Main configuration format description

General Information

The Main Configuration file is designed in plain text "ini"-like format. There are sections which are marked by the surrounding brackets [] and variables which have an assigned value. The variables have to be in the correct section so you have to ensure to have uncommented the section too. Semicolons (;) are used to mark comments. Sections and variables with a leading semicolon are commented out and won't be recognised by NagVis.

In a fresh NagVis installation there is no file with the default configuration. The default configuration is stored in the PHP-Code of NagVis. If there is a file etc/nagvis.ini.php which has stored configuration information it will override the default configurations. There is a file etc/nagvis.ini.php-sample with sample configuration values. All values are commented out.

Section overview

Description of the sections in detail

global

All values which are used througout NagVis are stored in the global section.

Value Default Description
audit_log1Enable/Disable logging of security related user actions in Nagvis. For example user logins and logouts are logged in var/nagvis-audit.log.
authmoduleCoreAuthModSQLiteDefines the authentication module to use. By default NagVis uses the built-in SQLite authentication module. On delivery there is no other authentication module available. It is possible to add own authentication modules for supporting other authentication mechanism. For details have a look at the authentication module documentation.
authorisationmoduleCoreAuthorisationModSQLiteDefines the authorisation module to use. By default NagVis uses the built-in SQLite authorisation module. On delivery there is no other authorisation module available. It is possible to add own authorisation modules for supporting other authorisation mechanism. For details have a look at the authorisation module documentation.
controls_size (new in 1.6) 10 The size (in pixels) of object controls in unlocked (edit) mode in the frontend. Object controls are for example the modify, delete and move icons.
dateformat Y-m-d H:i:s The format of date and time shown in NagVis. Available options like in date function of php
dialog_ack_sticky 1 Is set to 1 by default to enable the preselection of the "sticky acknowledgement" checkbox in the problem acknowledgement dialog.
dialog_ack_notify 1 Is set to 1 by default to enable the preselection of the "notify acknowledgement" checkbox in the problem acknowledgement dialog.
dialog_ack_persist 0 Is set to 0 by default to disable the preselection of the "persist comment" checkbox in the problem acknowledgement dialog.
displayheader1Show header menu in maps. (Deprecated in 1.4. Moved as option "headermenu" to default and index section.)
geomap_server (new in 1.7) http://geomap.nagvis.org/ The server to use as source for the NagVis geomaps. Must implement the API which can be found here
http_proxy (new in 1.6) The proxy server to use for external HTTP request.
http_timeout (new in 1.6) 10 The timeout in seconds for external HTTP requests.
languageen_USSelect default language to use in NagVis. There are several translations delivered by default: en_US (English), de_DE (German), fr_FR (French) and pt_BR (Brazilian Portuguese; since 1.4.4). Since NagVis 1.4 you have to select the languages in a new format ("en_US" instead of "english")
language_availablede_DE,en_US,es_ES,fr_FR,pt_BRYou may want to give your users a limited number of languages to choose from. You can control the behaviour without deleting the language files from your NagVis installation. If this value is left empty NagVis will fallback to all configured in languages. If you like to add a new language to your NagVis installation you need to add it to the list here.
language_detectionuser,session,browser,configThis controls how NagVis tries to detect the language of the user to translate NagVis. NagVis knows several mechanisms to detect the language:
- user: Explicit user selected language
- session: When the user selects a language it is stored in the current session
- browser: NagVis tries to detect the user language by the browser agent
- config: The installation default language
The order you set the options determines how NagVis uses the different mechanisms.
logonmodule LogonMixed

Defines the logon module to use. By default NagVis uses the mixed auth module which trusts the username given in REMOTE_USER or displays a HTML logon dialog for requesting authentication information from the user when REMOTE_USER is not set.

On delivery there are the following modules available:

LogonMixed: The mixed logon module uses the LogonEnv module as default and the LogonDialog module as fallback when LogonEnv returns no username. This should fit the requirements of most environments.

LogonDialog: This is an HTML logon dialog for requesting authentication information from the user.

