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Migration from Icinga 1.x

Configuration Migration

The Icinga 2 configuration format introduces plenty of behavioural changes. In order to ease migration from Icinga 1.x, this section provides hints and tips on your migration requirements.

Automated Config Migration

Depending on your previous setup, you may have already used different sources for generating the 1.x configuration files. If this is the case, we strongly recommend to use these sources in combination with the Icinga Director.

This can be for example:

A CMDB or RDBMS which provides host details and facts
PuppetDB
CSV/XSL/JSON files
Cloud resources (AWS, etc.)

In case you have been using Icinga Web 1.x or an addon requiring the underlying IDO database, you can use this as database resource to import the host details.

Talks:

This talk from OSMC 2016 shares more insights (German).
Automated Monitoring in heterogeneous environments

Continue reading more about Import Sources for the Icinga Director.

Manual Config Migration

For a long-term migration of your configuration you should consider re-creating your configuration based on the proposed Icinga 2 configuration paradigm.

Please read the next chapter to find out more about the differences between 1.x and 2.

Manual Config Migration Hints

These hints should provide you with enough details for manually migrating your configuration, or to adapt your configuration export tool to dump Icinga 2 configuration instead of Icinga 1.x configuration.

The examples are taken from Icinga 1.x test and production environments and converted straight into a possible Icinga 2 format. If you found a different strategy, please let us know!

If you require in-depth explanations, please check the next chapter.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Intervals

By default all intervals without any duration literal are interpreted as seconds. Therefore all existing Icinga 1.x *_interval attributes require an additional m duration literal.

Icinga 1.x:

define service {
  service_description             service1
  host_name                       localhost1
  check_command                   test_customvar
  use                             generic-service
  check_interval                  5
  retry_interval                  1
}

Icinga 2:

object Service "service1" {
  import "generic-service"
  host_name = "localhost1"
  check_command = "test_customvar"
  check_interval = 5m
  retry_interval = 1m
}

Manual Config Migration Hints for Services

If you have used the host_name attribute in Icinga 1.x with one or more host names this service belongs to, you can migrate this to the apply rules syntax.

Icinga 1.x:

define service {
  service_description             service1
  host_name                       localhost1,localhost2
  check_command                   test_check
  use                             generic-service
}

Icinga 2:

apply Service "service1" {
  import "generic-service"
  check_command = "test_check"

  assign where host.name in [ "localhost1", "localhost2" ]
}

In Icinga 1.x you would have organized your services with hostgroups using the hostgroup_name attribute like the following example:

define service {
  service_description             servicewithhostgroups
  hostgroup_name                  hostgroup1,hostgroup3
  check_command                   test_check
  use                             generic-service
}

Using Icinga 2 you can migrate this to the apply rules syntax:

apply Service "servicewithhostgroups" {
  import "generic-service"
  check_command = "test_check"

  assign where "hostgroup1" in host.groups
  assign where "hostgroup3" in host.groups
}

Manual Config Migration Hints for Group Members

The Icinga 1.x hostgroup hg1 has two members host1 and host2. The hostgroup hg2 has host3 as a member and includes all members of the hg1 hostgroup.

define hostgroup {
  hostgroup_name                  hg1
  members                         host1,host2
}

define hostgroup {
  hostgroup_name                  hg2
  members                         host3
  hostgroup_members               hg1
}

This can be migrated to Icinga 2 and using group assign. The additional nested hostgroup hg1 is included into hg2 with the groups attribute.

object HostGroup "hg1" {
  groups = [ "hg2" ]
  assign where host.name in [ "host1", "host2" ]
}

object HostGroup "hg2" {
  assign where host.name == "host3"
}

These assign rules can be applied for all groups: HostGroup, ServiceGroup and UserGroup (requires renaming from contactgroup).

Tip

Define custom variables and assign/ignore members based on these attribute pattern matches.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Check Command Arguments

Host and service check command arguments are separated by a ! in Icinga 1.x. Their order is important and they are referenced as $ARGn$ where n is the argument counter.

define command {
  command_name                      my-ping
  command_line                      $USER1$/check_ping -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -w $ARG1$ -c $ARG2$ -p 5
}

define service {
  use                               generic-service
  host_name                         my-server
  service_description               my-ping
  check_command                     my-ping-check!100.0,20%!500.0,60%
}

While you could manually migrate this like (please note the new generic command arguments and default argument values!):

object CheckCommand "my-ping-check" {
  command = [
    PluginDir + "/check_ping", "-4"
  ]

  arguments = {
    "-H" = "$ping_address$"
    "-w" = "$ping_wrta$,$ping_wpl$%"
    "-c" = "$ping_crta$,$ping_cpl$%"
    "-p" = "$ping_packets$"
    "-t" = "$ping_timeout$"
  }

  vars.ping_address = "$address$"
  vars.ping_wrta = 100
  vars.ping_wpl = 5
  vars.ping_crta = 200
  vars.ping_cpl = 15
}

object Service "my-ping" {
  import "generic-service"
  host_name = "my-server"
  check_command = "my-ping-check"

  vars.ping_wrta = 100
  vars.ping_wpl = 20
  vars.ping_crta = 500
  vars.ping_cpl = 60
}

Manual Config Migration Hints for Runtime Macros

Runtime macros have been renamed. A detailed comparison table can be found here.

