In this chapter, we have learned how to use the notifications mechanism more effectively—sending information about host and service status using multiple protocols such as SMS or instant messaging. This can be used to reduce the number of e-mails sent and reduce chances of information about failure getting caught by spam or e-mail filters.
We have also learned about escalations and how those can be used to automatically let additional people know when a problem has not been resolved in a timely manner. This can be especially important in large organizations or when there is no clear ownership of one or more resources.
The chapter also covers sending commands to Nagios and how they can be used to add information about hosts and services, scheduling checks, and changing custom variables.
We have also learned how to create event handlers and how those can be used to automatically attempt to restart a service and/or change notification settings.
The chapter also covers adaptive notifications and how events or external applications can fine-tune the checking of settings for hosts and services.
To sum up, in this chapter, we have learned the following items:
- How to use multiple protocols such as instant messaging or SMS to send notifications
- What escalations are and how to use them to ensure problem resolution
- Learned how to send commands to Nagios
- What event handlers and adaptive monitoring are
The next chapter covers passive checks and Nagios Remote Data Processor (NRDP). These can be used to notify Nagios about host and service status from external applications or from other Nagios instances, including sending the information over the network.