Nagios plugins documentation doesn't explain how to install

[mmacpuguy]

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/nagi ... ugins.html

The documentation tells you how to check an installed plugin, but not how to install them.

Anyone have a basic explanation of how one would install a plugin?

Thanks

[Box293]

It depends on the plugin!

A lot of the plugins from the Nagios Exchange are just glorified scripts, so all they need is to be placed in the plugins or libexec directory.

Others require compiling.

Testing from the command line is just the first step.

Then you need to create a command for the plugin.

After that you will create a service that uses the command.

[eloyd]

And don't forget - if you need to execute the plugin on a remote server (perhaps for an NRPE-based check) then you need to install it on the remote server, not the Nagios server (unless the Nagios server is also going to run the check locally). This means that if the Nagios server and the remote server are not exactly the same, you will probably need to compile the plugin on both boxes, and not just copy it from Nagios -> remote.

[slansing]

Absolutely, the main differentiating factor is, does the plugin accept a "-H" or hostaddress flag? If so, it is able to be ran from the Nagios server in most cases, and you can set it up there. If it's a plugin that will only return local system info, it needs to be placed/compiled on the remote server and called with NRPE, or NCPA, or even a passive agent such as NRDS/NCPA, or NSCA. They each have their respective guides on-line as well, and most cover plugin installation.