[1.8.13] Map of switch ports

[clementine]

I am asked to provide a comprehensive map of our switches ports states (ie. up/down/shutdown, etc...)

Being new to zabbix, my understanding is that:

1. there is no way to use specific images depending on some triggers states. It is only possible to change colors of links between map elements.
2. using triggers will always raise problems, there is no way to make some trigger category to be silent.

Based on the two assumptions above, it means that:

• I have to manage as many sub-maps and hosts as I have ports to monitor
• I will be able to display ok / error states only.
• It will be a real pain to setup and manage this.

Roughly, the number of ports is 1K.

Is there a better solution if any ???

[richlv]

there is no way to use specific images depending on some triggers states. It is only possible to change colors of links between map elements.

sure there is - you can have the image change depending on trigger being in ok or problem state

Roughly, the number of ports is 1K.

that sounds like a job for xml generating or api accessing script

[clementine]

Hello richlv,

Many thanks for your answer.

sure there is - you can have the image change depending on trigger being in ok or problem state

Hmmm it looks like my english is a little bit rough I am really sorry for that. I didn't want to tell it is not possible to change icons based on some host status (normal, disabled, problem, etc...) I was thinking about the ability to change maps icons image when some trigger evaluates to true; thus enabling display of any number of states like we can do with links.

If not wrong, my understanding was the good one: I'll have to manage 1k submaps and 1k pseudo hosts to be only able to monitor up and down, and, potentially facing bursts of trigger change events when somebody changes hardware in our lab.

that sounds like a job for xml generating or api accessing script

Yes, for sure I never though about setting this with hands. I already generated XML templates with scripts.

What would be a really nice feature for maps is to be able to put simple icons related to some host and make their display depending one some triggers belonging to that host. Some extension to the actual features. This, combined to what I call silent triggers, would allow to create great maps displaying more than two states without the need to manage those many objects.

I now have to get better knowledge of zabbix inner details.
Maybe I will come back with a patch if I figure out how to implement this the clean way.

Thank you, you inputs very much appreciated !

[ghoz]

Hmm...
Here is one trick I would try . you need :
One fully transparent icon
One icon for each of your trigger "red switch port", "gray swith port"

For each port create as many map element as you need of type trigger, place those on the same spot and using advanced icons, set the default to transparent, and problem to the right icon.

Tell us how it goes...

[clementine]

I already tested this. It's very close to what I am looking for but this has some drawbacks:

- triggers raise problem alarms for events that should remain informational
- it implies setting labels display off for the whole map
- creating/managing the map becomes a real PITA


Imho, the ideal way would be to have the ability to set specific triggers/icon mappings for Image objects and to have a way to setup a category of triggers that do not raise problem alarms.

Once upgraded to v2, I'll dig into the code to figure out how I could do that.

[richlv]

I didn't want to tell it is not possible to change icons based on some host status (normal, disabled, problem, etc...) I was thinking about the ability to change maps icons image when some trigger evaluates to true; thus enabling display of any number of states like we can do with links.

the first part is possible - you can have map element, that is linked to a trigger, change it's icon, depending on trigger state (problem/ok).

you can not assign multiple triggers to change this icon, though.

a quite hackish approach in 2.0 might be populating inventory data from some items and then changing icon using icon mapping feature, but that would not tie in with the triggers then.

[clementine]

you can not assign multiple triggers to change this icon, though.

And triggers raise problems even if expression aim is to provide informational status about some element.

I will check with v2.

Thank you.

[ghoz]

trigger indeed do raise problems, as it's the only reason they exist ..

you can however set a priority, and filter out theses informational or 'not classified' triggers in the views/dashboard/ alerts...

[CeeEss]

trigger indeed do raise problems, as it's the only reason they exist ..

Well, Zabbix thinks that all triggers denote Problems and has done since forever, but this is manifestly NOT true in practice. I completely agree: informational non-problem triggers are necessary and extremely useful, too.

[clementine]

you can however set a priority, and filter out theses informational or 'not classified' triggers in the views/dashboard/ alerts...

This will not clear the "X has PROBLEM" display in maps.

In maps, "silent" triggers can be very useful. Two examples:

1. If I want to monitor the PSUs of my EX virtual chassis, or my UCS, a trigger giving information about both AC and DC backup are ok will make the MAP and its parents to show there is a problem when there is not.
2. Coloring the BW usage of links will also raise problems even if it is as low as 0%

I think that a special category of triggers which would make them silent but logged could be very useful for maps functionality extension.

[ghoz]

I see what you mean... yeah, forgot about the maps.

I think I remember seeing a patch doing that somewhere in the forums.

In any case the answer will be in the frontend code...

[clementine]

I'm thinking about two key features for solving this "issue":

• a special "no problem" trigger category
• a new element type in maps: triggers set, some sort of container for triggers mapping to images like we already have with hosts status but more versatile.

I'll check the code if I get some spare time.