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Icinga 2 CLI Commands

Icinga 2 comes with a number of CLI commands which support bash autocompletion.

These CLI commands will allow you to use certain functionality provided by and around Icinga 2.

Each CLI command provides its own help and usage information, so please make sure to always run them with the --help parameter.

Run icinga2 without any arguments to get a list of all available global options.

# icinga2
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * api setup (setup for API)
  * ca list (lists all certificate signing requests)
  * ca restore (restores a removed certificate request)
  * ca remove (removes an outstanding certificate request)  
  * ca sign (signs an outstanding certificate request)
  * console (Icinga debug console)
  * daemon (starts Icinga 2)
  * feature disable (disables specified feature)
  * feature enable (enables specified feature)
  * feature list (lists all available features)
  * node setup (set up node)
  * node wizard (wizard for node setup)
  * object list (lists all objects)
  * pki new-ca (sets up a new CA)
  * pki new-cert (creates a new CSR)
  * pki request (requests a certificate)
  * pki save-cert (saves another Icinga 2 instance's certificate)
  * pki sign-csr (signs a CSR)
  * pki ticket (generates a ticket)
  * pki verify (verify TLS certificates: CN, signed by CA, is CA; Print certificate)
  * variable get (gets a variable)
  * variable list (lists all variables)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

Icinga 2 CLI Bash Autocompletion

Bash Auto-Completion (pressing <TAB>) is provided only for the corresponding context.

While --config suggests and auto-completes files and directories on disk, feature enable only suggests disabled features.

RPM and Debian packages install the bash completion files into /etc/bash_completion.d/icinga2.

You need to install the bash-completion package if not already installed.

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:

# yum install bash-completion

SUSE:

# zypper install bash-completion

Debian/Ubuntu:

# apt-get install bash-completion

Ensure that the bash-completion.d directory is added to your shell environment. You can manually source the icinga2 bash-completion file into your current session and test it:

# source /etc/bash-completion.d/icinga2

Icinga 2 CLI Global Options

Application Type

By default the icinga2 binary loads the icinga library. A different application type can be specified with the --app command-line option. Note: This is not needed by the average Icinga user, only developers.

Libraries

Instead of loading libraries using the library config directive you can also use the --library command-line option. Note: This is not needed by the average Icinga user, only developers.

Constants

Global constants can be set using the --define command-line option.

Config Include Path

When including files you can specify that the include search path should be checked. You can do this by putting your configuration file name in angle brackets like this:

include <test.conf>

This causes Icinga 2 to search its include path for the configuration file test.conf. By default the installation path for the Icinga Template Library is the only search directory.

Using the --include command-line option additional search directories can be added.

CLI command: Api

Provides helper functions to enable and setup the Icinga 2 API.

CLI command: Api Setup

# icinga2 api setup --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 api setup [<arguments>]

Setup for Icinga 2 API.

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Command options:
  --cn arg                  The certificate's common name

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Get support: <https://icinga.com/support/>
Documentation: <https://icinga.com/docs/>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Ca

List and manage incoming certificate signing requests. More details can be found in the signing methods chapter. This CLI command is available since v2.8.

# icinga2 ca --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * ca list (lists all certificate signing requests)
  * ca sign (signs an outstanding certificate request)
  * ca restore (restores a removed certificate request)
  * ca remove (removes an outstanding certificate request)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Ca List

icinga2 ca list --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 ca list [<arguments>]

Lists pending certificate signing requests.

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Command options:
  --all                     List all certificate signing requests, including
                            signed. Note: Old requests are automatically
                            cleaned by Icinga after 1 week.
  --removed                 List all removed CSRs (for use with 'ca restore')
  --json                    encode output as JSON

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Get support: <https://icinga.com/support/>
Documentation: <https://icinga.com/docs/>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Console

The CLI command console can be used to debug and evaluate Icinga 2 config expressions, e.g. to test functions in your local sandbox.

$ icinga2 console
Icinga 2 (version: v2.11.0)
<1> => function test(name) {
<1> ..   log("Hello " + name)
<1> .. }
null
<2> => test("World")
information/config: Hello World
null
<3> =>

Further usage examples can be found in the library reference chapter.

# icinga2 console --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 console [<arguments>]

Interprets Icinga script expressions.

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Command options:
  -c [ --connect ] arg      connect to an Icinga 2 instance
  -e [ --eval ] arg         evaluate expression and terminate
  -r [ --file ] arg         evaluate a file and terminate
  --syntax-only             only validate syntax (requires --eval or --file)
  --sandbox                 enable sandbox mode

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

On operating systems without the libedit library installed there is no support for line-editing or a command history. However you can use the rlwrap program if you require those features:

$ rlwrap icinga2 console

The debug console can be used to connect to a running Icinga 2 instance using the REST API. API permissions are required for executing config expressions and auto-completion.

Note

The debug console does not currently support TLS certificate verification.