For example, accessing the service check output looks like the following in Icinga 1.x:

$SERVICEOUTPUT$

In Icinga 2 you will need to write:

$service.output$

Another example referencing the host's address attribute in Icinga 1.x:

$HOSTADDRESS$

In Icinga 2 you'd just use the following macro to access all address attributes (even overridden from the service objects):

$address$

Manual Config Migration Hints for Runtime Custom Variables

Custom variables from Icinga 1.x are available as Icinga 2 custom variables.

define command {
  command_name                    test_customvar
  command_line                    echo "Host CV: $_HOSTCVTEST$ Service CV: $_SERVICECVTEST$\n"
}

define host {
  host_name                       localhost1
  check_command                   test_customvar
  use                             generic-host
  _CVTEST                         host cv value
}

define service {
  service_description             service1
  host_name                       localhost1
  check_command                   test_customvar
  use                             generic-service
  _CVTEST                         service cv value
}

Can be written as the following in Icinga 2:

object CheckCommand "test_customvar" {
  command = "echo "Host CV: $host.vars.CVTEST$ Service CV: $service.vars.CVTEST$\n""
}

object Host "localhost1" {
  import "generic-host"
  check_command = "test_customvar"
  vars.CVTEST = "host cv value"
}

object Service "service1" {
  host_name = "localhost1"
  check_command = "test_customvar"
  vars.CVTEST = "service cv value"
}

If you are just defining $CVTEST$ in your command definition, its value depends on the execution scope -- the host check command will fetch the host attribute value of vars.CVTEST while the service check command resolves its value to the service attribute attribute vars.CVTEST.

Note

Custom variables in Icinga 2 are case-sensitive. vars.CVTEST is not the same as vars.CvTest.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Contacts (Users)

Contacts in Icinga 1.x act as users in Icinga 2, but do not have any notification commands specified. This migration part is explained in the next chapter.

define contact{
  contact_name                    testconfig-user
  use                             generic-user
  alias                           Icinga Test User
  service_notification_options    c,f,s,u
  email                           icinga@localhost
}

The service_notification_options can be mapped into generic state and type filters, if additional notification filtering is required. alias gets renamed to display_name.

object User "testconfig-user" {
  import "generic-user"
  display_name = "Icinga Test User"
  email = "icinga@localhost"
}

This user can be put into usergroups (former contactgroups) or referenced in newly migration notification objects.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Notifications

If you are migrating a host or service notification, you'll need to extract the following information from your existing Icinga 1.x configuration objects

host/service attribute contacts and contact_groups
host/service attribute notification_options
host/service attribute notification_period
host/service attribute notification_interval

The clean approach is to refactor your current contacts and their notification command methods into a generic strategy

host or service has a notification type (for example mail)
which contacts (users) are notified by mail?
do the notification filters, periods, intervals still apply for them? (do a cleanup during migration)
assign users and groups to these notifications
Redesign the notifications into generic apply rules

The ugly workaround solution could look like this:

Extract all contacts from the remaining groups, and create a unique list. This is required for determining the host and service notification commands involved.

contact attributes host_notification_commands and service_notification_commands (can be a comma separated list)
get the command line for each notification command and store them for later
create a new notification name and command name

Generate a new notification object based on these values. Import the generic template based on the type (host or service). Assign it to the host or service and set the newly generated notification command name as command attribute.

object Notification "<notificationname>" {
  import "mail-host-notification"
  host_name = "<thishostname>"
  command = "<notificationcommandname>"

Convert the notification_options attribute from Icinga 1.x to Icinga 2 states and types. Details here. Add the notification period.

  states = [ OK, Warning, Critical ]
  types = [ Recovery, Problem, Custom ]
  period = "24x7"

The current contact acts as users attribute.

  users = [ "<contactwithnotificationcommand>" ]
}

Do this in a loop for all notification commands (depending if host or service contact). Once done, dump the collected notification commands.

The result of this migration are lots of unnecessary notification objects and commands but it will unroll the Icinga 1.x logic into the revamped Icinga 2 notification object schema. If you are looking for code examples, try LConf.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Notification Filters

Icinga 1.x defines all notification filters in an attribute called notification_options. Using Icinga 2 you will have to split these values into the states and types attributes.

Note

Recovery type requires the Ok state. Custom and Problem should always be set as type filter.

Icinga 1.x option	Icinga 2 state	Icinga 2 type
o	OK (Up for hosts)
w	Warning	Problem
c	Critical	Problem
u	Unknown	Problem
d	Down	Problem
s	.	DowntimeStart / DowntimeEnd / DowntimeRemoved
r	Ok	Recovery
f	.	FlappingStart / FlappingEnd
n	0 (none)	0 (none)
.	.	Custom

Manual Config Migration Hints for Escalations

Escalations in Icinga 1.x are a bit tricky. By default service escalations can be applied to hosts and hostgroups and require a defined service object.

