[Xymon] Ways to graph stats from BIND

[Bruce Ferrell]

On 03/11/2015 12:23 PM, John Thurston wrote:
> In an effort to get some performance and utilization information from our BIND servers, I've been exploring ways to get that data into rrds and graphed in Xymon.
>
> I am aware of two mechanisms for extracting statistical data from BIND.
>
> A) In the "old" way, BIND appends lines to a statically named text file. This is done by inserting lines like the following into the BIND configuration file:
>> zone-statistics yes;
>> statistics-file "/var/log/named.stats";
> And then asking BIND to add new information to that file by using the "rndc stats" command.
>
> B) The "new" way is to publish statistics in an XML file over HTTP on a specific network port. This is done by inserting lines like the following into the BIND configuration file:
>> statistics-channels {
>>         inet * port 8888 ;
>> };
> And then querying http://localhost:8888/xml/v2 to receive a whole bunch of information in an XML file.
>
> Jeremy Laidman shared his script "xymon-rnamedstats" (thank you for sharing, Jeremy!) http://tools.rebel-it.com.au/xymon-rnamedstats/xymon-rnamedstats.sh which depends on
> Method-A. I've adjusted his script just enough to get it running on Solaris, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to adjust it further to handle the counters and fields I want to
> have graphed. But before I invest more time customizing a solution dependent on Method-A, I'd like to explore Method-B.
>
> Has anyone already explored parsing the BIND-statistics XML file into RRDs? Do you have any comments or suggestions?
>
> How about generically parsing and selecting data from XML files and using it to add information to RRDs? Do you have suggestions of tools or techniques?
>
I see the new way published on the ISC web site.  I find it doesn't work with bind 9.9 on open suse, nor with 9.8 on RHEL/Centos/Scientific Linux... so I grabbed 9.10.2 and built
that per this entry in the ISC kb:

https://kb.isc.org/article/AA-00769/0/Using-BINDs-XML-statistics-channels.html

And still no dice.

named won't even start with the specified configuration stanza

pity... I like the new way