In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to install and configure NCPA on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15. Please note that a registered copy of SLES 15 is required to access official SUSE repositories and install dependencies.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that you meet the following requirements:

• A registered copy of SLES 15 (required for package installation).
• Root or sudo privileges for installation and configuration.
• An active Nagios Core or Nagios XI server to receive monitoring data.

Step 1: Register Your SLES 15 System

If your system is not registered, you must register it with SUSE Customer Center (SCC) to access the necessary repositories. Run the following command to register:

sudo SUSEConnect --registration-url https://scc.suse.com

sudo SUSEConnect --registration-url https://scc.suse.com

Enter your SUSE Customer Center credentials when prompted.

Once registered, refresh the repositories to ensure they are up to date:

sudo zypper refresh

sudo zypper refresh

Step 2: Download the NCPA Package

Nagios does not provide NCPA in SUSE’s official repositories, so you need to download the NCPA package manually from the official Nagios website.

1. Navigate to the Nagios NCPA Downloads page.
2. Select the latest version for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 (x86_64).
3. Download the package using wget (replace the URL with the latest available version):

wget https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/ncpa/ncpa-latest-1.x86_64.rpm

wget https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/ncpa/ncpa-latest-1.x86_64.rpm

Step 3: Install NCPA on SLES 15

Once the package is downloaded, install it using the rpm command:

sudo rpm -ivh ncpa-latest-1.x86_64.rpm

sudo rpm -ivh ncpa-latest-1.x86_64.rpm

If you encounter missing dependencies, use zypper to install them (insserv-compat):

sudo zypper install <dependency name>

sudo zypper install <dependency name>

After installing dependencies, re-run the RPM installation command if necessary.

Step 4: Start and Enable the NCPA Agent

Once installed, enable and start the NCPA agent so that it runs on boot:

sudo systemctl enable ncpa

sudo systemctl enable ncpa

Start the services:

sudo systemctl start ncpa

sudo systemctl start ncpa

Check the service status to confirm that it is running:

sudo systemctl status ncpa

sudo systemctl status ncpa

Step 5: Configure NCPA

5.1 Edit the NCPA Configuration File

The NCPA configuration file is located at:

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

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

Modify the following settings as needed:

• API Token: This is required for secure communication with Nagios. Update the community_string field to something that you can remember:

community_string = Str0ngT0k3n!

community_string = Str0ngT0k3n!

• Allowed IPs: Restrict access to trusted Nagios servers by adding their IP addresses:

allowed_hosts = <Nagios IP address>

allowed_hosts = <Nagios IP address>

Save the file and exit (CTRL+X, then Y, then Enter).

Restart the NCPA service to apply changes:

sudo systemctl restart ncpa

sudo systemctl restart ncpa

Step 6: Verify NCPA Installation

6.1 Check the NCPA Web Interface

By default, NCPA runs on port 5693. You can access the web interface by opening a web browser and navigating to:

https://<your_sles_server>:5693

https://<your_sles_server>:5693

Log in using the API token you configured earlier.

6.2 Test NCPA with Nagios

To check if your Nagios server can communicate with the NCPA agent, run the following command from your Nagios monitoring server:

curl -k https://<your_sles_server>:5693/api

curl -k https://<your_sles_server>:5693/api

You should see a JSON response indicating the system’s status.

Step 7: Add NCPA to Nagios

On your Nagios XI web GUI navigate to Run a Wizard.

Click NCPA.

Now, fill out the IP address of your SLES system and enter the token you created in the conf file. Hit Next.

Now, you can pick any system metrics you want to monitor or just leave everything as default, hit Next, and then Finish with Defaults.

By following these steps, you have successfully installed Nagios Cross-Platform Agent (NCPA) on SLES 15. This allows your Nagios monitoring server to collect system metrics and monitor your SLES instance in real time.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:

• A registered copy of SLES 15: Registration is necessary to access official SUSE repositories and receive support. If your system is not registered, you may not be able to install SNMP via official repositories.
• Root or sudo access: You will need root access or sudo privileges to install software and configure SNMP.

Step 1: Register SLES 15

If you haven’t registered your system yet, you can do so by running the following command:

sudo SUSEConnect --registration-url https://scc.suse.com

sudo SUSEConnect --registration-url https://scc.suse.com

You will need to provide your SUSE Customer Center credentials (your username and password). Registration allows you to access SUSE’s official repositories, which is necessary for installing SNMP and other packages.

