Automatic Agent Deployment on discovery (Windows / Linux / Solaris)

[r0k5t4r]

Hi,

I have worked out a way how to deploy Zabbix Agent on discovered hosts and wanted to share my idea. Of course this could also be done using Group Policies at least for Windows, but my solution is integrated with Zabbix. Please don't try this on a production network. Setup a small subnet for this and test carefully! You will need an administrator account on the windows machine. If you have a Windows Domain it's probably best to use an account with domain admin privileges. I don't know if you can setup an account under windows that is no administrator but can install software. If yes please let me know.

First my setup:

Zabbix 1.8.3 / MySQL / Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS


Prerequisites:

General on Zabbix Server

Nmap - to detect / guess host operating system
Samba Server - to serve agent installer files to Windows clients


Windows Agent deployment

winexe - to run remote commands from Linux (Zabbix Server) on Windows clients
Administrator account on the machine where the agent will be deployed. This can be a Domain or Local Administrator Account.


1. Login or su to zabbix user on your zabbix server.
Create the following directories under the home of zabbix:

mkdir -p scripts/logs
mkdir agents

Download the attached deploy_agents.tar.gz to the zabbix server /home/zabbix/scripts and extract it.
Download the windows zabbix agent installer to the zabbix server /home/zabbix/agents. (http://www.google.de)
Download the winexe static binary to /home/zabbix/scripts and extract it:
wget http://eol.ovh.org/winexe/winexe-static-081123.bz2
bunzip winexe-static-081123.bz2


2. Add an entry to /etc/sudoers for zabbix in order to run deploy.sh as root
As user root on the zabbix server:

visudo

Now add the following lines:

Cmnd_Alias ZABBIX = /home/zabbix/scripts/deploy.sh, /usr/bin/nmap *

zabbix ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ZABBIX (make sure this is the last line!)

3. Edit deploy_zabbag_windows.sh
The following lines need to edited:

ZABBIXSERVER=yourzabbiserver.domainname
DOMAINUSER=DOMAIN/Administrator
PASSWORD=yourpassword

if your are using a local admin account remove the DOMAIN in front!


4. Setup Samba Server

Install Samba Server via your OS package management system. Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf:

[zabbix]
comment = Zabbix Installer Share
read only = yes
locking = no
path = /home/zabbix/agents
guest ok = yes
browseable = yes
public = yes

Restart the samba server.

Test deploy.sh

Before configuring Zabbix to make use of the deploy.sh script I recommend to test it.

First, check if the sudo command is visible for the zabbix user:

sudo -l

The output should look similar to this:

zabbix@zabbix:~$ sudo -l
Matching Defaults entries for zabbix on this host:
env_reset

User zabbix may run the following commands on this host:
(ALL) NOPASSWD: /home/zabbix/scripts/deploy.sh, /usr/bin/nmap *

Now try to run the deploy command using sudo:

sudo /home/zabbix/scripts/deploy.sh hostname

The script will try to detect the OS running on 'hostname' and if it is Windows it will trigger the deploy_zabbag_windows.sh script to install the Zabbix Agent. The script will check if the credentials provided are sufficient if not it will exit with an error message indicating this. Once the script has finished verify that the zabbix agent has been installed on the target 'hostname'. If that is the case proceed to configure zabbix.


5. Create a discovery rule
Configuration --> Discovery
Name: Deploy testing
Checks: Zabbix agent "system.uname"
IP range: 192.168.0.1-254 (I recommend to test this on a small subnet first!!!)


6. Add a script
Administration --> Scripts
Name: Deploy Agent (or whatever you want)
Command: sudo /home/zabbix/scripts/deploy.sh {HOST.CONN}


7. Create Action Rule

Name=Host discovered, deploy agent (can be any name)
Discovery status = "Down"
Service type = "Zabbix agent"
Host IP = "192.168.0.1-254" (optional, to limit rule on specific subnet(s))

Run remote commands = Zabbix Server: sudo /home/zabbix/scripts/deploy.sh {DISCOVERY.DEVICE.IPADDRESS}
Send message to User "admin" (optional, for notification)

Make sure to use the correct name of your Zabbix Server. It's not the hostname it's the name of the Zabbix server in Zabbix!

