• A new Nutanix CE Wizard.
• A new Network Switch/Router Wizard and plugins.
• Nagios Network Analyzer Wizard upgrades.
• A wider range of SNMP security protocols.
• A new Toggle Global Status option for Smart Dashboards.

In this article we’ll take a quick look at each of these awesome updates and provide you with links to the related documentation.

New Network Switch/Router Wizard and Plugins

A brand new version of the Network Switch/Router Wizard has been added with several key enhancements:

• Greatly reduces the amount of walks performed on the machine, improving information stability and response time.
• Port throughput checks are compatible with Nagios Mod Gearman workers.
• New check_throughput and check_snmp_interface_status plugins written in C increase performance.

You can find the new wizard in the Configure > Configuration Tools > Configuration Wizards menu.

Note that the old wizard, which will remain available, will now be labeled Network Switch/Router (Legacy).

You can review the new documentation here:

• Monitoring Switches and Routers with Nagios XI 2026

New Nutanix Wizard

The new Nutanix CE Wizard enables you to monitor Nutanix Community Edition clusters, virtual machines, and host metrics via Prism Element. You can find it in the Configure > Configuration Tools > Configuration Wizards menu.

Here’s an example of the Cluster/Prism checks the wizard supports:

You can find the documentation here:

• Monitoring Nutanix CE with Nagios XI 2026

Network Analyzer Wizard Upgrades

The Nagios Network Analyzer Wizard has gotten two key upgrades for enhanced support of Network Analyzer 2026.

The wizard now supports the ability to use Traffic Profiles to filter data during Step 1 setup, as you can see here:

Additionally, Step 3 of the wizard now includes the ability to automatically create a Smart Dashboard of data from the Source or Group selected in Step 1:

Here’s a look at a fresh Smart Dashboard automatically created for an Apache web server source using the new Create Smart Dashboard option:

You can find the updated documentation here:

• Integrating Network Analyzer 2026 with Nagios XI 2026

SNMP Security Updates

A variety of new security protocol options have been added to the Authentication Protocol and Privacy Protocol dropdowns in the SNMP Walk Jobs tool and the SNMP Wizard. This new support for a wider range of encryption protocols provides enhanced security options for your SNMP checks.

Global Dashboard Management

You’ll notice a new option in the individual Dashboard actions, and in the Manage Smart Dashboards menu options called Toggle Global Status. This option enables you to easily share dashboards with other users, or switch them from globally available to a personal dashboard:

Changelog

XI 2026R1.4 also includes a wide variety of other fixes and updates.

To review all the changes in detail, including security fixes, you can view the full changelog here:

• Nagios XI Changelog

Free 30-Day Trial Download

If you’re new to Nagios XI and want to take 2026R1.4 for a spin, you can download the free trial version here:

• Nagios XI Downloads

Centralized User Management

Fusion has always provided a lot of value by enabling users to visualize status data from across their distributed Nagios deployments. It’s already a must-have for distributed environments and users who employ multiple Nagios Monitoring Solutions. Namely, Fusion’s ability to aggregate data from Nagios XI, Nagios Core, Nagios Log Server, and Nagios Network Analyzer systems and display it in custom dashboards and tactical displays. But one area of untapped potential has always been in serving as a platform for centralized management of other Nagios systems.

No longer is that the case! New in 2026R1 is the ability to copy users from one fused Nagios XI system to others with a few clicks, using the new Centralized Management menu. Although a humble first step, this new feature lays the foundation that will be used going forward to enable many more management capabilities in the future.

Learn more about using the Centralized User Management function:

Managing Nagios XI Users with Nagios Fusion

As an added bonus, this addition also necessitated adding a new update users’ endpoint (PUT/system/user) to the Nagios XI API, so both solutions were enhanced in the process.

System Profile

You’ll also notice a new System Profile menu, which can be used to generate and download a profile with a single click. The System Profile zip contains a wealth of data about your setup and serves as an invaluable resource for troubleshooting and support.

Fixes

Several issues were also resolved in this release to make Fusion more stable and reliable:

• Server polling interval is now being updated properly.
• The Administrator and User Guides are now being displayed correctly.
• The ssl_hostname_verify parameter is now being passed when adding a server via the API.
• Users located in AD groups will now show up in the “Add User from AD/LDAP” page.

