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<title>Custom Object Variables</title>
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<h1 class="PageTitle">Custom Object Variables</h1>
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<img src="images/upto.gif" border="0" align="middle" alt="Up To" title="Up To">Up To: <a href="toc.html">Contents</a><br>
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<img src="images/seealso.gif" border="0" align="middle" alt="See Also" title="See Also"> See Also: <a href="objectdefinitions.html">Object Configuration</a>, <a href="objectinheritance.html">Object Inheritance</a>, <a href="macros.html">Macros</a>
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<strong><u>Introduction</u></strong>
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Users often request that new variables be added to host, service, and contact definitions. These include variables for SNMP community, MAC address, AIM username, Skype number, and street address. The list is endless. The problem that I see with doing this is that it makes Nagios less generic and more infrastructure-specific. Nagios was intended to be flexible, which meant things needed to be designed in a generic manner. Host definitions in Nagios, for example, have a generic "address" variable that can contain anything from an IP address to human-readable driving directions - whatever is appropriate for the user's setup.
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Still, there needs to be a method for admins to store information about their infrastructure components in their Nagios configuration without imposing a set of specific variables on others. Nagios attempts to solve this problem by allowing users to define custom variables in their object definitions. Custom variables allow users to define additional properties in their host, service, and contact definitions, and use their values in notifications, event handlers, and host and service checks.
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<strong><u>Custom Variable Basics</u></strong>
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There are a few important things that you should note about custom variables:
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<li>Custom variable names must begin with an underscore (_) to prevent name collision with standard variables
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<li>Custom variable names are case-insensitive
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<li>Custom variables are <a href="objectinheritance.html">inherited</a> from object templates like normal variables
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<li>Scripts can reference custom variable values with <a href="macros.html">macros and environment variables</a>
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<strong><u>Examples</u></strong>
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Here's an example of how custom variables can be defined in different types of object definitions:
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_mac_address 00:06:5B:A6:AD:AA ; <-- Custom MAC_ADDRESS variable
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_rack_number R32 ; <-- Custom RACK_NUMBER variable
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description Memory Usage
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_SNMP_community public ; <-- Custom SNMP_COMMUNITY variable
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_TechContact Jane Doe ; <-- Custom TECHCONTACT variable
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_AIM_username john16 ; <-- Custom AIM_USERNAME variable
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_YahooID john32 ; <-- Custom YAHOOID variable
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<strong><u>Custom Variables As Macros</u></strong>
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Custom variable values can be referenced in scripts and executables that Nagios runs for checks, notifications, etc. by using <a href="macros.html">macros</a> or environment variables.
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In order to prevent name collision among custom variables from different object types, Nagios prepends "_HOST", "_SERVICE", or "_CONTACT" to the beginning of custom host, service, or contact variables, respectively, in macro and environment variable names. The table below shows the corresponding macro and environment variable names for the custom variables that were defined in the example above.
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<table border="1" class="Default">
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<tr><th>Object Type</th><th>Variable Name</th><th>Macro Name</th><th>Environment Variable</th></tr>
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<tr><td>Host</td><td>MAC_ADDRESS</td><td>$_HOSTMAC_ADDRESS$</td><td>NAGIOS__HOSTMAC_ADDRESS</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Host</td><td>RACK_NUMBER</td><td>$_HOSTRACK_NUMBER$</td><td>NAGIOS__HOSTRACK_NUMBER</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Service</td><td>SNMP_COMMUNITY</td><td>$_SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY$</td><td>NAGIOS__SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Service</td><td>TECHCONTACT</td><td>$_SERVICETECHCONTACT$</td><td>NAGIOS__SERVICETECHCONTACT</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Contact</td><td>AIM_USERNAME</td><td>$_CONTACTAIM_USERNAME$</td><td>NAGIOS__CONTACTAIM_USERNAME</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Contact</td><td>YAHOOID</td><td>$_CONTACTYAHOOID$</td><td>NAGIOS__CONTACTYAHOOID</td></tr>
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<strong><u>Custom Variables And Inheritance</u></strong>
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Custom object variables are <a href="objectinheritance.html">inherited</a> just like standard host, service, or contact variables.
