Thanks @tylerhoadley!
To provide a bit of insight, here's how those two templates work -
Code: Select all
define contact {
name generic-contact
host_notification_period 24x7
service_notification_period 24x7
host_notification_options d,u,r,f,s
service_notification_options w,u,c,r,f,s
host_notification_commands notify-host-by-email
service_notification_commands notify-service-by-email
register 0
}
define contact {
name xi_contact_generic
contactgroups xi_contactgroup_all
host_notification_period xi_timeperiod_24x7
service_notification_period xi_timeperiod_24x7
host_notification_options d,u,r,f,s
service_notification_options w,u,c,r,f,s
host_notification_commands xi_host_notification_handler
service_notification_commands xi_service_notification_handler
register 0
}
When you look at
generic-contact, it will use the commands directly linked to it, which are
notify-host-by-email and
notify-service-by-email. Let's take a look at how these are defined (I will use notify-host-by-email for reference, but the same applies to notify-service-by-email) -
Code: Select all
define command {
command_name notify-host-by-email
command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "***** Nagios Monitor XI Alert *****\n\nNotification Type: $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\nHost: $HOSTNAME$\nState: $HOSTSTATE$\nAddress: $HOSTADDRESS$\nInfo: $HOSTOUTPUT$\n\nDate/Time: $LONGDATETIME$\n" | /bin/mail -s "** $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ Host Alert: $HOSTNAME$ is $HOSTSTATE$ **" $CONTACTEMAIL$
}
All this script is doing, is printing the data + parsing the variables, and passing it over to /bin/mail which then passes it as a notification.
Now, let's look at
xi_contact_generic which is using
xi_host_notification_handler and
xi_service_notification_handler -
Code: Select all
define command {
command_name xi_host_notification_handler
command_line /usr/bin/php /usr/local/nagiosxi/scripts/handle_nagioscore_notification.php --notification-type=host --contact="$CONTACTNAME$" --contactemail="$CONTACTEMAIL$" --type=$NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ --escalated="$NOTIFICATIONISESCALATED$" --author="$NOTIFICATIONAUTHOR$" --comments="$NOTIFICATIONCOMMENT$" --host="$HOSTNAME$" --hostaddress="$HOSTADDRESS$" --hostalias="$HOSTALIAS$" --hostdisplayname="$HOSTDISPLAYNAME$" --hoststate=$HOSTSTATE$ --hoststateid=$HOSTSTATEID$ --lasthoststate=$LASTHOSTSTATE$ --lasthoststateid=$LASTHOSTSTATEID$ --hoststatetype=$HOSTSTATETYPE$ --currentattempt=$HOSTATTEMPT$ --maxattempts=$MAXHOSTATTEMPTS$ --hosteventid=$HOSTEVENTID$ --hostproblemid=$HOSTPROBLEMID$ --hostoutput="$HOSTOUTPUT$" --longhostoutput="$LONGHOSTOUTPUT$" --datetime="$LONGDATETIME$"
}
What is important to notice here, is we aren't sending it to another application. The notification will be handled through our internal script,
/usr/local/nagiosxi/scripts/handle_nagioscore_notification.php. Here is a broad description of what it does:
- Checks the 'Manage Email Settings' page for your mail settings, if it's sendmail then it will end up sending it out through /bin/mail, and if it's SMTP it will use PHP mailer to send outbound.
- Then, it respects the individual user settings that each XI user has. These can be configured by clicking your logged in username in the top right, and looking at the Notification Preferences, Notification Methods, and Notification Messages page. This was added so that a user can configure their own settings on top of what the global Nagios settings are, without the need to apply configuration.
If a contact is using xi_host_notification_handler, without having a user account created, it will cause issues as it cannot validate against the individual user settings. This is what can cause problems, and in my mind creates the confusion between users <-> contacts.
There is a bit more functionality to it, but I am just writing this to demonstrate the process and help realize why the two are different.