LogonEnv: It is possible to realise a fully "trusted" authentication mechanism like all previous NagVis versions used it before. This way the user is not really authenticated with NagVis. NagVis trusts the provided username implicitly. NagVis uses the configured environment variable to identify the user. You can add several authentication mechanisms to your webserver, starting from the basic authentication used by Nagios (.htaccess) to single sign-on environments. Simply set logonmodule to "LogonEnv", put the environment variable to use as username to the option logonenvvar and tell the authentication module to create users in the database when provided users do not exist. The option logonenvcreaterole tells the module to assign the new user to a specific role; set to empty string to disable that behaviour.

LogonMultisite: This module uses the authentication provided by auth_* cookies which have been generated by Check_MK multisite when using the cookie based authentication.

It is possible to add own logon modules for serving other dialogs. For details take a look at the logon module documentation.

logonenvvarREMOTE_USERDefines the environment variable to be used for fetching the authenticated user from the webservers environment. This option is only used with the logon modules LogonEnv and LogonMixed.
logonenvcreateuser1Tells the LogonEnv/LogonMixed module to create a user account for each unknown user who opens the NagVis pages. This option is only used with the logon modules LogonEnv and LogonMixed.
logonenvcreateroleGuestsTells the LogonEnv/LogonMixed module to create the user accounts with the given role associated. This option is only used with the logon modules LogonEnv and LogonMixed.
logon_multisite_htpasswd The path to the htpasswd file which is used by multisite. Only used by the LogonMultisite module.
logon_multisite_secret The path to the auth secret file which is used by multisite. Only used by the LogonMultisite module.
logon_multisite_createuser 1 Same as the above "logonenvcreateuser" option. Only used by the LogonMultisite module.
logon_multisite_createrole Guest Same as the above "logonenvcreaterole" option. Only used by the LogonMultisite module.
refreshtime60Refresh time of maps or reloading the next map in map rotation
sesscookiedomainauto-detectYou may need to control for which domain NagVis will store the session cookie. By default NagVis tries to auto detect this option value by using the webservers environment variables. This should work in most environments but may be changed e.g. when using url rewriting.
sesscookiepathauto-detectedYou may need to control the path on which the cookie will be set. By default NagVis uses the paths/htmlbase value for setting the cookie. This should work in most environments but may be changed e.g. when using url rewriting.
sesscookieduration86400Lifetime of the NagVis session cookie in seconds. The default value is set to 24 hours. The value of the NagVis session cookie contains will be renewed on every page visit. If a session is idle for more time than configured here it will become invalid.
startmoduleoverviewThe default module to show when none is given by the user
startactionviewThe default action to do when none is given by the user
startshow The startshow parameter is only used by some views at the moment. It is used by the Map and the AutoMap modules.

paths

In this section all necessary path variables are defined.
Value Default Description
base /usr/local/nagvis/share/ Absolute physical NagVis path
htmlbase /nagvis Absolute html NagVis path
htmlcgi /nagvis/cgi-bin Absolute html NagVis cgi path

