Work in progress

munin-node-configure is a script that will help you identify which of the plugins in the plugin library? that may be useful on the system on which munin-node is installed.

# munin-node-configure --help
Usage: /usr/sbin/munin-node-configure [options]

Options:
        --help                  View this help page
        --version               Show version information
        --debug                 View debug information (very verbose)
        --config <file>         Override configuration file
                                [/etc/munin/munin-node.conf]
        --servicedir <dir>      Override plugin dir [/etc/munin/plugins]
        --libdir <dir>          Override plugin lib [/usr/share/munin/plugins]
        --families <family,...> Override families (auto,manual,contrib) [auto]
        --suggest               Show suggestions instead of status
        --shell                 Show shell commands (implies --suggest)
        --remove-also           Also show rm-commands when doing --shell
        --newer <version>       Only show suggestions related to plugins newer
                                than version <version>. [0.0.0]
        --snmp <host|cidr>      Do SNMP probing on the host or CIDR network.
        --snmpversion <ver>     Set SNMP version (1, 2c or 3) [2c]
        --snmpcommunity <comm>  Set SNMP community [public]

Of these are two switches particularly useful:

--suggest

munin-node-configure locates the plugins having "suggest" defined as a magic marker? capability. This script calls every one of these plugins with "suggest" as its only parameter. In case of a wildcard plugin?, suggestions are made on which aspects to monitor, while with regular plugins this script will output either "yes", or "no" with an explanation why the script won't run.

The example below suggests that the if_ plugin is able to monitor ath0 and eth0.

root@pluto:~# munin-node-configure --suggest
Plugin                     | Used | Suggestions
------                     | ---- | -----------
if_                        | no   | yes +ath0 +eth0

Detailed explanation: The output from a wildcard plugin? is what the plugin is able to monitor, one line each. I.e. the if_ plugin will, on a two NIC system, output eth0 on one line and eth1 on the next line:

root@pluto:/usr/share/munin/plugins# ./if_ suggest
ath0
eth0

--shell

munin-node-configure --shell creates symlink commands to link useful plugins from the plugin library to the plugin service directory (usually /etc/munin/plugins).

To continue the if_ example:

root@pluto:/usr/share/munin/plugins# munin-node-configure --shell
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/if_ /etc/munin/plugins/if_ath0
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/if_ /etc/munin/plugins/if_eth0