What is the difference between icinga2.exe and Icinga for Windows (powershell)

Icinga 2
1

Newbie question:

I have a very simple question (as far as I can see the diffence is nowhere probably documented):

What is the difference between

  1. Index of /IcingaForWindows
    and
  2. Index of /windows
    (resulting in an icinga2.exe on the system)

According to the tutorial related to distributed monitoring I installed Nr 2 resulting in an icinga2.exe file.

Is “IcingaForWindows” only a collection of powershell scripts working together with icinga2.exe or does “IcingaForWindows” works alone? I am confused.

On

https://icinga.com/docs/icinga-for-windows/latest/doc/000-Introduction/

one can read:
"Icinga for Windows [No 1 from above] is the default and official supported solution for monitoring Windows environments and tools. "

So is 2 outdated?

Best wishes, Tuxyso

2

As for Linux based systems you can write your own check, use the checks provided by Icinga (e.g. C:\Program Files\ICINGA2\sbin> .\check_update.exe) or use the PowerShell Framework based Checks (IcingaForWindows).

And of course you can also write your own checks using the Icinga PowerShell Framework :slight_smile:

2 Likes
3

Thanks for the fast reply.
I think it is mainly a problem with confusing documentation / navigation on the Icinga Website:

If you navigate to the main download page
[Icinga » Download](https://icinga.com/get-started/download/)
and then
to “Windows” you reach the page “Icinga for Windows”

( [Getting Started - Icinga for Windows](https://icinga.com/docs/icinga-for-windows/latest/doc/110-Installation/01-Getting-Started/))

Thus as you are more familiar with icinga on Linux you get the impression that “Icinga for windows” is the standalone Icinga solution for Windows - to be improved from documentantary perspective.
Also on “Icinga for Windows” site I could not find any hint that the icinga agent is mandatory for operating Icinga on windows - further confusion :frowning:

To sum it up: To perform more complex monitoring task in windows it is best practice to use the Icinga2 agent plus the “Icinga for Windows” powershell framework with e.g. scripts for HyperV, MS-SQL,…
And how is the relation to “nsclient++”? It is bundled with the current version of icinga2 client. If I take a look on

[mickem/nscp: NSClient++ (github.com)](https://github.com/mickem/nscp)

I get the impression that there is no further development? NSClient++ outdated and usage not yet recommended?

4

I’m not sure if the PowerShell IcingaForWindows also contains a installer/setup tool for the icinga2.exe.

I can also recommend the GitHub - Linuxfabrik/monitoring-plugins: More than 190 check plugins for Icinga and other Nagios-compatible monitoring applications. Each plugin is a standalone command line tool (written in Python) that provides a specific type of check. collection.

5

To be frankly, I have never used the NSClient, because the icinga2 agent is the new way to execute checks on other machines.

You can use IcingaForWindows to install the icinga agent, and event to self register host:
https://icinga.com/docs/icinga-for-windows/latest/doc/110-Installation/01-Getting-Started/#install-icinga-for-windows