solaris disk perf graphing

[wooks]

Solaris 10 x86 client server.

I have created two items in the zab master:

type = zab agent
key = vfs.dev.write[sd0,bytes]
type of info = numeric unsigned
units = bps

and

type = zab agent
key = vfs.dev.read[sd0,bytes]
type of info = numeric unsigned
units = bps

Then I create a graph using these items.
The graph is getting data ok, but the scale is all wrong. The server being graphed is idle, yet the graph shows a write value of 200 Gbps and read of 850 Gbps according to the graph.

If the host is idle shouldn't these be down near zero.
And then when I do some tar'ing on the server to generate disk i/o, the graph doesnt change to reflect the load. So something is not reading right.
Hope someone can help!

I have tried changing sd0 to the 'real' disk, /dev/dsk/c1t0d0 or just c1t0d0 but that then makes the zabbix agent go offline on the zab master.

[tchjts1]

What version of the Zabbix agent are you using?

[wooks]

./zabbix-agentd -V
ZABBIX Agent (daemon) v1.8.1 (revision 9702) (27 January 2010)
Compilation time: Feb 11 2010 13:19:29


thx

[tchjts1]

It may have to do with the version of the agent you are using. if you have some time, you may want to look at the release notes of the 1.8.x versions on this page: http://www.zabbix.com/rn1.8.10rc1.php

I would just do a keyword search for each 1.8.x version in your browser and look for vfs.dev.write and see if they fixed anything for Solaris. I know there have been some issues with it that have been addressed, I just don't recall at which version.

[wooks]

Thanks for your time. I'll do that.
It's probably worth doing an upgrade to version 2.3 ?
Next 'fight' - finding out how to do the upgrade!
I could easily download the fully ready vm appliance image (that's how I deployed the 1.8.2 we are using), but then gotta get the config and data over to the new box. Do you happen to know how to upgrade a current appliance from 1.8.2 to 2.3 ?
rgs

[tchjts1]

Actually, 2.0.4 is available now... but there was also a vfs.dev.read (and write) issue that occurred in 2.03... supposedly corrected in 2.0.4

http://www.zabbix.com/download.php

I don't know anything about the appliance. Have never used it.

[wooks]

The appliance, imported into vmware vcenter, just takes all the pain out of doing your own raw installation. The appliance fires up with MySQL and zabbix already installed and working.
So much easier than doing the install yourself!

Same issues applies though, how to get from 1.8.2 to 2.x
May be too many changes to do a direct upgrade?
Probably easier to just spin up the new 2.x appliance, get it running then start over with template customisation and adding hosts. Each host would need to be upgraded to 2.x too, so at that point you would just point the host at the new server. You'd loose historical data. But not that worried about that.
Lot of work......

[tchjts1]

Same issues applies though, how to get from 1.8.2 to 2.x
May be too many changes to do a direct upgrade?

Yeah, if there are changes to the DB structure, it happens on major version releases... 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, etc.

Probably easier to just spin up the new 2.x appliance, get it running then start over with template customisation and adding hosts. Each host would need to be upgraded to 2.x too, so at that point you would just point the host at the new server. You'd loose historical data. But not that worried about that.
Lot of work......

I think if all I was trying to do was resolve the vfs issue, I would look for the agent version that fixes it, rather than bring up a new version and losing history.

I know I have read in the forums where this issue has been discussed, but I can't find where it was. You could try using the "Search" link at the top and trying some different keywords to see if you can locate it.

[wooks]

Will zabbix_agentd version 2.4 be compatible with zabbix server still on 1.8.2 ?

Easy enough to test....

[tchjts1]

I don't think that is the case. You can use older agents with newer versions of Zabbix server, but it would be dicey the other way around.

Be aware that there are some changes in the zabbix_agentd.conf file for your hosts when you go to the 2.x realm. In particular, the ServerActive= field needs to have the information (IP or DNS) of your Zabbix server in order for active checks to work.