Install Nagios for MS SQL Server DB monitoring

[mvkally]

Dear Team,

I am new to Nagios, I am a MS SQLServer DBA. My current project want to use Nagios as our monitoring tool for all our SQL Server Servers.

So kindly help me, if any tutorials / documents or videos available on the below.

1. Pre- requisite software for Nagios - SQL Server.
2. How to install Nagios (Windows OS).
3. Plugins needed for SQL Server.
4. How to configure SQL Server and databases.
5. Access permissions for Nagios monitoring console.

Thanks in Advance.

[abrist]

1. Pre- requisite software for Nagios - SQL Server.

? There is no Nagios "SQL Server". The closest you may find is the ndoutils package or the nagiosql project. But both of these are just addons to nagios for storing object configs or historical data in mysql databases.

2. How to install Nagios (Windows OS).

Nagios core/XI both *only* run on linux. There are a number of windows agents/plugins used for checking windows servers, but nagios itself only runs on linux/unix.

3. Plugins needed for SQL Server.

An agent: NSClient, WMI, NCPA, or SNMP.
Plugins can be dependent on the agent and what services you are trying to monitor.

4. How to configure SQL Server and databases.

Please clarify?

5. Access permissions for Nagios monitoring console.

Please Clarify? Nagios core or Nagios XI?

EDIT: You can run the XI server in a virtual machine - in fact, you can demo it with the free vmware player and the appliance on our downloads page: http://library.nagios.com/library/produ ... loads/main

[mvkally]

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

I understood that Nagios will run on Linux environment. So is it possible to monitor the SQL Server instances and DBs running on Windows machines through Linux Nagios.

If yes, Is it any front end tool (Web interface) needed to monitor that, also please let me what is the pre-requisite for the web UI.

Thanks.

[lmiltchev]

You don't need any additional (front end) tools to monitor SQL Server instances and DBs running on Windows machines. In Nagios XI, all you need to do is run one of the MSSQL Wizards, that are included by default (MSSQL Database, MSSQL Server, and MSSQL Query Wizard).

[mvkally]

Thank you.

So to setup the monitoring through Nagios, I need a Linux machine on which I need to install Nagios XI + MS SQL plugins.

In Nagios XI, we have to configure all the SQL Server IP with port number to monitor the SQL Server service. If we need any specific service example: DB mirroring we need to install that specific plugins.

As per the pricing mentioned in Nagios website only till 7 machines it is free of cost and beyond we need to pay.

please correct, if I am wrong in the above.

[Stuart Watts]

So to setup the monitoring through Nagios, I need a Linux machine on which I need to install Nagios XI + MS SQL plugins.

There's a pre-installed NagiosXI VM you can use (assuming you have a virtualized environment somewhere). Or perform a 'Minimal' installation of CentOS 6.5, and manually install NagiosXI. XI comes with MSSQL monitoring wizards and plugins pre-installed.

In Nagios XI, we have to configure all the SQL Server IP with port number to monitor the SQL Server service. If we need any specific service example: DB mirroring we need to install that specific plugins.

There are two parts to monitoring an MS SQL server - monitoring Windows, and monitoring MS SQL itself. There is an agent for the Windows part (NSClient++) that you will need to install on the monitored host. MS SQL instances can be monitored directly (e.g. the Nagios plugin talks to port 1433 for the MSSQLSERVER instance). You will need a local DB user with relevant permissions (note that Domain authentication doesn't work here). I can't help you with mirroring, as my knowledge of MSSQL is not advanced!

[slansing]

Thank you for the help Stuart!

@mvkally, as Stuart mentioned the current versions of Nagios XI do come with two MSSQL monitoring wizards, the other steps he outlined will need to be followed.

[mvkally]

Thanks a lot for your clear and quick reply.

[slansing]

Let us know if you have questions on this.