Installing Nagios Cross-Platform Agent (NCPA) on CentOS Stream 10 and Monitoring with Nagios XI

Nagios Cross-Platform Agent (NCPA) is a powerful monitoring agent that allows you to collect system metrics and monitor services on various operating systems. This guide will walk you through installing and configuring NCPA on CentOS Stream 10.

Prerequisites

• A system running CentOS Stream 10
• Root or sudo privileges
• Internet connectivity to download necessary packages

Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing NCPA, update your system to ensure all packages are up to date.

sudo yum update -y

Then navigate to the /tmp directory

cd /tmp

Step 2: Enable the Nagios Repository

To install NCPA, you need to add the Nagios repository.

sudo rpm -Uvh https://repo.nagios.com/nagios/9/nagios-repo-9-2.el9.noarch.rpm

After adding the repository, update your system again:

sudo yum update -y

Step 3: Install NCPA

Download and install the latest version of NCPA for CentOS Stream 10 (which aligns with EL9 packages):

sudo yum install ncpa -y

This will install the NCPA agent along with its dependencies.

Step 4: Configure NCPA

Once installed, update the configuration file to set the authentication token. Open the NCPA configuration file:

sudo nano /usr/local/ncpa/etc/ncpa.cfg

Locate the following section and change mytoken to a secure token of your choice:

[api]
community_string = <your-secure-token>

Save the file and exit the editor.

Step 5: Start and Enable the NCPA Service

Start the NCPA listener service and enable it to start on boot:

sudo systemctl start ncpa_listener
sudo systemctl enable ncpa_listener

Verify that the service is running:

sudo systemctl status ncpa_listener

Step 6: Open Firewall Ports for NCPA

If your system has a firewall enabled, open the necessary port (default: 5693) to allow incoming connections:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5693/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Step 7: Verify NCPA Installation

Test if NCPA is running correctly by accessing its web interface. Open a browser and navigate to:

https://<server-ip>:5693

Log in using the authentication token you set earlier.

Monitoring With Nagios XI

Now that you have configured NCPA, monitoring with Nagios XI will be easy! Navigate to the Nagios web GUI and click Run a Wizard.

Click the NCPA wizard.

Enter the IP Address of your machine. You can leave the Port as default. Then pick the Token that you set earlier. Click Next, and Finish with Defaults.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed and configured the Nagios Cross-Platform Agent (NCPA) on CentOS Stream 10. Your system can now be monitored using Nagios XI, providing detailed insights into system performance and resource usage.