Runtime modifications are not validated and might cause the Icinga 2 daemon to crash or behave in an unexpected way. Use these runtime changes at your own risk and rather inspect and debug objects read-only.

You can specify the API URL using the --connect parameter.

Although the password can be specified there process arguments on UNIX platforms are usually visible to other users (e.g. through ps). In order to securely specify the user credentials the debug console supports two environment variables:

Environment variable Description
ICINGA2_API_USERNAME The API username.
ICINGA2_API_PASSWORD The API password.

Here’s an example:

$ ICINGA2_API_PASSWORD=icinga icinga2 console --connect 'https://root@localhost:5665/'
Icinga 2 (version: v2.11.0)
<1> =>

Once connected you can inspect variables and execute other expressions by entering them at the prompt:

<1> => var h = get_host("icinga2-agent1.localdomain")
null
<2> => h.last_check_result
{
        active = true
        check_source = "icinga2-agent1.localdomain"
        command = [ "/usr/local/sbin/check_ping", "-H", "127.0.0.1", "-c", "5000,100%", "-w", "3000,80%" ]
        execution_end = 1446653527.174983
        execution_start = 1446653523.152673
        exit_status = 0.000000
        output = "PING OK - Packet loss = 0%, RTA = 0.11 ms"
        performance_data = [ "rta=0.114000ms;3000.000000;5000.000000;0.000000", "pl=0%;80;100;0" ]
        schedule_end = 1446653527.175133
        schedule_start = 1446653583.150000
        state = 0.000000
        type = "CheckResult"
        vars_after = {
                attempt = 1.000000
                reachable = true
                state = 0.000000
                state_type = 1.000000
        }
        vars_before = {
                attempt = 1.000000
                reachable = true
                state = 0.000000
                state_type = 1.000000
        }
}
<3> =>

You can use the --eval parameter to evaluate a single expression in batch mode. Using the --file option you can specify a file which should be evaluated. The output format for batch mode is JSON.

The --syntax-only option can be used in combination with --eval or --file to check a script for syntax errors. In this mode the script is parsed to identify syntax errors but not evaluated.

Here’s an example that retrieves the command that was used by Icinga to check the icinga2-agent1.localdomain host:

$ ICINGA2_API_PASSWORD=icinga icinga2 console --connect 'https://root@localhost:5665/' --eval 'get_host("icinga2-agent1.localdomain").last_check_result.command' | python -m json.tool
[
    "/usr/local/sbin/check_ping",
    "-H",
    "127.0.0.1",
    "-c",
    "5000,100%",
    "-w",
    "3000,80%"
]

CLI command: Daemon

The CLI command daemon provides the functionality to start/stop Icinga 2. Furthermore it allows to run the configuration validation.

# icinga2 daemon --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 daemon [<arguments>]

Starts Icinga 2.

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Command options:
  -c [ --config ] arg       parse a configuration file
  -z [ --no-config ]        start without a configuration file
  -C [ --validate ]         exit after validating the configuration
  -e [ --errorlog ] arg     log fatal errors to the specified log file (only
                            works in combination with --daemonize or
                            --close-stdio)
  -d [ --daemonize ]        detach from the controlling terminal
  --close-stdio             do not log to stdout (or stderr) after startup

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

Config Files

You can specify one or more configuration files with the --config option. Configuration files are processed in the order they’re specified on the command-line.

When no configuration file is specified and the --no-config is not used Icinga 2 automatically falls back to using the configuration file ConfigDir + "/icinga2.conf" (where ConfigDir is usually /etc/icinga2).

Validation

The --validate option can be used to check if configuration files contain errors. If any errors are found, the exit status is 1, otherwise 0 is returned. More details in the configuration validation chapter.

CLI command: Feature

The feature enable and feature disable commands can be used to enable and disable features:

# icinga2 feature disable <tab>
--app              --define           --include          --log-level        --version          checker            graphite           mainlog
--color            --help             --library          --script-debugger  api                command            ido-mysql          notification
# icinga2 feature enable <tab>
--app              --define           --include          --log-level        --version          debuglog           ido-pgsql          livestatus         perfdata           syslog
--color            --help             --library          --script-debugger  compatlog          gelf               influxdb           opentsdb           statusdata

The feature list command shows which features are currently enabled:

# icinga2 feature list
Disabled features: compatlog debuglog gelf ido-pgsql influxdb livestatus opentsdb perfdata statusdata syslog
Enabled features: api checker command graphite ido-mysql mainlog notification

CLI command: Node

Provides the functionality to setup master and client nodes in a distributed monitoring scenario.

# icinga2 node --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * node setup (set up node)
  * node wizard (wizard for node setup)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Object

The object CLI command can be used to list all configuration objects and their attributes. The command also shows where each of the attributes was modified and as such provides debug information for further configuration problem analysis. That way you can also identify which objects have been created from your apply rules.

