At my home the most critical system is the MythTV system and a MythTV downtime will create a revolt at home. This article will describe howto make sure that a MythTV backend can be surveillanced with Nagios or op5 Monitor.
I have in earlier articles described howto install and configure both the backend and the frontend.
To monitor MythTV backend I have identified the following parts:
- MySQL database, contains data about TV records and program listings.
- Mythbackend, the process that controls the MythTV backend.
- Mythfilldatabase, runs XMLTV that puts programlistings in the MySQL database.
- Webserver.
- Internet access to grab TV show listings.
I created a service group called MythTV
Theory
A short description of how the nagios checks works and what they do.
MySQL
This check verifies that MySQL is working, I use login mythtv and passowrd mythtv, the default mythtv login and password that the frontend would use.
Mythbackend
The mythbackend uses TCP port 6543 for status information. I assume that if this port responds, mythbackend is up and running.
Mythfilldatabase
The status of how many days data in the Listings database can be found at the webpage http://<mythtvbackend>:6544
If the page contains “13 days” or “14 days” or “15 days”, I think mythfilldatabase as OK.
I’ve got the idea from http://www.techsneeze.com/monitor-mythtv-nagios
Mythweb
Check that http://<mythtvbackend>/mythweb responds. (I know that if the webserver is down the mythfilldatabase check will also be CRITICAL but it might be so that the database do not contain 13 or more days of Listings while the webserver still works.)
Ping
A simple ping to make sure that the system with MythTV backend is up.
System Load
If the MythTV backend system has to much to do, the MythTV service will not work.
Internet
The mythfilldatabase uses Internet to grab the Listings. I ping a couple of well known hosts on internet and if none of them responds I assume that my Internet connection is down.
Implementation
These files contains the Nagios configuration. I have choosen not to include the actual scripts that are used, most of them are included in a standard Nagios installation or op5 Monitor installation.
hosts.cfg:
# host 'ibsen'
define host{
use default-host-template
host_name ibsen
alias MythTV
address 10.1.1.11
hostgroups unix-servers
contact_groups it-slav,call_it-slav,it-slav_msn
}
# host 'internet'
define host{
use default-host-template-internet
host_name internet
alias Internet
address 194.71.11.69
parents first_router
check_command check_internet!ftp.sunet.se www.google.com www.yahoo.com www.ibm.com
contact_groups it-slav,call_it-slav,it-slav_msn
}
services.cfg
# service 'MySQL'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description MySQL
check_command check_mysql!mythtv!mythtv
servicegroups it-slav,MythTV
contact_groups it-slav_msn,it-slav
}
# service 'Mythbackend'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description Mythbackend
check_command check_tcp!6543
servicegroups it-slav,MythTV
contact_groups it-slav_msn,it-slav
}
# service 'Mythfilldatabase'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description Mythfilldatabase
check_command check_http_url_regex_port!"/"!"(15 days)|(14 days)|(13 days)"!6544
servicegroups MythTV
contact_groups it-slav_sms,it-slav_msn,it-slav_mail
}
# service 'Mythweb'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description Mythweb
check_command check_http_url!/mythweb
servicegroups MythTV
}
# service 'PING'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description PING
check_command check_ping!100,20%!500,60%
servicegroups it-slav,MythTV
contact_groups it-slav,it-slav_msn
# service 'System Load'
define service{
use default-service
host_name ibsen
service_description System Load
check_command check_nrpe!load
servicegroups it-slav,MythTV
contact_groups it-slav,it-slav_msn
}
#################################################### # # Services for host internet #
# service 'Kolla Internet'
define service{
use default-service
host_name internet
service_description Kolla Internet
check_command check_internet!ftp.sunet.se www.google.com www.yahoo.com www.ibm.com
servicegroups MythTV
contact_groups it-slav,it-slav_msn
}
checkcommands.cfg:
# command 'check_mysql'
define command{
command_name check_mysql
command_line $USER1$/check_mysql -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -u $ARG1$ -p $ARG2$
}
# command 'check_tcp'
define command{
command_name check_tcp
command_line $USER1$/check_tcp -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -p $ARG1$
}
# command 'check_http_url_regex_port'
define command{
command_name check_http_url_regex_port
command_line $USER1$/check_http -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -u $ARG1$ -r $ARG2$ -p $ARG3$
}
# command 'check_http_url'
define command{
command_name check_http_url
command_line $USER1$/check_http -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -u $ARG1$
}
# command 'check_internet'
define command{
command_name check_internet
command_line $USER1$/custom/check_internet.sh "$ARG1$"
}
servicegroups.cfg:
# servicegroup 'MythTV'
define servicegroup{
servicegroup_name MythTV
alias MythTV
}
Links
- Earlier articles about MythTV
- MythTV project
- op5 Monitor
- Nagios
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June 15th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[…] every third day the MythTVbackend server stops and need to be started again. I have wriiten an earlier article about howto monitor MythTV with Nagios or op5 Monitor so I get noticed that it has stopped. But I […]