I’m not much of a Linux guy but still love Nagios. Few days back I came across a script on Nagios Exchange (http://www.nagiosexchange.org/cgi-bin/page.cgi?g=Detailed%2F2639.html;d=1 ) which does a check for Windows updates and reports the results back to the Nagios server. The moment I saw it, I was very happy and I wanted to set this up. But the happiness did not last for long. Few hours later I found that it was not going to be easy to set this up and get it running. The problem is not the script – the problem is me. Always had been away from the Red Devil and Penguin since Windows always was my passion.define service{
use generic-service
host_name Name Of Host – replace this with your Host Name
service_description Updates
check_command check_nrpe!check_updates!-l
}

Searched a lot on the Internet and forums but I could not find a single site which would show how to implement the script in NsClient ++ and how to define the command and service in Nagios. Finally, I managed to crack it and now I would like to share this with everyone who may need some help on this.

Follow these steps to get this working:

[1] Download the script from Nagios Exchange and store it on your hard disk of your server which you need to check for updates. Note down the path to the wsf script for further reference.

[2] Edit your NSC.INI file (NsClient ++) and add this line to it:
check_updates=c:windowssystem32cscript.exe //NoLogo //T:40 C:Scriptscheckupdates.wsf $arg1$
The line above will check for the checkupdates.wsf script under the Scripts folder and run it using cscript. The $arg1$ will return the value back to Nagios.

[3] Next step is to add a command to your Nagios command.cfg file:
#’check_nrpe’ command definition
define command {
command_name check_nrpe
command_line $USER1$/check_nrpe -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -p 5666 -c $ARG1$ -a $ARG2$
}

[4] Now it’s time to define the service. Depending on the way you use templates, I’ll leave it up to you to decide where to place it. Add the following lines:
# Monitor updates in windows machine

Do a pre-flight check of Nagios. If no configuration errors are reported then you are good to go. Restart nagios for the new checks to work.

Recently some of the hosts that I monitor and provide server administration support upgraded their MSSQL 2000 to MSSQL 2005. The problem started when we tried to add MSSQL 2005 database service to monitoring. Nagios would simply not check “MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS” and return a Unknown state. Obviously the $ in the middle of the service name was causing the issue. Found out later that we need to use either two $$ or quote the dollar sign so that it shows MSSQL$”$”SQLEXPRESS.