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<div class="section" title="Custom Object Variables">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="customobjectvars"></a><a name="custom_object_vars"></a>Custom Object Variables</h2></div></div></div>
  

  <p><span class="bold"><strong>Introduction</strong></span></p>

  <p>Users often request that new variables be added to host, service, and contact definitions. These include variables for
  SNMP community, MAC address, AIM username, Skype number, and street address. The list is endless. The problem that I see with
  doing this is that it makes Icinga less generic and more infrastructure-specific. Icinga was intended to be
  flexible, which meant things needed to be designed in a generic manner. Host definitions in Icinga, for example, have a
  generic "address" variable that can contain anything from an IP address to human-readable driving directions - whatever is
  appropriate for the user's setup.</p>

  <p>Still, there needs to be a method for admins to store information about their infrastructure components in their
  Icinga configuration without imposing a set of specific variables on others. Icinga attempts to solve this problem
  by allowing users to define custom variables in their object definitions. Custom variables allow users to define additional
  properties in their host, service, and contact definitions, and use their values in notifications, event handlers, and host and
  service checks.</p>

  <p><span class="bold"><strong>Custom Variable Basics</strong></span></p>

  <p>There are a few important things that you should note about custom variables:</p>

  <div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc">
<li class="listitem">
      <p>Custom variable names must begin with an underscore (_) to prevent name collision with standard variables</p>
    </li>
<li class="listitem">
      <p>Custom variable names are converted to all uppercase before use</p>
    </li>
<li class="listitem">
      <p>Custom variables are <a class="link" href="objectinheritance.html" title="Object Inheritance">inherited</a> from object templates like normal
      variables</p>
    </li>
<li class="listitem">
      <p>Scripts can reference custom variable values with <a class="link" href="macros.html" title="Understanding Macros and How They Work">macros and environment
      variables</a></p>
    </li>
</ul></div>

  <p><span class="bold"><strong>Examples</strong></span></p>

  <p>Here's an example of how custom variables can be defined in different types of object definitions:</p>

  <pre class="screen">
define host{
        host_name       linuxserver
        _mac_address    00:06:5B:A6:AD:AA       ; &lt;-- Custom MAC_ADDRESS variable
        _rack_number    R32                     ; &lt;-- Custom RACK_NUMBER variable
        ...
        }

define service{
        host_name       linuxserver
        description     Memory Usage
        _SNMP_community public                  ; &lt;-- Custom SNMP_COMMUNITY variable
        _TechContact    Jane Doe                ; &lt;-- Custom TECHCONTACT variable
        ....
        }

define contact{
        contact_name    john
        _AIM_username   john16                  ; &lt;-- Custom AIM_USERNAME variable
        _YahooID        john32                  ; &lt;-- Custom YAHOOID variable
        ...
        }
</pre>

  <p><span class="bold"><strong>Custom Variables As Macros</strong></span></p>

  <p>Custom variable values can be referenced in scripts and executables that Icinga runs for checks, notifications,
  etc. by using <a class="link" href="macros.html" title="Understanding Macros and How They Work">macros</a> or environment variables.</p>

  <p>In order to prevent name collision among custom variables from different object types, Icinga prepends "_HOST",
  "_SERVICE", or "_CONTACT" to the beginning of custom host, service, or contact variables, respectively, in macro and environment
  variable names. The table below shows the corresponding macro and environment variable names for the custom variables that were
  defined in the example above.</p>

  <div class="informaltable">
    <table border="1">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><p> <span class="bold"><strong>Object Type</strong></span> </p></td>
<td><p> <span class="bold"><strong>Variable Name</strong></span> </p></td>
<td><p> <span class="bold"><strong>Macro Name</strong></span> </p></td>
<td><p> <span class="bold"><strong>Environment Variable</strong></span> </p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Host</p></td>
<td><p>MAC_ADDRESS</p></td>
<td><p>$_HOSTMAC_ADDRESS$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__HOSTMAC_ADDRESS</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Host</p></td>
<td><p>RACK_NUMBER</p></td>
<td><p>$_HOSTRACK_NUMBER$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__HOSTRACK_NUMBER</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Service</p></td>
<td><p>SNMP_COMMUNITY</p></td>
<td><p>$_SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Service</p></td>
<td><p>TECHCONTACT</p></td>
<td><p>$_SERVICETECHCONTACT$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__SERVICETECHCONTACT</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Contact</p></td>
<td><p>AIM_USERNAME</p></td>
<td><p>$_CONTACTAIM_USERNAME$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__CONTACTAIM_USERNAME</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Contact</p></td>
<td><p>YAHOOID</p></td>
<td><p>$_CONTACTYAHOOID$</p></td>
<td><p>NAGIOS__CONTACTYAHOOID</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
  </div>

  <p><span class="bold"><strong>Custom Variables And Inheritance</strong></span></p>

  <p>Custom object variables are <a class="link" href="objectinheritance.html" title="Object Inheritance">inherited</a> just like standard host, service, or
  contact variables.</p>
  <a class="indexterm" name="id1958299"></a>
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