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<title>Custom Object Variables</title>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="black" class="Default">
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<img src="images/nagios.jpg" border="0" alt="Nagios" title="Nagios">
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<h1 class="PageTitle">Custom Object Variables</h1>
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<img src="images/upto.gif" border="0" align="middle" alt="Up To" title="Up To">Up To: <a href="toc.html">Contents</a><br>
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<img src="images/seealso.gif" border="0" align="middle" alt="See Also" title="See Also"> See Also: <a href="objectdefinitions.html">Object Configuration</a>, <a href="objectinheritance.html">Object Inheritance</a>, <a href="macros.html">Macros</a>
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<strong><u>Introduction</u></strong>
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Users often request that new variables be added to host, service, and contact definitions. These include variables for SNMP community, MAC address, AIM username, Skype number, and street address. The list is endless. The problem that I see with doing this is that it makes Nagios less generic and more infrastructure-specific. Nagios was intended to be flexible, which meant things needed to be designed in a generic manner. Host definitions in Nagios, for example, have a generic "address" variable that can contain anything from an IP address to human-readable driving directions - whatever is appropriate for the user's setup.
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Still, there needs to be a method for admins to store information about their infrastructure components in their Nagios configuration without imposing a set of specific variables on others. Nagios attempts to solve this problem by allowing users to define custom variables in their object definitions. Custom variables allow users to define additional properties in their host, service, and contact definitions, and use their values in notifications, event handlers, and host and service checks.
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<strong><u>Custom Variable Basics</u></strong>
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There are a few important things that you should note about custom variables:
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<li>Custom variable names must begin with an underscore (_) to prevent name collision with standard variables
101
<li>Custom variable names are case-insensitive
103
<li>Custom variables are <a href="objectinheritance.html">inherited</a> from object templates like normal variables
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<li>Scripts can reference custom variable values with <a href="macros.html">macros and environment variables</a>
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<strong><u>Examples</u></strong>
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Here's an example of how custom variables can be defined in different types of object definitions:
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host_name linuxserver
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_mac_address 00:06:5B:A6:AD:AA ; <-- Custom MAC_ADDRESS variable
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_rack_number R32 ; <-- Custom RACK_NUMBER variable
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host_name linuxserver
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description Memory Usage
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_SNMP_community public ; <-- Custom SNMP_COMMUNITY variable
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_TechContact Jane Doe ; <-- Custom TECHCONTACT variable
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_AIM_username john16 ; <-- Custom AIM_USERNAME variable
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_YahooID john32 ; <-- Custom YAHOOID variable
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<strong><u>Custom Variables As Macros</u></strong>
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Custom variable values can be referenced in scripts and executables that Nagios runs for checks, notifications, etc. by using <a href="macros.html">macros</a> or environment variables.
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In order to prevent name collision among custom variables from different object types, Nagios prepends "_HOST", "_SERVICE", or "_CONTACT" to the beginning of custom host, service, or contact variables, respectively, in macro and environment variable names. The table below shows the corresponding macro and environment variable names for the custom variables that were defined in the example above.
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<table border="1" class="Default">
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<tr><th>Object Type</th><th>Variable Name</th><th>Macro Name</th><th>Environment Variable</th></tr>
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<tr><td>Host</td><td>MAC_ADDRESS</td><td>$_HOSTMAC_ADDRESS$</td><td>NAGIOS__HOSTMAC_ADDRESS</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Host</td><td>RACK_NUMBER</td><td>$_HOSTRACK_NUMBER$</td><td>NAGIOS__HOSTRACK_NUMBER</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Service</td><td>SNMP_COMMUNITY</td><td>$_SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY$</td><td>NAGIOS__SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Service</td><td>TECHCONTACT</td><td>$_SERVICETECHCONTACT$</td><td>NAGIOS__SERVICETECHCONTACT</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Contact</td><td>AIM_USERNAME</td><td>$_CONTACTAIM_USERNAME$</td><td>NAGIOS__CONTACTAIM_USERNAME</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Contact</td><td>YAHOOID</td><td>$_CONTACTYAHOOID$</td><td>NAGIOS__CONTACTYAHOOID</td></tr>
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<strong><u>Custom Variables And Inheritance</u></strong>
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Custom object variables are <a href="objectinheritance.html">inherited</a> just like standard host, service, or contact variables.
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