defaults

Default values which are applied to the maps you use. If there is no value set in the map or an element on the map the default value is used.
Value Default Description
backend live_1 Default backend (ID of the backend - copy the text from which <backend-id> stands for in [backend_<backend-id>] )
backgroundcolortransparentDefault background colour of maps
contextmenu0Enable/Disable the context menu on your map objects.
contexttemplatedefaultDefault context template.
event_on_load 0 Enabled/disables event handling on page loading. Initial problematic states will raise events in frontend during page rendering. (New in 1.7b3)
event_repeat_interval 0 Repeat frontend events in the given interval. The interval is configured in seconds. Set value to 30 to let NagVis re-raise events for problematic objects every 30 seconds. Setting this value smaller than [worker] interval will have no effect. (New in 1.7b3)
event_repeat_duration -1 The time in seconds to repeat alerts for a problematic ojects for as configured in event_repeat_interval. This value defaults to -1, this leads to repeated events until the problematic state has been fixed. (New in 1.7b3)
eventbackground 0 Enable/Disable changing background colour on state changes (configured colour is shown when summary state is PENDING, OK or UP)
eventhighlight 1 Enable/Disable highlighting of the state changing object by adding a flashing border
eventhighlightduration 10000 Duration of the highlighting in milliseconds
eventhighlightinterval 500 Interval of the highlighting in milliseconds
eventlog 0 Enable/Disable the eventlog in the new javascript frontend. The eventlog keeps track of important actions and information
eventlogevents24Number of events in the eventlog scrollback
eventloglevel info Loglevel of the eventlog (Available: debug, info, warning, critical)
eventlogheight100Height of the javascript eventlog in px
eventloghidden1Hide/Show the eventlog on map loading
eventscroll 1 Enable/Disable scrolling to the icon which changed the state when the icon is out of the visible scope
eventsound 1 Enable/Disable sound signals on state changes
headerfade 0 Enable/Disable the fade effect of the submenus in the header menu (When the used header menu supports that option)
headermenu 1 Enable/Disable the header menu
headertemplate default Default header template
hoverchildslimit 10 Limit hover child objects to this maximum value
hoverchildsorder asc Order of the child objects (Available: asc/desc)
hoverchildsshow 1 Enable/Disable the child objects in hover menu
hoverchildssort a Sort method of the child objects (available: "s": state, "a": alphabet )
hoverdelay 0 Delay of hover menu appearance in seconds
hovermenu 1 Enable/Disable the hover menu
hovertemplate default Default hover template
hovertimeout 5 Default hover menu ajax request timeout in seconds (deprecated in 1.4)
icons std_medium Default iconset
onlyhardstates 0 Recognize only hard states (not soft)
recognizeservices 1 Recognize service states in host/hostgroup objects
showinlists 1 Show the maps in lists (dropdowns,index page,...)
showinmultisite 1 Show the maps in multisite snapin
stylesheetFilename of the custom stylesheet to use on the maps (the file needs to be located in the share/nagvis/styles directory)
urltarget _self Target of the Icon link, this option adapts <a target=""> (_self is same window)
hosturl [htmlcgi]/status.cgi?host=[host_name] The default url to follow when a user left-clicks on a host object. Available macros: [htmlcgi], [htmlbase], [host_name], [backend_id]
hostgroupurl [htmlcgi]/status.cgi?hostgroup=[hostgroup_name] The default url to follow when a user left-clicks on an hostgroup object. Available macros: [htmlcgi], [htmlbase], [hostgroup_name], [backend_id]
serviceurl [htmlcgi]/extinfo.cgi?type=2&host=[host_name]&service=[service_description] The default url to follow when a user left-clicks on an service object. Available macros: [htmlcgi], [htmlbase], [host_name], [service_description], [backend_id]
servicegroupurl [htmlcgi]/status.cgi?servicegroup=[servicegroup_name] The default url to follow when a user left-clicks on an servicegroup object. Available macros: [htmlcgi], [htmlbase], [servicegroup_name], [backend_id]
mapurl [htmlbase]/index.php?mod=Map&act=view&show=[map_name] The default url to follow when a user left-clicks on an map object. Available macros: [htmlcgi], [htmlbase], [map_name]
view_template default Templates to be used for the different views.
label_show 0 New in 1.6.4: Show the objects labels or not.
line_weather_colors 10:#8c00ff,25:#2020ff,40:#00c0ff,55:#00f000,70:#f0f000,85:#ffc000,100:#ff0000 New in 1.6.5: This defines the colours of weathermap lines in the different percentage levels. For example above 10% load it will be coloured #8c00ff.

index

Options to configure the Overview page of NagVis
Value Default Description
backgroundcolor #fff Configure the background colour of the overview page
cellsperrow 4 Maps per row in map listing
headermenu 1 Enable/Disable the header menu
headertemplate default Default header template
showautomaps 1 Enable/Disable the listing of automaps
showmaps 1 Enable/Disable the listing of maps
showmapthumbs 0 Enable/Disable the listing of map thumbnails
showrotations 1 Enable/Disable the listing of defined rotations

automap

Sets the automap options.
Value Default Description
defaultparams &childLayers=2 These are the parameters for the automap views and links in the lists (map index page, dropdown menus in header)
defaultroot localhost Default value for the root object. For details see Automap documentation
graphvizpath /usr/local/bin If the graphviz binaries (dot,neato,twopi,...) could not be found in the PATH the path has to be set here
showinlists 1 Enable/Disable the automap in map lists (map index page, dropdown menus in header) (Deprecated in 1.7)

wui

These are the options for the editing mode.
Value Default Description
autoupdatefreq 25 In this interval the map gets backuped by the WUI. (Deprecated in 1.6)
grid_show0Enable/Disable a grid to make the alignment of objects easier in the WUI. Objects are aligned to the upper left corner after moving.
grid_color#F7F7F7The colour of the grid lines.
grid_steps32Scale of the grid in px.
headermenu1 Enable/Disable the header menu in the WUI. (Deprecated in 1.6)
headertemplatedefaultDefault header template to use in the WUI. (Deprecated in 1.5)
maplocktime 5 Time in minutes a map is locked by an editing user.