The following example applies a service escalation to the service dep_svc01 and all hosts in the hg_svcdep2 hostgroup. The default notification_interval is set to 10 minutes notifying the cg_admin contact. After 20 minutes (10*2, notification_interval * first_notification) the notification is escalated to the cg_ops contactgroup until 60 minutes (10*6) have passed.

define service {
  service_description             dep_svc01
  host_name                       dep_hostsvc01,dep_hostsvc03
  check_command                   test2
  use                             generic-service
  notification_interval           10
  contact_groups                  cg_admin
}

define hostgroup {
  hostgroup_name                  hg_svcdep2
  members                         dep_hostsvc03
}

# with hostgroup_name and service_description
define serviceescalation {
  hostgroup_name                  hg_svcdep2
  service_description             dep_svc01
  first_notification              2
  last_notification               6
  contact_groups                  cg_ops
}

In Icinga 2 the service and hostgroup definition will look quite the same. Save the notification_interval and contact_groups attribute for an additional notification.

apply Service "dep_svc01" {
  import "generic-service"

  check_command = "test2"

  assign where host.name == "dep_hostsvc01"
  assign where host.name == "dep_hostsvc03"
}

object HostGroup "hg_svcdep2" {
  assign where host.name == "dep_hostsvc03"
}

apply Notification "email" to Service {
  import "service-mail-notification"

  interval = 10m
  user_groups = [ "cg_admin" ]

  assign where service.name == "dep_svc01" && (host.name == "dep_hostsvc01" || host.name == "dep_hostsvc03")
}

Calculate the begin and end time for the newly created escalation notification:

begin = first_notification * notification_interval = 2 * 10m = 20m
end = last_notification * notification_interval = 6 * 10m = 60m = 1h

Assign the notification escalation to the service dep_svc01 on all hosts in the hostgroup hg_svcdep2.

apply Notification "email-escalation" to Service {
  import "service-mail-notification"

  interval = 10m
  user_groups = [ "cg_ops" ]

  times = {
    begin = 20m
    end = 1h
  }

  assign where service.name == "dep_svc01" && "hg_svcdep2" in host.groups
}

The assign rule could be made more generic and the notification be applied to more than just this service belonging to hosts in the matched hostgroup.

Note

When the notification is escalated, Icinga 1.x suppresses notifications to the default contacts. In Icinga 2 an escalation is an additional notification with a defined begin and end time. The email notification will continue as normal.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Dependencies

There are some dependency examples already in the basics chapter. Dependencies in Icinga 1.x can be confusing in terms of which host/service is the parent and which host/service acts as the child.

While Icinga 1.x defines notification_failure_criteria and execution_failure_criteria as dependency filters, this behaviour has changed in Icinga 2. There is no 1:1 migration but generally speaking the state filter defined in the execution_failure_criteria defines the Icinga 2 state attribute. If the state filter matches, you can define whether to disable checks and notifications or not.

The following example describes service dependencies. If you migrate from Icinga 1.x, you will only want to use the classic Host-to-Host and Service-to-Service dependency relationships.

define service {
  service_description             dep_svc01
  hostgroup_name                  hg_svcdep1
  check_command                   test2
  use                             generic-service
}

define service {
  service_description             dep_svc02
  hostgroup_name                  hg_svcdep2
  check_command                   test2
  use                             generic-service
}

define hostgroup {
  hostgroup_name                  hg_svcdep2
  members                         host2
}

define host{
  use                             linux-server-template
  host_name                       host1
  address                         192.168.1.10
}

# with hostgroup_name and service_description
define servicedependency {
  host_name                       host1
  dependent_hostgroup_name        hg_svcdep2
  service_description             dep_svc01
  dependent_service_description   *
  execution_failure_criteria      u,c
  notification_failure_criteria   w,u,c
  inherits_parent                 1
}

Map the dependency attributes accordingly.

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
host_name	parent_host_name
dependent_host_name	child_host_name (used in assign/ignore)
dependent_hostgroup_name	all child hosts in group (used in assign/ignore)
service_description	parent_service_name
dependent_service_description	child_service_name (used in assign/ignore)

And migrate the host and services.

object Host "host1" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  address = "192.168.1.10"
}

object HostGroup "hg_svcdep2" {
  assign where host.name == "host2"
}

apply Service "dep_svc01" {
  import "generic-service"
  check_command = "test2"

  assign where "hp_svcdep1" in host.groups
}

apply Service "dep_svc02" {
  import "generic-service"
  check_command = "test2"

  assign where "hp_svcdep2" in host.groups
}

When it comes to the execution_failure_criteria and notification_failure_criteria attribute migration, you will need to map the most common values, in this example u,c (Unknown and Critical will cause the dependency to fail). Therefore the Dependency should be ok on Ok and Warning. inherits_parents is always enabled.

apply Dependency "all-svc-for-hg-hg_svcdep2-on-host1-dep_svc01" to Service {
  parent_host_name = "host1"
  parent_service_name = "dep_svc01"

  states = [ Ok, Warning ]
  disable_checks = true
  disable_notifications = true

  assign where "hg_svcdep2" in host.groups
}

Host dependencies are explained in the next chapter.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Host Parents

Host parents from Icinga 1.x are migrated into Host-to-Host dependencies in Icinga 2.

The following example defines the vmware-master host as parent host for the guest virtual machines vmware-vm1 and vmware-vm2.

By default all hosts in the hostgroup vmware should get the parent assigned. This isn't really solvable with Icinga 1.x parents, but only with host dependencies.

define host{
  use                             linux-server-template
  host_name                       vmware-master
  hostgroups                      vmware
  address                         192.168.1.10
}

define host{
  use                             linux-server-template
  host_name                       vmware-vm1
  hostgroups                      vmware
  address                         192.168.27.1
  parents                         vmware-master
}

define host{
  use                             linux-server-template
  host_name                       vmware-vm2
  hostgroups                      vmware
  address                         192.168.28.1
  parents                         vmware-master
}

By default all hosts in the hostgroup vmware should get the parent assigned (but not the vmware-master host itself). This isn't really solvable with Icinga 1.x parents, but only with host dependencies as shown below:

define hostdependency {
  dependent_hostgroup_name        vmware
  dependent_host_name             !vmware-master
  host_name                       vmware-master
  inherits_parent                 1
  notification_failure_criteria   d,u
  execution_failure_criteria      d,u
  dependency_period               testconfig-24x7
}

When migrating to Icinga 2, the parents must be changed to a newly created host dependency.

