</TT> <TT>State: OK</TT> <TT>Date/Time: Wed Jun 8 13:41:01 EDT 2011</TT> <TT>Additional Info:</TT> <TT>OK - load average: 1.18, 2.55, 2.34</TT> I checked and multiple copies of nagios aren't running, so I'm guessing I did something incorrect with the macro? Interestingly, this is happening to about half of the hosts I'm receiving emails for. Sometimes the $HOSTALIAS$ is correct, and other times it seems $HOSTALIAS$ is incorrect. </BODY> </HTML>