2.1. Advice for beginners
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## 2.1. Advice for beginners

Thanks for choosing Icinga! Icinga is quite powerful and flexible and although you can see the first results in less than 30 minutes, this is just the beginning of your journey into system monitoring. Configuring it to your needs can take a lot of work depending on the number of things to be monitored and the complexity of your environment. Once you become familiar with how it works and what it can do for you, you'll never want to be without it. :-) Here are some important things to keep in mind for first-time Icinga users:

1. Relax - it's going to take some time. Don't expect to be able to get things working exactly the way you want them right off the bat. It's not that easy. Setting up Icinga can involve a bit of work - partly because of the options that Icinga offers, partly because you need to know what to monitor on your network (and how best to do it).

2. Use package instead of source install. Meanwhile you will find packages for the most important distributions. Please consider using one of them instead of installing from source. It will save you some time. Please keep in mind that the paths differ from the ones mentioned in this documentation. For a detailed list of package specific locations, check wiki page. For information on packages please take a look here.

3. Use the Quickstart guides. If you don't find a package or don't want to use if for whatever reason then please use the quickstart instructions. The quickstart installation guide is designed to get most new users up and running with a basic Icinga setup fairly quickly. Within 20 minutes you can have Icinga installed and monitoring your local system. Once that's complete, you can move on to learning how to configure Icinga to do more.

4. Read the documentation. Icinga can be tricky to configure when you've got a good grasp of what's going on, and nearly impossible if you don't. Make sure you read the documentation (particularly the sections on "Configuring Icinga" and "The Basics"). It is important to know how plugins work. Take a look at the monitoring overview as well. Save the advanced topics for when you've got a good understanding of the basics.

5. Understand the architecture. Icinga Core ships with two GUIs, Icinga Classic UI and Icinga Web. Icinga Classic UI uses the native status and log file format, while Icinga Web requires IDOUtils with a database backend. Both GUIs can co-exist on the same host below /icinga and /icinga-web. The IDOUtils database is also a requirement for Icinga Reporting based on JasperReports Server which can be integrated into Icinga Web as cronk. Check IDOUtils chapter for details on the IDOUtils components involved. Plugins are essential to your checks, as well as addons may enhance your setup.

6. Seek the help of others. If you've read the documentation, reviewed the sample config files, and are still having problems, send an email message describing your problems to the icinga-users mailing list. If you've done some background reading and you provide a good problem description, odds are that someone will give you some pointers on getting things working properly. "good description" means to include details on your operating system, the version of Icinga, as well as what you tried and the results of it (preferably copy&paste). More information on subscribing to the mailing lists or searching the list archives can be found at https://support.icinga.org. Another source of information is the how to wiki section.

| Note
If you installed a package then the sample files might be missing. The contents is listed here for reference.

### 2.1.1. Icinga Overview

Overview

This section should give you a short overview on what is included and what isn't.

| Note
The information is incomplete but we're working on that. The git-branch "`next`" might be more up-to-date than this documentation.

Icinga consists of a core processing results from checks which are initiated by the core (active checks), or delivered from other machines (passive checks), deciding if notifications have to be sent, providing information by writing log files and showing it via a web interface, and several other tasks.

The core does not contain any checks itself but they are executed by plugins instead. Notifying contacts is done by methods provided by the operating system (i.e. sendmail/postfix/..., sms, pager).

| Note
Installation and configuration of plugins, addons, and os related software is mostly beyond the scope of this documentation so please consult the documentation provided by the manufacturer first, use your favourite search engine if that doesn't help, and seek help in forums. Consulting instructions from blogs or other personal stuff you will often find information that is outdated or doesn't fit your environment so try to avoid such sources.

Extending the functionality can be accomplished by installing addons. There you will find hints on web-based configuration tools, alternative web interfaces, presenting performance data, notifying contacts, and more.

The configuration is based on text files and managing them requires just a text editor like vi. Inheritance using templates simplifies defining objects because it enables you to reduce the definition to a minimum.

Accessing the information can be done via the cgi-based classic ui, the Icinga Web ui, or several other interfaces like mentioned in addons as well.

### 2.1.2. Icinga web GUI comparison

Icinga offers two web interfaces for users to view Icinga monitoring results and send commands to the Icinga Core. In both Icinga New and Classic Web, host and service status, history, notifications and status maps are available to keep a check on the health of your network in real-time. Both also support IPv4 as well as IPv6 addresses.

#### 2.1.2.1. Icinga Classic Web

Traditional in look and feel, this is Icinga’s interface for those who like the familiar single window format as in Nagios, combined with cool enhancements

- JSON output for accelerated data access

- CSV export on CGIs to aid addon development

- Log file search with filters, regular expressions and wildcard capabilities

- Host search with wildcard capabilities

- Compound commands to send to multiple hosts/services simultaneously

- Dependencies displayed in host/service details

- Config command expander integrated for frontend access

- Tactical overview header to keep an eye on the most important details in every window

- CGI Config Options to view user authorisations

- Modified Attributes to see host and service configurations compared against the latest attributes applied in the front end

Because Icinga Classic Web receives continuous development, you can rest assured that any addons you are accustomed to use with Nagios can be used with Icinga too.

Table 2.1. Screenshots Icinga classic web
Tactical Overview |
Host Groups |
Service Status
Commands |
CGI Config |
Downtimes
Date Picker |
Paginated Logs |
Trending

#### 2.1.2.2. Icinga New Web

Dynamic and user-friendly, this is Icinga’s Agavi based, Ajax driven, Web 2.0 inspired frontend.

| Note
Icinga Web needs a database to operate. So far MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle are supported.

- View your monitoring as you like it

  Icinga New Web displays real-time status data in a configurable spreadsheet, so you can:

  - Sort and group data by columns (eg. host or status)

  - Filter data in detail (eg. HTTP services which are not OK)

  - Send commands simultaneously to multiple hosts/services by checking boxes

  - View host or service details and history in the same window

- Search with Ajax ease

  The powerful Ajax search tool allows you to type in the first few letters of a string, to choose from results listed by host, service or group complete with colour-coded status. Needless to say, the tool only displays results which meet your user rights and permissions – ideal for the larger enterprise.

- Customize-a-Cronk ‘n’ Dashboard

  A library of Cronks (widgets) offer various views which can be dragged and dropped around the screen, customized, minimized, resized and categorized. As changes are persistent, you can come back to your tailored Cronk or arrangement of Cronks in the panels and tabs of your personal dashboard.

- Manage user rights meticulously

  Beyond the standard contact group restriction, user settings can be individualized to limit access to certain host or service groups, remove the ability to send commands and even limit the display of custom variables such as specific hosts or services. All from the front end. With LDAP and Active Directory support, Icinga New Web also makes life easier for larger enterprises.

Table 2.2. Screenshots Icinga new web
Portal View |
Tactical Overview |
Open Problems
Host Status Events |
Host filtered |
Downtimes
Search |
Commands |
Reporting
Business Process |
Log Viewer |
User Admin
Cronk Builder |
Cronk Configuration |
Status Map

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