NMIS provides a number of different methods for managing your nodes, both GUI-based and commandline-oriented. This document describes the commandline tools present in versions 8.5.4 and newer.

Bulk Import and Export

For importing lots of nodes in one go from a CSV file, NMIS has been providing admin/import_nodes.pl for a long time. There is also a sibling admin/export_nodes.pl tool, and both are documented on the Bulk Import page. The main benefit of these tools is utmost simplicity, but at the cost of some flexibility: import_nodes does not make all common node properties controllable or accessible.

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`

Version 8.5.4G brings in a new, more fine-grained and capable tool: admin/node_admin.pl. It's scriptable and pipelineable, and can perform all node-related operations: creation, updating, renaming, exporting and deletion of nodes.

Basic Operation

Run the tool with no options or -? or -h and it'll display a simple help page:

Import nodes to NMIS9 from NMIS8

To import nodes from NMIS8 to NMIS9 copy /path/to/nmis8/conf/Nodes.nmis to /tmp/ on NMIS9 installation then:

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl act=import_bulk nodes="/tmp/Nodes.nmis"

Caveats: you can not import a node to a server if there is already a node existing with that name, you should rename the node before importing.

Bulk Import and Export

For importing lots of nodes in one go from a CSV file, NMIS has been providing admin/import_nodes.pl for a long time. There is also a sibling admin/export_nodes.pl tool, and both are documented on the Bulk Import page. The main benefit of these tools is utmost simplicity, but at the cost of some flexibility: import_nodes does not make all common node properties controllable or accessible.

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`

Version 8.5.4G brings in a new, more fine-grained and capable tool: admin/node_admin.pl. It's scriptable and pipelineable, and can perform all node-related operations: creation, updating, renaming, exporting and deletion of nodes.

Basic Operation

Run the tool with no options or -? or -h and it'll display a simple help page:

Code Block

./admin/node_admin.pl -h
Usage:

Code Block

./admin/node_admin.pl -h
Usage: node_admin.pl act=[action to take] [extras...]
        node_admin.pl act=list
        node_admin.pl act={create|export|update|delete} node=[action to take] [extras...]
        node_admin.pl act=list
        node_admin.pl act={create|export|update|delete} node=nodeX
        node_admin.pl act=mktemplate [placeholder=1/0]
        node_admin.pl act=rename old=nodeX new=nodeY
mktemplate: prints blank template for node creation, 
 optionally with __REPLACE_XX__ placeholder
create: requires file=NewNodeDef.json
export: exports to file=someFile.json (or STDOUT if no file given)
update: updates existing node from file=someFile.json (or STDIN)
delete: only deletes if confirm=yes (in uppercase) is given
extras: deletedata=<true,false> which makes delete also
delete all RRD files for the node. default is false.
extras: conf=<configname> to use different configuration
extras: debug={1..9,verbose} sets debugging verbosity
extras: info=1 sets general verbosity

...

You can also use file=- to indicate that STDOUT should be used for export or STDIN be used for update/creation. The act=update operation doesn't create new nodes, and it replaces the whole set of node configuration settings with your new configuration input. So, if a property is not set, it will disappear. For change only one property, the operation "set" is more accurate.

Creation of Nodes

The creation of nodes requires you to use a template (shown below) instead of using a command line argument; this is because NMIS requires numerous node properties to be set up correctly making it easy to miss some when operating via command line arguments. Node creation is triggered by the argument act=create, which behaves mostly like act=update, except that it doesn't touch existing nodes. To help you with starting a node configuration document from scratch (or in a scripted fashion), there is another command, act=mktemplate, which prints a blank but documented template which you can save and fill in. If you add placeholder=1 to the command line, then node_admin fills the template with easily matchable replacement placeholders, like so:

...

The node admin tool in NMIS9 brings some enhancements.

The node_admin tool now supports more complete snapshotting of nodes (with act=dump), which optionally includes the node's RRD files, events and other historic records.
When importing a thusly dumped node with act=import it is now possible to have all identifiers localised to the current system (with localise_ids=true ); this causes the imported node to be 'adopted' by and become active on the current NMIS system immediately.
This mechanism allows a node to be moved completely between NMIS systems, without losing any of the node's history.

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Simple node export and import are described above, however, with NMIS9 you can backup a node and perform node migrations using the node_admin.pl tool, the functions to do this are dump and restore.

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Using the node_admin.pl tool you can dump a node including all database records and RRD files into a ZIP file.

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl node=NODENAME act=dump everything=1 file=/tmp/NODENAME-dump.zip

This file would represent a backup of that node at this time. The file can then be used on another server to restore or could be used to restore the node on the same server.

Restoring a Node

To restore a node to the same poller you would not need to localise_ids option, if you wanted to copy/migrate the node to another server you would need to localise the ids so that the poller thinks it the node belongs to it.

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl act=restore file=NODENAME-dump.zip localise_ids=1

...

