[Bug 988421] [NEW] nagios3 check_load produces no output

[PeterNSteinmetz]

Public bug reported:

I am running a nagios3 server on ubuntu 10.04 server (nagios3
3.2.0-4ubuntu2.2) and a nrpe server on ubuntu 10.10 (nagios-nrpe-server
2.12-4ubuntu1.10.10.1, nagios-plugins  1.4.14-5ubuntu3)

Have these both basically up and running, and the server is able to run
a check_disk command on the npre server and receives results.

For a check_load command, however, the status information is '(No output
returned from plugin)'.

I have looked extensively on the web for this, and it appears there are
a number of reasons this may happen.

On the server, if I run 
sudo su - nagios -c "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_nrpe -H 10.41.129.36 -c check_load"
there is nothing returned.

If I change the user from nagios to peter, then I get the expected
response.

On the nrpe server, the same thing is happening. If I run 
sudo su - nagios -c "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_load  -w 15,10,5 -c 30,25,20"
there is nothing returned. If I change the user to peter it returns the expected output.

I've tried making the plugins all owned by nagios:nagios, that doesn't
help. I've tried adding a line for nagios to sudoers file and then
adding the sudo command prefix, that doesn't fix it when invoking the
command on the nagios server. I've also tried adding the nagios user to
the admin group and that doesn't help.

I've enabled the debugging on the nrpe server, and for the command from
the nagios server, I see the connection and request in syslog when the
user is peter, but no such request when the user is nagios. Neither of
the local commands generate any syslog output.

It is difficult to understand why this command, check_load, on the nrpe
server is returning output for users 'peter' and 'root' but not for user
'nagios' when 'nagios' owns the executable.

When I check executing the check_disk command locally on the nrpe server with
sudo su - nagios -c "/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_disk -w 20% -c 10% -p /dev/sda1"
it works and returns a report.

Curiously, if I change the nagios user to have a login shell, such as
/bin/bash, on the nrpe server, then the check_load command is returning
output, though still doesn't work from the nagios server. In neither
case, however, does the nagios user have a password.

Both the check_load and check_disk plugins are owned by nagios:nagios
and have -rwxr-xr-x permissions, so what is the difference?

/proc/loadavg is owned by root:root and has rw-r--r-- permissions, so
should be readable.

It appears this is a problem with the nagios user setup in the ubuntu
packaging. I have checked the upstream bug fixes to current and there is
nothing in nagios-plugin which would appear to address this issue.

** Affects: nagios-plugins (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: nagios3

** Tags added: nagios3

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/988421

Title:
  nagios3 check_load produces no output

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