nagios-plugins/FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions
**************************

1.  Q: Where can I find documentation for <insert name> plugin?

    A: All plugins that comply with minimal development guideline for
    this project include internal documentation.  The documentation
    can be read executing plugin with the '-h' option ('--help' if
    long options are enabled).  If the '-h' option does not work, that
    is a bug.

2.  Q: What version of <insert name> plugin am I running?

    A: All plugins that comply with minimal development guideline for
    this project include detailed version information.  When executed
    with the '-V' option, a version string will be printed:

    check_radius (nagios-plugins 1.3.0-alpha1) 1.11

    Note that this string include both the assigned package release
    name and the CVS-generated revision for the individual plugin.
    Authors should strictly adhere to this format.  All bug reports
    and help requests should reference this information.

3.  Q: What information do I need to include when asking for help or
    submitting a bug report?

    A: At a minimum, the output from 'uname -a' and the version string
    from '<plugin_name> -V' and, of course, a description of the
    problem and any solution/patch.

4.  Q: I'm using Redhat Linux (or some other RPM-based distribution).
    Which packages should I install?

    A: The package nagios-plugins-<version>.<arch>.rpm contains only
    those plugins that should work on any POSIX compliant system.  In
    other words, you should be able to install this package on your
    system, no matter what else is or in not installed.

    However, most of us have more complex systems than barebones
    POSIX.  We tried creating a variety of separate packages so
    each dependency could be installed cleanly, but many people
    found that this resulted in too many packages.  So in the end,
    all the non-POSIX plugins were folded into one RPM 
    (nagios-plugins-<version>.<arch>.rpm).  Most people will need to
    use RPM's '--nodeps' option to install this package.

5.  Q: My system uses the .deb package format. What packages should I
    install?

    A: We strive for cooperation between all packagers and developers.
    The answers for .deb are the same as for RPM, after changing the
    package name suffixes accordingly.

6.  Q: I prefer to build my own RPMs. Do I need to install all of the
    various dependencies?

    A: Beginning with the 1.2.9-1 release, you may run

      rpm --define 'custom 1' -ta nagios-plugins-<release>.tar.gz

    In prior releases, you must unpack the tarball and build the
    RPM using nagios-custom.spec with 'rpm -ba'.

7.  Q: I get an error like

      Warning: Return code of 127 for check of service 'PING' on host 'anyhost' was out of bounds.

    when I run Nagios. (Often check_ping runs just fine on the
    command line).

    A: Commonly, system administrators will make security as tight as
    possible on the monitoring system. Sometimes this includes OS
    options or hardening scripts that prevent unprivileged users from
    running the ping command. Nagios runs with no more privileges
    than 'nobody' -- check to be sure that the nagios user can
    actually run check ping.  (This can also happen with other binaries
    executed by nagios, but ping seems to be far and away the biggest
    offender.)

8.  Q: I have a plugin to offer. What do I do to get it accepted?

    A: Send it to nagiosplug-devel@lists.sourceforge.net. Usually, we
    just drop it into contrib until we have a chance to check if the
    standard options are used, etc.

    You can also get feedback on improving the plugin via the mailing list.