Question

Monitor an individual process on linux with Nagios NRPE

Asked by: Rigged

Hi

I have a Groundwork/Nagios server setup to monitor a few Windows and Linux Machines. All my Linux monitoring I do by using NRPE. All works 100%, but I would like to monitor a single individual process on a few of the Linux Servers.

I found a page where they showed how it can be done by using nrpe, but for the life of me I can't find it now.
Anyone know how to do it?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-05-14 at 00:14:08ID24407527
Tags

nagios

,

nagios client

,

nagios plugins

,

nrpe

Topics

Linux Administration

,

Linux Networking

,

IT Administration

Participating Experts
3
Points
250
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Nagios & Windows
    Does Nagios work with Windows or Linux?
  2. nagios
    Good day experts I need to know the steps to add new host to nagios so I can monitor other linux servers, and is it possible to monitor windows server also and How?? Thnaks
  3. Nagios Installation
    Hi I am new to nagios i need to install nagios on Linux centos to monitor one of my webserver
  4. Nagios Monitor
    Hey, I'm New to Nagios, I have configured Nagios in my linux machine. My requirement is to check whether mysql is up and apache is running. If not Nagios has to trigger a mail to a specified user. Please help Thanks
  5. Nagios
    I cannot figure how to get websphere monitored with nagios. I have nagios configured as well as the websphere box running the nrpe to be monitored by nagios. They are both functioning well, i just cant seem to figure out how to configure the check_was plugin

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: KeremEPosted on 2009-05-14 at 00:40:46ID: 24382426

hi,

Does the process you want to monitor has a socket connection or you want to check it via ps or some other way? Will you please give some details on the proces and what is your preferred method to monitor it ?

 

by: RiggedPosted on 2009-05-14 at 01:39:42ID: 24382711

Hi KeremE

Well all my current linux checks (disk, total procs, load....) are done by nrpe and then reported back to the Server.
The specific service I want to monitor is my squid proxy server process by the process name "squid".

From what I understand you can pass any nagios check commad through to nrpe.

Below code is the other commads I have placed in /usr/local/nagios/etc/nrpe.cfg (on the machine that is being monitored)  and below it is the command I run from the Nagios server to do the NRPE check:

[the server passes check_nrpe through to the monitored client.  -c xxxx is the check/command that is run locally on the monitored monitored client, that passes the results back to NRPE for the server]

Extract from nrpe.cfg for the check commands ran on the monitored client:
---------------------
command[check_users]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_users -w 5 -c 10
command[check_load]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_load -w 15,10,5 -c 30,25,20
command[check_disk]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_disk -w 10% -c 5% -p /dev/sda1
command[check_zombie_procs]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -w 5 -c 10 -s Z
command[check_total_procs]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -w 150 -c 200
command[check_swap]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_swap -w 20% -c 10%
_____________________________________________________________________
Below is a few of the commands I run from the Groundwork server to get the results for the above checks:
---------------------
check_nrpe -t 60 -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c check_disk
check_nrpe -t 60 -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c check_load
check_nrpe -t 60 -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c check_total_procs

                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: TintinPosted on 2009-05-14 at 02:20:34ID: 24382952

Just use the check_procs plugin.

 

by: KeremEPosted on 2009-05-14 at 02:21:56ID: 24382959

I got it. Since the Squid uses port 800 we can check the port to iss if squid is alive.
- go to /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects
- create a file called proxies.cfg

The contents would be:

define service{
            use                               generic-service
            hostname                     prox1.localdomain
            service_description     Squid proxy service
            check_command          check_nrpe!check_squid
            notfications_nabled      1
}

Save Exit

In fact this sobject should be included in nagios.cfg in one line  cfg_file directives
 
edit client side nrpe to insert
command[check_squid]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_tcp -p 800 -H 10.10.10.10

Save Exit..

This will connect to the port 800
and if it can you'll get a 0 if not you'll get error.

   

 

by: KeremEPosted on 2009-05-14 at 02:41:54ID: 24383059

command[check_squid]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_tcp -H 10.10.10.10  -p 800 -w 100 -c 200

you might as well use check_system_pp

edit cehck_system_pp script and add these lines:

PROCLIST_RED=\"squid\"
PROCLIST_YELLOW=\"less_critical_process other_stuffd\"
PORTLIST=\"800\"

command[check_squid]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_system_pp -H 10.10.10.10


or snmp_ping, as tintitn suggwested with check_procs ....
you hacve los of alternatives to check something with nagios.

 

by: RiggedPosted on 2009-05-14 at 03:09:27ID: 24383201

Hey guys thanks for all the help. I came right.

I added the following line for the Groundwork monitoring server Check:

check_nrpe -t 60 -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c check_squid

and on the monitored client all you have to add is:

command[check_squid]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -C squid

Quite simple actually :)

 

by: RiggedPosted on 2009-05-14 at 03:10:35ID: 31581339

Thanks dudes

 

by: rohitskapoorPosted on 2009-06-25 at 06:55:47ID: 24711395

Hey,

I'm New to Nagios,
I have configured Nagios in my linux machine.
My requirement is to check whether mysql is up and apache is running.
If not Nagios has to trigger a mail to a specified user.

Please help

Thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...