Nagios failing to expand $CONTACTEMAIL$ macro in notificaion command

Question

I'm having a problem where my nofication command isn't expanding the $CONTACTEMAIL$ macro

(Version 3.2.1 installed on debian squeeze using the debian packages)

me@hostname:/etc/nagiosql# dpkg -l | grep nagios
ii  nagios-images                                          0.7                                   Collection of images and icons for the nagios system
ii  nagios-nrpe-plugin                                     2.12-4                       Nagios Remote Plugin Executor Plugin
ii  nagios-plugins                                         1.4.15-3squeeze1             Plugins for the nagios network monitoring and management system
ii  nagios-plugins-basic                                   1.4.15-3squeeze1             Plugins for the nagios network monitoring and management system
ii  nagios-plugins-standard                                1.4.15-3squeeze1             Plugins for the nagios network monitoring and management system
ii  nagios3                                                3.2.1-2                      A host/service/network monitoring and management system
ii  nagios3-cgi                                            3.2.1-2                      cgi files for nagios3
ii  nagios3-common                                         3.2.1-2                      support files for nagios3
ii  nagios3-core                                           3.2.1-2                      A host/service/network monitoring and management system core files

I have this in my commands.cfg

define command {
    command_name                    notify_by_email
    command_line                    /usr/bin/printf "%b" "Notification:\t$NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\n\nOccurred:\t$DATETIME$\nHostname:\t$HOSTALIAS$ ($HOSTADDRESS$)\nService:\t$SERVICEDESC$\nState:\t\t$SERVICESTATE$\nDetails:\n\ n$OUTPUT$" | /usr/bin/mail -s "$NOTIFICATIONTYPE$: $HOSTALIAS$/$SERVICEDESC$ -- $SERVICESTATE$" $CONTACTEMAIL$ 
    register                        1
}

and in contacts.cfg

define contact {
    contact_name                    navaho
    contactgroups                   pagers
    host_notifications_enabled      1
    service_notifications_enabled   1
    host_notification_period        24x7
    service_notification_period     24x7
    host_notification_options       d,u,r,f,s
    service_notification_options    w,u,c,r,s,n
    host_notification_commands      notify_by_email
    service_notification_commands   notify_by_email
    email                           myemail@mydomain.com
    register                        1
    }

In my service config file I have

define service {
    host_name                       servicehost.mydomain.com
    hostgroup_name                  null
    service_description             SE:
    display_name                    SE:
    check_command                   check_se
    max_check_attempts              5
    check_interval                  5
    retry_interval                  5
    active_checks_enabled           1
    check_period                    24x7
    event_handler                   notify_by_email
    notification_interval           5
    notification_period             24x7
    notification_options            w,u,r,c,s
    notifications_enabled           1
    contacts                        navaho
    contact_groups                  pagers
    register                        1
}

With these configs I would expect nagios to be sending notifications to the email address myemail@mydomain.com, if I shut down the SE: service on myservicehost. It doesn't.

Aug  1 13:56:12 myhostname postfix/cleanup[25382]: 2DC5F28054: message-id=<20110801205612.2DC5F28054@myhostname.mydomain.net>
Aug  1 13:56:12 myhostname postfix/qmgr[22452]: 2DC5F28054: from=<nagios@myhostname.mydomain.net>, size=470, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Aug  1 13:56:12 myhostname postfix/local[25384]: 2DC5F28054: to=<$@myhostname.mydomain.net>, orig_to=<$>, relay=local, delay=0.07, delays=0.05/0.01/0/0.01, dsn=5.1.1, status=bounced (unknown user: "$")
Aug  1 13:56:12 myhostname postfix/cleanup[25382]: 3B96B28055: message-id=<20110801205612.3B96B28055@myhostname.mydomain.net>

Note the $@myhostname.mydomain.net, orig_to=

When I modify the command in commands.cfg to hardcode it to my actual email, it sends perfectly

/usr/bin/printf "%b" "Notification:\t$NOTIFICATIONTYPE$\n\nOccurred:\t$DATETIME$\nHostname:\t$HOSTALIAS$ ($HOSTADDRESS$)\nService:\t$SERVICEDESC$\nState:\t\t$SERVICESTATE$\nDetails:\n\ n$OUTPUT$" | /usr/bin/mail -s "$NOTIFICATIONTYPE$: $HOSTALIAS$/$SERVICEDESC$ -- $SERVICESTATE$" myemail@mydomain.com

What could I be missing that is making nagios not expand out $CONTACTEMAIL$ macro?

EDIT: After a suggestion by quanta posted below I turned on debugging and used an on demand macro to see what nagios was doing. While I can't yet explain why, nagios seemingly wasn't expanding the macro because it was bare. I changed $CONTACTEMAIL$ to '$CONTACTEMAIL' and it started to work.