NMIS9 example of json format for a node

Code Block

# "/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl" act=export node=localhost
{
   "activated" : {
      "NMIS" : 1,
      "opConfig" : 1,
      "opEvents" : 1
   },
   "addresses" : [
      {
         "address" : "127.0.0.1"
      }
   ],
   "aliases" : [],
   "configuration" : {
      "active" : 1,
      "authkey" : "",
      "authpassword" : "",
      "authprotocol" : "md5",
      "businessService" : "",
      "calls" : 0,
      "cbqos" : "none",
      "collect" : 1,
      "community" : "nmisGig8",
      "context" : "",
      "customer" : "Opmantek",
      "depend" : [
         "N/A"
      ],
      "display_name" : "",
      "group" : "NMIS9",
      "host" : "127.0.0.1",
      "host_backup" : "",
      "location" : "Amsterdam",
      "max_msg_size" : 1472,
      "max_repetitions" : 0,
      "model" : "automatic",
      "netType" : "lan",
      "node_context_name" : "",
      "node_context_url" : "",
      "notes" : "",
      "ping" : 1,
      "polling_policy" : "default",
      "port" : 161,
      "privkey" : "",
      "privpassword" : "",
      "privprotocol" : "des",
      "remote_connection_name" : "",
      "remote_connection_url" : "",
      "roleType" : "distribution",
      "serviceStatus" : "Development",
      "services" : [
         "SNMP_Daemon",
         "http_server",
         "port22",
         "port25",
         "port80",
         "opmantek.pl",
         "mongo_daemon",
         "omkd check",
         "opchartsd",
         "opconfigd",
         "opeventsd",
         "nmis cgi",
         "nmis9d",
         "check_disk_write"
      ],
      "threshold" : 1,
      "timezone" : 0,
      "username" : "",
      "version" : "snmpv2c",
      "webserver" : 1,
      "wmipassword" : "",
      "wmiusername" : ""
   },
   "lastupdate" : 1592715346,
   "name" : "localhost",
   "overrides" : {}
}

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Simple node export and import are described above, however, with NMIS9 you can backup a node and perform node migrations using the node_admin.pl tool, the functions to do this are dump and restore.

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Using the node_admin.pl tool you can dump a node including all database records and RRD files into a ZIP file.

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl node=NODENAME act=dump everything=1 file=/tmp/NODENAME-dump.zip

This file would represent a backup of that node at this time. The file can then be used on another server to restore or could be used to restore the node on the same server.

Restoring a Node

To restore a node to the same poller you would not need to localise_ids option, if you wanted to copy/migrate the node to another server you would need to localise the ids so that the poller thinks it the node belongs to it.

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl act=restore file=NODENAME-dump.zip localise_ids=1

Caveats: you can not restore a node to a server if there is already a node existing with that name, you should rename the node before dumping. This would include if the server was acting as a master and receiving the node from a remote poller.

Copy a Node

To make a duplicate node and start polling it, export the node, edit the json and import it, e.g.

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl act=export node=NODENAME file=NODENAME.json

Edit NODENAME.json, change the display_name and name in the file and then import it

Code Block
/usr/local/nmis9/admin/node_admin.pl act=import file=NODENAME.json

The node will be created with the name used in the name field.

NMIS9 Basic Operation

Run the tool with no options or -? or -h and it'll display a simple help page:

Code Block

Usage: node_admin.pl act=[action to take] [extras...]

	node_admin.pl act={list|list_uuid} [node=X] [group=Y]
	node_admin.pl act=show node=nodeX
	node_admin.pl act={create|update} file=someFile.json
	node_admin.pl act=export [format=nodes] [file=path] {node=nodeX|group=groupY} [keep_ids=0/1]
	node_admin.pl act=import file=somefile.json
	node_admin.pl act=import_bulk {nodes=filepath|nodeconf=dirpath}
	node_admin.pl act=delete {node=nodeX|group=groupY}
	node_admin.pl act=dump {node=nodeX|uuid=uuidY} file=path [everything=0/1]
	node_admin.pl act=restore file=path [localise_ids=0/1]

	node_admin.pl act=set node=nodeX entry.X=Y...
	node_admin.pl act=mktemplate [placeholder=1/0]
	node_admin.pl act=rename old=nodeX new=nodeY [entry.A=B...]

mktemplate: prints blank template for node creation,
 optionally with __REPLACE_XX__ placeholder

create: requires file=NewNodeDef.json
update: updates existing node from file=someFile.json

export: exports to file=someFile (or STDOUT if no file given),
 either json or as Nodes.nmis if format=nodes is given
 uuid and cluster_id are NOT exported unless keep_ids is 1.

delete: only deletes if confirm=yes (in uppercase) is given,
 if deletedata=true (default) then RRD files for a node are
 also deleted.

show: prints a node's properties in the same format as set
 with option quoted=true, show adds double-quotes where needed
set: adjust one or more node properties

restore: restores a previously dumped node's data. if 
 localise_ids=true (default: false), then the cluster id is rewritten
 to match the local nmis installation.

extras: debug={1..9,verbose} sets debugging verbosity
extras: info=1 sets general verbosity

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Versions Compared

Old Version 14

New Version 27

Key

Bulk Import and Export

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`

Basic Operation

Import nodes to NMIS9 from NMIS8

Bulk Import and Export

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`

Basic Operation

Creation of Nodes

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Restoring a Node

NMIS9 example of json format for a node

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Restoring a Node

Copy a Node

NMIS9 Basic Operation

Space shortcuts

Page tree

Page History

Versions Compared

Old Version 14

New Version 27

Key

Bulk Import and Export

Node administration with node_admin.pl

Basic Operation

Import nodes to NMIS9 from NMIS8

Bulk Import and Export

Node administration with node_admin.pl

Basic Operation

Creation of Nodes

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Restoring a Node

NMIS9 example of json format for a node

Backup, Migrate or just play with a Node

Dump (or Backup) a Node

Restoring a Node

Copy a Node

NMIS9 Basic Operation

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`

Node administration with `node_admin.pl`