Learn More

This article is a great resource for learning more about all of the capabilities:

If you’re not currently using Nagios Fusion and would like to take it for a spin, you can find the free, fully functional trial options:

The Admin Guide is another excellent resource for learning how to manage and get the most out of all of the capabilities:

This video provides a guided walk-through covering each step of how to use configuration Wizards:

You can also refer to this documentation for full details:

Here is a direct link to the PDF as well:

How to Use Configuration Wizards in Nagios XI

This quick start guide walks you through adding log sources, searching logs, creating dashboards, configuring alerts, managing users, and more.

1. Add a Log Source

To begin collecting logs, navigate to the green “+” icon on the left sidebar. From there, select the type of log source you’d like to start receiving from.

Once selected, each source type provides a guided configuration that explains how to send logs to your Nagios Log Server.

Best Practices:

• Use consistent port numbers and formats across all devices.
• Verify log flow after adding each source.
• Tag each host for easy identification in dashboards.

The video below provides a guided walk-through that covers how to add and verify log sources in Nagios Log Server.

2. Simple Mode vs. Advanced Mode Homepage

Simple Layout
The Simple layout focuses on quick, everyday searches.
It includes:

• A central search bar.
• One-click filters such as Sendmail, 300, 401, 500, MySQL Errors, and Network Outages.
• Fast query results with minimal setup.

Use Simple layout when you need to quickly check logs, validate incoming sources, or perform basic troubleshooting.

Advanced Layout

The Advanced layout displays a detailed system overview and full search functionality.
It includes:

• Log volume graphs and performance charts.
• System Health metrics like Unique Hosts, Active Alerts, and Disk Usage.
• Historical statistics and trend visualizations.

You can switch between layouts by selecting Simple Search or Advanced Search in the top right corner by clicking on the profile icon.

How to Switch

• Switch between layouts by clicking your profile icon in the top right corner and selecting Simple or Advanced. This instantly changes the home page layout.
• Tip: this is also where you can change your theme.

3. Creating Custom Queries in Log Server

Custom queries let you quickly filter and analyze logs for faster troubleshooting. Access them under Dashboards > Custom Queries to view templates like 404 Errors or SSH and create your own for targeted searches.

Queries can be saved, edited, or removed at any time for flexible log analysis and also form the basis for alerts.

Best Practices:

• Create queries for frequent or critical issues.
• Use Global queries for team visibility.
• Remove outdated or unused queries regularly.

The video below provides a guided walk-through that covers how to create and manage custom queries in Nagios Log Server.

Here is documentation for analyzing logs:

How To Analyze Logs in Nagios Log Server 2024R2

4. Configuring Alerts in Log Server

Alerts in Nagios Log Server are triggered when specific log patterns or thresholds are detected. Access them from the Alerting tab to view, create, or manage alerts.

You can choose from Query, Real-Time, or Host Freshness alert types, each designed to monitor different conditions. When an alert is triggered, notifications can be sent via email, SNMP traps, or custom scripts depending on your configuration.

Best Practices:

• Use Query alerts for recurring issues like SSH or HTTP errors.
• Set appropriate check intervals to balance accuracy and performance.
• Regularly review alert results and update thresholds as needed.

The video below provides a guided walk-through that covers how to create and manage alerts in Nagios Log Server.

Here is documentation for alerting on events:

Alerting on Log Events in Nagios Log Server 2024R2 and 2026

5. Configuring Email Notifications in Log Server

Email notifications inform you when alerts are triggered in Nagios Log Server.
Go to Profile to set your notification email, then open Admin > General > Mail Settings to configure SMTP details.

You can configure SMTP details for Gmail, Outlook, or other mail providers to receive alert notifications directly in your inbox.

The video below provides a guided walk-through that covers how to set up email notifications in Nagios Log Server.

6. Managing Users in Log Server

User management in Nagios Log Server R2 enhances security by controlling access and permissions across your environment. Access this feature by going to Admin > Management > User Management.

From here, you can create new users or import existing ones from LDAP or Active Directory. Roles and permissions determine whether a user can view, edit, or delete alerts, notifications, contacts, and configuration settings. Admins have full access to all system functions, while standard users are limited to the permissions assigned to them.

You can also restrict host visibility for specific users, ensuring they only see the hosts relevant to their role, and enable or disable external API access as needed.

Best Practices:

• Assign the lowest level of access necessary for each role.
• Use LDAP or AD for centralized authentication.
• Regularly audit user accounts and permissions.
• Limit host visibility for non-admin users.

