Introduction

There are a lot of "addon" software packages that are available for Nagios Core. Addons can be used to extend Nagios Core' functionality or integrate Nagios Core with other applications.

Addons are available for:

• Managing the config files through a web interface
• Monitoring remote hosts (*NIX, Windows, etc.)
• Submitting passive checks from remote hosts
• Simplifying/extending the notification logic
• ...and much more

You can browse thousands of addons for Nagios Core by visiting Nagios Exchange at https://exchange.nagios.org.

A few addons that are commonly used with Nagios Core are described below.

NRPE

NRPE is an addon that allows you to execute plugins on remote Linux/Unix hosts. This is useful if you need to monitor local resources/attributes like disk usage, CPU load, memory usage, etc. on a remote host. Similiar functionality can be accomplished by using the check_by_ssh plugin, although it can impose a higher CPU load on the monitoring machine - especially if you are monitoring hundreds or thousands of hosts.

The NRPE addon can be found on Nagios Exchange.

NSCA

NSCA is an addon that allows you to send passive check results from remote Linux/Unix hosts to the Nagios Core daemon running on the monitoring server. This is very useful in distributed and redundant/failover monitoring setups.

The NSCA addon can be found on Nagios Exchange.

NDOUtils

NDOUtils is an addon that allows you to store all status information from Nagios Core in a MySQL database. Multiple instances of Nagios Core can all store their information in a central database for centralized reporting. This will likely serve as the basis for a new PHP-based web interface for Nagios Core in the future.

The NDOUtils addon can be found at Nagios Exchange.

Nagios Exchange - Hundreds of Other Addons

Hundreds of community-developed Nagios addons can be found on the Nagios Exchange website at exchange.nagios.org.