Runtime modifications via the REST API are not immediately updated. Furthermore there is a known issue with group assign expressions which are not reflected in the host object output. You need to restart Icinga 2 in order to update the icinga2.debug cache file.

More information can be found in the troubleshooting section.

# icinga2 object --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * object list (lists all objects)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Pki

Provides the CLI commands to

  • generate a new certificate authority (CA)
  • generate a new CSR or self-signed certificate
  • sign a CSR and return a certificate
  • save a master certificate manually
  • request a signed certificate from the master
  • generate a new ticket for the client setup

This functionality is used by the node setup/wizard CLI commands. You will need them in the distributed monitoring chapter.

# icinga2 pki --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.12.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * pki new-ca (sets up a new CA)
  * pki new-cert (creates a new CSR)
  * pki request (requests a certificate)
  * pki save-cert (saves another Icinga 2 instance's certificate)
  * pki sign-csr (signs a CSR)
  * pki ticket (generates a ticket)
  * pki verify (verify TLS certificates: CN, signed by CA, is CA; Print certificate)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

CLI command: Variable

Lists all configured variables (constants) in a similar fashion like object list.

# icinga2 variable --help
icinga2 - The Icinga 2 network monitoring daemon (version: v2.11.0)

Usage:
  icinga2 <command> [<arguments>]

Supported commands:
  * variable get (gets a variable)
  * variable list (lists all variables)

Global options:
  -h [ --help ]             show this help message
  -V [ --version ]          show version information
  --color                   use VT100 color codes even when stdout is not a
                            terminal
  -D [ --define ] arg       define a constant
  -a [ --app ] arg          application library name (default: icinga)
  -l [ --library ] arg      load a library
  -I [ --include ] arg      add include search directory
  -x [ --log-level ] arg    specify the log level for the console log.
                            The valid value is either debug, notice,
                            information (default), warning, or critical
  -X [ --script-debugger ]  whether to enable the script debugger

Report bugs at <https://github.com/Icinga/icinga2>
Icinga home page: <https://icinga.com/>

Enabling/Disabling Features

Icinga 2 provides configuration files for some commonly used features. These are installed in the /etc/icinga2/features-available directory and can be enabled and disabled using the icinga2 feature enable and icinga2 feature disable CLI commands, respectively.

The icinga2 feature enable CLI command creates symlinks in the /etc/icinga2/features-enabled directory which is included by default in the example configuration file.

You can view a list of enabled and disabled features:

# icinga2 feature list
Disabled features: api command compatlog debuglog graphite icingastatus ido-mysql ido-pgsql livestatus notification perfdata statusdata syslog
Enabled features: checker mainlog notification

Using the icinga2 feature enable command you can enable features:

# icinga2 feature enable graphite
Enabling feature graphite. Make sure to restart Icinga 2 for these changes to take effect.

You can disable features using the icinga2 feature disable command:

# icinga2 feature disable ido-mysql livestatus
Disabling feature ido-mysql. Make sure to restart Icinga 2 for these changes to take effect.
Disabling feature livestatus. Make sure to restart Icinga 2 for these changes to take effect.

The icinga2 feature enable and icinga2 feature disable commands do not restart Icinga 2. You will need to restart Icinga 2 using the init script after enabling or disabling features.

Configuration Validation

Once you’ve edited the configuration files make sure to tell Icinga 2 to validate the configuration changes. Icinga 2 will log any configuration error including a hint on the file, the line number and the affected configuration line itself.

The following example creates an apply rule without any assign condition.

apply Service "my-ping4" {
  import "generic-service"
  check_command = "ping4"
  //assign where host.address
}

Validate the configuration:

# icinga2 daemon -C

[2014-05-22 17:07:25 +0200] critical/ConfigItem: Location:
/etc/icinga2/conf.d/tests/my.conf(5): }
/etc/icinga2/conf.d/tests/my.conf(6):
/etc/icinga2/conf.d/tests/my.conf(7): apply Service "my-ping4" {
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
/etc/icinga2/conf.d/tests/my.conf(8):   import "test-generic-service"
/etc/icinga2/conf.d/tests/my.conf(9):   check_command = "ping4"

Config error: 'apply' is missing 'assign'
[2014-05-22 17:07:25 +0200] critical/ConfigItem: 1 errors, 0 warnings.
Icinga 2 detected configuration errors.

If you encounter errors during configuration validation, please make sure to read the troubleshooting chapter.

You can also use the CLI command icinga2 object list after validation passes to analyze object attributes, inheritance or created objects by apply rules. Find more on troubleshooting with object list in this chapter.

Reload on Configuration Changes

Every time you have changed your configuration you should first tell Icinga 2 to validate. If there are no validation errors, you can safely reload the Icinga 2 daemon.

# systemctl reload icinga2

The reload action will send the SIGHUP signal to the Icinga 2 daemon which will validate the configuration in a separate process and not stop the other events like check execution, notifications, etc.