Hi. I spent my exciting day with my old friend Nagios. Due to a few issues, I had to move my Nagios install to a new server, and while I had the time to move it, I also decided it was time to tweak it some. I wanted to point out that Nagios was updated to version 1.3 (change log). No major changes, but enough to upgrade.
Missed my Nagios articles?

Why Nagios?
Installing Nagios
Configuring Nagios
Customizing Nagios

Ps, the upgrade was a piece of cake. No issues (for once).
[tags]Nagios[/tags]

I have decided to write a four part article on the benefits of using Nagios. The first article focused on why I chose Nagios/what it offers. The second article focused on installing Nagios on Mac OS X. The third article focused on configuring Nagios. This fourth article will focus on improving the Nagios interface and further customizing it.

Customizing Nagios...the fun continues.
Run Nagios at Boot with an Init Script: There is a great article on how to create a StartUpItem for Mac OS X. Scroll all the way to the bottom and follow the instructions.

Adding Icons: If you know me, you also know I need to work with a good interface. Nagios...leaves something to be desired, but you can do some little things to make it look better, like adding icons. Icons? Yeah. I use blue Apple logos for all my Mac OS X Client machines, grey Apple logos for my Mac OS X Server machines, Cisco icons for my networking equip, HP printer icons for my printers, etc. How?

Download/create/use icons that come with Nagios. Make ... [more]

I have decided to write a four part article on the benefits of using Nagios. The first article focused on why I chose Nagios/what it offers. The second article focused on installing Nagios on Mac OS X. This third article will focuses on configuring Nagios. The fourth article will focus on improving the Nagios interface and further customizing it.

Configuring Nagios...let the fun begin! With version 1.2 of Nagios, there are multiple files by default located in /usr/local/nagios/etc/:

cgi.cfg This file is used to define the settings for the nagios' CGIs. All of your basic CGI paths, authentication, commands are in this file. cgi.cfg help more cgi.cfg help
checkcommands.cfg This file is used to define some basic commands you can use to check your systems with such as "check smtp", "check ftp",etc.
contactgroups.cfg This file is used to define information about contact groups. Ex. If you have multiple admins for your network (network admin, web admin, database admin, you can define which admins are in certain groups. (Nice to set up so that the web admins are not notified when the file server goes ... [more]

I have decided to write a three part article on the benefits of using Nagios. The first article focused on why I chose Nagios/what it offers. This second article will focus on installing Nagios on Mac OS X. The third article will focus on configuring Nagios. The fourth article will focus on improving the Nagios interface and further customizing it.

Downloading Nagios 1.2 (and other files)
At the time of this article, the stable release of Nagios is 1.2. There is a beta out for version 2 (2.0b4), but I decided to use the stable release. There are two few files you will need to download to properly install Nagios: the core distributionand the plugins. I also would recommend looking at the Nagios Exchange for extras, and of course xicons for some good looking replacement icons.

Installing Nagios 1.2
I used a few good web site tutorials on how to install Nagios, so no need to rewrite it. I will pass on the resources I used and, of course, make some random comments.

Nagios.org documentation
Mac OS X install specific information
O'Reilly's Nagio ... [more]

I have decided to write a three part article on the benefits of using Nagios. This first article will focus on why I chose Nagios/what it offers. The second article will focus on installing Nagios on Mac OS X. The third article will focus on configuring Nagios. The fourth article will focus on improving the Nagios interface and further customizing it.

If you manage a network with multiple servers or perhaps even just one server that runs multiple services (HTTP, SMTP, SMB, AFP, FTP, etc) and are looking for a network monitoring utility, look no further. Coming from a Mac OS background, I have used my share of monitoring utilities, and I am most impressed with Nagios.
In summary, Nagios monitors services or servers for failures/warnings so you, the Sys Admin, can take care of any problems as soon as they arise. You can set up Nagios to email you, page you, IM you, etc as soon as a problem is found with any of your servers.

Why Nagios?

Nagios is open source and O'Reilly ranks it as the #2 open source ... [more]

podcasts: I am a workaholic. I stop to take the dog out, eat, and watch Guiding Light. My grandmother listened to it on the radio. My mother watched it on the TV, and now, I can make the next jump in technology...CBS is now offering each episode as a podcast.
iPod nano: Good work Apple. This new iPod is a great display of your amazing design.
emacs: Today I officially made the move to emacs for my new text editor of choice. I have been trying to make the move since last spring...and the day is finally here. Pico and nano were fun, but time to move on.
vps: Damn it is cool to have your own personal UNIX server. I have had a lot of fun setting up Apache, MySQL, Exim, BIND, etc....and soon to be Q3A Server.
magnetic poetry: Everyone needs a break. Try relaxing with some magnetic poetry.

If you ever use Mac OS X client as a file server, or any type of server where you want some users to have access to SSH and others not, you can easily make it happen by using our old friend NetInfo Manager Applications > Utilities > NetInfo Manager. You can, very quickly, make sure that pesky user does not have shell access by defining the shell for the user as /bin/false. Sure there are other command line ways to do it, but come on, any chance to work with NetInfo Manager...you are going to take it!