13.5. Nagios Advanced Configuration

13.5.1. Creating Nagios User

To create a new Nagios user and set permissions for that user, follow the steps given below:
  1. Login as root user.
  2. Run the command given below with the new user name and type the password when prompted. 
    # htpasswd /etc/nagios/passwd newUserName
  3. Add permissions for the new user in /etc/nagios/cgi.cfg file as shown below: 
    authorized_for_system_information=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_configuration_information=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_system_commands=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_all_services=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_all_hosts=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_all_service_commands=nagiosadmin,newUserName
authorized_for_all_host_commands=nagiosadmin,newUserName

    Note

    To set read only permission for users, add authorized_for_read_only=username in the /etc/nagios/cgi.cfg file.
  4. Start Nagios and httpd services using the following commands: 
    # service httpd restart
# service nagios restart
  5. Verify Nagios access by using the following URL in your browser, and using the user name and password. 
    https://NagiosServer-HostName-or-IPaddress/nagios
    Description

    Figure 13.14. Nagios Login

13.5.2. Changing Nagios Password

The default Nagios user name and password is nagiosadmin and nagiosadmin. This value is available in the /etc/nagios/cgi.cfg file.
  1. Login as root user.
  2. To change the default password for the Nagios Administrator user, run the following command with the new password: 
    # htpasswd -c /etc/nagios/passwd nagiosadmin
  3. Start Nagios and httpd services using the following commands: 
    # service httpd restart
# service nagios restart
  4. Verify Nagios access by using the following URL in your browser, and using the user name and password that was set in Step 2: 
    https://NagiosServer-HostName-or-IPaddress/nagios
    Description

    Figure 13.15. Nagios Login

13.5.3. Configuring SSL

For secure access of Nagios URL, configure SSL:
  1. Create a 1024 bit RSA key using the following command: 
    openssl genrsa -out /etc/ssl/private/{cert-file-name.key} 1024
  2. Create an SSL certificate for the server using the following command: 
    openssl req -key nagios-ssl.key -new | openssl x509 -out nagios-ssl.crt -days 365 -signkey  nagios-ssl.key -req
    Enter the server's host name which is used to access the Nagios Server GUI as Common Name.
  3. Edit the /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf file and add path to SSL Certificate and key files correspondingly for SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile fields as shown below: 
     SSLCertificateFile     /etc/pki/tls/certs/nagios-ssl.crt 
 SSLCertificateKeyFile  /etc/pki/tls/private/nagios-ssl.key
  4. Edit the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file and comment the port 80 listener as shown below: 
    # Listen 80
  5. In /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file, ensure that the following line is not commented: 
    <Directory "/var/www/html">
  6. Restart the httpd service on the Nagios server using the following command: 
    # service httpd restart

13.5.4. Integrating LDAP Authentication with Nagios

You can integrate LDAP authentication with Nagios plug-in. To integrate LDAP authentication, follow the steps given below:
  1. In apache configuration file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, ensure that LDAP is installed and LDAP apache module is enabled.
    The configurations are displayed as given below if the LDAP apache module is enabled.You can enable the LDAP apache module by deleting the # symbol. 
    LoadModule ldap_module modules/mod_ldap.so 
LoadModule authnz_ldap_module modules/mod_authnz_ldap.so
  2. Edit the nagios.conf file in /etc/httpd/conf.d/nagios.conf with the corresponding values for the following:
    • AuthBasicProvider
    • AuthLDAPURL
    • AuthLDAPBindDN
    • AuthLDAPBindPassword
  3. Edit the CGI authentication file /etc/nagios/cgi.cfg as given below with the path where Nagios is installed. 
    nagiosinstallationdir = /usr/local/nagios/ or /etc/nagios/
  4. Uncomment the lines shown below by deleting # and set permissions for specific users:

    Note

    Replace nagiosadmin and user names with * to give any LDAP user full functionality of Nagios 
    authorized_for_system_information=user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_configuration_information=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_system_commands=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_all_services=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_all_hosts=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_all_service_commands=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3 
 
authorized_for_all_host_commands=nagiosadmin,user1,user2,user3
  5. Restart httpd service and Nagios server using the following commands: 
    # service httpd restart
# service nagios restart