We have a monitoring server running Nagios and we needed to add checks for Nginx process on a new server.  Basically, you only need to install NRPE to monitor services, processes, disk space, load, etc on your remote machine.  Check the NRPE docummention for complete reference and here’s a quick NRPE installation guide for Debian.

For my objective i only need to check if Nginx process is running and will use the check_procs.  NRPE and Nagios Plugins were installed and i can check the Nginx process locally using the following commands:

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/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -c 1:30 -C nginx

wherein: -c 1:30 <– refers to the Critical range for number of Nginx processes. If there process count is below 1 and above 30 this will send me a Critical notice.  If you wan to add a Warning level you can use “-w 1:25” - adjust the number of processes for you needs. -C nginx <– this will check for the command name (nginx)

NOTE: For complete reference on this check and other samples please refer to the NagiosWiki page.

Below are my configurations:

NRPE(remote): /etc/nagios/nrpe_local.cfg

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command[check_nginx]=/usr/local/nagios/libexec/check_procs -c 1:30 -C nginx

Nagios(host):  /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/localhost.cfg

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define service {
use                            generic-service         ; Name of service template to use
host_name                      HOST/IPADDRESS
service_description            CHECK_NGINX
check_period                   24x7
max_check_attempts             3
normal_check_interval          5
retry_check_interval           3
contact_groups                 Admins
notification_interval          480
notification_period            24x7
notification_options           w,u,c,r
check_command                  check_nrpe!check_nginx
notifications_enabled          1
}

Nagios version is 3.0. Nagios monitoring and remote server are running Debian Etch.