Nagios Support Forum

Hi Team,

We are monitoring linux using ssh ,and frequently getting plugin timed out error ,some times it's clearing automatically.

but some times it's never clearing and showing critical plugin timed out(check_by_ssh) .when i check script which we are using that's fine and it's working for other servers but some servers it's showing Critical: plugin timed out .

i tried increasing time out and checked but that's not working

'could you please clarify what it's exactly referring critical:Plugin timed out,what will be the trouble shooting steps for this in linux?

Hi manimurugesan,

The timeout means that the plugin did not receive data in the expected time window. Causes can include network issues, extended authentication delays (e.g. name resolution problems on the target system) or the command/script on the target system is taking too long to run. For example:

1) Example of a timeout while trying to connect to a system that is down ( note the 2 second timeout for brevity sake)
CRITICAL - Plugin timed out

2) Example of an authentication delay causing the timeout.
[email protected]'s password: CRITICAL - Plugin timed out

3) Example of a command taking longer than the timeout value (note the timeout is 10 and the sleep command is 12).

[email protected]'s password:
CRITICAL - Plugin timed out

So the next steps for troubleshooting to is to look and see if there is a pattern such as time of day, system load, and network activity that correlates with the problem and then run the check commands manually (as done above) during those windows to see if you can identify where the problem is occurring.

Please let us know how it goes.

P.S. - I am sending you a PM with some specific information for your organization ***