Integrating with Nagios XI

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

Supported versions

This connector supports the version XI 5.8 of Nagios XI for data collection.

Task 1: To plan for the connection

• Depending on the location of the third-party product (SaaS, on-premises), 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 mode, 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 XI .

Task 2: To configure the connection with Nagios XI

1. Depending on the deployment mode, perform one of the following steps to 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 the following URL to access BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations:
     https://<hostName>:<portNumber>/swpui
2. On the CONNECTORS  tab, click   in the SOURCES panel.
3. Click the Nagios XItile .
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 XI   host name.
   3. Specify the Nagios XI HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol. The default port number is 80.
   4. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the Nagios XI host.
   5. Specify a valid token id to access the API. Ensure that the token has the required permissions to access the API. 
      For more information, see the Nagios XI documentation .

1. 
   
   1. Specify the timezone.
2. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

3. 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.

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

5. 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:

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6. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
7. 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:
   

   Parameter name	Description
   Max Batching Size	Specify the maximum number of data items to send in a single POST request to the destination API. The batch size depends on the destination’s ability to buffer the incoming data.Default: 250
   Max Batching Delay	Specify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building and processing a batch.Default: 3 seconds
   Base Retry Delay	Specify the initial time (in seconds) for which to wait before retrying to build and process a batch. The waiting time increases in the following sequence: n1, n2, n3, and so on, where n indicates the number of seconds.Default: 2 secondsExample:Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retry is performed after 2, 4, 8, 16, ... seconds.
   Max Intra-Retry Delay	Specify the maximum limit for the base retry delay. Default: 60 secondsExample:Max Intra-Retry Delay is set to 60 seconds. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Retries are performed 2, 4, 8, 16, 32,... seconds later.
   Max Retry Duration	Specify the total time for retrying a delivery. For REST destinations, a delivery is a batch of data items in one POST request. Default: 5 minutesExample:Max Retry Duration is set to 8 hours. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds.Requests are sent for 2+4+8+16+32+64+132... until 8 hours in total duration is reached. After that, no subsequent attempts are made to retry the delivery.The assumption here is that if there is an outage or other issue with the destination tool, recovery should take less than the value of the Max Retry Duration parameter to be completed.
   Attributes To Be Dropped When Updating Events	Specify the event attributes that you do not want to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Managementwhen events are updated. For example, if you do not want an event's severity, source address, source category, and subcategory to be updated in BMC Helix Operations Management , you need to specify those attributes in a comma-separated format: severity,source_address,source_category,source_subcategory .Important:You can obtain the event attribute names in BMC Helix Operations Management, by exporting any event data in JSON, BAROC, XML, or CSV format . The exported file contains all attributes of the event data, and from there you can identify the attributes to be dropped.

1. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.

2. Click one of the following buttons:

   • 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 the data immediately.

   ImportantFor a data stream, the Run Latency (max/avg), Items (Avg per Run), and Last Run Status columns on the Streams page might show the status as No Runs during the data collection process. After completion of the process, these columns are updated with an appropriate status.

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

Task 3: To verify the connection

From BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations , on the SOURCES panel, confirm that the data streams for the integration 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.

To view data in 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 the NagiosEvent class.

Incoming events from Nagios XI  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 more 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. 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.

In BMC Helix AIOps, on the Overview page to view the services and situations for the event and topology data received from Nagios XI.

Mapping between Nagios XI and BMC Helix Operations Management

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