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Overview
This page covers the process for committing configuration changes and reviews the Nagios pre-flight test, the Commit option, and the auto-created backup procedures. For manual configuration backup and restore procedures including retained backups see System Maintenance > System Maintenance How To's > How to back up and restore.
The Process for Committing Configuration Changes
Any change made with the GroundWork Monitor Configuration tool is not effective and does not become part of your monitoring system production environment until the change is committed with the Commit option. Other components of the process include Pre Flight Test and Backup.
Figure: Commit Process
Pre Flight Test
Before performing a commit operation, your are advised to run a Pre Flight Test which will check the configuration for possible warnings and will not implement any changes into the Nagios configuration. Pre flight test data is stored in the /usr/local/groundwork/core/monarch/workspace directory.
Figure: Example of workspace directory files_
[root@demo workspace]# ls auto-registration_hosts.cfg host_escalations.cfg auto-registration_services.cfg hostgroups.cfg cgi.cfg hosts.cfg check_commands.cfg host_templates.cfg config-current.log misccommands.cfg contact_groups.cfg nagios.cfg contacts.cfg resource.cfg contact_templates.cfg service_dependencies.cfg escalation_templates.cfg service_dependency_templates.cfg extended_host_info.cfg service_escalations.cfg extended_host_info_templates.cfg service_groups.cfg extended_service_info.cfg services.cfg extended_service_info_templates.cfg service_templates.cfg host_dependencies.cfg time_periods.cfg
Commit Operation
A Commit operation is used to update configuration changes to the Nagios configuration files which are stored in the /usr/local/groundwork/nagios/etc directory.
Figure: Example of etc directory files_
[root@demo etc]# ls auto-registration_hosts.cfg hosts.cfg auto-registration_services.cfg host_templates.cfg cgi.cfg htpasswd.users check_commands.cfg misccommands.cfg config-current.log nagios.cfg contact_groups.cfg nagios.initd contacts.cfg nagios.initd.pro contact_templates.cfg private escalation_templates.cfg resource.cfg extended_host_info.cfg service_dependencies.cfg extended_host_info_templates.cfg service_dependency_templates.cfg extended_service_info.cfg service_escalations.cfg extended_service_info_templates.cfg service_groups.cfg host_dependencies.cfg services.cfg host_escalations.cfg service_templates.cfg hostgroups.cfg time_periods.cfg
Backup Nagios Files
A backup of the Nagios configuration files (.cfg) and a database dump of the monarch configuration database (.tar) will automatically be initiated every time a successful commit operation takes place. Backup configuration files are stored in a /usr/local/groundwork/core/monarch/backup/<timestamp> directory. Note that in addition to the Nagios configuration files and the database file the backup directory also contains the monarch annotation (.annotation) file which holds an optional backup description added at the time of backup.
Figure: Example of backup <timestamp> directory files
[root@demo 2015-10-19_13-11-41]# ls auto-registration_hosts.cfg hosts.cfg auto-registration_services.cfg host_templates.cfg cgi.cfg misccommands.cfg check_commands.cfg monarch-2015-10-19_13-11-41.annotation contact_groups.cfg monarch-2015-10-19_13-11-41.locked contacts.cfg monarch-2015-10-19_13-11-41.sql.tar contact_templates.cfg nagios.cfg escalation_templates.cfg resource.cfg extended_host_info.cfg service_dependencies.cfg extended_host_info_templates.cfg service_dependency_templates.cfg extended_service_info.cfg service_escalations.cfg extended_service_info_templates.cfg service_groups.cfg host_dependencies.cfg services.cfg host_escalations.cfg service_templates.cfg hostgroups.cfg time_periods.cfg
Steps
Running a Nagios Pre Flight Test
A Pre flight test checks to see if there are any warnings that you might want to fix before putting the whole setup into production. No changes are made to the production setup when running a Pre flight test and any warnings or errors will be listed in the Nagios Pre Flight Test window. In the example below you can see there are 9 warnings and 0 errors.
- Go to Configuration > Control > Pre Flight Test.
- Select Continue to complete.
Figure: Nagios Pre flight test
Running a Nagios Commit and Backup
To implement any configuration changes you will need to select the Commit option. This operation will overwrite the active Nagios configuration and restart Nagios. The process also automatically backs up the Nagios configuration files and monarch configuration database. By default, these are placed in a timestamped directory in /usr/local/groundwork/core/monarch/backup. You will see the location of the backup at the bottom of the Nagios Commit screen.
- Go to Configuration > Control and select Commit.
- In the Nagios Commit screen, you have the option to add an Annotation describing what the backup represents (which is typically either a savepoint before a set of changes or a full final set of changes). It is strongly encouraged to be very descriptive when you enter annotations which can be very helpful if you need to restore a configuration.
- Next, you have the option to Lock the backup which allows it to be saved indefinitely. Unlocked backups are subject to being automatically deleted when too many accumulate, see How to back up and restore.
- Select Commit to overwrite the active Nagios configuration, restart Nagios, and create a backup. Select Abort if you do not want to follow through with the commit process.
See the System Maintenance section for information on manual configuration backups, managing existing backups, and restoring of the PostgreSQL configuration database monarch.