Map the following attributes

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
host_name	parent_host_name
dependent_host_name	child_host_name (used in assign/ignore)
dependent_hostgroup_name	all child hosts in group (used in assign/ignore)

The Icinga 2 configuration looks like this:

object Host "vmware-master" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.1.10"
  vars.is_vmware_master = true
}

object Host "vmware-vm1" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.27.1"
}

object Host "vmware-vm2" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.28.1"
}

apply Dependency "vmware-master" to Host {
  parent_host_name = "vmware-master"

  assign where "vmware" in host.groups
  ignore where host.vars.is_vmware_master
  ignore where host.name == "vmware-master"
}

For easier identification you could add the vars.is_vmware_master attribute to the vmware-master host and let the dependency ignore that instead of the hardcoded host name. That's different to the Icinga 1.x example and a best practice hint only.

Another way to express the same configuration would be something like:

object Host "vmware-master" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.1.10"
}

object Host "vmware-vm1" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.27.1"
  vars.parents = [ "vmware-master" ]
}

object Host "vmware-vm2" {
  import "linux-server-template"
  groups += [ "vmware" ]
  address = "192.168.28.1"
  vars.parents = [ "vmware-master" ]
}

apply Dependency "host-to-parent-" for (parent in host.vars.parents) to Host {
  parent_host_name = parent
}

This example allows finer grained host-to-host dependency, as well as multiple dependency support.

Manual Config Migration Hints for Distributed Setups

Icinga 2 does not use active/passive instances calling OSCP commands and requiring the NSCA daemon for passing check results between instances.
Icinga 2 does not support any 1.x NEB addons for check load distribution
If your current setup consists of instances distributing the check load, you should consider building a load distribution setup with Icinga 2.
If your current setup includes active/passive clustering with external tools like Pacemaker/DRBD, consider the High Availability setup.
If you have build your own custom configuration deployment and check result collecting mechanism, you should re-design your setup and re-evaluate your requirements, and how they may be fulfilled using the Icinga 2 cluster capabilities.

Differences between Icinga 1.x and 2

Configuration Format

Icinga 1.x supports two configuration formats: key-value-based settings in the icinga.cfg configuration file and object-based in included files (cfg_dir, cfg_file). The path to the icinga.cfg configuration file must be passed to the Icinga daemon at startup.

icinga.cfg:

enable_notifications=1

objects.cfg:

define service {
   notifications_enabled    0
}

Icinga 2 supports objects and (global) variables, but does not make a difference between the main configuration file or any other included file.

icinga2.conf:

const EnableNotifications = true

object Service "test" {
    enable_notifications = false
}

Sample Configuration and ITL

While Icinga 1.x ships sample configuration and templates spread in various object files, Icinga 2 moves all templates into the Icinga Template Library (ITL) and includes them in the sample configuration.

Additional plugin check commands are shipped with Icinga 2 as well.

The ITL will be updated on every release and must not be edited by the user.

There are still generic templates available for your convenience which may or may not be re-used in your configuration. For instance, generic-service includes all required attributes except check_command for a service.

Sample configuration files are located in the conf.d/ directory which is included in icinga2.conf by default.

Note

Add your own custom templates in the conf.d/ directory as well, e.g. inside the templates.conf file.

Main Config File

In Icinga 1.x there are many global configuration settings available in icinga.cfg. Icinga 2 only uses a small set of global constants allowing you to specify certain different setting such as the NodeName in a cluster scenario.

Aside from that, the icinga2.conf should take care of including global constants, enabled features and the object configuration.

Include Files and Directories

In Icinga 1.x the icinga.cfg file contains cfg_file and cfg_dir directives. The cfg_dir directive recursively includes all files with a .cfg suffix in the given directory. Only absolute paths may be used. The cfg_file and cfg_dir directives can include the same file twice which leads to configuration errors in Icinga 1.x.

cfg_file=/etc/icinga/objects/commands.cfg
cfg_dir=/etc/icinga/objects

Icinga 2 supports wildcard includes and relative paths, e.g. for including conf.d/*.conf in the same directory.

include "conf.d/*.conf"

If you want to include files and directories recursively, you need to define a separate option and add the directory and an optional pattern.

include_recursive "conf.d"

A global search path for includes is available for advanced features like the Icinga Template Library (ITL) or additional monitoring plugins check command configuration.

include <itl>
include <plugins>

By convention the .conf suffix is used for Icinga 2 configuration files.

Resource File and Global Macros

Global macros such as for the plugin directory, usernames and passwords can be set in the resource.cfg configuration file in Icinga 1.x. By convention the USER1 macro is used to define the directory for the plugins.

Icinga 2 uses global constants instead. In the default config these are set in the constants.conf configuration file:

/**
 * This file defines global constants which can be used in
 * the other configuration files. At a minimum the
 * PluginDir constant should be defined.
 */

const PluginDir = "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins"

Global macros can only be defined once. Trying to modify a global constant will result in an error.

Configuration Comments

In Icinga 1.x comments are made using a leading hash (#) or a semi-colon (;) for inline comments.

