[Nagiosplug-devel] proposal for new plugin check_byhttp

[David Diffenbaugh]

I have a need for a plugin which would have the functionality proposed 
below. Before I start working on it does anyone have any suggestions or 
requests? Is anyone already working on something similar?

check_byhttp will be a nagios plugin which retrieves content from a 
specified host using http. This file will contain a status state 
(OK,WARN,CRITICAL) and a status message. The plugin will return the state 
and status message that is listed in the retrieved content. It also will 
check the last modified time of the document, as reported by the 
Last-Modified field, to ensure the status is current.  If the file is 
current it will report the status. If the file is not current it will 
return a state and status message reporting that the document is not up to 
date based on time thresh-hold arguments passed to the plugin.

This plugin only will work when http is functioning correctly on the 
server the file is hosted on, and will assume this is always the case. 
The server you are connecting to should be monitored by check_http.

I looked through the plugins to make sure this wasn't already possible. 
The check_http plugin has an -s option that allows you to search for a 
string in the returned content. This is almost what I want, but I would 
like the status message to match the returned content and the state to be 
determined from that message. Perhaps instead of writing a new plugin I 
could incorporate this to the check_http plugin. Any suggestions?

Dave Diffenbaugh
Office of Information Technology
Rutgers University