The video below provides a guided walk-through that covers how to create, import, and manage users in Nagios Log Server.

Conclusion

Nagios Log Server provides centralized log collection, powerful search capabilities, and customizable dashboards to help you monitor and analyze system events with ease.
This quick start guide equips you to add log sources, create queries, configure alerts, set up notifications, and manage users efficiently.

Start simple, scale as needed, and refer to the Nagios Log Server Admin Guide or schedule a Quickstart session to get professional assistance with setup and configuration.

For additional help, visit the Nagios Support Forum or visit Nagios Library

In this article, we’ll highlight the most impactful changes and provide helpful links to documentation so you can start exploring the new functionality right away. Let’s take a look!

Home Screen

The main Nagios XI home screen received several visual and functional improvements in the 2026 release, making it more than just a landing page—it’s now a true hub for navigation and monitoring. One of the most noticeable additions is the new Host Treemap, which provides a quick, color-coded overview of each host and its associated services. This intuitive, space-efficient dashlet makes it easier than ever to identify problem areas at a glance and monitor overall infrastructure health right from the dashboard.

In addition to visual updates, the homepage now includes helpful tabs: Getting Started, Admin, and Popular Wizards. These sections offer quick links to common tasks and important areas of Nagios, allowing new and experienced users alike to navigate more efficiently. Whether you’re setting up your first checks, managing users, or launching new Configuration Wizards, the updated homepage gets you there faster.

Customize the Landing Page in Nagios XI 2026

Smart Dashboards

A major highlight of XI 2026 is the introduction of Smart Dashboards—a next-generation dashboarding system built for flexibility, interactivity, and ease of use.

The Add Dashlet interface makes building Smart Dashboards faster and more intuitive. Dashlets are now organized by type with clear labels. Whether you’re dropping in graphs, gauges, statistics, or external content, the streamlined experience makes it easy to customize your dashboard with just a few clicks.

How To Use Dashboards in Nagios XI 2026

New and Improved Dashlets:

---

Graph Dashlet

Bar Chart Dashlet

Gauge Dashlet

Pie Chart Dashlet

Statistic Dashlet

Text Dashlet

Treemap Dashlet

URL Dashlet

Alert Heatmap Dashlet

In addition to new dashlets, this release introduces:

• A Global dashboard Setting, for team-wide Smart dashboards.
• Ability to customize dashboard icons and icon colors in the Neptune Theme.
• Updated Dashboards menu to support both Smart and Legacy Dashboards across Modern and Neptune Themes.
• Dashboard Wizards for both Smart and Legacy dashboards.

Quickly create and customize dashboards with the Dashboard Wizard—supporting both Smart and Legacy dashboards for a faster, more streamlined setup experience.

Added Google.com as default host

To help users get started with monitoring right out of the box, Google.com has been added as a default host in Nagios XI 2026. This provides an immediate example of website host and service monitoring in action, making it easier for beginner users to see how checks are configured and displayed—no setup required.

New Monitoring Wizards

Nagios XI 2026 continues to expand monitoring capabilities with a brand-new wizard:

• Meraki Switch Wizard – Quickly set up monitoring for Cisco Meraki Switches.

How To Monitor Meraki Switches With Nagios XI 2026

Quality of Life Improvements

• A new Getting Started notification welcomes new users with a link to documentation.
• New default host: Google.
• New default hostgroups: Websites, Switches.
• New default servicegroups: Web Services, SSL Certificates.
• Added support for experimental features toggle in Admin settings.
• Added a Re-run job feature to the SNMP Walk Jobs page.
• Improved app-wide error handling and logging.

Optional Statistics Tracking

XI 2026 introduces optional usage statistics tracking (opt-in/out) to help the Nagios Team better understand how the software is used, so future versions can be even more user-friendly.

Changelog

To review all the changes in detail, including security fixes and development notes, visit the full changelog here:

Nagios XI Changelog

Getting Started

If you’re new to Nagios XI or ready to upgrade to the 2026 release, download the trial version here:

Nagios XI Downloads

Another great resource is this article, which provides tips and resources on how to quickly get started using Nagios XI:

Quick Start Guide (Modern Theme)

If you’d like a personalized walkthrough of Nagios XI 2026 tailored to your specific environment, or a hands-on remote session with one of our technicians to help you get started, we’d love to offer you a Quickstart session or free Demo.

