I think you should be fine with setting the VMWare host to be the parent of your guests. It's the simplest configuration, it meets your goals (host down suppresses guests, but host's services do not affect guests' notifications) and it has the added benefit of looking good in the Status Map :-) IMHO using parents for VMWare hosts/guests is within the intended use of the directive, even though the docs only talk about network equipment, because your guests are as directly dependent upon their host as a physical host is of its switch. <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 9:14 PM, Andrew Davis <<a href="mailto:nccomp@gmail.com">nccomp@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div text="#000099" bgcolor="#ffffff"> I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this, yet keep things as simple as possible. Say I have a server called Saturn running VMWare. I'm monitoring this server with Nagios. I also have three VM's on Saturn: Jupiter, Mars, and Pluto I want to suppress all host and service alerts on Jupiter, Mars, & Pluto if the host Saturn is down (unreachable). I do NOT want to suppress host or service alerts from Jupiter, Mars, and Pluto if the VMWare processes (services) are down on Saturn. Basically, if my VM server is completely unreachable, don't bother me about its client VM's. Am I better off doing this with a host dependency? Something like: <pre>define hostdependency { host_name Host B dependent_host_name Host C notification_failure_criteria d,u } </pre> Or am I better off defining Saturn as the parent of the VM's in the host config? Something like: <pre>define host { host_name牋牋牋牋牋牋牋 jupiter use牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋 VMs alias牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋 jupiter address牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋 172.26.251.60 parents牋牋牋牋牋牋牋牋 saturn, tpdmzsw1 }</pre> I've successfully used the "parents" directive to define network topology, so I would think this would work. What might be the risks of defining both? <pre cols="72">-- A. Davis Email: <a href="mailto:nccomp@gmail.com" target="_blank">nccomp@gmail.com</a> "There is no limit to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care who gets the credit." - Ronald Reagan </pre> </div> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. <a href="http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com" target="_blank">http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com</a> _______________________________________________ Nagios-users mailing list <a href="mailto:Nagios-users@lists.sourceforge.net">Nagios-users@lists.sourceforge.net</a> <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-users" target="_blank">https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-users</a> ::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and OS when reporting any issue. ::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent to /dev/null </blockquote></div> -- Martin Melin ____________________________ op5 AB <a href="http://www.op5.com">http://www.op5.com</a> <a href="http://www.op5.org/">http://www.op5.org/</a> <a href="http://www.op5.com/op5/products/network-monitor/nagios/">http://www.op5.com/op5/products/network-monitor/nagios/</a>