Custom Object Variables¶

Introduction¶

Users often request that new variables to be added to host, service, or contact definitions. These include variables for “SNMP” community, MAC address, AIM username, Skype number, etc. The list is endless. Adding many information into the host, service or contact definition makes Alignak less generic and more infrastructure-specific.

Alignak allows the users to define their own custom variables to add extra properties in their host, service, and contact definitions. These additional properties can then be used in notifications, event handlers, and host and service checks.

Custom Variable Basics¶

There are a few important things that you should note about custom variables:

Custom variable names must begin with an underscore (_) to prevent name collision with standard variables

Custom variable names are case-insensitive

Custom variables are inherited from object templates like normal variables

Scripts can reference custom variable values with macros and environment variables

Examples¶

Here’s an example of how custom variables can be defined in different types of object definitions:

define host{
   host_name       linuxserver
   _mac_address    00:06:5B:A6:AD:AA ; <-- Custom MAC_ADDRESS variable
   _rack_number    R32               ; <-- Custom RACK_NUMBER variable
...
}

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

define contact{
   contact_name    john
   _AIM_username   john16        ; <-- Custom AIM_USERNAME variable
   _YahooID        john32        ; <-- Custom YAHOOID variable
   ...
}

Custom Variables As Macros¶

Custom variable values can be referenced in scripts and executables that Alignak runs for checks, notifications, etc. by using macros or environment variables.

In order to prevent name collision among custom variables from different object types, Alignak 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.

Object Type	Variable Name	Variable definition	Macro Name	Environment Variable
Host	MAC_ADDRESS	_MAC_ADDRESS	$_HOSTMAC_ADDRESS$	ALIGNAK__HOSTMAC_ADDRESS
Host	RACK_NUMBER	_RACK_NUMBER	$_HOSTRACK_NUMBER$	ALIGNAK__HOSTRACK_NUMBER
Service	SNMP_COMMUNITY	_SNMP_COMMUNITY	$_SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY$	ALIGNAK__SERVICESNMP_COMMUNITY
Service	TECHCONTACT	_TECHCONTACT	$_SERVICETECHCONTACT$	ALIGNAK__SERVICETECHCONTACT
Contact	AIM_USERNAME	_AIM_USERNAME	$_CONTACTAIM_USERNAME$	ALIGNAK__CONTACTAIM_USERNAME
Contact	YAHOOID	_YAHOOID	$_CONTACTYAHOOID$	ALIGNAK__CONTACTYAHOOID

Note

Alignak is still using an ALIGNAK_ prefix for the environment variables. You can set another prefix (eg. NAGIOS_) to maintain compatibility with former existing plugin or notification scripts. To change the default Alignak prefix, use the environment variables prefix configuration variable.

Custom Variables And Inheritance¶

Custom object variables are inherited just like standard host, service, or contact variables.