omdnotificationforwarder 4.2

A framework for notification scripts for OMD

notificationforwarder

In this framework, two aspects are in the focus. How to transport a notification to the recipient system and in which format. In the beginning, Naemon or one of the other monitoring cores will execute a command line. The actual script and the individual command line parameters are defined in a command definition. Typical parameters are (i use the notation of Nagios macros) HOSTNAME, SERVICEDESC, SERVICESTATE, SERVICEOUTPUT. These snippets need to be put together to some kind of payload suitable for the receiving system. And then this payload must be transported to it. We call the two components formatter and forwarder. The formatter takes the raw input data and creates a payload and the forwarder transmits the payload to the destination. What the framework does for you behind the scenes: When forwarding to a recipient fails, the event is saved in a local sqlite database for a certain time and re-sent when the script is called next time and the recipient is available again. Logging of successful and of course failed deliveries is also done automatically.
There is also a component reporter which will rarely be used. It's purpose is to run additional code after a successful or failed delivery.

Let me list some of the formatter/forwarder combinations which are usually found in enterprise environments:

formatter	forwarder
plain text	smtp
html	smtp
json	ServiceNow api
json	Remedy api
json	SMS gateway api
line of text	Syslog
json	Splunk HEC
json	RabbitMQ

|markdown-like Nostr note|Nostr relays |

Of course json is not json, the attributes and values are different depending on the recipient.

For every notification recipient you need such a pair, practically it means, you have to write two python files. Imagine you have a command definition like this:

define command{
    command_name    notify-service-victorops
    command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                        --forwarder myspecialreceiver \
                        --forwarderopt company_id='$_CONTACTCOMPANY_ID$' \
                        --forwarderopt company_key='$_CONTACTCOMPANY_KEY$' \
                        --forwarderopt routing_key='$_CONTACTROUTING_KEY$' \
...
                        --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
                        --eventopt HOSTSTATE='$HOSTSTATE$' \
                        --eventopt HOSTADDRESS='$HOSTADDRESS$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICEDESC='$SERVICEDESC$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICEOUTPUT='$SERVICEOUTPUT$' \
                        --eventopt LONGSERVICEOUTPUT='$LONGSERVICEOUTPUT$' \
                    >> $USER4$/var/log/notificationforwarder_errors.log 2>&1
}

Your service notifications should be sent to some ticket tool. The notification script will talk to a REST api and upload a a well-formatted Json payload. Therefore the notifcation framework has two jobs. First, take the event attributes (all the --eventopt arguments) and transform them to a Json structure. Then, upload it with a POST request.

In your OMD site you create a folder ~/local/lib/python/notificationforwarder/myspecialreceiver and add two files, formatter.py and forwarder.py. A skeleton for the formatter.py looks like this:

from notificationforwarder.baseclass import NotificationFormatter

class MyspecialreceiverFormatter(NotificationFormatter):

    def format_event(self, event):
        json_payload = {}
        # fill the payload with whatever is required
        json_payload['hostname'] = event.eventopts['HOSTNAME']
        json_payload['remark'] = "here is a ticket for you, haha"
       
        event.payload = json_payload
        event.summary = "this is a one-line summary which will be used to write a log"
        if event.eventopts['NOTIFICATIONTYPE'] == "DOWNTIMEEND":
            event.discard()
        elif event.eventopts['NOTIFICATIONTYPE'] == "DOWNTIMECANCELLED":
            event.discard(silently=False)

The class name is, by default, derived from the argument provided to the --forwarder parameter with the first letter capitalized, followed by "Formatter". Alternatively, the parameter --formatter can be used. The formatter class must have a method format_event. This method is called with an event object, which has an attribute event.eventopts. This is a dictionary consisting of keys and values extracted from the --eventopt parameters of the \$USER1\$/notificationforwarder command. The method should then set the attributes payload and summary of the event object.
The formatter also has the ability to decide not forwarded an event at all. If if chooses to halt the processing of an event, it can invoke the method discard(). The event will then simply be dropped without any trace. Invoking discard with the parameter silently=False will log a discard message in the log file. If event.summary has not yet been created, a dump of the raw event will be written.

