best option for monitoring over the web

[kingxerxes]

Hey there,
i am testing Zabbix with a view to deploying it as our new monitoring platform.

the situation is essentialls a head office which will have 8-9 servers monitored, then about 35 remote sites, each with 2-3 servers that need monitoring.

the servers are a mix of windows and linux.

is it possible to just install the agents on the remote servers and point them back to the head office?

do i need to use a proxy at each remote site?

thanks a lot!

[nabberuk]

You could use normal agents but you would need to open the relevent ports. If your unable to do this you could use the agents in active check mode. It sends data via Json to the main server. You would only need a port open on the main zabbix server.

[kingxerxes]

thanks for the reply.

i will give this ago shortly. what options are there for implementing security? can i set it to go over SSL somehow?

[kingxerxes]

ok, just about to give this ago.

i have forwarded 10051 to the server at the server end.

i have forwarded 10050 to the agent at the client end.

will see if it works...

[kingxerxes]

no joy at my first go.

the service installed and is running. the install log says:

 8448:20110717:193025.382 Starting Zabbix Agent. Zabbix 1.8.5 (revision 19047).
  4616:20110717:193025.413 agent #0 started [collector]
  8284:20110717:193025.414 agent #1 started[listener]
  7888:20110717:193025.419 agent #3 started[listener]
  5996:20110717:193025.426 agent #4 started [active checks]
  2308:20110717:193025.430 agent #2 started[listener]
  5996:20110717:193025.583 No active checks on server: host [nahon-2k8-dc] not found

the config file is used reads:

# This is a config file for Zabbix Agent (Windows)
# To get more information about Zabbix, go to http://www.zabbix.com

############ GENERAL PARAMETERS #################

### Option: DebugLevel
# Specifies debug level
# 0 - no debug
# 1 - critical information
# 2 - error information
# 3 - warnings
# 4 - for debugging (produces lots of information)
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 0-4
# Default:
# DebugLevel=3

### Option: LogFile
# Name of log file.
# If not set, Windows Event Log is used.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
# LogFile=

LogFile=c:\zabbix_agentd.log

### Option: LogFileSize
# Maximum size of log file in MB.
# 0 - disable automatic log rotation.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 0-1024
# Default:
# LogFileSize=1

### Option: SourceIP
# Source IP address for outgoing connections.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
# SourceIP=

### Option: EnableRemoteCommands
# Whether remote commands from Zabbix server are allowed.
# 0 - not allowed
# 1 - allowed
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
EnableRemoteCommands=1

### Option: LogRemoteCommands
# Enable logging of executed shell commands as warnings.
# 0 - disabled
# 1 - enabled
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
# LogRemoteCommands=0

##### Passive checks related

### Option: Server
# List of comma delimited IP addresses (or hostnames) of Zabbix servers.
# No spaces allowed. First entry is used for receiving list of and sending active checks.
# If IPv6 support is enabled then '127.0.0.1', '::127.0.0.1', '::ffff:127.0.0.1' are treated equally.
#
# Mandatory: yes
# Default:
# Server=

Server=78.105.8.96

### Option: Hostname
# Unique, case sensitive hostname.
# Required for active checks and must match hostname as configured on the server.
# System hostname is used if undefined.
#
# Default:
# Hostname=system.hostname

Hostname=nahon-2k8-dc

### Option: ListenPort
# Agent will listen on this port for connections from the server.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 1024-32767
# Default:
Listen=10050

### Option: ListenIP
# Agent will listen on the specified interface.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
# ListenIP=0.0.0.0

### Option: DisablePassive
# Disable passive checks. The agent will not listen on any TCP port.
# Only active checks will be processed.
# 0 - do not disable
# 1 - disable
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
DisablePassive=0

##### Active checks related

### Option: DisableActive
# Disable active checks. The agent will work in passive mode listening for server.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
DisableActive=0

### Option: ServerPort
# Server port for retrieving list of and sending active checks.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
ServerPort=10051

### Option: RefreshActiveChecks
# How often list of active checks is refreshed, in seconds.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 60-3600
# Default:
RefreshActiveChecks=120

### Option: BufferSend
# Do not keep data longer than N seconds in buffer.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 1-3600
# Default:
BufferSend=10

### Option: BufferSize
# Maximum number of values in a memory buffer. The agent will send
# all collected data to Zabbix server or Proxy if the buffer is full.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 2-65535
# Default:
# BufferSize=100

