CHECK_NRPE: Socket timeout after 10 seconds, when trying to read Windows Server 2008

Question

When invoking the check_nrpe via terminal, like so:

/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_nrpe -H winserver -c alias_cpu

I get the error below:

CHECK_NRPE: Socket timeout after 10 seconds.

(Also via the Icinga web-interface)

According to the official Windows Monitoring documentations: 2.12. Monitoring Windows Machines when the above errors occurs, the following can be the cause:

• A firewall is blocking on the windows machine, on the Icinga server(Debian), or in between.
• The NSClient++ task is not running
• The port you specified is wrong

I checked the Windows Server 2008 firewall, and it does not block the specified port. And the Icinga server can - when using nrpe - check my Linux machines without a problem.

the NSClient++ is running, I verified that, by restarting the service by using the stop and start parameter.

The port is not wrong, I again verified, that by checking the nsclient.ini. the right port has been specified.

Here is how I set it up:

/etc/icinga/objects/winserver.cfg


define service{
        use                     generic-service         ; Name of service template to use
        host_name               winserver
        service_description     alias_cpu
        check_command           check_nrpe!nscp!alias_cpu
 }

I defined the command(s) from here:

/etc/icinga/commands.cfg


# 'alias_cpu' command definition
define command {
command_name alias_cpu
command_line /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_nrpe -H '$HOSTADDRESS$' -v '$ARG1$' -p 12489 -l '$ARG2$' -w '$ARG3$' -c '$ARG$'
}

If this is of help: In my /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg I specified under server_address the IP address of my winserver, and under allowed_hosts I have specified the IP address of my Icinga server.

Question: How can I monitor my Windows server 2008 using icinga and nrpe?