A skeleton for the forwarder.py looks like this:

import requests
from notificationforwarder.baseclass import NotificationForwarder, NotificationFormatter, timeout

class MyspecialreceiverForwarder(NotificationForwarder):
    def __init__(self, opts):
        super(self.__class__, self).__init__(opts)
        self.url = "https://alert.someapi.com/v1/tickets/"+self.company_id+"/alert/"+self.company_key+"/"+self.routing_key

    @timeout(30)
    def submit(self, event):
        try:
            logger.info("submit "+event.summary)
            response = requests.post(self.url, json=event.payload)
            if response.status_code != 200:
                logger.critical("POST returned "+str(response.status_code)+" "+response.text)
                return False
            else:
                logger.debug("POST returned "+str(response.status_code)+" "+response.text)
                return True
        except Exception as e:
            logger.critical("POST had an exception: {}".format(str(e)))
            return False

    def probe(self):
        r = requests.head(self.url)
        return r.status_code == 200

Again, the class name has to be the argument of the --forwarder parameter with the first letter in upper case, but this time with "Forwarder" appended. This class must have a method submit(), which gets the event object which was supplied with payload and summary in the formatting step. If submit() returns a False value, the framework will spool the event in a database. The next time Naemon is executing the notificationforwarder script for this receiver, it will try to submit the events which have been spooled so far. If the Forwarder class has an optional method probe(), it will first check if the receiver is now up again before it flushes the spooled events with the submit() method.

There are two special forwarderopt parameters.

• --forwarderopt logfile_backups=n
  Besides the default logfile var/log/notificationforwarder_... there will be n rotated archive files. (Rotation takes place after the logfile reaches 20MB, default is 3 archives)
• --forwarderopt max_spool_minutes=n
  When submitting an event fails, it will be spooled for n minutes. Within this time re-submitting will be attempted on every call to notificationforwarder. (Default is 5)

Forwarders/Formatters which come with the module

WebhookForwarder

This is a generic class, which is used to upload random json payloads (that's why there is no WebhookFormatter as there are so many possibilities) with a POST request to an Api. The parameters it takes are url, username and password for basic auth, headers to add to the post request. The latter can be used for token based authentication.

parameter	description	default
url	the url of the api	-
username	a username for basic auth	-
password	a basic auth passwod	-
headers	a string in json format	-

First the fowarder will make a plain, unauthorized post request.

    command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                        --forwarder webhook \
                        --forwarderopt url=https://cm.consol.de/api/v2/crticket \
                        --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \

Second, the same but with basic auth.

    command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                        --forwarder webhook \
                        --forwarderopt url=https://cm.consol.de/api/v2/crticket \
                        --forwarderopt username=lausser \
                        --forwarderopt username=consol123 \
                        --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \

And this one shows how to set additional headers.

    command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                        --forwarder webhook \
                        --forwarderopt url=https://cm.consol.de/api/v2/crticket \
                        --forwarderopt headers='{"Authentication": "Bearer 0x00hex0der8ase64schlonz", "Max-Livetime": "10"}' \
                        --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \

What's missing here is --formatter myownpayload, where you call a formatter specifically written for the payload format your api wants.

Demo setup

Let's configure sending notification to a public REST Api, where you can watch the incoming event live. First, open https://webhook.site in your browser and copy the random url you are presented. You need it in the argument url= in the following commands. If you don't care if anybody can see your events, then just use the one from the command definitions.

define command {
  command_name    notify-service-webhooksite
  command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                     --forwarder webhook \
                     --forwarderopt url=https://webhook.site/3864baed-d861-4e33-a5d6-3d9104d696d2 \
                     --formatter vong \
                     --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
                     --eventopt HOSTSTATE='$HOSTSTATE$' \
                     --eventopt HOSTADDRESS='$HOSTADDRESS$' \
                     --eventopt SERVICEDESC='$SERVICEDESC$' \
                     --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$' \
                     --eventopt SERVICEOUTPUT='$SERVICEOUTPUT$' \
                     --eventopt LONGSERVICEOUTPUT='$LONGSERVICEOUTPUT$' \
                     >> $USER4$/var/log/notificationforwarder_errors.log 2>&1
}

define command {
  command_name    notify-host-webhooksite
  command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                     --forwarder webhook \
                     --forwarderopt url=https://webhook.site/3864baed-d861-4e33-a5d6-3d9104d696d2 \
                     --formatter vong \
                     --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
                     --eventopt HOSTSTATE='$HOSTSTATE$' \
                     --eventopt HOSTADDRESS='$HOSTADDRESS$' \
                     --eventopt HOSTOUTPUT='$HOSTOUTPUT$' \
                     >> $USER4$/var/log/notificationforwarder_errors.log 2>&1
}

