Integrating with Nagios Core

As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to configure a connection with Nagios Core, verify the connection, and view the collected event and metric data in various BMC Helix applications.

Supported versions

This connector supports Nagios Core version 4.4.7. 

Planning for the connection

• Depending on the location (SaaS, on-premises) of the third-party product, choose one or more BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations deployment modes and review the corresponding port requirements. For information about various deployment modes and port requirements, see Deployment-scenarios.
• Based on the deployment modes, use the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS deployment or the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway or both. For more information about the gateway, see Deploying-the-BMC-Helix-Intelligent-Integrations-on-premises-gateway.

• The on-premises gateway must be able to reach the third-party product on the required port (default is 443).

In the preceding list, third-party product refers to Nagios Core.

Configuring the connection with Nagios Core

1. Access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
   • BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations SaaS – Log on to BMC Helix Portal, and click Launch on BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations.
   • BMC Helix Intelligent Integrationson-premises gateway – Use one of the following URLs to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
     • http://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
     • https://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
2. On the CONNECTORS tab, click in the SOURCES panel.
3. Click the Nagios Core tile.
4. Specify the following details for the source connection:

   1. Specify a unique instance name.

      Best practice
      We recommend that you specify the instance name in the following format: 

      <sourceType>_<sourceControllerServerName>{_<InstanceQualifier>}

      The instance qualifier helps you to distinguish the multiple instances configured from the same source server. For example, you can name your instances as Nagios_Host_PROD, Nagios_Host_TEST, and so on.

   2. Specify the Nagios Core host name.
   3. Specify the HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol. The default port number is 443.
   4. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the Nagios Core host.
   5. Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a collection schedule (default value is 5).
   6. Enter the username and password for the Nagios Core host.
   7. Specify the timezone (default value is US/East). If you change the timezone, it affects the start time and end time for data collection.  
   8. Click Proxy and specify if you want to configure a proxy server. If yes, specify the host name and port number (default value is 8888)
5. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

6. Select the source connection that you created from the list if it is not selected already.

   Important

   The destination host connection is created and configured automatically for each tenant when the source connection is created.

7. Ensure that the options for the datatypes for which you want to collect data are selected.

8. Configure the collectors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Collectors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
   
   Note: The ✅️ symbol indicates that this field is applicable to the data type and ❌️ indicates that this field is not applicable to the data type.
   
9. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
10. Configure the distributors for the selected data types by clicking the respective data type in the Distributors section. Specify the parameters for the selected data type, as explained in the following table:
    

1. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.
2. Click one of the following buttons:

1. • SAVE STREAM: Click this button if you want to edit the integration details before creating the instance. After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed in the SOURCES panel. Move the slider to the right to start the data stream.
   • SAVE AND START STREAM: Click this button if you want to save the integration details and start receiving data immediately.

          For more information about the data streams, see Starting-or-stopping-data-streams.

Verifying the connection

From BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations , on the SOURCES panel, confirm that the data streams for the connection you created are running. Data streaming is indicated by moving colored arrows.

• A moving blue arrow () indicates that the event stream is running. Event data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
• A moving red arrow () indicates that the metric stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

Viewing data in BMC Helix applications

View data in Nagios Core in multiple BMC Helix applications.

To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Events.
2. Filter the events by NagiosCoreAlert class.
   

Incoming events from Nagios Core  are processed in BMC Helix Operations Management   through a set of deduplication rules to determine whether the incoming event is a duplicate event or a new event. For more information, see Event-deduplication-suppression-and-closure-for-reducing-event-noise.

For information about events, see Monitoring and managing events.

To view metrics in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Devices.
2. Click the links for the required device.

3. On the Monitors tab, click the required monitor.
   The Performance Overview tab shows the metrics graph. 
   
   
   

   Important

   As the Nagios Core connector collects only the current data, if you pause data streaming, you will see discontinuation in the metrics graph in BMC Helix Operations Management.

For information about metrics, see Viewing collected data.

To view situations in BMC Helix AIOps

Before you view situations in BMC Helix AIOps , create a Business Service model in BMC Helix Discovery . For information about creating models, see Managing models  

1. In BMC Helix AIOps, go to the Overview page.
2. View the Situations for the events received from Nagios Core.

For information about situations, see Monitoring situations.

Mapping between Nagios Core and BMC Helix Operations Management

The following table shows the mapping of event's severity between Nagios Core and BMC Helix Operations Management: