Nagios with Windows Machines

Overview: In order to use nagios to monitor Windows Machines you need to install and configure NSClient++ and then choose your transports methods - which are facilitates communication between nagios and your windows server. There are three transports methods or you also create your own transports method. The three methods are: NSClient (check_nt) NRPE (check_nrpe) NSCA

NSClient++ installation: Obtain NSClient from the following link:

http://nsclient.org/nscp/downloads You can either choose *.msi version which will be easier to be installed since it is going to install all dependencies, or you can install the *.zip file to install it manually from command line as the following: o Extract the *.zip content and copy it to any place i.e(c:\program files\NSClient++) o Run the command line and go to the place where you coppied the NSClient++ file contents. o Type the following command: Shell>nsclinet++ /install|uninstall Shell>SysTray /install|uninstall o Start NSClient service by typing the following command: Shell>nsclient++ /start|stop|test

NSClient++ Configuration: The configuration file can be found on <installation_path>\ NSC.ini and by default all plug-ins are disabled so you need to edit this file. There are modules that are located at subdirectory in the installation_path and used for checking services propose. So you have to enable all modules you need to work with by removing the (;) which is at the beginning of each line in the NSC.ini file There are also some settings needs to be done: o Password, if you specify this option, youll need to use -s <password> you specify in the commands that youll add to /etc/nagios/objects/commands.cfg on the nagios server side. o Allowed_hosts: enter the IP of the nagios sever.

In the following there are more details about NSClient++ configuration according to the type of transport that is going to be used.

NSClient(check_nt) It is the simplest transports way; youve only to edit the following: On windows machine side: - Edit NSC.ini to enable all modules.dll you want to use. - Open the services manager and make sure the NSClientpp service is allowed to interact with the desktop (see the 'Log On' tab of the services manager). If it isn't already allowed to interact with the desktop, check the box to allow it to. On the Nagios server: - Uncomment the line related to windows.cfg file in nagios.cfg o Shell$ nano /etc/nagios/nagios.cfg o Uncomment the following line: - Edit /etc/nagios/objects/windows.cfg file. o Add windows machine definition as the following
define host{ use windows-server ; Inherit default values from a Windows server template (make sure you keep this line!) host_name alias address } <your windows machine name> My Windows Server <windows machines IP Address>

There are built in services like: - Memory usage - CPU load - Disk usage - Service states - Running processes