The Industry Standard In Infrastructure Monitoring

Nagios XI Monitoring Linux Using SNMP

Purpose
This document describes how to monitor Linux machines with Nagios XI using SNMP. SNMP
is an “agentless” method of monitoring network devices and servers, and is often preferable to
installing dedicated agents on target machines.

Target Audience
This document is intended for use by Nagios XI Administrators.

Install SNMP On The Remote Linux Machine

Before you can monitor a Linux machine using SNMP, you'll need to install and configure the necessary. First,
you'll need to install the net-snmp package on the Linux machine. Login to the Linux machine as the root
user to complete the next steps.

On RHEL / CentOS systems use the following command:

yum install net-snmp

On Debian / Ubuntu based systems use the following command:

sudo apt-get install snmpd libsnmp-dev

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Configure SNMP Access On The Remote Linux Machine

Now you must configure access permissions for SNMP on the Linux machine. This guide will focus on SNMP
v2c and SNMP v3.

• SNMP v2c
◦ Access is granted using a permission, community string and address
◦ This documentation will use the following values:
▪ Permission: rocommunity
▪ Community String: Str0ngC0mmunity
▪ Address: 10.25.5.12
• This address is the Nagios XI server address
• SNMP v3
▪ Access is granted with a username, permission, security level, authentication and privacy pass-
phrases
▪ More complicated but also more secure
▪ This documentation will use the following values:
• Username: nagios
• Permission: rouser
• Security Level: authPriv
• Authentication Protocol: SHA
• Authentication Pass-phrase: Str0ng@uth3ntic@ti0n
• Privacy Protocol: AES
• Privacy Pass-phrase: Str0ngPriv@cy

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SNMP v2c
Using the values defined earlier, the following line will be added to the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file:

rocommunity Str0ngC0mmunity 10.25.5.12

The following commands will create a backup of the original file and create a new config file with that line.

On RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Linux systems execute the following commands:

cp /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.bak
echo 'rocommunity Str0ngC0mmunity 10.25.5.12' > /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

On Debian / Ubuntu systems execute the following commands:

sudo cp /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.bak

sudo sh -c "echo 'rocommunity Str0ngC0mmunity 10.25.5.12' > /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf"

Now restart the snmpd service using one of the following commands.

On RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Linux 7.x systems execute the following commands:

systemctl restart snmpd.service

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On Debian 9.x and Ubuntu 16.x / 18.x systems execute the following commands:

sudo systemctl restart snmpd.service

SNMP v3
Using the values defined earlier, the following command will create the SNMP v3 user and be added to the
/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file AND the /var/lib/net-snmp/snmpd.conf file. The following commands
will create a backup of the original files, create a new config file with that line, add the SNMP v3 user and then
restart the service.

On RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Linux 7.x systems execute the following commands:

cp /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.bak
systemctl stop snmpd.service
echo '' > /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
net-snmp-create-v3-user -ro -a SHA -A Str0ng@uth3ntic@ti0n -x AES -X Str0ngPriv@cy nagios
sudo systemctl start snmpd.service

On Debian 9.x and Ubuntu 16.x / 18.x systems execute the following commands:

sudo cp /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.bak

sudo systemctl stop snmpd.service
sudo sh -c "echo '' > /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf"
sudo net-snmp-create-v3-user -ro -a SHA -A Str0ng@uth3ntic@ti0n -x AES -X Str0ngPriv@cy nagios
sudo systemctl start snmpd.service

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Configure Inbound Firewall Rules On The Remote Linux Machine

If you have the operating system firewall enabled you'll need to allow UDP port 161 inbound. The commands
for this vary depending on your operating system.

On RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Linux 7.x systems execute the following commands:

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=161/udp

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=161/udp --permanent

On Ubuntu systems execute the following commands:

sudo ufw allow snmp

sudo ufw reload

On Debian systems execute the following commands:

iptables -I INPUT -p udp --destination-port 161 -j ACCEPT

apt-get install iptables-persistent
Answer yes to saving existing rules.

Note: On some systems you may need to add the address of your Nagios server to the allowed hosts file
/etc/hosts.allow.

Configure The SNMP Daemon To Start On Boot

Configure the SNMP daemon to automatically start when the Linux machine reboots.

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On RHEL / CentOS / Oracle Linux 7.x systems execute the following commands:

systemctl enable snmpd.service

On Debian 9.x and Ubuntu 16.x / 18.x systems execute the following commands:

sudo systemctl enable snmpd.service

Testing SNMP Communication

Before you continue, you'll need to make sure that the Nagios XI server can communicate with the remote
Linux server using SNMP.

To do this, establish a terminal session to your Nagios XI server and execute the following commands to run a
test query. The examples here are targeting the Linux server 10.25.13.38 and they are using the values
defined above:

cd /usr/local/nagios/libexec

SNMP v2c
./check_snmp_storage.pl -H 10.25.13.37 -C Str0ngC0mmunity -m "^/$" -w 2 -c 4

SNMP v3
./check_snmp_storage.pl -H 10.25.13.37 -l nagios -x Str0ng@uth3ntic@ti0n -X
Str0ngPriv@cy -L SHA,AES -m "^/$" -w 2 -c 4

This check should return disk usage information from the remote Linux server, something like:

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/: 11%used(1550MB/13892MB) (>4%) : CRITICAL

Important: If the command doesn't return data, it likely means that SNMP is not configured properly, or that a
firewall issue exists on the remote server. In that case, go through the steps in the previous section to ensure
everything is configured properly.

Using The Linux SNMP Wizard

To begin using the Linux SNMP wizard navigate via the top menu bar to Configure > Run a configuring
wizard, and select the Linux SNMP wizard. In the following screenshot you can see how the search field
allows you to quickly find a wizard.

On Step 1 you will be asked to supply

the address of the server you will
monitor via SNMP.

You will also have to provide the

appropriate SNMP Settings.

This screenshot shows SNMP v2c

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settings.

This screenshot shows SNMP v3

settings.

Click Next to progress to step 2.

When you proceed to Step 2, the

wizard will perform an SNMP query
against the Linux server to get a list of
the available disks and processes.

Select the server metrics you wish to

monitor and adjust the thresholds as
required.

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With the Disk Usage checks,

double click a disk in the Scanned
Disk List to add it to the Drive field.
Adjust the thresholds as required.

With the Processes checks, double click a process in the Scanned Process List to add it to the Linux Process
field. Adjust the thresholds as required.

When you enter one number in each of the Warning and Critical fields, a WARNING alert will be generated
when the amount of processes is below the number specified in the Warning field. A CRITICAL alert will be
generated when the number of processes is equal to or below the number specified in the Critical field.

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Tip: When you enter two numbers (delimited by a comma), you are specifying a range that is acceptable for
the number of processes to be running. In the instance of the sshd in the example screenshot, a WARNING
alert will be generated if there are (1 or less) or (3 or more) instances of sshd running. A CRITICAL alert will
be generated if if there is (1 or less) or (4 or more) instances running.

Once you've finished selecting all the items you wish to monitor click Next and then complete the wizard by
choosing the required options in Step 3 - Step 5.

To finish up, click on Finish in the final step of the wizard. This will create the new hosts and services and
begin monitoring. Once the wizard applies the configuration, click the View status details for xxxxx link to
see the new host and services that were created.

Finishing Up
This completes the documentation on monitoring Linux using SNMP with Nagios XI.
If you have additional questions or other support related questions, please visit us at our Nagios Support
Forums:

https://support.nagios.com/forum

The Nagios Support Knowledgebase is also a great support resource:

https://support.nagios.com/kb

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