Configuration and Discovery

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The following sections describe how to configure and discover NGINX services for monitoring by SL1 using the NGINX: Open Source and Plus PowerPack:

Prerequisites for Monitoring NGINX Services

To configure the SL1 system to monitor NGINX services using the NGINX: Open Source and Plus PowerPack, note the following for monitoring the NGINX Open Source Software (OSS): 

  • The status module must be included when NGINX is instantiated.

  • The status stub must be configured in the NGINX configuration.

    NOTE: Restart NGINX after editing the configuration.

To learn more about the setup of the status module, see the following NGINX resources:

Creating a SOAP/XML Credential for NGINX

To configure SL1 to monitor NGINX web services, you must create a SOAP/XML credential. This credential allows the Dynamic Applications in the NGINX: Open Source and Plus PowerPack to communicate with your NGINX web server.

To configure a SOAP/XML credential to access NGINX:

  1. Go to the Credential Management page (System > Manage > Credentials).
  2. Locate the NGINX: Open Src and Plus Example credential, and then click its wrench icon (). The Edit SOAP/XML Credential modal page appears.
  3. Enter values in the following fields:
  • Profile Name. Type a new name for the credential.
  • URL. Leave this field as the default.
  • Embed Value [%1]. Used by the REST libraries for SSL certificate validation. Do one of the following:
    • Type "True" to enable SSL certificate validation.
    • Type "False" or leave this field blank to disable SSL certificate verification.
  • Embed Value [%2]. Type a specific API endpoint name to connect to if you want to override the default /nginx_status endpoint for the Nginx: Open Source Status Stats Dynamic Application.
  1. For all other fields, use the default values.
  2. Click the Save As button.

Discovering NGINX Component Devices

To model and monitor your NGINX services, you must run a discovery session to discover your NGINX services. The following diagram illustrates the way the discovery process works for NGINX.

Several minutes after the discovery session has completed, the Dynamic Applications in the NGINX: Open Source and Plus PowerPack should automatically align to the services and then discover, model, and monitor the remaining NGINX component devices.

To discover the NGINX service that you want to monitor, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Discovery Control Panel page (System > Manage > Classic Discovery).
  2. In the Discovery Control Panel, click the Create button.

  1. The Discovery Session Editor page appears. In the Discovery Session Editor page, define values in the following fields:
  • Name. Type a name for the discovery session.
  • IP Address/Hostname Discovery List. Type the IP address or hostname of your NGINX server.

  • Other Credentials. Select the SOAP/XML credentials you created for the NGINX service.
  • Initial Scan Level. Select 5. Deep discovery.
  • Detection Method & Port. Select TCP 80 - http and TCP 443 - https.
  • Discover Non-SNMP. Select this checkbox.
  • Model Devices. Select this checkbox.
  • Log All. Select this checkbox.
  1. Optionally, you can enter values in the other fields on this page.
  2. Click the Save button to save the discovery session and then close the Discovery Session Editor window.
  3. The discovery session you created appears at the top of the Discovery Control Panel page. Click its lightning bolt icon () to run the discovery session.
  4. The Discovery Session window appears. When the device is discovered, click the device icon () to view the Device Properties page for each device.

Verifying Discovery and Dynamic Application Alignment

To verify that SL1 has automatically aligned the correct Dynamic Applications during discovery:

  • After discovery has completed, click the device icon for the NGINX service (). From the Device Properties page for the NGINX service, click the Collections tab. The Dynamic Application Collections page appears.
  • All applicable Dynamic Applications for the service are automatically aligned during discovery.

    It can take several minutes after the discovery session has completed for Dynamic Applications to appear in the Dynamic Application Collections page.


You should see the following Dynamic Applications aligned to the NGINX service:

  • Nginx: Plus Connection Stats
  • Nginx: Plus SSL Stats
  • Nginx: Plus Caches Discovery
  • Nginx: Plus Server Zones Discovery
  • Nginx: Plus Upstream Server Group Discovery

If the listed Dynamic Applications have not been automatically aligned during discovery, or you want to align more Dynamic Applications, you can align them manually. To do so, perform the following steps:

  • Click the Action button, and then select Add Dynamic Application. The Dynamic Application Alignment page appears.
  • In the Dynamic Applications field, select the Dynamic Application you want to align.
  • In the Credentials field, select the credential specified in the table.
  • Click the Save button.
  • Repeat steps 1-4 for any other unaligned Dynamic Applications.

Viewing NGINX Component Devices

In addition to the Device Manager page (Registry > Devices > Device Manager), you can view the NGINX service and all associated component devices in the following places in the user interface:

  • The Device View modal page (click the bar-graph icon [] for a device, then click the Topology tab) displays a map of a particular device and all of the devices with which it has parent-child relationships. Double-click to select any listed device. This reloads the page to make the selected device the primary device:

  • The Device Components page (Registry > Devices > Device Components) displays a list of all root devices and component devices discovered by SL1 in an indented view, so you can easily view the hierarchy and relationships between child devices, parent devices, and root devices. To view the component devices associated with an NGINX web server, find the server and click its plus icon (+):

  • The Component Map page (Classic Maps > Device Maps > Components) allows you to view devices by root node and view the relationships between root nodes, parent components, and child components in a map. This makes it easy to visualize and manage root nodes and their components. SL1 automatically updates the Component Map as new component devices are discovered. The platform also updates each map with the latest status and event information. To view the map for an NGINX service, go to the Component Map page and select the map from the list in the left NavBar. To learn more about the Component Map page, see the section on Views.