About Managing Hosts

This page outlines how to manage Nagios configured hosts.

Tips

If you would like to create a new host see Configuring Hosts.
If you want to manage host services (services previously applied to a specific host) see Managing Host Services.
If you make any changes, click Save (or equivalent) before proceeding to another tab.
After all configuration changes you need to perform a Commit operation.
In the UI, hovering over the symbol displays a description of each directive.

Managing an Existing Host

In GroundWork Monitor, a Nagios monitored host is managed within eight pages; Host Detail, Host Profile, Service Profiles, Parents, Hostgroups, Escalation Trees, Services, and Host Externals. Each of these are referenced below.

Host Detail

To manage a host navigate to Configuration > Nagios Monitoring > Hosts > Hosts, then select a host and click Detail.

The Host Detail tab defines the host specific and template directives.

Here we have the generic-host template selected and it's using full inheritance which means all directive are using the settings from the host template. You can uncheck any directive to change and override the template values. A host template stores common object properties used to define multiple hosts and centralize future changes.

manage host - host detail

Host Profile

Host and service profiles aid in the design and management of hosts and services. Service profiles are made up of multiple service definitions, and host profiles can incorporate service profiles.

You can assign and apply a host profile (along with the service profiles it references, and the services they reference).

The Replace option will remove all service profiles and services from this host and replace them with those listed here that are associated with the selected host profile. Merge will leave any existing service profiles and services unchanged.

manage host - host profile

Service Profiles

Host and service profiles aid in the design and management of hosts and services. Service profiles are made up of multiple service definitions, and host profiles can incorporate service profiles.

You can assign and apply service profiles (along with the services they reference) to this host. Only the service profiles you choose explicitly will be assigned and applied here. By default, no existing service profiles referenced by the host profile will be applied here. You may choose to include some.

The Replace option will remove all service profiles and services not referenced via the host profile, and replace them with those listed here. Merge will leave any existing service profiles and services unchanged.

manage host - service profiles

Parents

In the Parents tab you can manage the assignment of one or more parents to this host for purposes of physical dependency analysis during outages. This is used to set up parent child host relationships. This can also be managed from Configuration > Nagios Monitoring > Hosts > Parent Child.

manage host - parents

Hostgroups

A host group is an arbitrary collection of hosts into named sets. The usage of host groups simplifies access control, status displays, notifications, scheduling maintenance, multi-server commands, and reports.

One or more host groups can be assigned to a host definition.

manage host - hostgroups

Escalation Trees

Host and service escalation trees are optional.

Optionally select an escalation tree appropriate for all services on this host. To avoid amplified notifications (i.e., multiple notifications for the same event), a host escalation tree assigned to this host should not also be assigned to a hostgroup in which the host is a member.

Optionally select an escalation tree appropriate for all services on this host. When a service escalation tree is assigned on this page, all services on this host will use the same escalation tree. To use different escalation trees for different services, each service must have its own escalation tree. In that case, do not assign a service escalation tree on this page.

manage host - escalation trees

Services

The Services tab is used to manage host services. These are predefined service definitions included in hosts individually or through service and host profiles.

You can add, modify, and remove services for this host.

Managing services from this page will in all likelihood put the host out of sync with its service profile(s). After making changes, use caution when applying profiles to this host.

manage host - services

Host Externals

Externals are used to create configuration files for external applications, such as the GroundWork Distributed Monitoring Agent (GDMA). A host external provides the detail relevant to a particular host, that will end up in such a file.

The host externals you manage on this page originate as generic host externals, established under Configuration > Nagios Monitoring > Hosts > Host externals. However, once you apply a host external to a particular host, that copy becomes independently modifiable. You can choose to manage changes to the copies from the generic host external, or modify the individual copies and manage them separately.

manage host - host externals