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+title: Check Aggregation
+parent: Documentation
+---
+
+# Check Aggregation: check\_many
+
+_Thomas Guyot-Sionnest, June 9, 2009_
+
+## Overview
+
+This proposal is for a simple plugin wrapper allowing aggregation and
+serialization of multiple checks.
+
+## Problem
+
+There is no easy way to configure a single Nagios service that aggregates
+multiple results together.  Taking for example a standard `check_nagios`
+between servers, how can such checks be extended to cover additional
+components?  Usually it involves writing a custom shell wrapper around them,
+or configuring all the checks separately and using `check_cluster` to
+aggregate them.  There ought to be a better way …
+
+## Proposal
+
+Written in C, `check_many` would be a fairly simple and fast solution for this
+issue.  The idea is a plugin that takes checks commands from `STDIN`; one
+command per line.  It would run them and aggregate them according to
+processing preferences as configured in the plugin arguments.
+
+## Check Options
+
+The following options can be used to control plugin processing (grouped by
+category):
+
+### Command Parsing
+
+    -s, --shell=<always|never|auto>
+       Specify when a shell should be invoked for executing commands.  "always"
+       invokes the shell for every command, "never" forces commands to be executed
+       directly, and "auto" (default) invokes the shell only if shell meta
+       characters are present in the check command.  Unless -d (--delimiter) is
+       specified, any whitespace is used for separating arguments.
+
+    -d, --delimiter=CHARACTER
+       Delimiter to use for separating command arguments when shell is not used.
+       Implies --shell=never and is mutually exclusive with any other shell option.
+       Standard backslash escapes are allowed, except "\n".
+
+*Note:* Should we allow strings as delimiters?
+
+### Processing Option
+
+    -P, --process=<all|first-fail|first-ok>
+       By default, all commands are processed and the worst state is returned
+       ("all").  "first-fail" stops at the first non-ok check and returns it, while
+       "first-ok" stops at the first successful check and returns it.  The latter
+       two override --status and --output and return the plugins's instead.
+
+    -f, --file=FILE
+       Read checks from FILE instead of STDIN.
+
+### Output Options
+
+    --output=<normal|oneline|status>
+       "normal" outputs Nagios v3+ multi-line result, first line being a summary of
+       the checks performed; "oneline" squeezes everything into a single line; and
+       "status" returns only a status line.  This option has no effect with
+       --process=first-fail|first-ok.
+
+*Note:* How about allowing *n*th result?
+
+## Examples
+
+Aggregate multiple checks together:
+
+    $ echo '/path/check_http -H www.example.com
+            /path/check_http -H www.example.com -p 443' | /path/check_many
+
+Get list of checks from a file:
+
+    $ /path/check_many <~nagios/multiple_checks.txt
+    $ /path/check_many -f /home/nagios/multiple_checks.txt
+
+Using a delimiter:
+
+    $ echo '/path/check_foo:-H:example.com
+            /path/check_bar:-H:example.com:-s:$string with special chars;' \
+      | /path/check_many -d:
+
+<!--% # vim:set filetype=markdown textwidth=78 joinspaces: # %-->
diff --git a/web/input/doc/index.md b/web/input/doc/index.md
index 9d659fe..763f04c 100644
--- a/web/input/doc/index.md
+++ b/web/input/doc/index.md
@@ -30,11 +30,23 @@ These documents cover specific topics that go beyond the basics:
 * **[Nagios Plugin Development Guidelines][guidelines]**  
   Reference documentation for plugin developers.
 
+## Proposals
+
+The following ideas are not yet implemented (and might never be):
+
+* **[New Specification Method for Thresholds][new-threshold]**  
+  A different way of specifying thresholds on the command line.
+
+* **[Check Aggregation: check\_many][check-many]**  
+  A plugin wrapper allowing aggregation and serialization of multiple checks.
+
 [man]: doc/man/index.html "Manual Pages"
 [faq]: doc/faq/index.html "Frequently Asked Questions"
 [opts]: doc/extra-opts.html
 [video]: doc/presentation.html "Nagios::Plugin Presentation"
 [module]: http://search.cpan.org/dist/Nagios-Plugin/ "Nagios::Plugin"
 [guidelines]: doc/guidelines.html
+[new-threshold]: doc/new-threshold-syntax.html
+[check-many]: doc/check-many.html
 
 <!--% # vim:set filetype=markdown textwidth=78 joinspaces: # %-->