2.2. I'm a newbie to ...
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## 2.2. I'm a newbie to ...

Prior to computing a "newbie" was called "novice" and it began long before you could walk. You managed that challenge and so there is no reason to shy away now. The following sections contain some hints on several topics. Please read them carefully if you feel to be a newbie to any of them. We will point you here if we have the feeling that you are lacking some basic knowledge ;-).

### 2.2.1. Linux

Quite a number of people are new to monitoring, and they are new to Linux, too. They have been instructed to setup a monitoring system which should monitor several hosts and some services on these devices. The number itself is irrelevant because the first obstacle is the operating system.

Especially young folks are accustomed to graphic user interfaces making it easy to install software with a number of mouse clicks which sets whatever values in a hive commonly known as "registry". Even server operating systems have some kind of graphic user interfaces nowadays but often enough it is necessary to issue commands from a text based console nonetheless.

Please grab a good book on Linux basics from your local public library to get an overview on the file layout and frequently used commands. Use your browser if you don't like books but please don't ask such questions in a monitoring forum (you wouldn't ask for instructions on how to find one's feet if you are in a gym for the first time, would you?).

| Note
The tempt to execute commands as "root" (a.k.a. "Administrator" on Windows systems) is high but please try to avoid that because it can leave your system unusable quite easily and there is noone asking nagging questions ("Are you sure...?"). Due to the permissions of this superuser you might not recognise (necessary) limitations of the user normally used to execute monitoring tasks resulting in statements such "it already worked" (and it didn't, if you look closer).

### 2.2.2. Mail

In most cases you want to send messages if monitored objects fail or recover instead of just watching the user interface. This might work on your local system (the monitoring server) but sending mails to other systems requires you to advise your local post office where to send them (a method called "relaying"). Modern systems have security settings rejecting (at best) or just ignoring unwanted mails so you have to instruct the receiving post office to actually accept and relay mails coming from your local post office.

1. Test if a mail program is installed on your local system. Execute something like the following from the command line

       echo "foo bar" | mail -s "my first mail" your.name@your.company

   If you receive an error message like "program not found" you might have to install a mail program. See the documentation of your distribution for details (e.g. `apt-get`, `yum`, `zypper`, just to name a few package managers).

   | Note
   Be sure to remember the location of your mail program because you have to verify if the location is set correctly in the notification scripts.

2. Edit your local mail config file to set the relay host entry (e.g. `/etc/postfix/main.cf`, directive relayhost) pointing to the (central) mail server.

3. Ask the mail server administrator to change the settings to accept and relay mail coming from your server.

### 2.2.3. SNMP

"SNMP exposes management data in the form of variables on the managed systems, which describe the system configuration. These variables can then be queried (and sometimes set) by managing applications." (Excerpt from Wikipedia).

The information is placed in a tree structure. Each node/leaf has a unique "OID" (object identifier).

Using the check_snmp plugin from the Monitoring Plugins package you can retrieve data from managed systems. Please make sure that the target system has a running SNMP daemon which is configured to respond to queries from you monitoring server. Executing something like `snmpwalk -v1 -c public -On target_system system` should be used to verify that.

You can specify OIDs in a more human readable way or using numbers only. The latter eliminates the need to read MIBs, is faster and less error prone.

### 2.2.4. Packages

Please use packages to install the necessary software wherever possible. It circumvents some problems during installation and configuration - but more important - it allows for easy updates. Being a newbie to monitoring you very seldomly need a feature introduced in the most current git snapshot. "Leading edge" can result in "bleeding edge" very quickly and having enough trouble getting the product up and running with a limited knowledge of all the relations you don't need this kind of problems and hence should stick to a stable version. Please take a look here, too.

### 2.2.5. Monitoring

"Monitoring" means getting information from other systems. Make sure that you are permitted to access these other systems by asking the people who are administrating these systems if you are allowed to do so. Probing ports and things alike might be considered an attack! If there are firewalls or other means of restricting access then ask for appropriate rules/exceptions to be defined.

| Note
Depending on data protection policies you may not be allowed to access workstations or other systems where individuals work or the extent of monitoring may be restricted. Make sure to get written permission before you start monitoring.

### 2.2.6. Help!

Monitoring is a complex field and even if you have a solid knowledge of your operating system questions may arise earlier than you expected. Use your favourite search engine. Somebody else might have had the same problem and probably there is a solution already. If not then there are a lot of forums out there. Please select one fitting to your problem. Questions related to your monitoring are best answered by folks specialised on that topic and operating system questions are better placed elsewhere.

The community is ready to help but you are the only one viewing the problem so please ...

- give detailed information on the operating system(s) used. Naming the distribution is not enough. State version and patch level / service pack if applicable. Please repeat if more than one machine is involved.

- specify the version and installation mode of the software (e.g. Icinga, plugin, addon, ...). Some issues might be fixed in later versions, or be limited to a specific version. If you didn't use packages (we mentioned that you should, didn't we?) the installation paths might be different and result in problems. Sometimes certain combinations might not work (e.g. a new os release introducing different package dependencies).

- show input and output if executing a plugin fails (preferably copy&paste). Sometimes (missing) blanks / special characters make the difference so using prose describing the problem doesn't help in most cases (just the facts, please).

- show relevant config information related to the problem (please omit comments and empty lines making the output difficult to read).

- attach relevant lines from log files (e.g. icinga.log, syslog, web server log).

- try to attach a screenshot if you want to show a problem with any of the user interfaces.

- add information on the source of the software ("I use plugin my_plugin" doesn't help) to allow others to get the same version and possibly confirm that problem.

- add information on the instructions you used. They might be outdated or apply only to a certain version of the software.

The more (precise) information you give the higher is the chance that you get answers enabling you to solve the problem. Otherwise you might lose valuable time because you are asked to provide information you should have given the first time.

Be patient. The reaction time on threads containing "urgent" or similar expressions tends to be reciprocal. Forums are mostly non-profit platforms and folks answering do that in their spare time.

Please avoid crossposting (asking the same question at the same time at different places).

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