The forwarder webhook is already builtin, we only need to write the formatter in ~/local/lib/python/notificationforwarder/vong/formatter.py

from notificationforwarder.baseclass import NotificationFormatter

class VongFormatter(NotificationFormatter):

    def format_event(self, event):
        json_payload = {
            'greeting': 'Halo i bims 1 eveng vong Naemon her',
            'host_name': event.eventopts["HOSTNAME"],
        }
        if "SERVICEDESC" in event.eventopts:
            json_payload['service_description'] = event.eventopts['SERVICEDESC']
            if event.eventopts["SERVICESTATE"] == "WARNING":
                json_payload['output'] = "dem {} vong {} is schlecht".format(event.eventopts['SERVICEDESC'], event.eventopts['HOSTNAME'])
            elif event.eventopts["SERVICESTATE"] == "CRITICAL":
                json_payload['output'] = "dem {} vong {} is vol kaputt".format(event.eventopts['SERVICEDESC'], event.eventopts['HOSTNAME'])
            else:
                json_payload['output'] = "i bim mit dem Serviz {} vong {} voll zufriedn".format(event.eventopts['SERVICEDESC'], event.eventopts['HOSTNAME'])
        else:
            json_payload['output'] = event.eventopts["HOSTOUTPUT"]
            if event.eventopts["HOSTSTATE"] == "DOWN":
                json_payload['output'] = "dem {} is vol kaputt".format(event.eventopts["HOSTNAME"])
            else:
                json_payload['output'] = "dem {} is 1 host mid Niceigkeit".format(event.eventopts["HOSTNAME"])

        event.payload = json_payload
        event.summary = "i hab dem post gepost"

After you added the two notification commands to your default contact (or created a new contact which is assigned to all hosts and services), you can watch the notifications appear on https://webhook.site. Also check the logfile var/log/notificationforwarder_webhook.log

SyslogForwarder

The SyslogForwarder class takes a simple event, where the payload is one line of text. It sends this text to a syslog server. The possible value for --forwarderopts are:

parameter	description	default
server	the syslog server name or ip address	localhost
port	the port where the server listens	514
protocol	the transport protocol	udp
facility	the syslog facility	local0
priority	the syslog priority	info

There is also a SyslogFormatter, which creates the log line as:
host: <HOSTNAME>, service: <SERVICEDESC>, state: <SERVICESTATE>, output: <SERVICEOUTPUT>

If you want a different format, then copy lib/python/notificationforwarder/syslog/formatter.py to local/lib/python/notificationforwarder/syslog/formatter.py and modify it like you want. Or, with --formatter, you can use whatever formatter is suitable, as long as it's payload attribute consists of a line of text.

Nostr

The Nostr plugin pair publishes an encrypted direct message with labeled lines and default monitoring tags so the alert appears in chat-oriented clients.

Install the optional Nostr support with pip install notificationforwarder[nostr].

parameter	description	default
relays	comma-separated relay URLs	wss://relay.damus.io
nsec	bech32 private key for signing	required
tags	extra Nostr tags to include	monitoring plus host/service/state tags

Example:

$USER1$/notificationforwarder \
    --forwarder nostr \
    --forwarderopt relays='wss://relay.damus.io,wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net' \
    --forwarderopt nsec='$NSEC$' \
    --formatter nostr \
    --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
    --eventopt SERVICEDESC='$SERVICEDESC$' \
    --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$' \
    --eventopt SERVICEOUTPUT='$SERVICEOUTPUT$'

The recipient p tag can be provided through the tags forwarder option or custom formatter output. The message content is encrypted before relay publication, so it shows up as a DM in clients that support NIP-04 direct messages.

Loggers

The framework uses a modular logging architecture similar to formatters, forwarders, and reporters. By default, notificationforwarder uses text format logging - you don't need to do anything, logging works exactly as it did before. The traditional text format is backward compatible with all existing installations.

Why JSON Logging?

In enterprise environments, the gateway from monitoring systems to incident management platforms like Remedy, ServiceNow, or other ITSM tools is crucial for operational reliability. For comprehensive monitoring and troubleshooting of this critical path, logs need to be ingested into log aggregation systems like Splunk for analysis, alerting, and correlation.

The JSON logger provides structured logging optimized for ingestion into Splunk and other log management systems. It outputs single-line JSON with:

• Splunk-friendly underscore field naming (e.g., event_host_name, event_service_name)
• Complete event details including state, output, and summary
• Operational metrics (queue length, spool counts, retry attempts)
• Structured exception traces
• Timezone-aware timestamps

Usage

Default (text logging):

$USER1$/notificationforwarder \
    --forwarder webhook \
    --forwarderopt url=https://api.example.com/tickets \
    --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
    --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$'

JSON logging for Splunk ingestion:

$USER1$/notificationforwarder \
    --forwarder webhook \
    --forwarderopt url=https://api.example.com/tickets \
    --logger json \
    --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
    --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$'

Custom logger:

$USER1$/notificationforwarder \
    --forwarder webhook \
    --logger mycustomlogger \
    --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$'

Example Log Output

Text format (default):

2025-11-13 17:00:57,987 3468977 - INFO - forwarded dbserver02.example.com/MySQL: WARNING - Slow queries