In Icinga 2 comments can either be encapsulated by /* and */ (allowing for multi-line comments) or starting with two slashes (//). A leading hash (#) could also be used.

Object Names

Object names must not contain an exclamation mark (!). Use the display_name attribute to specify user-friendly names which should be shown in UIs (supported by Icinga Web 2 for example).

Object names are not specified using attributes (e.g. service_description for services) like in Icinga 1.x but directly after their type definition.

define service {
    host_name  localhost
    service_description  ping4
}

object Service "ping4" {
  host_name = "localhost"
}

Templates

In Icinga 1.x templates are identified using the register 0 setting. Icinga 2 uses the template identifier:

template Service "ping4-template" { }

Icinga 1.x objects inherit from templates using the use attribute. Icinga 2 uses the keyword import with template names in double quotes.

define service {
    service_description testservice
    use                 tmpl1,tmpl2,tmpl3
}

object Service "testservice" {
  import "tmpl1"
  import "tmpl2"
  import "tmpl3"
}

The last template overrides previously set values.

Object attributes

Icinga 1.x separates attribute and value pairs with whitespaces/tabs. Icinga 2 requires an equal sign (=) between them.

define service {
    check_interval  5
}

object Service "test" {
    check_interval = 5m
}

Please note that the default time value is seconds if no duration literal is given. check_interval = 5 behaves the same as check_interval = 5s.

All strings require double quotes in Icinga 2. Therefore a double quote must be escaped by a backslash (e.g. in command line). If an attribute identifier starts with a number, it must be enclosed in double quotes as well.

Alias vs. Display Name

In Icinga 1.x a host can have an alias and a display_name attribute used for a more descriptive name. A service only can have a display_name attribute. The alias is used for group, timeperiod, etc. objects too. Icinga 2 only supports the display_name attribute which is also taken into account by Icinga web interfaces.

Custom Variables

Icinga 2 allows you to define custom variables in the vars dictionary. The notes, notes_url, action_url, icon_image, icon_image_alt attributes for host and service objects are still available in Icinga 2.

2d_coords and statusmap_image are not supported in Icinga 2.

Icinga 1.x custom variable attributes must be prefixed using an underscore (_). In Icinga 2 these attributes must be added to the vars dictionary as custom variables.

vars.dn = "cn=icinga2-dev-host,ou=icinga,ou=main,ou=IcingaConfig,ou=LConf,dc=icinga,dc=org"
vars.cv = "my custom cmdb description"

These custom variables are also used as command parameters.

While Icinga 1.x only supports numbers and strings as custom variable values, Icinga 2 extends that to arrays and (nested) dictionaries. For more details look here.

Host Service Relation

In Icinga 1.x a service object is associated with a host by defining the host_name attribute in the service definition. Alternate methods refer to hostgroup_name or behaviour changing regular expression.

The preferred way of associating hosts with services in Icinga 2 is by using the apply keyword.

Direct object relations between a service and a host still allow you to use the host_name Service object attribute.

Users

Contacts have been renamed to users (same for groups). A contact does not only provide (custom) attributes and notification commands used for notifications, but is also used for authorization checks in Icinga 1.x.

Icinga 2 changes that behavior and makes the user an attribute provider only. These attributes can be accessed using runtime macros inside notification command definitions.

In Icinga 2 notification commands are not directly associated with users. Instead the notification command is specified inside Notification objects next to user and user group relations.

The IdoMySqlConnection and LivestatusListener types will provide the contact and contactgroups attributes for services for compatibility reasons. These values are calculated from all services, their notifications, and their users.

Macros

Various object attributes and runtime variables can be accessed as macros in commands in Icinga 1.x -- Icinga 2 supports all required custom variables.

Command Arguments

If you have previously used Icinga 1.x, you may already be familiar with user and argument definitions (e.g., USER1 or ARG1). Unlike in Icinga 1.x the Icinga 2 custom variables may have arbitrary names and arguments are no longer specified in the check_command setting.

In Icinga 1.x arguments are specified in the check_command attribute and are separated from the command name using an exclamation mark (!).

Please check the migration hints for a detailed migration example.

Note

The Icinga 1.x feature named Command Expander does not work with Icinga 2.

Environment Macros

The global configuration setting enable_environment_macros does not exist in Icinga 2.

Macros exported into the environment can be set using the env attribute in command objects.

Runtime Macros

Icinga 2 requires an object specific namespace when accessing configuration and stateful runtime macros. Custom variables can be accessed directly.

If a runtime macro from Icinga 1.x is not listed here, it is not supported by Icinga 2.

Changes to user (contact) runtime macros

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
CONTACTNAME	user.name
CONTACTALIAS	user.display_name
CONTACTEMAIL	user.email
CONTACTPAGER	user.pager

CONTACTADDRESS* is not supported but can be accessed as $user.vars.address1$ if set.