Once registered, refresh the repositories:

sudo zypper refresh

sudo zypper refresh

Step 2: Install SNMP Packages

With a registered system, you can now install SNMP and its required packages using zypper, SUSE’s package management tool.

sudo zypper install net-snmp

sudo zypper install net-snmp

This will install the necessary packages to get SNMP up and running on your SLES 15 system.

Step 3: Start and Enable SNMP Service

After installing the SNMP packages, you need to enable and start the snmpd service to begin monitoring your system.

1. Enable the service to start at boot:

sudo systemctl enable snmpd

sudo systemctl enable snmpd

2. Start the SNMP service:

sudo systemctl start snmpd

sudo systemctl start snmpd

3. Check the status of the SNMP service:

sudo systemctl status snmpd

sudo systemctl status snmpd

You should see output indicating that the service is active and running.

Step 4: Configure SNMP

SNMP configuration can be customized by editing the snmpd.conf file, located at:

sudo nano /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

sudo nano /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

Here, you can modify settings like:

• Community strings (for access control).
• Security settings (to secure SNMP data).
• Other SNMP parameters for device management.

Look for the rocommunity public line and modify it to allow your Nagios server’s IP address. Replace public with a community string that you can remember, and then replace 127.0.0.1 with your Nagios server IP address.

For example, this is what I did:

Note: If you want to allow access from any system (not recommended for security), use:

rocommunity myCommunityString default

rocommunity myCommunityString default

Once you are done editing your file, save and exit.

Step 5: Test SNMP Configuration

Once SNMP is installed and configured, test it using snmpwalk on your Nagios XI server.

Test from Your Monitoring Server (e.g., Nagios)

If running the test from your Nagios server, replace <SUSE_SERVER_IP> with your SUSE server’s IP:

snmpwalk -v 2c -c myCommunityString <SUSE_SERVER_IP>

snmpwalk -v 2c -c myCommunityString <SUSE_SERVER_IP>

If you see a lot of HOST-RESOURCES-MIB data, SNMP is working correctly!

Step 6: Monitor with Nagios

From your Nagios XI web interface home page, click on Run a Wizard.

Then, scroll until you find the Linux SNMP Wizard.

Then enter the IP address of your SUSE 12 machine. Leave the SNMP version at 2c and the SNMP Port at 161. The SNMP Community is where you will enter the community string you created in the conf file in Step 2.

Now, you can change any settings you need and choose which metrics you would like to monitor.

• Documentation: How To Monitor Linux Using SNMP In Nagios XI 2024 And 2026

By default, you will be monitoring some basic services. When you are done configuring your settings and choosing SNMP services to monitor, you can hit Next and then Finish with Defaults.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured SNMP on SUSE 15 and integrated it with Nagios. Your server is now actively monitored for performance metrics like CPU, memory, and uptime.

Step 1: Install SNMP Packages

SNMP is most likely pre-installed on your system, but just in case. To install SNMP on SUSE 12, you need to install the Net-SNMP package, which includes the SNMP daemon (snmpd) and useful command-line tools like snmpwalk and snmpget.

Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo zypper install net-snmp net-snmp-utils

sudo zypper install net-snmp net-snmp-utils

This will install:

• snmpd: The SNMP daemon that collects system data
• snmpwalk, snmpget, snmptrap: Utilities for querying SNMP data
  

Step 2: Configure SNMP Daemon

After installing SNMP, you must configure it to allow access from the monitoring system.

1. Open the SNMP configuration file:

sudo vi /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

sudo vi /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

2. Look for the rocommunity public line and modify it to allow your monitoring system’s IP. For example, if your Nagios server is at 192.168.1.146, change:

rocommunity myCommunityString 192.168.1.146

rocommunity myCommunityString 192.168.1.146

Replace myCommunityString with a strong community string.

Note: If you want to allow access from any system (not recommended for security), use:

rocommunity myCommunityString default

rocommunity myCommunityString default

Once you are done editing your file, save and exit (ESC, then :wq).