To schedule your session—or for any other assistance—just email us at sales@nagios.com. Our sales and technical teams are here to help you get the most out of your Nagios XI 2026 trial and ensure you’re set up for success!

Premium Features in Nagios XI are a collection of features and wizards that are tied to having active License Benefits (Maintenance & Support).

Maintenance

Maintenance benefits provide you with the ability to upgrade your installation with the latest version releases, features, and bug fixes, giving you the tools to ensure your environment remains safe and secure.

Support

Support benefits gives you access to our commercial Support portal the Nagios Answer Hub and Case Support within it.

Why is this important?

When you purchase a Nagios license, it comes with License Benefits for the first year. Thereafter, you have the option to renew the License Benefits on an annual or multi-year basis. Our licensing is perpetual by nature, meaning that if you do not renew, the standard functionality of the software continues to function at whatever version you were on upon expiry. However, you would not have continued access to the Maintenance & Support benefits described above! Including the Premium Feature set in XI.

To ensure continued access to these Premium Features and all the latest and greatest updates, we suggest you renew your Nagios XI license benefits annually. In the event that your license benefits expire, simply renew, and the full list of Premium Features will regain functionality automatically.

If you recently purchased or renewed an XI license, you automatically have access to these features. Simply upgrade to XI version 2024R2 or newer and enjoy!

If you have questions about how our licensing works, please contact sales@nagios.com.

Premium Features

• Single Sign-On (SSO) via MS Azure AD
• The Remote Workers Nagios Mod-Gearman management interface
• Premium Wizards
  • Red Hat OpenShift
  • Prometheus
  • vSphere
  • Oracle Tablespace, Serverspace, and Query
  • MSSQL Server, Database, and Query
  • Kubernetes
  • HyperV
  • Docker
  • Cloud VM (DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Linode, Azure, and Rackspace)
  • Amazon EC2 and S3
  • Zabbix Agent
  • OpenAI Usage

We released a short video on some of these Premium Features here:

New Premium Features in Nagios XI

Changelog

You can find our full Changelog here if you’d like to review all the changes, including new feature updates, details on bug fixes, and security patches:

Nagios XI Changelog

Getting Started

If you’re new to Nagios XI and want to take the latest version for a spin, you’ll find the free, fully functional trial version here:

Nagios XI Downloads

Another great resource is this article written by our Technical Content Manager, Shamas, which provides tips and resources to help you make the most of your free trial:

If you’d like a guided personal tour of XI geared toward your unique requirements or a hands-on remote session with one of our techs to help you get a few things set up, we’d love to offer you a free Demo or Quickstart. To set this up, or for any other help you may need, feel free to email sales@nagios.com so we can give you a hand. Our sales and technical teams will do all they can to help you maximize your free trial!

New Monitoring Wizards

Three great new wizards join the ranks in XI 2024R2: Kubernetes, Zabbix Agent, and the Generic Plugin Wizard. We’ve also updated the NSClient++ Wizard.

Kubernetes with NCPA

This Premium wizard enables you to monitor Kubernetes clusters via the NCPA agent. Available metrics include Nodes Active, Daemon Sets, Deployments, Jobs Failed, Pod Restarts, Replica Sets, Stateful Sets, TLS, PVC, and Unbound PVS. You can learn more about the initial setup here:

Monitoring Kubernetes Clusters with Nagios XI and NCPA

Zabbix Agent

With the new Zabbix Agent Wizard, one of XI 2024R2’s Premium features, you’ll be able to leverage your existing Windows and Linux Zabbix agents to set up comprehensive monitoring in Nagios XI:

Monitoring Zabbix Agents with Nagios XI

Generic Plugin Wizard

The new Generic Plugin Wizard provides a quick way to set up monitoring using custom plugins. This enables you to create a command to execute your custom plugins, and setup a Nagios check for it without the need to go to the Core Config Manager.

This document provides step-by-step details on using the wizard:

Using the Generic Plugin Wizard in Nagios XI

NSClient++ Wizard

Also worth mentioning is that we added support for check_nrpe to the NSClient++ Wizard and updated its status from Legacy, making it once again a current wizard.