Changes to service runtime macros

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
SERVICEDESC	service.name
SERVICEDISPLAYNAME	service.display_name
SERVICECHECKCOMMAND	service.check_command
SERVICESTATE	service.state
SERVICESTATEID	service.state_id
SERVICESTATETYPE	service.state_type
SERVICEATTEMPT	service.check_attempt
MAXSERVICEATTEMPT	service.max_check_attempts
LASTSERVICESTATE	service.last_state
LASTSERVICESTATEID	service.last_state_id
LASTSERVICESTATETYPE	service.last_state_type
LASTSERVICESTATECHANGE	service.last_state_change
SERVICEDOWNTIME	service.downtime_depth
SERVICEDURATIONSEC	service.duration_sec
SERVICELATENCY	service.latency
SERVICEEXECUTIONTIME	service.execution_time
SERVICEOUTPUT	service.output
SERVICEPERFDATA	service.perfdata
LASTSERVICECHECK	service.last_check
SERVICENOTES	service.notes
SERVICENOTESURL	service.notes_url
SERVICEACTIONURL	service.action_url

Changes to host runtime macros

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
HOSTNAME	host.name
HOSTADDRESS	host.address
HOSTADDRESS6	host.address6
HOSTDISPLAYNAME	host.display_name
HOSTALIAS	(use `host.display_name` instead)
HOSTCHECKCOMMAND	host.check_command
HOSTSTATE	host.state
HOSTSTATEID	host.state_id
HOSTSTATETYPE	host.state_type
HOSTATTEMPT	host.check_attempt
MAXHOSTATTEMPT	host.max_check_attempts
LASTHOSTSTATE	host.last_state
LASTHOSTSTATEID	host.last_state_id
LASTHOSTSTATETYPE	host.last_state_type
LASTHOSTSTATECHANGE	host.last_state_change
HOSTDOWNTIME	host.downtime_depth
HOSTDURATIONSEC	host.duration_sec
HOSTLATENCY	host.latency
HOSTEXECUTIONTIME	host.execution_time
HOSTOUTPUT	host.output
HOSTPERFDATA	host.perfdata
LASTHOSTCHECK	host.last_check
HOSTNOTES	host.notes
HOSTNOTESURL	host.notes_url
HOSTACTIONURL	host.action_url
TOTALSERVICES	host.num_services
TOTALSERVICESOK	host.num_services_ok
TOTALSERVICESWARNING	host.num_services_warning
TOTALSERVICESUNKNOWN	host.num_services_unknown
TOTALSERVICESCRITICAL	host.num_services_critical

Changes to command runtime macros

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
COMMANDNAME	command.name

Changes to notification runtime macros

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
NOTIFICATIONTYPE	notification.type
NOTIFICATIONAUTHOR	notification.author
NOTIFICATIONCOMMENT	notification.comment
NOTIFICATIONAUTHORNAME	(use `notification.author`)
NOTIFICATIONAUTHORALIAS	(use `notification.author`)

Changes to global runtime macros:

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
TIMET	icinga.timet
LONGDATETIME	icinga.long_date_time
SHORTDATETIME	icinga.short_date_time
DATE	icinga.date
TIME	icinga.time
PROCESSSTARTTIME	icinga.uptime

Changes to global statistic macros:

Icinga 1.x	Icinga 2
TOTALHOSTSUP	icinga.num_hosts_up
TOTALHOSTSDOWN	icinga.num_hosts_down
TOTALHOSTSUNREACHABLE	icinga.num_hosts_unreachable
TOTALHOSTSDOWNUNHANDLED	--
TOTALHOSTSUNREACHABLEUNHANDLED	--
TOTALHOSTPROBLEMS	down
TOTALHOSTPROBLEMSUNHANDLED	down-(downtime+acknowledged)
TOTALSERVICESOK	icinga.num_services_ok
TOTALSERVICESWARNING	icinga.num_services_warning
TOTALSERVICESCRITICAL	icinga.num_services_critical
TOTALSERVICESUNKNOWN	icinga.num_services_unknown
TOTALSERVICESWARNINGUNHANDLED	--
TOTALSERVICESCRITICALUNHANDLED	--
TOTALSERVICESUNKNOWNUNHANDLED	--
TOTALSERVICEPROBLEMS	ok+warning+critical+unknown
TOTALSERVICEPROBLEMSUNHANDLED	warning+critical+unknown-(downtime+acknowledged)

External Commands

CHANGE_CUSTOM_CONTACT_VAR was renamed to CHANGE_CUSTOM_USER_VAR.

The following external commands are not supported:

CHANGE_*MODATTR
CHANGE_CONTACT_HOST_NOTIFICATION_TIMEPERIOD
CHANGE_HOST_NOTIFICATION_TIMEPERIOD
CHANGE_SVC_NOTIFICATION_TIMEPERIOD
DEL_DOWNTIME_BY_HOSTGROUP_NAME
DEL_DOWNTIME_BY_START_TIME_COMMENT
DISABLE_ALL_NOTIFICATIONS_BEYOND_HOST
DISABLE_CONTACT_HOST_NOTIFICATIONS
DISABLE_CONTACT_SVC_NOTIFICATIONS
DISABLE_CONTACTGROUP_HOST_NOTIFICATIONS
DISABLE_CONTACTGROUP_SVC_NOTIFICATIONS
DISABLE_FAILURE_PREDICTION
DISABLE_HOST_AND_CHILD_NOTIFICATIONS
DISABLE_HOST_FRESHNESS_CHECKS
DISABLE_NOTIFICATIONS_EXPIRE_TIME
DISABLE_SERVICE_FRESHNESS_CHECKS
ENABLE_ALL_NOTIFICATIONS_BEYOND_HOST
ENABLE_CONTACT_HOST_NOTIFICATIONS
ENABLE_CONTACT_SVC_NOTIFICATIONS
ENABLE_CONTACTGROUP_HOST_NOTIFICATIONS
ENABLE_CONTACTGROUP_SVC_NOTIFICATIONS
ENABLE_FAILURE_PREDICTION
ENABLE_HOST_AND_CHILD_NOTIFICATIONS
ENABLE_HOST_FRESHNESS_CHECKS
ENABLE_SERVICE_FRESHNESS_CHECKS
READ_STATE_INFORMATION
SAVE_STATE_INFORMATION
SET_HOST_NOTIFICATION_NUMBER
SET_SVC_NOTIFICATION_NUMBER
START_ACCEPTING_PASSIVE_HOST_CHECKS
START_ACCEPTING_PASSIVE_SVC_CHECKS
START_OBSESSING_OVER_HOST
START_OBSESSING_OVER_HOST_CHECKS
START_OBSESSING_OVER_SVC
START_OBSESSING_OVER_SVC_CHECKS
STOP_ACCEPTING_PASSIVE_HOST_CHECKS
STOP_ACCEPTING_PASSIVE_SVC_CHECKS
STOP_OBSESSING_OVER_HOST
STOP_OBSESSING_OVER_HOST_CHECKS
STOP_OBSESSING_OVER_SVC
STOP_OBSESSING_OVER_SVC_CHECKS

