[csw-users] CSWnrpe not working with custom plugin

[Stephen Nelson-Smith]

Hi,

I've installed nrpe from the blastwave repository on Solaris 10.  From
my nagios server (Redhat 5), I'm able to run remote nrpe commands, as
specified in nrpe.cfg, such as check_disk, or check_load.

I've written a custom monitor which conforms to the nrpe API, and
dropped it in /opt/csw/libexec/nagios-plugins/ with appropriate
permissions.  I've added a line to nrpe.cfg to enable it to be called
remotely.

I can run this command as the nagios user, and get the results as
expected.  However, if called over nrpe, I get the error:

NRPE: Unable to read output

I've enabled debug logging, and restarted nrpe, but I don't see any
log messages in syslog other than startup and shutdown.

If I disable cswnrpe via svcadm, and run /opt/csw/bin/nrpe -c
/opt/csw/etc/nrpe.cfg -d as root on the command line, everything works
fine, and I also get log messages, such as:

Mar  1 07:56:41 viper SC Alert: [ID 114403 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Activate Session : authentication type = MD5 : privilege
level = admin : initial outbound sequence number = 0x8E6E9E0F :
challenge string = 0xA8 0x4B 0xC8 0xFD 0xA2 0x4 0x1A 0x90 0xF4 0x49
0xFE 0x15 0x4B 0x48 0x96 0x2D : success
Mar  1 07:56:41 viper SC Alert: [ID 709409 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Set Session Privilege Level: privilege level = admin :
success
Mar  1 07:56:48 viper SC Alert: [ID 920036 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Close Session : session ID = 4153983266 : success
Mar  1 08:00:23 viper SC Alert: [ID 163647 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Activate Session : authentication type = MD5 : privilege
level = admin : initial outbound sequence number = 0xEC32CA41 :
challenge string = 0x25 0xCB 0x5C 0x8F 0xAE 0x6D 0x45 0x46 0x27 0x86
0xE5 0x3F 0xA9 0x8D 0x8A 0x71 : success
Mar  1 08:00:23 viper SC Alert: [ID 709409 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Set Session Privilege Level: privilege level = admin :
success
Mar  1 08:00:31 viper SC Alert: [ID 954504 daemon.notice] Audit |
minor: root : Close Session : session ID = 3706478101 : success

I've had a look at the shell script that is used by svcadm -
 /opt/csw/lib/svc/method/svc-nrpe - and all that seems to do is invoke
nrpe in the same way that I have on the command line.

I see no information in the /var/svc/log/network-cswnrpe:default.log.

I'm flummoxed - I can only thing it could be something to do with my
environment - in that it works if I launch from the commandline, and
doesn't when launched from a script.

I can't really use this in production - I want to use the svc properly
- but at present I can't see any way to get this to work other than
running it manually.

Any ideas for further troubleshooting, or suggestions as to what's wrong?

Thanks in advance,

S.
-- 
Stephen Nelson-Smith
Technical Director
Atalanta Systems Ltd
www.atalanta-systems.com