Nagios Core - Understanding retention.dat and modified_attributes

Overview

This KB article explains the purpose of the retention.dat file and how to modify it when required.

This is an advanced topic and care should be taken.

State Retention File

This is the file that Nagios will use for storing status, downtime, and comment information before it shuts down. When Nagios is restarted it will use the information stored in this file for setting the initial states of services and hosts before it starts monitoring anything.

In your nagios.cfg file this will be defined as follows:

state_retention_file=/usr/local/nagios/var/retention.dat

Modifying retention.dat

When nagios is stopped, you can actually go in and edit attributes in the retention.dat file. Then when Nagios starts again it will include these changes you have made.

modified_attributes=

Here is a list of the available modified attributes (taken from source code common.h):

If you want to use multiple options you simply need to add the values together.

Example 1

You want to disable flap detection on a host. Looking at the table above, that has the value of 16. The two lines that require changing are:

modified_attributes=16
flap_detection_enabled=0

The modified host object in retention.dat would look like this:

host {
host_name=test_host
modified_attributes=16
check_command=check-host-alive!!!!!!!!
check_period=24x7
notification_period=24x7
event_handler=
has_been_checked=1
check_execution_time=4.004
check_latency=0.000
check_type=0
current_state=0
last_state=0
last_hard_state=0
last_event_id=0
current_event_id=0
current_problem_id=0
last_problem_id=0
plugin_output=PING OK - Packet loss = 0%, RTA = 0.05 ms
long_plugin_output=
performance_data=rta=0.047000ms;3000.000000;5000.000000;0.000000 pl=0%;80;100;0
last_check=1468566875
next_check=1468567179
check_options=0
current_attempt=1
max_attempts=5
normal_check_interval=5.000000
retry_check_interval=5.000000
state_type=1
last_state_change=1446704088
last_hard_state_change=1446704088
last_time_up=1468566879
last_time_down=0
last_time_unreachable=0
notified_on_down=0
notified_on_unreachable=0
last_notification=0
current_notification_number=0
current_notification_id=0
notifications_enabled=1
problem_has_been_acknowledged=0
acknowledgement_type=0
active_checks_enabled=1
passive_checks_enabled=1
event_handler_enabled=1
flap_detection_enabled=0
process_performance_data=1
obsess=1
is_flapping=0
percent_state_change=0.00
check_flapping_recovery_notification=0
state_history=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
}

Example 2

You want to disable active checks AND disable notifications on a host . Looking at the table above, the total of those two options has a value of 3. The three lines that require changing are:

modified_attributes=3
notifications_enabled=0
active_checks_enabled=0

The modified host object in retention.dat would look like this:

host {
host_name=test_host
modified_attributes=3
check_command=check-host-alive!!!!!!!!
check_period=24x7
notification_period=24x7
event_handler=
has_been_checked=1
check_execution_time=4.004
check_latency=0.000
check_type=0
current_state=0
last_state=0
last_hard_state=0
last_event_id=0
current_event_id=0
current_problem_id=0
last_problem_id=0
plugin_output=PING OK - Packet loss = 0%, RTA = 0.05 ms
long_plugin_output=
performance_data=rta=0.047000ms;3000.000000;5000.000000;0.000000 pl=0%;80;100;0
last_check=1468566875
next_check=1468567179
check_options=0
current_attempt=1
max_attempts=5
normal_check_interval=5.000000
retry_check_interval=5.000000
state_type=1
last_state_change=1446704088
last_hard_state_change=1446704088
last_time_up=1468566879
last_time_down=0
last_time_unreachable=0
notified_on_down=0
notified_on_unreachable=0
last_notification=0
current_notification_number=0
current_notification_id=0
notifications_enabled=0
problem_has_been_acknowledged=0
acknowledgement_type=0
active_checks_enabled=0
passive_checks_enabled=1
event_handler_enabled=1
flap_detection_enabled=1
process_performance_data=1
obsess=1
is_flapping=0
percent_state_change=0.00
check_flapping_recovery_notification=0
state_history=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
}

Important

Any changes you make to retention.dat need to be done when Nagios is stopped, otherwise they will be overridden by the Nagios process when it is instructed to stop.

Final Thoughts

For any support related questions please visit the Nagios Support Forums at:

http://support.nagios.com/forum/