### Option: MaxLinesPerSecond
# Maximum number of new lines the agent will send per second to Zabbix Server
# or Proxy processing 'log', 'logrt' and 'eventlog' active checks.
# The provided value will be overridden by the parameter 'maxlines',
# provided in 'log', 'logrt' or 'eventlog' item keys.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 1-1000
# Default:
# MaxLinesPerSecond=100

############ ADVANCED PARAMETERS #################

### Option: Alias
# Sets an alias for parameter. It can be useful to substitute long and complex parameter name with a smaller and simpler one.
# For example, if you wish to retrieve paging file usage in percents from the server,
# you may use parameter "perf_counter[\Paging File(_Total)\% Usage]", or you may define an alias by adding the following line to configuration file
# Alias = pg_usageerf_counter[\Paging File(_Total)\% Usage]
# After that you can use parameter name "pg_usage" to retrieve the same information.
# You can specify as many "Alias" records as you wish.
# Aliases cannot be used for parameters defined in "PerfCounter" configuration file records.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range:
# Default:

### Option: StartAgents
# Number of pre-forked instances of zabbix_agentd that process passive checks.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 1-100
# Default:
# StartAgents=3

### Option: Timeout
# Spend no more than Timeout seconds on processing
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 1-30
# Default:
# Timeout=3

### Option: PerfCounter
# Syntax: <parameter_name>,"<perf_counter_path>",<period>
# Defines new parameter <parameter_name> which is an average value for system performance counter <perf_counter_path> for the specified time period <period> (in seconds).
# For example, if you wish to receive average number of processor interrupts per second for last minute, you can define new parameter "interrupts" as following:
# PerfCounter = interrupts,"\Processor(0)\Interrupts/sec",60
# Please note double quotes around performance counter path.
# Samples for calculating average value will be taken every second.
# You may run "typeperf -qx" to get list of all performance counters available in Windows.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range:
# Default:

### Option: Include
# You may include individual files or all files in a directory in the configuration file.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
# Include=

# Include=c:\zabbix\zabbix_agentd.userparams.conf
# Include=c:\zabbix\zabbix_agentd\

####### USER-DEFINED MONITORED PARAMETERS #######

### Option: UnsafeUserParameters
# Allow all characters to be passed in arguments to user-defined parameters.
# 0 - do not allow
# 1 - allow
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 0-1
# Default:
# UnsafeUserParameters=0

### Option: UserParameter
# User-defined parameter to monitor. There can be several user-defined parameters.
# Format: UserParameter=<key>,<shell command>
# Note that shell command must not return empty string or EOL only.
# Example: UserParameter=system.test,echo 1
#UserParameter=system.test,echo 1

[walterheck]

I would advise you to go with active checks only. That is a much more secure and scalable way, and it's easier to set up too

For tribily we run all our monitoring that way and provided you can live with the fact that your monitoring server has it's zabbix port open, that is recommended imho.

Oh, and as for your error: it means that you haven't created a host in the zabbix frontend with the hostname you provided in zabbix_agentd.conf

[kingxerxes]

thanks for the quick reply!

i have checked on the zabbix server and i have created the host with the same name (nahon-2k8-dc).

i uninstalled and reinstalled using the same config file and the zabbix_agend.log now has:

still not going green in zabbix though?

  8448:20110717:193025.382 Starting Zabbix Agent. Zabbix 1.8.5 (revision 19047).
  4616:20110717:193025.413 agent #0 started [collector]
  8284:20110717:193025.414 agent #1 started[listener]
  7888:20110717:193025.419 agent #3 started[listener]
  5996:20110717:193025.426 agent #4 started [active checks]
  2308:20110717:193025.430 agent #2 started[listener]
  5996:20110717:193025.583 No active checks on server: host [nahon-2k8-dc] not found
  4616:20110717:202254.473 zabbix_agentd collector stopped
  5996:20110717:202254.808 zabbix_agentd active check stopped
  8536:20110717:203603.216 Starting Zabbix Agent. Zabbix 1.8.5 (revision 19047).
  8712:20110717:203603.229 agent #1 started[listener]
  6280:20110717:203603.231 agent #2 started[listener]
  6408:20110717:203603.233 agent #3 started[listener]
  7380:20110717:203603.234 agent #4 started [active checks]
  8652:20110717:203603.238 agent #0 started [collector]

[kingxerxes]

have you ever used this?

http://www.suiviperf.com/zabbix/

[kingxerxes]

FYI: see screenshot of zabbix hosts

[kingxerxes]

WOOOO!!

i added the windows template and now the Z is green! does this mean it is being monitored???

[walterheck]

Yup, just go to Monitoring -> latest data or Monitoring -> overview to see your data.

[kingxerxes]

thanks for your help!