Parasitic characters in output

[StefThomas]

Hi,

This problem happens randomly after the agent restarts, with any plugin. For example, it can trigger a false warning about two processes being present, while only one is. When this happens, I notice parasitic characters in the output, as in the example below:

Code: Select all

PROCS WARNING: 2 processes with regex args 'standalone' | procs=2;$▒2V$;1:2;0;

Restarting the agent always resolves the issue, but it’s still annoying as it leads to false alerts.

It happens with version 4.0.3 (on RHEL 7) as with 4.1.0 (on RHEL 8)

I activated the debug mode on one of our server and I’m waiting the problem to happen again on this particular server, but it didn’t yet.

A Github issue has been opened in October 2022 for this bug but hasn’t received any answer so far : https://github.com/NagiosEnterprises/nrpe/issues/269

I’m posting this here hoping it may have more attention.

Regards.

[kg2857]

What is the problem you're trying to resolve? What are the symptoms?
Since the word parasitic is meaningless in this context, I'll guess you mean the strange character in the perfdata output.
If restarting the agent resolves the issue maybe share what agent you use.

[StefThomas]

Hi,

Thx for your quick answer and also to tell me that “parasitic” is wrong in this context. English isn’t my first language (I’m French). I should’ve checked before using this word.

Yes I’m talking about the strange character in the perfdata.

The agent is the NRPE agent supplied by Redhat in RHEL 7 or 8 (we got the bug with both versions). It’s version 4.0.3 for RHEL 7 and 4.1.0 for RHEL 8 (8.7) arch is x86_64.

This is a bug that is hard to troubleshoot, because it happens only sporadically. But I wondered if some developers may have a hint on what could cause that kind of bug.

Another information I forgot to tell : when I said it happens “randomly after the agent restarts”, it’s precisely when the agent starts after an OS reboot.

[kg2857]

Sorry if I grumped about the parasitic bit.
If you have a link to earlier issues feel free to share it.
Again, what problem does this create? I've never seen is so maybe it exists but I, and many others don't know about it.
Are you installing nrpe via an rpm or compiling? The nagios folks seem to prefer a manual install. I have no idea if one is better. I always install via a compile.
It's a bit of a confusing problem and I've never noticed it (maybe I need to). I'm also not sure how to localize it to a service and it seems to be nrpe. Grr.