8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

Centreon:HowToMonitorYour
WindowsServerUsingNSClient
byanismaj

Pleaseshare

209

Introduction
CentreonisanOpenSourcesoftwarepackagealternativetoNagiosXithatletsyousuperviseall
theinfrastructureandapplicationscomprisingyourinformationsystem.
CESStandardistheOpenandfreeversionoftheproduct.CentreonEnterpriseServer(CES)includes
allCentreonfunctionsinauniqueproduct.
Formoreinformation,youcanvisitthewebsiteofCentreon,andcheckourarticleinthislink.

PurposeandTargetAudience
ThisarticledescribeshowtomonitorWindowsmachineswithCentreonusingNSClientAgent.
TheNSClient++agentcanbeobtainedfromdirectdownloadfromtheNSClient++downloadspage
athttp://nsclient.org/nscp/downloads.
TheNSClient++agentmustbeinstalledonthetargetWindowsmachineandconfigured
beforeCentreoncanmonitorsystemmetrics,services,processes,orperformancedataonthe
targetmachine.
ThisarticleisintendedforusebyCentreonAdministratorswhowanttomonitorWindowsmachines
withCentreon.
IfyoustilldidntinstallCentreon,checkthisarticletoseehowtodothat.

InstallingandConfiguringNSClientOnThe
RemoteWindowsMachine
BeforeyoucanmonitoraWindowsmachineusingNSClient,youllneedtoinstallandconfigurethe
necessaryNSClientsoftwareontheremoteserver.
1DownloadtheNSClient++installerpackagetothetargetmachineyouwishtoinstalliton.
2RuntheNSClient++MSIinstallerpackagetoinitiatetheinstallation.Thewelcomescreenwill
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

1/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

appear.ClickNexttocontinuetothenextstep.

3OnceyouhaveagreedtotheLicenseAgreementclickNexttocontinue.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

2/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

4Inthenextstepyouwillneedtochoosesetuptypethatbestsuitetoyou.ThetypeTypicalis
recommendedformostusers.

5Youcanmakechangeinthepathoftheinstallationifyouwantthat.Elsenochangesare
requiredforaworkinginstallationoftheNSClient.ClickNexttocontinue.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

3/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

6InthenextstepyouwillneedtoconfiguretheNSClient++agent.Thesestepsareimportant!
Makesureyou:
EntertheIPaddressoftheCenteronserverintheAllowedhostsbox.
EnterapasswordintheNSClientpasswordboxthatwillberequiredforcommunication
betweentheCenteronserverandtheWindowsmachine.
CheckthefollowingboxesintheModulestoloadsection:
Enablecommoncheckplugins
Enablensclientserver(check_nt)
ClickNexttocontinue.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

4/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

7ClicktheInstallbuttononthenextscreentostarttheinstallation.

8Whentheinstallationcompletes,clickFinishtocompletethesetup.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

5/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

YoushouldnowhavetheNSClient++windowsmonitoringagentinstalledonyourtargetwindow
machine.NowyouneedtorunNSClientasservicewhichmeanstheWindowsmachineisreadyto
bemonitoredwithCentreon.

TestYourAgentInstallationFromThe
CommandLine
Itsusefultobefamiliarwithrunningyourpluginfromthecommandline,forbothinformationaland
debuggingpurposes.Check_ntpluginislocatedinthe/usr/local/nagios/libexecdirectory.Login
toyourCentreonserver,navigatetothepluginsdirectoryandrunyourpluginwiththesimilar
commands:
./check_ntH$HOSTADDRESS$p12489spasswordvCLIENTVERSION
IfthecommunicationbetweenCentreonserverandtheremotemachineyoushouldgetthisresult
asshowninthefollowingexample:
./check_ntH192.168.150.220vCLIENTVERSIONt30spasswordp12489
NSClient++0,4,1,10220130715

ConfiguringCentreontoMonitortheWindows
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

6/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

Host
OncetheinstallationofNSClientisdone,itsabouttimewestartwiththeconfigurationofour
objects.
Logintothewebinterfacevia:http://[SERVER_IP]/centreonandenteryourlogininformation.

IntroductiontothewebinterfaceofCentreon
Centreonwebinterfaceismadeupofseveralmenus,eachmenuhasaspecificfunction:
StacksImage16805

TheHomemenuenablesaccesstothefirsthomescreenafterloggingin.Itsummariesthe
generalstatusofthesupervision.
TheMonitoringmenucontainsthestatusofallthesupervisedelementsinrealanddelayed
timeviatheviewingoflogs.
TheViewsmenuservestoviewandconfiguredtheperformancesgraphicsforeachelementin
theinformationsystem.
TheReportingmenuservestoview,intuitively(viadiagrams),theevolutionofthesupervision
onagivenperiod.
TheConfigurationmenuservestoconfigureallmonitoredobjectsandthesupervision
infrastructure.
TheAdministrationmenuservestoconfiguretheCentreonwebinterfaceandtoviewthe
generalstatusoftheservers.

Hostconfiguration
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

7/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

FirststeptodoistoaddtheWindowshost.
GounderConfigurationHostsAdd:

Inthegeneralinformation,filloutthefields::

Entertheinformationregardingthepollingstrategy:

Ourhostwillthenbecheckedevery5minutesandanalertwillbesentout4minutesafterourhost
goesDOWN(2checkattemptswith1checkevery2minuteswillconfirmitsHARDstate).
Thenotificationwillbeeffectiveduringthetimeperiodof24hoursaday,7daysaweek.
Atlast,thenotificationparametersareasfollows:

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

8/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

Then,clickonSave.
AfteryoushouldseethathasbeenaddintoCentreon.

Servicesconfiguration
Theconfigurationofourhostisnowdoneallwehavelefttodoisaddthedefinitionsofour
services.Inordertodoso,
GotoConfigurationServicesServicesbyhostsAdd:

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20s

9/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

Inordertocreateourserviceforcheckingthememoryusage,enterthefollowing:

IntheRelationstab,selectthehostthatwaspreviouslycreated,thenclickonSave:

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20

10/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

FollowthesameprocedureinordertocreateotherserviceslikeCPUUsage,DiskUsageetc..

Generationofconfigurationfiles
Oncethehostsandservicesarecreatedandproperlyconfigured,itisrequiredtogeneratethe
configurationfilesthroughtwosteps:
configurationtesting
configurationexport.
GototheConfigurationMonitoringEnginesGeneratemenu:

First,selectthemonitoringpollerfromthedropdownmenu,checkthefirsttwocheckboxes,and
thenclickontheExportbutton:

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20

11/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

IftheoutputisthetestisGeneratingfilesOK,thenyoucangotostep#2.Otherwise,itis
requiredtofixtheproblemswhichshouldbedisplayedintheconsole.
Now,checkthetwoothercheckboxesandclickontheExportbuttonagain:

Iftheexportprocessissuccessful,youshouldseethefollowingdisplayed:Restartingengine
OK

CheckingHostandServicesStatus
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20

12/13

8/1/2015

Centreon:HowToMonitorYourWindowsServerUsingNSClientUnixmen

TheresultsofthepollingarevisibleintheMonitoringHostsorMonitoringServices
menus.First,ourservicesandhosthavenotbeencheckedyet,sotheyappearwitha
PENDINGstatus.

Thescreenshotbelowshowsdisk,cpu,memory,service,andprocessmonitoringcapabilitiesof
Centreon.

Thatsall.
Congratulations!EnjoyyournewMonitoringplatformCentreon.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Ch1%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2020px%3B%20fontfamily%3A%20'Source%20Sans%20Pro'%2C%20

13/13