SSO

A big request we’ve seen over time from our users is an SSO option, and we’re excited to introduce Single Sign-on via Microsoft Azure Active Directory in 2024R2. You can access this feature in Admin > External Sign-On(SSO) menu and can learn more about setting it up here:

Configuring SSO in Nagios XI 2024R2

NagVis Enhancements:

• Most Map elements now have relative positioning
• The Edit Map menu can now be accessed with a right-click
• Added missing support in NagVis for Nagios custom variables with an NDO backend

Nagios Core Updated

The Nagios Core engine at the heart of Nagios XI has been updated to 4.5.9.

NCPA v3 Support for Deploy Agent

The Auto Deployment feature, which enables you to push NCPA (the Nagios Cross Platform Agent) to remote hosts right from the Nagios XI UI, previously only supported NCPA v2, an older version of the agent. Now you can also deploy NCPA v3, the latest version, with the tool. This enables you to take advantage of all of the updates that went into v3, while still leveraging the convenience and centralized control of Auto Deployment.

Introducing Premium

In Nagios XI 2024R2, we’re introducing a new Premium Features model. Premium Features are a benefit of active license Maintenance. To ensure continued access to these features, we suggest you renew your Nagios XI license annually. In the event that your license expires, simply renew your license, and the full list of Premium Features will regain functionality automatically. The Premium features include:

• Single Sign-On (SSO) via MS Azure AD
• The Remote Workers Nagios Mod-Gearman management interface
• Premium Wizards
  • Prometheus
  • vSphere
  • Oracle Tablespace, Serverspace, and Query
  • MSSQL Server, Database, and Query
  • Kubernetes
  • HyperV
  • Docker
  • Cloud VM (DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Linode, Azure, and Rackspace)
  • Amazon EC2 and S3
  • Zabbix Agent
  • OpenAI Usage

Changelog

You can find the full Changelog here if you’d like to review all the changes, including details on bug fixes and security patches:

Nagios XI Changelog

Getting Started

If you’re new to Nagios XI and want to take 2024R2 for a spin, you’ll find the free, fully functional trial version here:

Nagios XI Downloads

Another great resource is this article, which provides tips and resources to help you make the most of your free trial:

If you’d like a guided personal tour of XI geared toward your unique requirements or a hands-on remote session with one of our techs to help you get a few things set up, we’d love to offer you a free Demo or Quickstart. To set this up, or for any other help you may need, feel free to email sales@nagios.com so we can give you a hand. Our sales and technical teams will do all they can to help you maximize your free trial!

Introduction

In the first article in this series, I introduced the concept of hostgroup inheritance and (hopefully) laid it out in a way that it can be well understood. In this article, I’m going to start walking you through setting up a solid hostgroup inheritance foundation.

By the end of this article, you should have a functional hostgroup inheritance setup; however, I do not recommend running through these steps in your production environment. There will be future articles where we will expand on the functionality laid out here.

With that said, if you are running Nagios XI, you are allowed three instances of Nagios XI: Production, Test, and Disaster Recovery. This would be a good opportunity to fire up that “Test” instance of Nagios XI.

Begin by Beginning

For this first example, we’re going to setup hostgroup inheritance with a fresh install of Nagios XI. Once we’re done with this, you should have a good idea of how to retro fit an existing XI instance.

We’ll start this off by running a Configuration Wizard against a host that you want to monitor. The host that you want to monitor will, presumably, be one of a large number of similar hosts. In our example, we’ll use a basic Windows host being monitored using NCPA.

Now I don’t want to walk you through running the NCPA Wizard to monitor your Windows host. I’ll leave that as an exercise to you. The end result is that in the Core Configuration Manager (CCM), you now have a host with multiple services being monitored. If you go to the Services section of the CCM and display the config for the Windows machine you are monitoring, you should see something similar to this:

Changing a Single Service Check

You can see we’ve got CPU, disk, bandwidth, memory, and a service that we’re monitoring on this Windows box. Now we know that for all of our servers, whether Windows or Linux (or AIX, or Solaris, or FreeBSD, etc.), we want to monitor CPU and memory usage. Why create that over and over again? Why not just have that in some kind of template that can be applied to each server as you add it?

That’s what we’re going to do here. Before we modify that service, let’s create a hostgroup that will hold service checks for any OS. Click on Monitoring -> Host Groups -> Add New. Now for the Host Group Name and Alias fields, I like to keep this brief, yet descriptive. For this one I’m going to call it ncpa-anyos. Meaning the system is monitored using NCPA, and the service checks apply to any operating system. Click save.

Now go back to Monitoring -> Services and open up the CPU Usage service check definition (or whatever service you want to make available via hostgroup inheritance) and let’s convert it.

