[Nagiosplug-devel] Review of using Nag to check MS name resolution in AD environments [XP/2k/2k+3] - MS logon names etc.

[Stanley Hopcroft]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

This may be of interest to those wishing to monitor their Micorosft
AD/Dynamic DNS installation by ensuring that signficant names (such as 
the names of domain controllers corresponding to a domain) are resolved 
as expected.

The one answer (check_dns -h) to this question (asked on this list about 
a month ago) of monitoring these names was unhelpful.

The way to do so is described at 
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/proddocs/standard/sag_dns_tro_dcLocator_verifySRV.asp

(using nslookup to resolve SRV names for the domain name in question).

The problem for Nagios doing this is that as there are no options in 
check_dns (1.3.1 and 1.4alpha0) or check_dig to accept RR types.

Would this be a useful enhancement of check_dns and or check_dig? - I
realise that check_dns is volatile at the moment in view of the
transition from nslookup to the resolver functions but I think it would 
be more useful than a special purpose plugin .. which would only do the 
same thing anyway.

Yours sincerely.

-- 
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Stanley Hopcroft
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'...No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a
manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee...'

from Meditation 17, J Donne.