worker

Options for the new worker in the javascript frontend of NagVis.
Value Default Description
interval 5 The interval in seconds in which the worker will check for objects which need to be updated.
requestmaxparams0The maximum number of parameters used in ajax http requests. Some intrusion detection/prevention systems have a problem with too many parameters in the url. Set to 0 for no limit.
requestmaxlength1900The maximum length of http request urls during ajax http requests. Some intrusion detection/prevention systems have a problem with queries being too long.
updateobjectstates 15 The retention time of the states in seconds in the frontend. The state information will be refreshed after this time is over on next worker interval.

backend_*

The backend sections to define the backends are all named [backend_<backend-id>]. In the example the backend_id is live_1.

Depending on the value in backendtype the valid values for the backends have to be set. In this example it is the MKLivestatus backend.

[backend_live_1]
backendtype="mklivestatus"
htmlcgi="/nagios/cgi-bin"
; the following options depend on the selected backendtype, in this case it is MKLivestatus
socket="unix:/usr/local/nagios/var/rw/live"
Value Default Description
backendtype mklivestatus type of backend - MUST be set
statushost 

The status host can be used to prevent annoying timeouts when a backend is not reachable. This is only useful in multi backend setups.

It works as follows: The assumption is that there is a "local" backend which monitors the host of the "remote" backend. When the remote backend host is reported as UP the backend is queried as normal.

When the remote backend host is reported as "DOWN" or "UNREACHABLE" NagVis won't try to connect to the backend anymore until the backend host gets available again.

The statushost needs to be given in the following format: "<backend_id>:<hostname>" -> e.g. "live_2:nagios"

The host needs to be in another backend than the current one to work correctly.

htmlcgi /nagios/cgi-bin Path to the cgi-bin directory of this backend (interesting for multiple backends)
custom_1 First custom variable which is available in the context and hover menus. With this option different custom URLs can be added to the context/hover menus based on the backend used. Might be interesting when adding links to different Nagios instances.
custom_2Second custom variable. Same as above.
custom_3Third custom variable. Same as above.

For the backendtype specific options see the backends documentation.

rotation_*

Defines several map rotation pools. In this example the browser switches between the maps demo and demo2 every 15 seconds. The rotation is enabled by url: index.php?rotation= in this case the rotation id is: "demo"
[rotation_demo]
maps="demo,demo2"
interval=15
Value Default Description
interval 15 Map rotation interval in seconds
maps

Comma separated list of maps to rotate in this pool. You can also add external URLs surrounded by [ and ] (e.g. maps="demo1,[http://localhost/test.php]". The URL has to be reachable and accessible by the server which NagVis is running on.

You can add labels in the following format <label>:<map> and <label>:<[url]>. The labels are displayed in the rotation list.

action_* (new in 1.7.6)

Since NagVis 1.7.6 it is possible to use so called actions to extend the default context menu. This enables users to connect directly to the monitored hosts from the NagVis context menu. The configuration is done using [action_*] sections in the main configuration.

It is possible to add such actions to the context menus of service and host objects depending on the "obj_type" option. They are not added blindly to all objects of those types, you can use the attribute "condition" to configure which objects shall have the specific actions. By default we use Nagios custom macros of the host object to make the actions visible/invisible. This filtering mechanism is not limited to custom macros, you can also use regular host attributes which are available within NagVis.
With the option "client_os" you can configure the option to only be available on the clients which have a listed operating system running.

