[xymon] IP address - from where?

Vernon Everett wrote:

Can somebody confirm this? We had a monitored host, configured incorrectly in bb-hosts. The IP address was incorrect. (The IP address was allocated to a router somewhere on the network) The entry was as follows. (Name & IP changed) 1.2.3.4 dbsrv1 # ssh oratns:1578 NOCOLUMNS:memory Should have been 2.3.4.5 dbsrv1 # ssh oratns:1578 NOCOLUMNS:memory

The conn test was green. It could have been pinging the real host (nslookup dbserv1 gave the correct IP) Or it could have used the 1.2.3.4 IP of the router, which responds to a ping.

However, the oratns and ssh columns were perpetually red. Obviously, the router has no database listener, nor was it accepting ssh connections (limited using ACLs) So it looked like it was using the bb-hosts IP. If it was doing a name lookup, it would have used the correct IP, and returned green. When I changed the IP in bb-hosts to the correct IP, oratns and ssh both went green.

I always thought that Xymon does a name lookup, but from this, it appears as if oratns and ssh use the IP address in bb-hosts. Which was it using for the ping? Lookup, or bb-hosts?

See 'man bbtest-net' - it depends on what options you have under [bbnet] against bbtest-net in hobbitlaunch.cfg

... Note: bbtest-net performs the connectivity test (ping) based on the hostname, unless the host is tagged with "testip" or the "--dns=ip" option is used. So the target of the connectivity test can be determined by your /etc/hosts file or DNS. ... --dns=[ip|only|standard] Determines how bbtest-net finds the IP adresses of the hosts to test. By default (the "standard"), bbtest-net does a DNS lookup of the hostname to determine the IP address, unless the host has the "testip" tag, or the DNS lookup fails. With "--dns=only" bbtest-net will ONLY do the DNS lookup; it it fails, then all services on that host will be reported as being down. With "--dns=ip" bbtest-net will never do a DNS lookup; it will use the IP adresse speci- fied in bb-hosts for the tests. Thus, this setting is equivalent to having the "testip" tag on all hosts. Note that http tests will ignore this setting and still perform a DNS lookup for the hostname given in the URL; see the "bbtest-net tags for HTTP tests" sec- tion in bb-hosts(5)

David.

-- David Baldwin - IT Unit Australian Sports Commission www.ausport.gov.au Tel 02 62147830 Fax 02 62141830 PO Box 176 Belconnen ACT 2616 david.baldwin at ausport.gov.au Leverrier Street Bruce ACT 2617

Keep up to date with what's happening in Australian sport visit http://www.ausport.gov.au

This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please note that any form of distribution, copying or use of this communication or the information in it is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you receive this message in error, please delete it and notify the sender.