Upgrading OS on nagios server

[gdolidze]

Hi all,

How does nagios recommend upgrading the OS on the Nagios server.

Our nagios server is currently on CentOS 6 and we want to upgrade it to 7.

Should we do a in place upgrade or make a new server?

are there migration tools that nagios has?

[inversecow]

Ahoy @gdolidze,

Interesting question indeed.
Looking at this from a more foundational level, you might be best served making a new server.

[UPGRADING FROM RHEL 6 TO RHEL 7](https://access.redhat.com/documentation ... el_7/index)

* must be RHEL 6.10 minimum
* must be x86_64 (64 bit), not x86 (32 bit)
* more details in the OS vendor guide

Just after entering Chapter 1:

```
**Supported groups of packages: Only packages from the following groups can be installed on the system before an in-place upgrade:**

Minimal (@minimal)
Base (@base)
Web Server (@web-server)
DHCP Server
NFS File Server (@nfs-server)
Print Server (@print-server)
CIFS file server

NOTE
Although upgrades of other packages and groups are not supported, certain packages can be uninstalled from the RHEL 6 system and reinstalled on the upgraded RHEL 7 system.
```

I would suggest you are likely to save more headache and OT by spinning up a fresh RHEL7 box, and migrating your installation over.

[Backing Up And Restoring Your Nagios XI System](https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf)

I have leveraged the steps in this guide to run APP fail-over (in name only, not using any sort of clustering automation type stuff).
In fact I am manually orchestrating the effort, including taking the backup, shipping it over to the "cold side", restoring the data onto the new node, turning up / turning down XI nodes for APP service, etc.
The APP backup contains an extract of the APP structures & data on the FS, and includes a dB dump (mysqldump, as I recall).
In this way, one might reasonably take one of these backups, and use it to spin up an identical copy / instance of the source XI instance (EG: for triage, audit, disaster recovery, etc.)

All of that said, not clear how a difference in OS version plays into this (have not done this).
I suspect dB versions would have to align, and I recall SUPP mentioning XI version must be aligned (at least for MAJOR.MINOR.x, and hope SUPP will correct me if inaccurate).
I expect our friends with the APP VENDOR will have more specific insight on this.

Regardless of the path chosen, good luck!

[benjaminsmith]

@inversecow Appreciate your input.

We always recommend spinning up a new server instead of doing an in-place upgrade. On practical reason for this is that you will take down the production monitoring system for some period of time while it's downloading and compiling the new OS.

Best to spin up another server, and then switch it over once you are ready. We have a migration guide available to help you with this process on our knowledgebase.

Migrating Nagios XI to a different Server

Backing Up And Restoring Your Nagios XI System

Let us know if you need any assistance.
Benjamin

License Entitlements
https://support.nagios.com/kb/article.php?id=145

[gdolidze]

do you guys have a centos 7 ovf i can deploys on vmware.

[benjaminsmith]

Hi,

The current ova file is using Cent 7 still. This will likely change later this year, but for now, we are staying on Cent 7.

Download Link

Code: Select all

https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nagiosxi/5/ovf/nagiosxi-5.8.2-64.ova

--Benjamin

[gdolidze]

Hi,

Do I need to worry about this or can this be ignored if everything working correctly?

[root@localhost ~]# /usr/local/nagiosxi/scripts/restore_xi.sh /store/backups/nagiosxi/1616077527.tar.gz
WARNING: you are trying to restore a el6 backup on a el7 system
Compiled plugins and other binaries as well as httpd configurations
will NOT be restored.

You will need to re-download the Nagios XI tarball, and re-install
the subcomponents for this system. More info here:
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf

Guri

[vtrac]

Hi gdolidze,
Ben is out today, so I will try to help out with this ticket.

Did you download and install (setup) the below OVA file?
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... 8.2-64.ova

If so, your VM is running (a clean, empty) Nagios XI 5.8.2

You then restored from your old XI, not sure what version, but not everything is restored.

Your restore excluded the following folders (and others) from your backup, which belong to your OLD Nagios

Code: Select all

--exclude="usr/local/nagios/bin" 
--exclude="usr/local/nagios/sbin" 
--exclude="usr/local/nagios/libexec"

However, it saved the below file which has your old XI info .... so you are thinking you run the old XI version but you dont'.

Code: Select all

/usr/local/nagiosxi/var/xi-sys.cfg

Here's what my suggestion:
Ignore your OVA 5.8.2 VM you has just created, since it has both 5.8.2 and your old XI stuff.

Please start over and follow the below steps:

The XI backup/restore process makes this pretty easy
The process is this:
- Spin up new server running EL7/EL8 latest

- Install the exact same version of XI that the old server has on the new server, no need to configure it, just install it (do not try to restore over different versions you will cause issues)
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... -Linux.pdf

- If you have a RAMDisk installed or are using RRDCacheD on the old system, set them up before restoring:
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... giosXI.pdf
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf

- Backup the old/transfer to new/restore to the new
https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... ios-XI.pdf

- Shutdown (or re-IP) the old, set the old IP on the new system so you don't have to update agent configs/FW rules
https://support.nagios.com/kb/article/c ... s-549.html

That's pretty much it. Please be aware of what a single XI license entitles you to:
https://support.nagios.com/kb/article.php?id=145


Regards,
Vinh