Nagios XI without SQL database

[amx]

Currently I'm testing Nagios in Nagios Core.
As a backend I'm using MKLivestatus.

According to system requirements two ways of improving Nagios (XI) performance is through a remote SQL server, and through rrdcache.
If I use MKLivestatus while upgrading to Nagios XI would I avoid having to create an SQL database?

Does anyone have experience how (if this is the case) running Nagios XI without an SQL database would improve performance by using a socket like MKLivestatus?

[ssax]

I don't think you could even get Nagios XI to install without using MySQL without making tons of changes in the Nagios XI install script. That being said, it wouldn't be considered a supported configuration even if you did get it to work.

[amx]

Thanks for you response. In my Nagios Core setup I'm using MKLivestatus as backend.

Would the installation still be supported if I installed MKlivestatus?
according to this thread https://support.nagios.com/forum/viewto ... =6&t=30570 (@scottwilkerson), it would be no problem to install it.

Also, how is the SQL server used in the initial configuration? Storing monitoring information? Server configuration?

The reason I'm eager to use MKLivestatus is the terrific performance it offers. Also configuring MKLivestatus was dead easy and means almost no looking after once setup.
I'm basically interested to know if installing Nagios with an SQL database would mean lots of extra work.

[tmcdonald]

MKLiveStatus can probably be installed without issue, but we neither support it nor can guarantee that it won't break things once it is running.

As far as the SQL server is concerned, we use it for many things:

* One database is used to hold all of the configs (absolutely required for XI)
* One is used to hold NDO data (not strictly required I don't think, but you lose a LOT of functionality without it)
* Since XI 5 we now dropped Postgres and just use MySQL for everything, so the XI User data is stored there.

Nagios XI's fullinstall script handles all of the setup for you, so assuming you use a clean, minimal Cent/RHEL install there should be no extra work.

[amx]

Thanks for your answers. I appreciate the info.

Maybe I'm stuck thinking in terms of command line editing, but just to verify:
since all configuration files are stored in an SQL database,
how much room does that leave for command line editing/editing configuration files through custom scripts?

I'd like to know because I'm planning to pull application data into the configuration files as custom object variables.
If I store that info into a database instead (from a script), will the WUI pick it up automatically?

The real advantage XI has in my opinion is the advanced GUI options. I really would like to take advantage of that, and the Nagios Exchange plugins that would become available.
Like I said I setup Nagios Core without much problems, and I really like how flexible it is in configuring. Configuration and maintenance are pretty important, and I am looking to automate as much of it as possible.

[hsmith]

how much room does that leave for command line editing/editing configuration files through custom scripts?

While most of the editing is done in the core configuration manager, you do have the static/import directory options.

https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ucture.pdf

XI has all of the functionality of core, but with a nice GUI that makes things a lot easier for non-Linux people. Hopefully the information above can be of some use to you.

[jolson]

since all configuration files are stored in an SQL database,
how much room does that leave for command line editing/editing configuration files through custom scripts?

You can think of database configurations as a 'staging environment'. What I mean by that is that any configs held in the database are not reflected to the GUI until an 'Apply Configuration' is run. When an 'Apply Configuration' does run, Nagios XI first deletes all old configuration files, then it writes out the new flat files (basing the configs on the database).

Due to this, you cannot manually touch config files, as any Apply Configuration would re-write them. If you do manually touch the database, be sure to Apply Configuration when you're finished so that appropriate flat files are generated.

Let me know if you have any questions, thanks!

[tmcdonald]

Also, if you are planning on doing automated config management, take a look into the API we have now. All the documentation is available in the XI Help section of the web interface.