Nagios not sending emails

Question

I want to setup nagios to send email notifications. I can send email notifications manually clicking the "Send custom service notification" in nagios web interface. The notification is being created and the email is being sent and delivered successfully. But nagios doesn't send notifications automatically. I have tested it turning off PING service on the machine (echo 1 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_all). Nagios sets PING service to CRITICAL state, but doesn't send notification email.

These are my config files:

Part of templates.cfg

define contact{
        name                            generic-contact     ; The name of this contact template
        service_notification_period     24x7            ; service notifications can be sent anytime
        host_notification_period        24x7            ; host notifications can be sent anytime
        service_notification_options    w,u,c,r,f,s     ; send notifications for all service states, flapping events, and scheduled downtime events
        host_notification_options       d,u,r,f,s       ; send notifications for all host states, flapping events, and scheduled downtime events
        service_notification_commands   notify-service-by-email ; send service notifications via email
        host_notification_commands      notify-host-by-email    ; send host notifications via email
        register                        0               ; DONT REGISTER THIS DEFINITION - ITS NOT A REAL CONTACT, JUST A TEMPLATE!
}

---

Part of contacts.cfg

define contact{
        contact_name                    nagiosadmin     ; Short name of user
        use                             generic-contact     ; Inherit default values from generic-contact template (defined above)
        alias                           Nagios Admin        ; Full name of user
        service_notification_options    w,u,c,r,f,s
        host_notification_options       d,u,r,f,s
        email                           [email protected]      ; <<***** CHANGE THIS TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ******
}

define contactgroup{
        contactgroup_name       admins
        alias                   Nagios Administrators
        members                 nagiosadmin
}

---

generic-host_nagios2.cfg

define host{
        name                            generic-host    ; The name of this host template
        notifications_enabled           1       ; Host notifications are enabled
        event_handler_enabled           1       ; Host event handler is enabled
        flap_detection_enabled          1       ; Flap detection is enabled
        failure_prediction_enabled      1       ; Failure prediction is enabled
        process_perf_data               1       ; Process performance data
        retain_status_information       1       ; Retain status information across program restarts
        retain_nonstatus_information    1       ; Retain non-status information across program restarts
        check_command                   check-host-alive
        max_check_attempts              10
        notification_interval           1
        notification_period             24x7
        notification_options            d,u,r,f,s
        contact_groups                  admins
        register                        0       ; DONT REGISTER THIS DEFINITION - ITS NOT A REAL HOST, JUST A TEMPLATE!
}

---

generic-service_nagios2.cfg

define service{
        name                            generic-service ; The 'name' of this service template
        active_checks_enabled           1       ; Active service checks are enabled
        passive_checks_enabled          1       ; Passive service checks are enabled/accepted
        parallelize_check               1       ; Active service checks should be parallelized (disabling this can lead to major performance problems)
        obsess_over_service             1       ; We should obsess over this service (if necessary)
        check_freshness                 0       ; Default is to NOT check service 'freshness'
        notifications_enabled           1       ; Service notifications are enabled
        event_handler_enabled           1       ; Service event handler is enabled
        flap_detection_enabled          1       ; Flap detection is enabled
        failure_prediction_enabled      1       ; Failure prediction is enabled
        process_perf_data               1       ; Process performance data
        retain_status_information       1       ; Retain status information across program restarts
        retain_nonstatus_information    1       ; Retain non-status information across program restarts
        notification_interval           1       ; Only send notifications on status change by default.
        is_volatile                     0
        check_period                    24x7
        normal_check_interval           5
        retry_check_interval            1
        max_check_attempts              4
        notification_period             24x7
        notification_options            w,u,c,r,f,s
        contact_groups                  admins
        register                        0       ; DONT REGISTER THIS DEFINITION - ITS NOT A REAL SERVICE, JUST A TEMPLATE!
}

How can I force nagios to send notification emails?

Answer 1

I had a similar issue. It turned out to be a combination of two problems:

1) I was not waiting long enough for the alerts. Add up your normal_check_interval and retry_check_interval*max_check_attempts for services and you'll see that you must wait as long as 9 minutes before getting a notification. Decrease the normal_check_interval and max_check_attempts if you must know about failures of a service faster. Note that with the default Nagios configuration it may be as much as 15 minutes before it will notify you.

2) The default configuration for linux-server is to notify you during workhours, but the server in question was on UTC. Make sure that notification_period variable everywhere is 24x7.

Good luck.