Step 3: Enable and Start SNMP Service

After configuring SNMP, enable and start the service so it runs automatically on boot:

sudo systemctl enable snmpd
sudo systemctl start snmpd

sudo systemctl enable snmpd
sudo systemctl start snmpd

Check if SNMP is running:

sudo systecmctl status snmpd

sudo systecmctl status snmpd

Step 4: Open Firewall for SNMP

SNMP uses UDP port 161. If your monitoring server is external, allow this port through the firewall:

sudo /usr/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 open EXT UDP 161
sudo systemctl restart SuSEfirewall2.service

sudo /usr/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 open EXT UDP 161
sudo systemctl restart SuSEfirewall2.service

If using firewalld, run:

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-source=<YOUR-IP-ADDRESS> --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=161/udp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-source=<YOUR-IP-ADDRESS> --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=161/udp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Step 5: Test SNMP Configuration

Once SNMP is installed and configured, test it using snmpwalk on your Nagios XI server.

Test from Your Monitoring Server (e.g., Nagios)

If running the test from your Nagios server, replace <SUSE_SERVER_IP> with your SUSE server’s IP:

snmpwalk -v 2c -c myCommunityString <SUSE_SERVER_IP>

snmpwalk -v 2c -c myCommunityString <SUSE_SERVER_IP>

If you see a lot of HOST-RESOURCES-MIB data, SNMP is working correctly!

Step 6: Monitor with Nagios

From your Nagios XI web interface home page, click on Run a Wizard.

Then, scroll until you find the Linux SNMP wizard.

Then enter the IP address of your SUSE 12 machine. Leave the SNMP version at 2c and the SNMP Port at 161. The SNMP Community is where you will enter the community string you created in the conf file in Step 2.

Now, you can change any settings you need and choose which metrics you would like to monitor.

By default, you will be monitoring some basic services. When you are done configuring your settings and choosing SNMP services to monitor, you can hit Next and then Finish with Defaults.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured SNMP on SUSE 12 and integrated it with Nagios. Your server is now actively monitored for performance metrics like CPU, memory, and uptime.

Important Note: If you’re using SUSE/SLES 12, you must install NCPA 2, as NCPA 3 only supports SUSE/SLES 15 and later. NCPA 3 introduces a new architecture with improved API performance, Python 3 support, and better security, but it is not backward compatible with SLES 12. For this reason, NCPA 2 remains the best choice for monitoring on SUSE 12.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the installation and configuration of NCPA 2 on SUSE/SLES 12, ensuring your server is set up for efficient monitoring. By the end, you’ll have a fully operational agent ready to send performance data to your Nagios monitoring system.

Prerequisites

Before beginning your installation of NCPA make sure you have met the following requirements

• An internet connection
• A system running SUSE 12
• Root/sudo privileges

Step 1: Download and Install NCPA

Use the rpm command to install the latest NCPA package from Nagios:

sudo rpm -Uvh https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/ncpa/ncpa-latest.sle12.x86_64.rpm

sudo rpm -Uvh https://assets.nagios.com/downloads/ncpa/ncpa-latest.sle12.x86_64.rpm

This will download and install NCPA on your SUSE/SLES 12 system.

Step 2: Configure NCPA

Open the NCPA configuration file in a text editor (such as vi) with this command:

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

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

Find the community_string = mytoken line and change it to a stronger token for security. Press i to switch to insert mode and once you have made your changes press esc to get out of insert mode and then type :wq to save your changes and exit the editor.

Apply the changes by restarting the NCPA listener service:

sudo systemctl restart ncpa_listener.service

sudo systemctl restart ncpa_listener.service

Step 3: Verify Installation

To confirm that NCPA is running, open a web browser and visit: https://<system IP>:5693

You should see the NCPA web interface, where you can log in using the token configured in ncpa.cfg

Troubleshooting Tips:

If you are unable to access the site, you may need to allow port 5693 through your firewall by running this command on your SUSE machine: sudo /usr/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 open EXT TCP 5693 and then sudo systemctl restart SuSEfirewall2.service to apply the rule.

Step 4: Monitoring with Nagios

Now that you have NCPA installed and configured on your SUSE/SLES 12 system, it’s time to integrate it with Nagios for real-time monitoring. Nagios Core or Nagios XI can use NCPA to check system metrics such as CPU usage, memory utilization, disk space, and running processes.

From your Nagios GUIs home page click on Run a Wizard.

Next, pick the NCPA wizard.

Enter your SUSE machines IP address in the address bar and leave the port as 5693. The token will be whatever you changed it to in the ncpa.cfg file. For System select SLES, Hit Next

Now you can change any monitoring settings depending on your needs, or click finish with default settings.

Congratulations! You have successfully integrated SUSE/SLES 12 with Nagios using NCPA. Your Nagios server is now continuously monitoring system performance and will notify you of any issues.