Define a new service in Nagios

Linux Nagios

To define a new service in Nagios you need to do the following:

1) Add the necessary commands to /etc/nagios/objects/commands.cfg
2) Define the host and service in /etc/nagios/objects/templates.cfg
3) Define a host definition in /etc/nagios/objects/.cfg

Command definition in commands.cfg

define command{
        command_name    check-ssl-cert
        command_line $USER1$/check_ssl_certificate -H $ARG1$ -p $ARG2$ -c $ARG3$ -w $ARG4$
}

The command (in this case check_ssl_certificate) expects parameters to be passed like this:

Usage: check_ssl_certificates -H  [-p ] [-c :] [-w :]

So the arguments are passed as:

-H $ARG1$ -p $ARG2$ -c $ARG3$ -w $ARG4$

The more astute reader will notice I have ignored the : and opted to pass a single value here only.

Service definition: (in templates.cfg)

define service{
        name    ssl-checks
        use     generic-service
        max_check_attempts      4
        normal_check_interval   5
        retry_check_interval    1
        register                0
        }

Host definition: (in templates.cfg)

define host{
        name                    ssl-checks
        use                     generic-host
        check_period            24x7
        check_interval          5
        retry_interval          1
        max_check_attempts      4
        check_command           check-ssl-cert
        notification_period     24x7
        notification_interval   30
        notification_options    d,r
        contact_groups          admins
        hostgroups              ssl-checks
        register                0
        }

You can now make use of your new service by adding it to an (or creating a new) object in /etc/nagios/servers

define service {
        use                     ssl-checks
        host_name               
        service_description     SSL Certificate checks
        check_command           check-ssl-cert!!443!2!20
        # check_command                   check_ssl_certificate -H  -p 443 -c 2 -w 7
        notifications_enabled   1
        }

Step 3:
Create the ssl-checks.cfg – this is an arbitrary name.

define host{
        use             ssl-checks      ; Inherit default values from a template
        host_name       winserver       ; The name we're giving to this host
        alias           DNS Server      ; A longer name associated with the host
        address         192.168.1.2     ; IP address of the host
        }

define hostgroup{
        hostgroup_name  SSL-Checks              ; The name of the hostgroup
        alias           SSL certificate checks  ; Long name of the group
        }

define service {
        use generic-service
        hostgroup_name www-servers
        host_name www-server
        service_description ssl-checks
}