Nagios Support Forum

Historically we've used

add-apt-repository ppa:nagiosinc/ppa

to install the PPA and then proceed to install the agent. It seems however this hasn't been updated for Ubuntu 16.04, after I add the PPA I get

Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/nagiosinc/ppa/ ... 4/Packages 404 Not Found

on apt-get update.

Is there a newer recommended way to install the agent?

Assuming you're referring to NRPE, a source based install is available from here: NRPE.

We don't offically support Ubuntu platforms but I found this package.

I was curious about this so I did the same on a fresh install of Ubuntu server 16.10 and it worked fine:

bwallace wrote:I was curious about this so I did the same on a fresh install of Ubuntu server 16.10 and it worked fine:

Code: Select all

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nagiosinc/ppa                                                   
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~nagiosinc/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

gpg: keybox '/tmp/tmp3rhlncif/pubring.gpg' created
gpg: /tmp/tmp3rhlncif/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key B18637BB5175BC68: public key "Launchpad Nagios, Inc." imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1
OK

The PPA will setup correctly, but when you do an apt-get update it'll fail.

avandemore wrote:Assuming you're referring to NRPE, a source based install is available from here: NRPE.

We don't offically support Ubuntu platforms but I found this package.

So you don't support it even though it's in your official directions as the 'preferred method' and you own the PPA?

https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nag ... 1476457725

Strange at best.

To be clear, Ubuntu isn't officially as an XI host. Most common Linux distro's are supported as a NRPE client and we have updated the document you linked to. Please check that out and let us know if it works for you.

avandemore wrote:To be clear, Ubuntu isn't officially as an XI host. Most common Linux distro's are supported as a NRPE client and we have updated the document you linked to. Please check that out and let us know if it works for you.

Honestly this new method to install nrpe is a lot more complicated for multiple reasons versus just using the PPA:

• Using the new documented method we'd have to install all the required build tools on each VM/system and script the process through puppet. That's a lot more complicated and harder to maintain going forward versus using the existing system package management tools
• Using the existing nagios-nrpe-server package in Ubuntu. Upstream Debian disabled remote command execution (https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=745272) and based on how we currently have Nagios XI setup we're extensively using that (for better or worse)

So it looks like we'll need to host/build our own PPA for Ubuntu. We can do that, but it's was a lot easier when Nagios, Inc maintained one.

I spoke with the Developers, and it sounds like there has been some discussion to keep this maintained. Unfortunately, it hasn't been done at this point.

You should be able to automate the process even by just executing the fullinstall script, which should have your automation process continue through the installer. You are correct though - it will require the builds tools.

As a long time sys admin, I can understand your concern. However Nagios maintaining distro package sets for all commonly used platforms isn't currently feasible. Rather than subject users and support through a morass of headaches due to a multitude of reasons(#1 being out of sync versions between current distro packages and what Nagios considers current), this is by far the easiest method to ensure stability.

On your points:

• Not necessarily. You can always use something like dpkg-repack to generate a package from an installed one(untested internally). I don't understand why you'd need to script anything extensive in puppet. Check if the required package exists, if not run the 5 line shell commands from the document plus an expect(1) script. Maybe you have something unique internally but those basic steps are why things like Puppet exist.
• That bug doesn't apply to any current version we offer.

Per OS distribution of NRPE clients is on the radar but that is still a ways out.