Zabbix and Debian ?

[Daether]

Hi @all,
I want to monitor some Servers with Zabbix ( Processes, Load, etc. ). I'm using Debian ( Etch ) for the Zabbix-Server.
The only available Package for Debian seems to be 1.1.4 . Is that right ?
Isn't there a newer Package for Debian ?
Do I have to install Zabbix 1.6.1 by myself ?
What would you recommend ?

Best regards
Daether

[troffasky]

The only available Package for Debian seems to be 1.1.4 . Is that right ?

No, the only available package for Etch is 1.1.4. There are newer packages for other Debian distributions, for example:

http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=zabbix-server-mysql

1.1.4, 1.4.6 and 1.6.1. You can either manually download the packages and install them, or you can [better] add Lenny as a source to your /etc/apt/sources.list, do an 'apt-get update', then 'apt-cache show zabbix-server-mysql' will show you two versions of zabbix-server-mysql. Apt-get will default to your current version of debian, so you need to tell it you want the newer version:

 'apt-get install zabbix-server-mysql=1:1.4.6-1'

You might need to play with whatever's after the '=' as I'm not 100% sure about the syntax. You'll need to bear in mind that this is going to pull in several newer packages from Lenny into Etch; compare the differences in dependencies between the Lenny and Etch packages: http://packages.debian.org/etch/zabbix-server-mysql vs http://packages.debian.org/lenny/zabbix-server-mysql. I suggest that when you apt-get install the newer version of Zabbix, you look carefully at the list of packages that it wants to upgrade, and check that isn't going to cause problems for the other applications/services you have installed on that server. On the other hand, you might just be better off doing an 'apt-get dist-upgrade' and moving to Lenny completely.

[Daether]

At first:
A big THX for the fast answer.

The Problem is, that the Server I am planning to use is making Backups at night. So I wouldn't recommend to upgrade von stable etch to unstable lenny.

My next Question is:
Is it recommended to use unstable Zabbix 1.4.6 ( Lenny ) instead of stable Zabbix 1.1.4 ( Etch ) ?
Is there a important reason why I should use 1.4.6 instead of 1.1.4 ?

[Tenzer]

Since you can't use the 1.6.1 version from the package system, I would suggest you to install it from source. There has only been improvements for Zabbix with each version, and it will also make it a lot easier for you to get help with the issue, if you are running a current version of Zabbix (1.6.1) rather than an outdated version.

[Daether]

So the problem is feature/support against stable running. I think I might just go with stable running, which is more important in my situation.

The only thing that I can't configure by myself in Zabbix, is handling incoming SNMP-Traps for Process monitoring.
As I am going to configure SNMP to send SNMP-Traps to the Zabbix-Server, when a process isn't running.
Is there a tutorial/help for installing an SNMP-Trap in Zabbix 1.1.4 ?

Should be my last Question at this Point

[Tenzer]

Try to check the wiki, I'm pretty sure I saw something about it there.

[bbrendon]

Check:
1- My blog
2- Wiki

You'll find all the debian etch+1.6.1 info.

[Daether]

ok, thanks for your help.

I better stick to 1.1.4 on Debian etch, because of the stable running.
I'm gonna use it in our company, so it is more important that it works.

I think, that it is a lot easier to use normal SNMPD instead of SNMP-Trap.
There are just 23 Processes to Monitor, so it wouldn't disturb the network that much .

[bbrendon]

If you use 1.1.4...

1. It sucks and is no more stable than 1.6
2. You won't get much help from the forums because no one will know what you're talking about
3. I don't think the documentation for it is available anymore

In summary, read my blog and backport the package manually. Its very easy and takes about 10 minutes and 5 commands.