UPDATE: I've updated nagios from 3.2.1 to 3.2.3. No change. I also have tried $CONTACTPAGER$ and $CONTACTALIAS$ just to see if I could make a change in the behaviour. No, still sends to $@ yet if I put my email address in there in place of $CONTACTALIAS$ it sends to me just fine. — navaho, Aug 03 '11 at 01:55
Could you please put the solution in a post below and mark it as the right answer? This way it won't get kicked to the front page now and then. — Bart De Vos, Aug 03 '11 at 19:47
I cannot accept my own answer for 23 more hours, I did post it though, with an update as to what looks to be the root of the issue. I'll accept it tomorrow. — navaho, Aug 03 '11 at 21:42

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 03 '11 at 03:18

2

Turn on debug level to have a closer look at nagios.log
Try with on-demand macro $CONTACTEMAIL:navaho$ to see if it works

answered Aug 03 '11 at 03:18

quanta

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Better, but still not right. Now instead of $ nagios sent the email to navaho@ the nagios server hostname, rather than navaho's email address as listed in contacts.cfg. – navaho Aug 03 '11 at 17:25
the log lines:`[1312392300.090484] [2048.2] [pid=4704] Processing part: 'CONTACTEMAIL:navaho' [1312392300.090510] [2048.2] [pid=4704] macro_x[22] (CONTACTEMAIL) match. [1312392300.090537] [2048.2] [pid=4704] Processed 'CONTACTEMAIL:navaho', Clean Options: 0, Free: 1 [1312392300.090561] [2048.0] [pid=4704] WARNING: An error occurred processing macro 'CONTACTEMAIL:navaho'!'` – navaho Aug 03 '11 at 17:26
I found it. While your suggestion didn't work, it led me to the right place. I'll edit the original post with what I did to make it work. – navaho Aug 03 '11 at 17:37

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 23:13

1

The problem is the 'n' in the service_notification_options:

http://nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/3_0/objectdefinitions.html

service_notification_options: If you specify n (none) as an option, the contact will not receive any type of service notifications.

answered Aug 02 '11 at 23:13

opsguy

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5
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I'm pretty sure that would make it not even send, not send to $@.. nonetheless I did remove the n and it is still sending email to $@ – navaho Aug 02 '11 at 23:52
Try going to the 'view config' section on nagios, and looking at services. Make sure everything on that line looks correct, then click on the contacts listed and make sure all the info there looks correct. There might be some unintended inheritance going on. – opsguy Aug 03 '11 at 00:35
I don't see anything incorrect there. – navaho Aug 03 '11 at 01:53
When you view the contacts in the config, does the email properly show up under the navaho user? – opsguy Aug 03 '11 at 02:19
Yes, it does appear as it should. The email is properly formed, and when viewed via the nagios config area clickable. Just to be certain, I went to the point of clicking it, which opens an email in my mail client that sends to the right person. – navaho Aug 03 '11 at 03:13
Have you ran nagios -v nagios.cfg and make sure there are no errors? No errors in nagios.log when notification is sent? Try sending a manual service notification with the force option and see if that works. – opsguy Aug 03 '11 at 06:41

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 23:17

There is an error in your contacts.cfg.
Remove the nfrom the list service_notification_options the n stands for none...

Like this:

define contact {
    contact_name                    navaho
    contactgroups                   pagers
    host_notifications_enabled      1
    service_notifications_enabled   1
    host_notification_period        24x7
    service_notification_period     24x7
    host_notification_options       d,u,r,f,s
    service_notification_options    w,u,c,r,s
    host_notification_commands      notify_by_email
    service_notification_commands   notify_by_email
    email                           myemail@mydomain.com
    register                        1
    }

Good catch. I did remove the n, and the same thing resulted, however. still sending email to $@ — navaho, Aug 02 '11 at 23:49

navaho · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-03T21:41:12.867

After a suggestion by quanta posted below I turned on debugging and then used an on demand macro to see what nagios was actually doing. While I can't yet explain why, nagios seemingly wasn't expanding the macro because it was bare. I changed $CONTACTEMAIL$ to '$CONTACTEMAIL$' and it started to work. Oddly, Double quotes did not work.

As I work with it more it appears that $OUTPUT$ has unescaped html which is causing the issues.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 21:19

0

Try putting $CONTACTEMAIL$ in quotes in the command_line in commands.cfg

answered Aug 02 '11 at 21:19

Hyppy

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No change. Wish it were that easy. I'd already tried and did it again, just in case. Same thing, sending to $@myhostname.mydomain.net – navaho Aug 02 '11 at 21:28

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 21:29

0

Are there any non-printable characters contained in the $CONTACTEMAIL$ string, thus not making it match anything?

answered Aug 02 '11 at 21:29

mdpc

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none at all. 6 letters then @ mydomain. no dots, dashes, speaces, or even numbers. – navaho Aug 02 '11 at 21:43
What about in "$CONTACTEMAIL$" itself as it sits on the line before dereferencing? – mdpc Aug 02 '11 at 21:57
I'm afraid that I don't know what you're asking. – navaho Aug 02 '11 at 22:15

Nagios failing to expand $CONTACTEMAIL$ macro in notificaion command

6 Answers6