Options for Nagios Sending SMS Messages

[Stanley Hopcroft]

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for your letter and say,

On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 04:11:03PM +1000, Gary MacMinn wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> >From an Australian point of view, what options do I have for getting Nagios to report issues to my mobile via SMS?
> 

you have at least two categories of options, and quite a lot of choice
within each.

I will only comment on those I have used; free web based SMS gateways 
are another option.

1 Telco Provider SMS service.

This is a PSTN (ie POTS) interface to a CLI with a limited command 
repetoire - something like

 . enter the destination number in international format (ie replace 
leading 0 by country code so 0414 582 665 becomes 61414 582 665)

 . enter the message (less than 100 or 120 charcaters) 

 . provider disconnects your call and sends the SMS

The advantages of this are

 . no need for special hardware

 . works Ok

 . lots of proven client software to do the interaction with the
provider eg SMSClient

 . Most importantly, some of this client software provides an email 
interface so that SMSs are queued and don't hang Nag while sending; are 
retried on failures etc.

This is very important if you have a catastophic failure: instead of Nag
blocking on a 100 SMS deliveries if your data centre implodes, you have
a 100 SMSs in /var/spool/mqueue that you can simply delete ...

Disadvantages

 . Some time ago, inter provider SMS was _not_ supported eg if the 
destination phone is not one of the providers, SMS is routed to 
/dev/null (without an error)
 
 . slow, almost certainly slower than category 2 (since you first POTS
to the provider and they store and forward your SMS when they feel like
it)

 . subject to provider vagaries eg Voda outsourced their SMS business; 
it was down for _weeks_ some time ago. That is why my employer switched 
to

2 Provider independent SMS - ie 

You acquire an SMS modem (eg WaveCom WM 02) and suitable software (eg
SMSlink)  that provides a facsimile (I don't know how it really works)
of sending direct to the destination mobile.

Advantages

 . independent of provider of destination mobile - send to Telstra,
Optus, Voda handsets etc

 . scalable (but this is a client function) 

SMSlink will drive _any_ number of GSM modems

 . quite cheap (SMSLink is freely provided, and supported by the author 
[see FreshMeat etc]; GSM modems are $A200-300

 . works provided your modem/modem bank has one usable modem

 . SMSLink can be fitted with an email front-end.

Disadvantages

 . modem purchase (not modems available from local Aust distributor)

 . more extensive set-up (although going cold on SMSClient is about the 
same)

 . no slower than method 1, but not a screamer


> Any thoughts appreciated,
> 
> Gary MacMinn
> Network Support Engineer
> Department of Emergency Services
> =================================
> +61 7 3109 5084
> +61 7 3247 8665 (fax)
> =================================
> gmacminn at emergency.qld.gov.au
> =================================

> This correspondence is for the named persons only. It may contain confidential or privileged information or both. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mis transmission. If you receive this correspondence in error please delete it from your system immediately and notify the sender. You must not disclose, copy or relay on any part of this correspondence, if you are not the intended recipient. Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the individual sender except where the sender expressly, and with the authority, states them to be the opinions of the Department of Emergency Services, Queensland.


What ever you do, make sure it has an email interface.

In practise this means a CLI client that you can have invoked by your
MTA to handle the message eg here a letter addressed 61414582.pager gets
routed to a wrapper that invokes the CLI client (smsclient here) with
the body of the letter and the arguments necessary to send it.

>From the Nag point of view, notify by epage is simply your email client 
(/usr/bin/mail or whatever) with the SMS addresses.



Yours sincerely.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanley Hopcroft
------------------------------------------------------------------------

'...No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a
manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee...'

from Meditation 17, J Donne.


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