Embedding Nagios

[Sven-Göran Bergh]

Hi all,

Excuse me for polluting the list with a few questions that probably will seem odd for most readers. So, first a short intro to our system.

=== Introduction ===
While most of you manage huge installations and are facing problems when scaling Nagios to really large networks, we are running in the opposite direction. We are currently helping a customer developing a small network appliance. It will be used in small isolated networks, typically only about 20-30 nodes and ~100 services, maximum of say 200 nodes and maybe 1000 services. Typical nodes are Windows servers, switches, and PLC:s in an industrial automation environment. Since we are talking many (>100) small isolated networks with occational call-ins (~ once a month) and harsh environment we decided to go embedded in order to minimize administration. Think of it as a HW based spy. Install, get out and forget.

The current base implementation is about 30MB of disk space. Idle RAM is around 30MB but typically vary in the range 80-200MB depending on configuration. It runs very well on solid-state Soekris boxes (433-500MHz, 256-512MB, 2GB CF). The rest of the 2GB CF is used for data storage. Consequently, there are a few areas where our system design probably differs from most Nagios users. Our major concern for the future is the footprint (both RAM and disk). This far performance does not seem to be a problem.

I think you get the picture, but here are some more details:
* BusyBox based environment. 500kB for most of the OS utilities, including a bourne shell, is really geat. Add 2MB for the Linux kernel including its modules and you have the base for our system.
* Just basic plain perl, no CPAN stuff. (looking at microperl, compatibility?)
* Currently apache2, mainly because lack of time. Investigating alternatives (BB httpd seems snug).
* Main software include Nagios, PNP, rrdtool, nmap and tcpdump. Trying to move away from PHP though.
* No databases. This has implications on gui and configuration.
* All wrapped up in a SquashFS file with UnionFS for the data storage.
* No additional intalls on the target nodes. No plugins, just plain SNMP and network sniffs for now. IPMI is in the pipeline and WMI is being investigated.

A first pilot installation will take place next week and the main roll out is planned for the end of this year.

=== Questions ===
Now some inquiries:

* What about the future of Nagios? I am thinking about the need for database support, perl, PHP and other heavy weight stuff.
* Anyone knows about a SQLite based management for Nagios (config and GUI)? The advantage of database support is obvious, but the footprint and administration of ordinary DBs are too much for this puppy.
* Does Nagios embedded perl play with microperl? I know about the module limitations with microperl, but we try to avoid them anyway.
* Future path for our plugins? Currently we use basic perl, shell and C. What are the implications of skipping perl and just go for plain C and shell?
* Comments and thoughts from anyone with experience of similar setups whould be much appreciated.

Please feel free to comment on anything. (I aleady know about the lack of sanity, but apart from that :)

/Sven
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Sven-Göran Bergh
Systemasis AB
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