NagiosXI Monitoring
Setup a free NagiosXI VM and monitor the Websites, Database Servers, MS Windows & Linux servers and services. Simply install the NCPA agent on clients. Links provided below.
NagiosXI Install & Monitoring Configuration
NagiosXI Server Setup
You can visit the Nagios website and download the software for free. This should include a OVA file that can easily be used to spin up a VM within ESXi or VMware Workstation. There are limitations on the free version but for home labs its perfect for about 7
systems.
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Spin up the server in VMware Workstation
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Verify the settings and change it to Bridged
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Default Console Login:
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Username: root
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Password: nagiosxi
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Command to Get IP: hostname -I
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The website default username for Nagios XI:
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Username: nagiosadmin
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Password: nagiosxi
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Default Page Setup:
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Set TimeZone
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Set Theme
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Set License to Free
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Set Login:
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Username: nagiosadmin
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Password: xxxxxx
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Setup Email: shead@scriptsbyscott.com
NCPA Agent Setup
#Pull RPM
wget https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/ncpa/ncpa-latest.el9.x86_64.rpm
#Install Pre-Req
dnf install -y python3 python3-pip -y
#Install NCPA RPM
dnf install -y ./ncpa-latest.el9.x86_64.rpm -y
#Open Firewall Port:
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5693/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload
#Set API Token /usr/local/ncpa/etc/ncpa.cfg
sudo sed -i 's/community_string = /community_string = mytoken/g' /usr/local/ncpa/etc/ncpa.cfg
#Restart Listener:
systemctl restart ncpa_listener
systemctl restart ncpa_passive
### Notes on how to remove ports as well ###
### List Ports ###
#sudo firewall-cmd --list-ports
### Remove Ports ###
#sudo firewall-cmd --remove-port=5693/tcp
Check Community String
Monitoring Setup
Once logged in the Admin section allows for quick setup of email and users.
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E-Mail Notification Setup:
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Under admin \ email you can setup SMTP utilizing your local SMTP or remote Gmail. When using Gmail you will be requires to make an app password to bypass the Dual Auth process.
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To use Gmail to send emails within your applications with a password, you need to generate an "App Password" in your Google Account settings, which is a unique password specifically for applications and requires enabling 2-Step Verification on your account; use this app password as the password when configuring your application's email settings to send emails through Gmail's SMTP server.
Key steps:
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Enable 2-Step Verification:
Log into your Google account, go to "Security" settings, and turn on 2-Step Verification if it's not already enabled.
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Create an App Password:
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In your Google Account settings, navigate to "Security" and then "App passwords".
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Select "Select app" and choose the application you're using (or "Other" if not listed).
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Click "Generate" to create a unique app password.
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Copy this generated password as it will only be displayed once.
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Adding a host or service to monitor is simple using the built in options by running the wizard.
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Once at the Wizard page simply type in the search for the technology you are looking to monitor. Note, install the NCPA agent on your clients first.
I have utilized the following with the free licnese:
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Credentialed Monitoring with MySQL Server
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Monitor Splunk URL
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Monitor IIS URL
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RHEL 9 using the NCPA Agent Community String
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Server Status​ & Resources
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NFS Service
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SSHD Service
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MS Windows using the NCPA Agent ​
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The majority of these are default performance counters from the Wizard and NCPA agent on RHEL 9.5. The only services I added was sshd and the nfs server monitroing.
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