The first field we want to change is the Config Name field. In Nagios XI, this field typically lines up with the name or IP of the host it is tied to. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s create a new config name by changing this to AnyOS. Meaning the service checks in this config will apply to any operating system.

Next, click the Manage Hosts button and remove the assigned host. And finally, click the Manage Host Groups button, and add the service check to the ncpa-anyos hostgroup. Realistically, that’s it. Now any host that you put in the ncpa-anyos hostgroup will have that CPU Usage service check. Go ahead and add a host to the ncpa-anyos hostgroup, apply the configuration, and check your host status screen.

Limitations

There are some immediate limitations with this setup as it is right now. We’ll dive into the fixes for them in my next article for this series. For now, I just want to call out one in particular.

Not all of your hosts will have the same CPU warning and/or critical thresholds. Or maybe they have different NCPA tokens. For those of you who don’t want to wait for the next article, I’ll point you in the right direction. In the next article, we’ll touch on using custom host variables and host templates to deal with the limitation of needing to customize different pieces of a service check. We’ll also be touching on creating a new command.

Additional Reading for Overachievers

Nagios Custom Macros.

Managing Plugins in Nagios XI 2024. Specifically, we will be looking at the Define A Command section of this document.

And since we’ll be talking about host and service templates, it might be good to brush up on Object Inheritance.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of creating alerts in Log Server 2024R2 so you can monitor your systems more effectively.

1. Log into Nagios Log Server

Start by logging into Nagios Log Server using the credentials you created during the installation process.

2. Create New Alert

Once logged in, navigate to the left-hand menu and click the bell icon to access the Alerting section. Here, you can view any previously created alerts. To create a new alert, click on “New Alert.” A configuration window will appear.

3. Fill in the following to define your alert

Alert Name

• Choose a name that accurately describes the purpose of your alert (e.g., “Failed SSH Login.”)

Type

• Query: Ideal for checking historical log data within a specified time period.
• Real-Time: Monitors logs as they are ingested, providing immediate detection.
• Host Freshness: Tracks if a host is actively sending logs, useful for detecting system outages.

In this example, we’ll use the Query type and leave the next option as undefined.

Check Interval

• This determines how often the system checks the query. You can specify intervals in seconds (s), minutes (m), hours (h), or days (d).

Example: 1m to check every minute.

Lookback Period

• Defines how far back the system will look when executing the query.

Example: 15m to examine the last 15 minutes of logs.

Warning Threshold

• The number of matching events that trigger a warning notification.

Critical Threshold

• The number of events that escalate the alert to critical status.

In this scenario, we’ll set the warning threshold to 2 and the critical threshold to 3. This is especially useful for identifying brute-force login attempts before they escalate into larger issues.

Nagios Log Server offers several notification options:

• Nagios (send using NRDP.)
• Execute Script.
• Send an SNMP Trap.
• Email Users.
  

You can configure multiple alerts and customize how notifications are delivered—or even trigger automated scripts in response to alerts. For example, you could automatically shut down a machine if a certain condition is met.

4. Select the Take Ownership Option

You’ll also see an option to “Take Ownership”. Selecting this checkbox ensures that only users with admin rights can modify or delete the alert.

5. Create Alert

Once all settings are configured, click “Create Alert”. If you choose the Query type, you can find your alert under the Query section.

6. Final Steps

Click the three-dot menu next to your alert to access the following options:

• Show alert in Dashboard.
• Run this alert now.
• Deactivate this alert.
• Edit this alert.
• Remove.

That’s it! You’ve successfully created an alert in Log Server 2024R2. Alerts are a powerful feature that can significantly improve your ability to respond to system issues in real time. If you prefer a visual guide, we recommend checking out our YouTube tutorial, which walks through this entire setup step-by-step.

Capable as the wizards are, they’re no match for the Core Config Manager (CCM) when it comes to managing existing objects and advanced settings. In this article, we’ll dig into the CCM and explore how it works, what it does, and how it’s used.

Accessing the CCM

To get to the Core Config Manager, go to Configure > Core Config Manager.

On the CCM main page, you’ll see an Object Summary of all the Core objects, a list of Recent Snapshots, and a left-hand menu full of options. Let’s explore some key functions and capabilities.

