Duration shows N/A

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uofcmissouri
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:13 pm

Duration shows N/A

Post by uofcmissouri »

Hi,

I just recently installed NagiosXI 2009R1.1H and have setup a few host checks. Everything seems to be working correctly except I noticed on the host status screen that the state duration is showing N/A for all of the checks I have created. If I go to advanced and click on "See this host in Nagios Core" I am able to see the current uptime of the check. Is there something I am forgetting to do on this? The only check that shows a duration is the localhost check for the nagios server that was already setup on install. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
mmestnik
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:23 pm

Re: Duration shows N/A

Post by mmestnik »

I wonder if this is an advancement. You should be complaining that Nagios Core is doing the wrong thing. The time displayed is the time the check has been keeping tabs on the service, but in reality the service has been up for much longer.

I'll as the developers.
uofcmissouri
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:13 pm

Re: Duration shows N/A

Post by uofcmissouri »

I am not sure if I was very clear on my question so I have attached some screenshots to better explain what I meant.

In the host detail screen all of the host checks I have created show N/A on duration.
nagiosxi.jpg
However if I view the host under nagios core it will show something like
Host Status: UP (for 0d 1h 9m 43s+).
nagioscore.jpg
I was under the impression that the Host Status in Nagios Core is the same as duration under NagiosXI. If its reporting in one, why not the other?
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
mmestnik
Posts: 972
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:23 pm

Re: Duration shows N/A

Post by mmestnik »

We just talked about this in our meeting and have a firm answer from both the developers and support/admins.
The Duration for new checks should be N/A, for the following reason. Two or Three years from now you would not want the duration to read X years Y days Z hours. This is because you should immediately wonder "What happened X years ago?" Secondly the data reported is incorrect, the duration is actually much longer then displayed by Nagios Core. This is seen as an improvement.

As for Nagios Core there are several things going on. Firstly data reported on web pages in pseudo accurate, it's generated on the fly by scripts that have a limited view and even less understanding. To get accurate data you would have to query the Nagios Daemon and we believe(though are not completely certain) that the Daemon returns Blank for this information. It's our current understanding that the Nagios Core CGI manipulates the data to display whatever it can calculate, as a substitute for returning Blank. This difference is that Nagios XI substitutes the string "N/A" for Blank.

We are glad to report that if this information can be obtained through Nagios Core. The decisions to do this for Nagios Core was in response to a request just like this one. Nagios XI is a platform for the Nagios brand to implement monitoring that is less influenced by the needs of the one or the few and Commercially developed for the needs of the many.
uofcmissouri
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:13 pm

Re: Duration shows N/A

Post by uofcmissouri »

Thank you, I appreciate you explaining how that works. It now makes perfect sense to me. I appreciate the quick response on this.
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