I strongly recommend to test this on a small subnet before using in production. I cannot guarantee it will work, but I'm happy to help if it is not. It works fine in our environment and yes it saved me a lot of time. I'm currently extending the script to allow deploying on Linux and Solaris clients.

[qix]

This is a very cool idea. It think could even be extended (via triggers) to automatically upgrade the agents after a Zabbix upgrade

[r0k5t4r]

Yes, this is possible. I already have an item that checks the current version and a trigger severity information showing all the outdated hosts.

[vlam]

Hi

Has anyone looked into this again and also for deploying agents through the Proxies or Node based setup from the master server. I am also looking for something similar that can be used for upgrading the agents.

Any help would be really appreciated

[kollyka83]

Bad talloc magic

Hello

I've managed to amend the script for our prod. env. and it almost works.

One things does not. When I run the script: ./deploy.sh A.B.C.D (example production IP address) it runs and shows:

2017-02-15,13:01 Detected Windows Operating System on 172.16.55.112
Checking if we have sufficient privilegs on 172.16.55.112...
Access granted, deploying Zabbix Agent 3.2.3 for Windows...

I am waiting....and nothing. After I cancel with Ctrl + C

and it shows the below message:

"Bad talloc magic value - unknown value"

I have searched for it and I have found that ones

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1300038

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/291448

https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11394

I have Samba version 3.6.23-36.el6_8

Do I need to update it to veriosn 4?

Or anoy other solution?

Thank you very much
Best regards
Kollyka83

[saiful.islam201428.maix@b]

How to add wiindows host in ZABBIX

GOTO congratulatin/hosts click "Creat Host" at the top right side.

Type your windows host name, , type visible name &your IP address.

[kloczek]

To be honest I'm looking on your approach to zabbix agent installation as kind of wheel reinvention.
Why? Because on Linux and Solaris zabbix agent should be installed using standard standard install technologies like KickStart on Linux or AI (Automated Installer) on Solaris.
In case of Debian and Debian derivs it is possible to embed zabbix package installation and setup in FAI profile.

So in case of using KS all what is necessary is provide in such file:
- repository in which zabbix agent package is available in KS profile preamble
- mark zabbix agent service as enabled on boot stage
- list zabbix-agentd package in list of installed packages
- make base setup of zabbix package.

So some relevant parts of KS profile may look like:

repo          --name=<repo_name>  --baseurl=<URL_to_repo>
services      --enabled zabbix-agentd

# Package Selection
%packages --nobase
.
.
zabbix-agentd

%post --log=/root/install-post.log
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin
.
.
# ------ Setup: zabbix-agent
echo "EnableRemoteCommands=1"                > /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd/EnableRemoteCommands
echo "StartAgents=0"                         > /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd/StartAgents
echo "ServerActive=<zabbix_srv_or_prx_addr>" > /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd/ServerActive

On Solaris all what you need is packaged zabbix agent software in form of IPS package with SMF manifest file describing zabbix agent SMF service.
So in case Solaris installation using AI xml profile all what you in this profile is:
- add IPS repo which provides zabbix agent IPS package in SC manifest
- list zabbix agent package in list of packages to install in SC manifest
- if you have SMF manifest with mapped zabbix setup variables to SMF service variables you can add in SC profile setup changes which should be applied on exact host.

On Windows you can use single command to do agent setup during installation if you will be using msi package.

[mourya7989]

Adding windows host

guys, Just go to the link that I provide now, It's very useful for the Zabbix forum members.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKO-BwMo4Nw

this link will guide you on how to add new templates and How to add windows host to your zabbix forum. I really like this video.