nagios_exporter

nagios_exporter

A Prometheus exporter currently supporting:

• Nagios XI
• Nagios Core 4
• Nagios Core 3
• CheckMK

It includes metrics on the current state and configuration of Nagios. This includes the number of hosts, services, and information about their monitoring setup. For example, this exporter will output the number of flapping hosts, passive checks, or hosts in downtime.

Practical use cases for this exporter may include:

• A Nagios overview - see broad status of hosts and services
• Visualize changes in host status after making adjustments to Nagios checks
• Detect an uptick in unknown check results after converting many active checks to passive

This exporter does not output Nagios check results as Prometheus metrics; it is designed to export metrics of the Nagios monitoring server itself for meta-monitoring.

Table of Contents

• nagios_exporter
  • Table of Contents
  • Installation
    • Debian/RPM package
    • Docker
    • Binary
    • Source
  • Configuration
    • Configuration File
    • CLI
    • Nagios Core 3/4 support
  • Metrics
  • Grafana
  • Troubleshooting
    • NagiosXI
    • Nagios Core 3/4, CheckMK
  • Resources Used
  • Contributing
  • Releasing
  • Contributors ✨

Installation

Debian/RPM package

Substitute {{ version }} for your desired release.

wget https://github.com/wbollock/nagios_exporter/releases/download/v{{ version }}/prometheus-nagios-exporter_{{ version }}_linux_amd64.{deb,rpm}
{dpkg,rpm} -i prometheus-nagios-exporter_{{ version }}_linux_amd64.{deb,rpm}

Docker

Populate config.toml with your APIKey = NagiosXIAPIKey

sudo docker run \
-v ./config.toml:/etc/prometheus-nagios-exporter/config.toml \
ghcr.io/wbollock/nagios_exporter \
--nagios.scrape-uri http://localhost

Binary

wget https://github.com/wbollock/nagios_exporter/releases/download/v{{ version }}/nagios_exporter_{{ version }}_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
tar xvf nagios_exporter_{{ version }}_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
./nagios_exporter/prometheus-nagios-exporter

Source

wget https://github.com/wbollock/nagios_exporter/archive/refs/tags/v{{ version }}.tar.gz
tar xvf nagios_exporter-{{ version }}.tar.gz
cd ./nagios_exporter-{{ version }}
go build nagios_exporter.go
./nagios_exporter.go

Configuration

Create a simple config.toml in /etc/prometheus-nagios-exporter with your Nagios API key:

# prometheus-nagios-exporter configuration

APIKey = ""

Configuration File

In TOML format.

CLI

To see all available configuration flags:

./prometheus-nagios-exporter -h

Nagios Core 3/4 support

This exporter also supports Nagios Core 3/4 and CheckMK, albeit with a subset of metrics and reliance on the nagiosstats binary. There is no RESTful API for either monitoring platform, so the exporter must be run directly on the Nagios host and have access to execute nagiostats.

It is also recommended to pass the path of the Nagios configuration

Typical location and usage of the binary:

• Nagios Core 3/4:
  • --nagios.stats_binary: /usr/local/nagios/bin/nagiostats
  • --nagios.config_path: /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg
• CheckMK:
  • --nagios.stats_binary: /omd/sites/<your-site>/bin/nagiostats
  • --nagios.config_path: /omd/sites/<your-site>/tmp/nagios/nagios.cfg

Example usage:

./nagios_exporter --nagios.stats_binary "/usr/local/nagios/bin/nagiostats" --nagios.config_path "/usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg"

Note that this flag nullifies all others. It cannot be used in conjunction with the Nagios XI API.

Metrics

Grafana

Import the dashboard template (instructions).

Troubleshooting

Ensure nagios_up returns 1.

NagiosXI

Please check your API key and Nagios reachability:

curl -GET "http://<nagios_url>/nagiosxi/api/v1/objects/host?apikey=<apikey>&pretty=1"

Nagios Core 3/4, CheckMK

Ensure the user running the Nagios Exporter can execute nagiostats fully:

sudo su <prometheus-user> -s /bin/bash -c "/usr/local/nagios/bin/nagiostats -c /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg"

Resources Used

• haproxy_expoter
• 15 Steps to Write an Application Prometheus Exporter in GO
• curl-to-go
• mirth_exporter
• golang-json-api-client
• jsonutils
• goreleaser
• nfpm

Contributing

To build and run the Debian package, install go-releaser and run:

goreleaser release --clean --snapshot
# currently I develop on a VM running NagiosXI, but a container would be cool too
scp dist/prometheus-nagios-exporter_1.2.2-next_linux_386.deb root@<nagiosXI-VM-ip>:/root/
dpkg -i prometheus-nagios-exporter_1.2.2-next_linux_amd64.deb
# examine metrics
ssh root@<nagiosXI-VM-ip>
curl -s localhost:9927/metrics | grep "^nagios"

Install pre-commit hooks:

pre-commit install

Releasing

Follow goreleaser's quick start instructions.

# make changes, merge into main
export GITHUB_TOKEN="YOUR_GH_TOKEN"
git tag -a v<semver> -m "Release summary"
git push origin v<semver>
# login to ghcr too
# https://docs.github.com/en/packages/working-with-a-github-packages-registry/working-with-the-container-registry#authenticating-with-a-personal-access-token-classic
echo $CR_PAT | docker login ghcr.io -u $USERNAME --password-stdin

goreleaser release

Contributors ✨

TJ Hoplock 💻 🧑‍🏫

This project follows the all-contributors specification.