Asynchronous Event Execution

Unlike Icinga 1.x, Icinga 2 does not block when it's waiting for a command being executed -- whether if it's a check, a notification, an event handler, a performance data writing update, etc. That way you'll recognize low to zero (check) latencies with Icinga 2.

Checks

Check Output

Icinga 2 does not make a difference between output (first line) and long_output (remaining lines) like in Icinga 1.x. Performance Data is provided separately.

There is no output length restriction as known from Icinga 1.x using an 8KB static buffer.

The IdoMysqlConnection and LivestatusListener types split the raw output into output (first line) and long_output (remaining lines) for compatibility reasons.

Initial State

Icinga 1.x uses the max_service_check_spread setting to specify a timerange where the initial state checks must have happened. Icinga 2 will use the retry_interval setting instead and check_interval divided by 5 if retry_interval is not defined.

Comments

Icinga 2 doesn't support non-persistent comments.

Commands

Unlike in Icinga 1.x there are three different command types in Icinga 2: CheckCommand, NotificationCommand, and EventCommand.

For example in Icinga 1.x it is possible to accidentally use a notification command as an event handler which might cause problems depending on which runtime macros are used in the notification command.

In Icinga 2 these command types are separated and will generate an error on configuration validation if used in the wrong context.

While Icinga 2 still supports the complete command line in command objects, it's recommended to use command arguments with optional and conditional command line parameters instead.

It's also possible to define default argument values for the command itself which can be overridden by the host or service then.

Command Timeouts

In Icinga 1.x there were two global options defining a host and service check timeout. This was essentially bad when there only was a couple of check plugins requiring some command timeouts to be extended.

Icinga 2 allows you to specify the command timeout directly on the command. So, if your VMVware check plugin takes 15 minutes, increase the timeout accordingly.

Groups

In Icinga 2 hosts, services, and users are added to groups using the groups attribute in the object. The old way of listing all group members in the group's members attribute is available through assign where and ignore where expressions by using group assign.

object Host "web-dev" {
  import "generic-host"
}

object HostGroup "dev-hosts" {
  display_name = "Dev Hosts"
  assign where match("*-dev", host.name)
}

Add Service to Hostgroup where Host is Member

In order to associate a service with all hosts in a host group the apply keyword can be used:

apply Service "ping4" {
  import "generic-service"

  check_command = "ping4"

  assign where "dev-hosts" in host.groups
}

Notifications

Notifications are a new object type in Icinga 2. Imagine the following notification configuration problem in Icinga 1.x:

Service A should notify contact X via SMS
Service B should notify contact X via Mail
Service C should notify contact Y via Mail and SMS
Contact X and Y should also be used for authorization

The only way achieving a semi-clean solution is to

Create contact X-sms, set service_notification_command for sms, assign contact to service A
Create contact X-mail, set service_notification_command for mail, assign contact to service B
Create contact Y, set service_notification_command for sms and mail, assign contact to service C
Create contact X without notification commands, assign to service A and B

Basically you are required to create duplicated contacts for either each notification method or used for authorization only.

Icinga 2 attempts to solve that problem in this way

Create user X, set SMS and Mail attributes, used for authorization
Create user Y, set SMS and Mail attributes, used for authorization
Create notification A-SMS, set command for sms, add user X, assign notification A-SMS to service A
Create notification B-Mail, set command for mail, add user X, assign notification Mail to service B
Create notification C-SMS, set command for sms, add user Y, assign notification C-SMS to service C
Create notification C-Mail, set command for mail, add user Y, assign notification C-Mail to service C

Previously in Icinga 1.x it looked like this:

service -> (contact, contactgroup) -> notification command

In Icinga 2 it will look like this:

Service -> Notification -> NotificationCommand
                        -> User, UserGroup

Escalations

Escalations in Icinga 1.x require a separated object matching on existing objects. Escalations happen between a defined start and end time which is calculated from the notification_interval:

start = notification start + (notification_interval * first_notification)
end = notification start + (notification_interval * last_notification)

In theory first_notification and last_notification can be set to readable numbers. In practice users are manipulating those attributes in combination with notification_interval in order to get a start and end time.

In Icinga 2 the notification object can be used as notification escalation if the start and end times are defined within the 'times' attribute using duration literals (e.g. 30m).

The Icinga 2 escalation does not replace the current running notification. In Icinga 1.x it's required to copy the contacts from the service notification to the escalation to guarantee the normal notifications once an escalation happens. That's not necessary with Icinga 2 only requiring an additional notification object for the escalation itself.