JSON format:

{
  "timestamp": "2025-11-13T17:00:57.987487+01:00",
  "host_name": "oasch.example.com",
  "version": "2.9",
  "level": "INFO",
  "logger": "notificationforwarder_webhook",
  "omd_site": "demo_site",
  "event_host_name": "dbserver02.example.com",
  "event_service_name": "MySQL",
  "event_state": "WARNING",
  "event_notification_type": "PROBLEM",
  "event_service_output": "MySQL WARNING - Slow queries detected",
  "event_summary": "dbserver02.example.com/MySQL: WARNING - Slow queries",
  "msg": {
    "message": "forwarded",
    "status": "success"
  }
}

Custom Loggers

You can create custom loggers by:

1. Creating ~/local/lib/python/notificationforwarder/mylogger/logger.py
2. Inheriting from NotificationLogger base class
3. Implementing the log(level, message, context) method

from notificationforwarder.baseclass import NotificationLogger

class MyloggerLogger(NotificationLogger):
    def log(self, level, message, context=None):
        # Custom logging implementation
        pass

Runtime Architecture

The runtime keeps the historical CLI and plugin model, but the core flow is now split into clearer responsibilities instead of concentrating everything in one large class.

• baseclass.new(...): compatibility entrypoint that creates a configured forwarder instance.
• runtime_config.py: normalizes runtime options, default values, log naming, and spool-related paths.
• component_loader.py: resolves and loads forwarders, formatters, reporters, and loggers using the established naming rules.
• runtime_flow.py: enriches raw events and applies the common forwarding/reporting result flow.
• spool.py: owns sqlite spool persistence, replay batches, and flush-lock retry behavior.

Forwarding Flow

The runtime flow is:

1. Normalize runtime configuration and initialize logging.
2. Load the forwarder implementation.
3. Enrich the raw event with OMD/site metadata.
4. Load the formatter and build a FormattedEvent.
5. Attempt delivery.
6. If delivery fails, spool the raw event for retry unless it is a heartbeat.
7. If a reporter is configured, attach forwarding context and call the reporter.

Extension Contracts

Custom extensions still follow the existing filesystem and naming conventions:

• Forwarder: notificationforwarder/<name>/forwarder.py with class <Name>Forwarder
• Formatter: notificationforwarder/<name>/formatter.py with class <Name>Formatter
• Reporter: notificationforwarder/<name>/reporter.py with class <Name>Reporter
• Logger: notificationforwarder/<name>/logger.py with class <Name>Logger

If you pass a dotted class path instead of a simple name, the runtime uses it as an explicit module/class reference. Otherwise it derives the class name by capitalizing the plugin name and appending the expected suffix.

Runtime Guarantees

• Text logging remains the default and fallback logger.
• Unknown logger implementations fall back to the text logger and emit a warning.
• Failed deliveries are spooled in sqlite when possible.
• Spooled events are retried on later executions before the new event is sent, as long as they have not expired.
• Expired spool entries are dropped during flush and logged as outdated events.
• Concurrent flush attempts for the same forwarder are suppressed with a lock file.

Contributor Verification

When changing runtime code, run the relevant tests at minimum:

pytest tests/test_runtime_foundation.py tests/test_delivery_resilience.py tests/test_classes.py

For broader confidence, run the full suite:

pytest

Reporters

Like forwarder and formatter, a reporter is an instance of a NotificationReporter class defined in a file named reporter.py. There is one class coming with notificationforwarder, the NaemonlogReporter. It's purpose it to write a message to the Naemon logfile. When notificationforwarder is run as a standalone script (and not triggered as a notificationhandler by Naemon), the NaemonlogReporter can nevertheless leave a line in the Naemon log. Or you can write an extra log showing success or failure of the notification delivery.

define command{
    command_name    notify-service-servicenow
    command_line    $USER1$/notificationforwarder \
                        --forwarder webhook \
                        --forwarderopt username='$_CONTACTUSERNAME$' \
                        --forwarderopt password='$_CONTACTPASSWORD$' \
                        --forwarderopt url='$_CONTACTURL$' \
...
                        --eventopt HOSTNAME='$HOSTNAME$' \
                        --eventopt HOSTSTATE='$HOSTSTATE$' \
                        --eventopt HOSTADDRESS='$HOSTADDRESS$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICEDESC='$SERVICEDESC$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICESTATE='$SERVICESTATE$' \
                        --eventopt SERVICEOUTPUT='$SERVICEOUTPUT$' \
                        --eventopt LONGSERVICEOUTPUT='$LONGSERVICEOUTPUT$' \
....
                        --reporter naemonlog \
                    >> $USER4$/var/log/notificationforwarder_errors.log 2>&1
}