PROTOCOLS.CFG

Section: File Formats (5)
Updated: Version 5.0.3-5.el10.tera.terabithia: 4 Sep 2019
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NAME

protocols.cfg - Configuration of TCP network services

SYNOPSIS

$XYMONHOME/etc/protocols.cfg

DESCRIPTION

protocols.cfg contains definitions of how xymonnet(1) should test a TCP-based network service (i.e. all common network services except HTTP and DNS). For each service, a simple dialogue can be defined to check that the service is functioning normally, and optional flags determine if the service has e.g. a banner or requires SSL- or telnet-style handshaking to be tested.

FILE FORMAT

protocols.cfg is a text file. A simple service definition for the SMTP service would be this:

   [smtp]

      send "mail\r\nquit\r\n"

      expect "220"

      options banner

This defines a service called "smtp". When the connection is first established, xymonnet will send the string "mail\r\nquit\r\n" to the service. It will then expect a response beginning with "220". Any data returned by the service (a so-called "banner") will be recorded and included in the status message.

For services that require ALPN protocol negotiation (such as IMAPS multiplexed by Nginx on the same port as HTTPS), you can define:

   [imaps443]

      options ssl,alpn=imap

      port 443

The full set of commands available for the protocols.cfg file are:

[NAME]

Define the name of the TCP service, which will also be the column-name in the resulting display on the test status. If multiple tests share a common definition (e.g. ssh, ssh1 and ssh2 are tested identically), you may list these in a single "[ssh|ssh1|ssh2]" definition, separating each service-name with a pipe-sign.

send STRING

expect STRING

Defines the strings to send to the service after a connection is established, and the response that is expected. Either of these may be omitted, in which case xymonnet(1) will simply not send any data, or match a response against anything.

The send- and expect-strings use standard escaping for non-printable characters. "\r" represents a carriage-return (ASCII 13), "\n" represents a line-feed (ASCII 10), "\t" represents a TAB (ASCII 8). Binary data is input as "\xNN" with NN being the hexadecimal value of the byte.

port NUMBER

Define the default TCP port-number for this service. If no portnumber is defined, xymonnet(1) will attempt to lookup the portnumber in the standard /etc/services file.

options option1[,option2][,option3]

Defines test options. The possible options are

   banner - include received data in the status message

   ssl - service uses SSL so perform an SSL handshake

   telnet - service is telnet, so exchange telnet options

   alpn=protocol1,protocol2 - specify ALPN protocols to negotiate during SSL handshake

FILES