Hello, Since today I have almost the same problem as Jim. The $HOSTALIAS$ macro works fine for all the checks, except one host alias is wrong. I got aware of it today. Same version as Jim's, 3.2.3, compiled from source as well. Host config: define host{ use linux-platform-demo ; Name of host template to use ; This host definition will inherit all variables that are defined ; in (or inherited by) the linux-server host template definition. host_name server14 alias SERVER14-RANDOMDEMO address 192.168.0.14 } However in the notification e-mail the alias appears like this: Subject: ** PROBLEM Service Alert: SERVER17-RANDPROD/Service Check is CRITICAL ** ***** Nagios ***** Notification Type: PROBLEM Service: Service Check Host: SERVER17-RANPROD Address: 192.168.0.14 State: CRITICAL Date/Time: Mon Jul 11 11:12:20 CEST 2011 Additional Info: CRITICAL No connection to 192.168.0.20! Note that the IP address is correct. Only the Host (which uses $HOSTALIAS$ if I'm not mistaken) is wrong. As this is also used in the subject of the mail, a great confusion happened here at work today ;-). I checked all host definitions for wrong alias values, but did not find so. Anyone got an idea? Maybe this is related to the problem Jim found, too. thx ck <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 8:16 PM, Jim McNamara <<a href="mailto:jim@packetalk.net">jim@packetalk.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div> Hello all. I'm seeing an unexpected behavior in my nagios installs, and I'd appreciate some insight as to what I did incorrectly. This is nagios version 3.2.3 compiled from source. I added the $HOSTALIAS$ macro to the emails nagios generates, as often information in the alias makes it clearer which device has the problem. The host email looks like this: # 'notify-host-by-email' command definition define command{ command_name notify-host-by-email command_line /usr/bin/printf "%b" "***** Nagios *****\n\nNotification Type: $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\nHost: $HOSTNAME$\nAbout: $HOSTALIAS$\nState: $HOSTSTATE$\nAddress: $HOSTADDRESS$\nInfo: $HOSTOUTPUT$\n\nDate/Time: $LONGDATETIME$\n" | /usr/bin/mail -s "** $NOTIFICATIONTYPE$ $HOSTNAME$ is $HOSTSTATE$ **" $CONTACTEMAIL$ } The same modifications were made to the notify-service-by-email as well. This works somewhat as intended, it does add an "About:" line, but the value for $HOSTALIAS$ is not consistent. In the /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/localhost.cfg file the host is defined as: define host{ use linux-server host_name localhost alias old gray box on the metal stand address 127.0.0.1 hostgroups linux-servers } When I click on Host followed by localhost in the web interface for nagios, I get a page with this data at the top: Host old gray box on the metal stand (localhost) In addition, the line "old gray box on the metal stand" is listed as the alias for localhost in /usr/local/nagios/var/objects.cache: define host { host_name localhost alias old gray box on the metal stand address 127.0.0.1 check_period 24x7 check_command check-host-alive When I receive a host email about localhost, the About: line in the email which should to my understanding contain the value of $HOSTALIAS$, instead has "localhost" listed where the $HOSTALIAS$ (old grey box on the metal stand) is expected. Here is the text of a recent email: <tt>***** Nagios *****</tt> <tt>Notification Type: RECOVERY</tt> <tt>Service: current load</tt> <tt>Host: localhost</tt> <tt>About: localhost</tt> <tt>Address: 127.0.0.1</tt> <tt>State: OK</tt> <tt>Date/Time: Wed Jun 8 13:41:01 EDT 2011</tt> <tt>Additional Info:</tt> <tt>OK - load average: 1.18, 2.55, 2.34</tt> I checked and multiple copies of nagios aren't running, so I'm guessing I did something incorrect with the macro? Interestingly, this is happening to about half of the hosts I'm receiving emails for. Sometimes the $HOSTALIAS$ is correct, and other times it seems $HOSTALIAS$ is incorrect. </div> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. <a href="http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev" target="_blank">http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev</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>