Making Small Changes

One of the most common tasks you’ll complete in the CCM is making granular changes to specific settings on your monitored hosts and services. We’ll cover a simple example here, and you can refer to the full guides for complete details:

Service management with the CCM

Host management with the CCM

If you wanted to make the check interval on a key service more aggressive, you’d simply click Services in the left-hand submenu, then do a quick search to locate your service:

Once you locate the service and click through, you’ll be brought to the Service Management section. Hit the Check Settings tab, update the Check Interval to your new setting, and click Save.

Applying Your Config

Once you’ve saved your change, you will be returned to the Services directory and will notice a banner at the top indicating you need to Apply Configuration:

Changes made in the Nagios XI user interface need to be written to the underlying Nagios Core monitoring engine in order to take effect. Apply Configuration verifies that your configuration changes are valid, then updates the Core configs.

Uh-oh… Something Went Wrong

If you apply the config and an error is detected, you’ll see a screen like this:

Don’t panic! Until you apply a working config, the Core engine will continue monitoring based on the last known good config, so your monitoring will continue uninterrupted.

In this example, we can see that our service is missing a service description. If we navigate to the Apache-Weblogger services, we can quickly spot the problem, which shows red ‘Not Applied’ text in the Status column:

Simply update the settings (in this case by adding a Service Description) and Apply Configuration again to write the changes.

Also note that each time you Apply Configuration, a snapshot is taken. These can be viewed in the Quick Tools > Configuration Snapshots section of the CCM. You can roll back to previous configurations anytime by clicking the circular arrow icon in the Actions column.

You can also review exactly what was changed by clicking the View diff button in the Diff Changes column for an entry:

Managing Groups

The CCM is also where you’ll manage your host groups and service groups, which enable you to quickly filter things like dashboards and reports to focus on specific subsets of your monitored assets and to carry out advanced approaches like hostgroup inheritance, whereby any host added to a group inherits various common services automatically. You can learn more about managing groups in this article:

Master Host and Service Groups in Nagios XI

Advanced Options

Dependencies

Host and Service Dependencies can be managed in the Advanced section of the CCM. You may already be familiar with parent/child relationships, which enable you to define host topology so that Nagios XI alerts you intelligently based on its ability to reach hosts. When a parent breaks, the child hosts and their services are marked as Unreachable rather than Critical, and you can customize whether and how Unreachable states alert.

Dependencies function in a similar way but aren’t meant to be dictated by topology alone. Any host or service can be made dependent on any other hosts or services you wish, providing a way to define advanced relationships based on the specifics of your environment. Note that, unlike Parent/Child relationships, dependencies don’t impact auto-generated topology diagrams like the Hypermap and Network Status Map.

Escalations

Host and Service Escalations provide a way to customize notifications when problems persist for too long, for example, sending an email to a manager if a host is still down after three notifications are sent to admins. These can be managed in either the Alerting > Host Escalations/Service Escalations section or via the handy Escalation Wizard in the Tools section of the CCM.

Event Handlers

Event handlers are automated actions you set XI to take when state changes occur. A simple example would be to execute a restart script on a host when Nagios detects that a key service is stopped, but ultimately, anything you can script can be done, so the possibilities are vast. This document provides full details and an example to try:

Introduction to Event Handlers in Nagios XI

Commands

These are the commands Nagios runs to do things like execute status checks, send notifications, and fire off event handlers. You’ll notice 160+ pre-loaded commands that XI uses to support the default monitoring wizards and alerting functions and can add your own as needed. This example shows the check_xi_ncpa command, which is run when Nagios executes a check on a host running the NCPA agent:

Import Config Files

If you’re currently using Nagios Core and would like to import your config files into Nagios XI, you can learn more about the process, the ready-made Import Prep Tool, and carry out the import in this section of the CCM.

Making Big Changes

The Bulk Modifications Tool has long been a favorite of Enterprise Edition users, especially those with large and dynamic environments. The tool enables you to quickly modify a key setting on as many hosts or services as you’d like with a few clicks.

Bulk Renaming not only provides a way to rename many objects at once but, even better (unlike renaming one at a time in the Core Config Manager) ensures that your historical performance data is retained even after changing the name of an object.

Give it a Try

As you can see, understanding and utilizing the CCM’s key capabilities is an important element of mastering XI administration.

If you’re not already using Nagios XI, the free trial version is a great way to experience the power of the Core Config Manager for yourself:

Nagios XI Free Trial

If you have any questions or need a hand, you can reach us at sales@nagios.com.