# Nagios Addons

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Introduction

There are a lot of "addon" software packages that are available for Nagios. Addons can be used to extend Nagios' functionality or integrate Nagios with other applications.

Addons are available for:

- Managing the config files through a web interface
- Monitoring remote hosts (*NIX, Windows, etc.)
- Submitting passive checks from remote hosts
- Simplifying/extending the notification logic
- ...and much more

You can find many addons for Nagios by visiting:

- Nagios.org
- SourceForge.net
- NagiosExchange.org

I'll give a brief introduction to a few of the addons that I've developed for Nagios...

NRPE

NRPE is an addon that allows you to execute plugins on remote Linux/Unix hosts. This is useful if you need to monitor local resources/attributes like disk usage, CPU load, memory usage, etc. on a remote host. Similiar functionality can be accomplished by using the check_by_ssh plugin, although it can impose a higher CPU load on the monitoring machine - especially if you are monitoring hundreds or thousands of hosts.

The NRPE addon and documentation can be found at http://www.nagios.org/.

NSCA

NSCA is an addon that allows you to send passive check results from remote Linux/Unix hosts to the Nagios daemon running on the monitoring server. This is very useful in distributed and redundant/failover monitoring setups.

The NRPE addon and documentation can be found at http://www.nagios.org/.

NDOUtils

NDOUtils is an addon that allows you to store all status information from Nagios in a MySQL database. Multiple instances of Nagios can all store their information in a central database for centralized reporting. This will likely serve as the basis for a new PHP-based web interface for Nagios in the future.

The NDOUtils addon and documentation can be found at http://www.nagios.org/.