1 Frequently Asked Questions
2 **************************
4 1. Q: Where can I find documentation for <insert name> plugin?
6 A: All plugins that comply with minimal development guideline for
7 this project include internal documentation. The documentation
8 can be read executing plugin with the '-h' option ('--help' if
9 long options are enabled). If the '-h' option does not work, that
10 is a bug.
12 2. Q: What version of <insert name> plugin am I running?
14 A: All plugins that comply with minimal development guideline for
15 this project include detailed version information. When executed
16 with the '-V' option, a version string will be printed:
18 check_radius (nagios-plugins 1.3.0-alpha1) 1.11
20 Note that this string include both the assigned package release
21 name and the CVS-generated revision for the individual plugin.
22 Authors should strictly adhere to this format. All bug reports
23 and help requests should reference this information.
25 3. Q: What information do I need to include when asking for help or
26 submitting a bug report?
28 A: At a minimum, the output from 'uname -a' and the version string
29 from '<plugin_name> -V' and, of course, a description of the
30 problem and any solution/patch.
32 4. Q: I'm using Redhat Linux (or some other RPM-based distribution).
33 Which packages should I install?
35 A: The package nagios-plugins-<version>.<arch>.rpm contains only
36 those plugins that should work on any POSIX compliant system. In
37 other words, you should be able to install this package on your
38 system, no matter what else is or in not installed.
40 However, most of us have more complex systems than barebones
41 POSIX. We tried creating a variety of separate packages so
42 each dependency could be installed cleanly, but many people
43 found that this resulted in too many packages. So in the end,
44 all the non-POSIX plugins were folded into one RPM
45 (nagios-plugins-<version>.<arch>.rpm). Most people will need to
46 use RPM's '--nodeps' option to install this package.
48 5. Q: My system uses the .deb package format. What packages should I
49 install?
51 A: We strive for cooperation between all packagers and developers.
52 The answers for .deb are the same as for RPM, after changing the
53 package name suffixes accordingly.
55 6. Q: I prefer to build my own RPMs. Do I need to install all of the
56 various dependencies?
58 A: Beginning with the 1.2.9-1 release, you may run
60 rpm --define 'custom 1' -ta nagios-plugins-<release>.tar.gz
62 In prior releases, you must unpack the tarball and build the
63 RPM using nagios-custom.spec with 'rpm -ba'.
65 7. Q: I get an error like
67 Warning: Return code of 127 for check of service 'PING' on host 'anyhost' was out of bounds.
69 when I run Nagios. (Often check_ping runs just fine on the
70 command line).
72 A: Commonly, system administrators will make security as tight as
73 possible on the monitoring system. Sometimes this includes OS
74 options or hardening scripts that prevent unprivileged users from
75 running the ping command. Nagios runs with no more privileges
76 than 'nobody' -- check to be sure that the nagios user can
77 actually run check ping. (This can also happen with other binaries
78 executed by nagios, but ping seems to be far and away the biggest
79 offender.)
81 8. Q: I have a plugin to offer. What do I do to get it accepted?
83 A: Send it to nagiosplug-devel@lists.sourceforge.net. Usually, we
84 just drop it into contrib until we have a chance to check if the
85 standard options are used, etc.
87 You can also get feedback on improving the plugin via the mailing list.