Here is an example for such a section, taken from the sample config:

; Adds the action "connect via ssh" to service/host objects which have the
; string "unix" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro. Is only added when NagVis
; detects that the client watching the map uses linux or mac os.
; When clicking on the link, the browser opens the URL ssh://<address>/,
; you need to configure your clients browser to handle these urls correctly.
[action_ssh_url]
action_type="ssh_url"
obj_type="host,service"
client_os="mac,lnx"
condition="TAGS~unix"
ValueDefaultDescription
action_type The type of the custom action (used as reference to the optional custom action script files located in share/server/core/actions).
obj_typehost,service Comma separated list of object types to display this custom action for
client_os Comma separated list of client operating systems to display this custom action for. You can use the values win, lnx and/or mac here.
condition

You can use some sort of filtering mechanism to display the action not on all objects of that type. The example above can be read like this: "Add this filter to all host and service objects which contain the string unix in the custom macro TAGS". Means the action is only added to unix hosts.

You can use regular attributes or even custom macros of the objects as keys. At the moment you can use the operator = to test if the value matches the string exactly. The operator ~ can be used to search the given substring in the value. Both operators are case sensitive.

An action can be constructed out of three parts:

The sample configuration defines several sample actions, which might be useful for some users. Here is the list and a short description of the actions:

Action IdDescription
rdp Adds the action "connect via rdp" to service/host objects where the host object has the string "win" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro. When clicking on the link, NagVis generates a .rdp file which contains a call to make the client connect to the given host via RDP.
win_ssh Adds the action "connect via ssh" to service/host objects which have the string "unix" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro. Is only added when NagVis detects that the client watching the map uses windows. When clicking on the link, NagVis generates a .cmd file which contains a call to putty which makes putty connect via SSH to this host.
ssh_url Adds the action "connect via ssh" to service/host objects which have the string "unix" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro. Is only added when NagVis detects that the client watching the map uses linux or mac os. When clicking on the link, the browser opens the URL ssh://<address>/, you need to configure your clients browser to handle these urls correctly.
http Adds the action "connect via http" to service/host objects which have the string "web-80" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro When clicking on the link, the browser opens a new window with the URL http://<host_address>/. This can be changed by modifying the context template.
https Adds the action "connect via https" to service/host objects which have the string "web-443" in the TAGS Nagios custom macro When clicking on the link, the browser opens a new window with the URL https://<host_address>/. This can be changed by modifying the context template.

states

Options which affect the handling and appearance of the different states in the NagVis installation.

These settings define the state handling behaviour. Mainly it is possible to configure which state will cover another state changing these values. The state with the highest value will become the "summary state" for an object. For example a critical state (5) will cover a warning state (4). Another example: An acknowledged critical state (2) will not cover a warning state (4).

ValueDefault
down10
down_ack6
down_downtime6
unreachable9
unreachable_ack6
unreachable_downtime6
critical8
critical_ack5
critical_downtime5
warning7
warning_ack5
warning_downtime5
unknown4
unknown_ack3
unknown_downtime3
error4
error_ack3
error_downtime3
up2
ok1
unchecked (new in 1.6)0
pending0

This settings define the behaviour of states in the frontend.

ValueDefault
unreachable_bgcolor#F1811B
unreachable_color#F1811B
unreachable_ack_bgcolor
unreachable_downtime_bgcolor
unreachable_soundstd_unreachable.mp3
down_bgcolor#FF0000
down_color#FF0000
down_ack_bgcolor
down_downtime_bgcolor
down_soundstd_down.mp3
critical_bgcolor#FF0000
critical_color#FF0000
critical_ack_bgcolor
critical_downtime_bgcolor
critical_soundstd_critical.mp3
warning_bgcolor#FFFF00
warning_color#FFFF00
warning_ack_bgcolor
warning_downtime_bgcolor
warning_soundstd_warning.mp3
unknown_bgcolor#FFCC66
unknown_color#FFCC66
unknown_ack_bgcolor
unknown_downtime_bgcolor
unknown_sound
error_bgcolor#0000FF
error_color#0000FF
error_ack_bgcolor
error_downtime_bgcolor
error_sound
ok_bgcolor#00FF00
ok_color#00FF00
ok
up_bgcolor#00FF00
up_color#00FF00
up_sound
unchecked_bgcolor (new in 1.6)#C0C0C0
unchecked_color (new in 1.6)#C0C0C0
unchecked_sound (new in 1.6)
pending_bgcolor#C0C0C0
pending_color#C0C0C0
pending_sound