Notification Options

Unlike Icinga 1.x with the 'notification_options' attribute with comma-separated state and type filters, Icinga 2 uses two configuration attributes for that. All state and type filter use long names OR'd with a pipe together

notification_options w,u,c,r,f,s

states = [ Warning, Unknown, Critical ]
types = [ Problem, Recovery, FlappingStart, FlappingEnd, DowntimeStart, DowntimeEnd, DowntimeRemoved ]

Icinga 2 adds more fine-grained type filters for acknowledgements, downtime, and flapping type (start, end, ...).

Dependencies and Parents

In Icinga 1.x it's possible to define host parents to determine network reachability and keep a host's state unreachable rather than down. Furthermore there are host and service dependencies preventing unnecessary checks and notifications. A host must not depend on a service, and vice versa. All dependencies are configured as separate objects and cannot be set directly on the host or service object.

A service can now depend on a host, and vice versa. A service has an implicit dependency (parent) to its host. A host to host dependency acts implicitly as host parent relation.

The former host_name and dependent_host_name have been renamed to parent_host_name and child_host_name (same for the service attribute). When using apply rules the child attributes may be omitted.

For detailed examples on how to use the dependencies please check the dependencies chapter.

Dependencies can be applied to hosts or services using the apply rules.

The IdoMysqlConnection and LivestatusListener types support the Icinga 1.x schema with dependencies and parent attributes for compatibility reasons.

Flapping

The Icinga 1.x flapping detection uses the last 21 states of a service. This value is hardcoded and cannot be changed. The algorithm on determining a flapping state is as follows:

flapping value = (number of actual state changes / number of possible state changes)

The flapping value is then compared to the low and high flapping thresholds.

The algorithm used in Icinga 2 does not store the past states but calculates the flapping threshold from a single value based on counters and half-life values. Icinga 2 compares the value with a single flapping threshold configuration attribute.

Check Result Freshness

Freshness of check results must be enabled explicitly in Icinga 1.x. The attribute freshness_threshold defines the threshold in seconds. Once the threshold is triggered, an active freshness check is executed defined by the check_command attribute. Both check methods (active and passive) use the same freshness check method.

In Icinga 2 active check freshness is determined by the check_interval attribute and no incoming check results in that period of time (last check + check interval). Passive check freshness is calculated from the check_interval attribute if set. There is no extra freshness_threshold attribute in Icinga 2. If the freshness checks are invalid, a new service check is forced.

Real Reload

In Nagios / Icinga 1.x a daemon reload does the following:

receive reload signal SIGHUP
stop all events (checks, notifications, etc.)
read the configuration from disk and validate all config objects in a single threaded fashion
validation NOT ok: stop the daemon (cannot restore old config state)
validation ok: start with new objects, dump status.dat / ido

Unlike Icinga 1.x the Icinga 2 daemon reload does not block any event execution during config validation:

receive reload signal SIGHUP
fork a child process, start configuration validation in parallel work queues
parent process continues with old configuration objects and the event scheduling (doing checks, replicating cluster events, triggering alert notifications, etc.)
validation NOT ok: child process terminates, parent process continues with old configuration state (this is essential for the cluster config synchronisation)
validation ok: child process signals parent process to terminate and save its current state (all events until now) into the icinga2 state file
parent process shuts down writing icinga2.state file
child process waits for parent process gone, reads the icinga2 state file and synchronizes all historical and status data
child becomes the new session leader

The DB IDO configuration dump and status/historical event updates use a queue not blocking event execution. Same goes for any other enabled feature. The configuration validation itself runs in parallel allowing fast verification checks.

That way your monitoring does not stop during a configuration reload.

State Retention

Icinga 1.x uses the retention.dat file to save its state in order to be able to reload it after a restart. In Icinga 2 this file is called icinga2.state.

The format is not compatible with Icinga 1.x.

Logging

Icinga 1.x supports syslog facilities and writes its own icinga.log log file and archives. These logs are used in Icinga 1.x to generate historical reports.

Icinga 2 compat library provides the CompatLogger object which writes the icinga.log and archive in Icinga 1.x format in order to stay compatible with addons.

The native Icinga 2 logging facilities are split into three configuration objects: SyslogLogger, FileLogger, StreamLogger. Each of them has their own severity and target configuration.

The Icinga 2 daemon log does not log any alerts but is considered an application log only.

Broker Modules and Features

Icinga 1.x broker modules are incompatible with Icinga 2.

In order to provide compatibility with Icinga 1.x the functionality of several popular broker modules was implemented for Icinga 2:

IDOUtils
Livestatus
Cluster (allows for high availability and load balancing)

Distributed Monitoring

Icinga 1.x uses the native "obsess over host/service" method which requires the NSCA addon passing the slave's check results passively onto the master's external command pipe. While this method may be used for check load distribution, it does not provide any configuration distribution out-of-the-box. Furthermore comments, downtimes, and other stateful runtime data is not synced between the master and slave nodes. There are addons available solving the check and configuration distribution problems Icinga 1.x distributed monitoring currently suffers from.

Icinga 2 implements a new built-in distributed monitoring architecture, including config and check distribution, IPv4/IPv6 support, TLS certificates and zone support for DMZ. High Availability and load balancing are also part of the Icinga 2 Cluster feature, next to local replay logs on connection loss ensuring that the event history is kept in sync.

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