Linuxfabrik Monitoring Plugins - Stuck during install

TowerMark · July 16, 2025, 9:26pm

I have a brand new Icinga 2 server running on Ubuntu 24 with Director installed.

I ran the commands to download/install the Linuxfabrik Plugins, but I’m getting stuck where they’re talking about how to integrate the plugins with Director and talking about baskets, etc. They talk about creating a basket without UID’s and then list:

./tools/basket-join
./tools/remove-uuids
–input-file icingaweb2-module-director-basket.json
–output-file icingaweb2-module-director-basket-no-uuids.json

But I have no idea what to do with that. Am I supposed to run those as commands? Something in the Icinga web interface?

I have the Linuxfabrik monitoring plugins installed, but I don’t know how to finish the install & integrate with Director. I’m a very early beginner in Linux, etc. So don’t assume I know how do to anything.

rivad · July 17, 2025, 6:49am

Yes, this are commands in the monitoring-plugins repository that you’re supposed to run in a terminal.

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 4:29pm

So what do I do if I don’t have a “./tools” folder to run the “basket-join” command in?

rivad · July 17, 2025, 4:50pm

It’s here in the repository: monitoring-plugins/tools at main · Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins · GitHub

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 5:08pm

I ran the download/install commands from the main page:

mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
wget https://repo.linuxfabrik.ch/linuxfabrik.key --output-document=/etc/apt/keyrings/linuxfabrik.asc
source /etc/os-release
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/linuxfabrik.asc] https://repo.linuxfabrik.ch/monitoring-plugins/ubuntu/ $VERSION_CODENAME-release main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxfabrik-monitoring-plugins.list
apt update
apt install linuxfabrik-monitoring-plugins

Do I need to do something else to get it ready for running those other commands for Director?

I tried running the one command on that page:
icingacli director basket restore < cpu-usage.json -v
but it gave me an error that the file or directory didn’t exist.

rivad · July 17, 2025, 5:18pm

What you did is the correct way to install the plugins for the targets but on one machine, you would need to clone the repository and build the baskets to import the settings for the director.

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 5:21pm

Where are the instructions to do that part?

I thought the “wget” part cloned the repository. Did I miss a step somewhere? Those were all of the instructions they had listed under “Ubuntu”. It’s not very intuitive on the website.

rivad · July 17, 2025, 5:30pm

Download the matching source zip from the releases or clone the repository and checkout the matching tag - see first 2 code blocks from monitoring-plugins/INSTALL.md at main · Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins · GitHub.

Then follow the instructions at monitoring-plugins/ICINGA.md at main · Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins · GitHub

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 5:36pm

Ok. I’ll work on that in a bit and let you know how it goes.

Thank you for the help!

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 6:50pm

Ok, my work is blocking github, so I can’t do the clone command. I have downloaded the file: monitoring-plugins-2.4.0.tar.gz. Where should I unpack the entire file before trying the other commands?

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 6:53pm

Also, I already installed a linuxfabrik-monitoring-plugins file, was that for nothing or was it a pre-requisite? (see pictures)

TowerMark · July 17, 2025, 8:05pm

PS - You said that what I did was the correct way to install the plugins for the targets???
I did that on the SERVER, the Icinga 2 server. Do I need to install these on the target systems as well?
Most of my target systems are going to be Windows-based. How would I install the files I need on them as well?
The main reasons I’m focusing on LinuxFabrik’s are because it seemed to have all the monitoring tools I’d want in one package and there were numerous reports that they run faster/better than other counterparts. And I want to keep the system overhead, network bandwidth, etc. to a minimum.

rivad · July 18, 2025, 7:15am

the plugins are one thing
the icinga config the other

You installed the plugins so #1 is taken care of.

Now you extract the sources (monitoring-plugins-2.4.0.tar.gz) somewhere (is throwaway) to generate the baskets to import into the Icinga Director to get the necessary command objects, service templates objects, and service-sets.

So:

extract archive to a place of your choice
follow the guide to build the basket
import the basket into the director
delete the extracted archive or leave it laying around

Now you’re ready to use the plugins by using the tpl-host-generic at the root of your templates to get the necessary field like Tags and Criticality. I cloned Tags and called it Custom Tags to manage the service-sets I build to monitor our bespoke applications.

@linuxfabrik I’m offline next week, so maybe, you could help @TowerMark, if he get’s stuck again.

TowerMark · July 21, 2025, 6:47pm

@rivad , @linuxfabrik I got the file on the server, got it extracted. I’m at #2, “follow the guide to build the basket”.

What guide??? I have the instructions page up on importing the basket into director, that’s from the ‘Director’ link on the main install page. But I don’t see any guide on how to build the basket in the first place. (I could be blind)

TowerMark · July 21, 2025, 6:57pm

Ok, I was blind. I followed the instructions and now I think it worked (mostly) I’ve got a handful of service templates. Is this all I need for ALL the plugins??? It seems a bit small. How do I go from here to setting up things like CPU/disk checks on my Windows Servers?

TowerMark · July 25, 2025, 3:10pm

Hello??? Anyone???

TowerMark · July 28, 2025, 5:00pm

Hello? @rivad , @linuxfabrik Can I get some help still? Or am I on my own now? It has been over a week since I got a reply here.

linuxfabrik · July 29, 2025, 6:51am

Hi @TowerMark what are you stuck on right now? Seems like you managed to import the config into the director, correct? You should find the other service templates on the next page (blue >> next to the 1 at the top of your screenshot). We provide Service Sets for operating systems and applications, which can be applied to a host via the Tags, for example on https://icinga-demo.linuxfabrik.ch/

Let me know if you have any other question.

Greetings
Navid

TowerMark · July 29, 2025, 4:19pm

@linuxfabrik Pardon my ignorance, I’m a Windows guy, setting up this Icinga server has been my first step into the Linux world.

So it appears I have all the plugins installed correctly, how do I set up the checks on the various Windows Servers that I want to check? Do I need to install the agent/etc. that the normal Icinga instructions were having me do to use your plugins or is there a separate process? What is the syntax for each plugin? Is there a list/manual somewhere I’m not finding?

apenning · July 30, 2025, 8:14am

First, thanks a lot for trying out Icinga and welcome to this ecosystem.

However, please remember that this is a community forum and both @rivad and everyone from the @linuxfabrik are here on their own, maybe even on their free time. Thus, treat them with respect.

I would suggest you start installing the Icinga 2 agent on Windows. Please consider the Icinga 2 agent documentation and the Icinga for Windows project.

As a starting point, you can find all available docs on https://icinga.com/docs/.

Regarding the @linuxfabrik’s Monitoring Plugins, you may need to install them on the Windows machines you want to monitor. Please head over to their installation docs.

More information about either these plugins or the director should be available in the suitable docs.