{ITEM.LASTVALUE} vs {ITEM.VALUE} in zabbix 4.0

[BP_Vital]

Hello.
If I understand correctly, in Zabbix 4.0 {ITEM.LASTVALUE} behaves same as {ITEM.VALUE} when displaying events and triggers state. We are using {ITEM.LASTVALUE} pretty heavy on problems widget.
So my question is - is there any workarounds to make events widget resolve {ITEM.LASTVALUE} in pre 4.0 way?
Thank you

[ingus.vilnis]

Hey,
So you are using the {ITEM.LASTVALUE} macros in trigger names to dynamically see the actual value of the item and determine how bad the problem really is at the current time? Just like you were told on the trainings? Then don't worry - there is at least one positive thing about this - you are not alone with the same issue.

And this is really sad that there was a great feature but now in the greatest Zabbix to the date there are actually several regressions of this kind.

For the record - the functionality was changed in https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4108 .
And there is already a request to revert it - https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4792 .

Ok, I can understand why ZBXNEXT-4108 was done - ability to search problems by name and also improving the performance of Problems page in larger setups. Search was not previously working on macros and when the trigger names were changed in configuration, and the performance was bad on very big setups because the macros had to be resolved. And imagine you have a long list of problems and for every problem also Zabbix has to resolve the last value, host visible names ad whatnot. Now in 4.0 the problem name is generated with all the macros resolved and stored in DB Problems table as static entry. The idea is ok, but for setups, where particularly ITEM.LASTVALUE feature was working great, the new ability to search and disputably faster Problem page load times are weak solace to the lost functionality. Imagine how many templates are now actually displaying misleading information (at the problem event, not current) and people without knowing it rely on this information.

And this is not the only inconvenience caused in 4.0. The removal of Twin boxes https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4152 in favor of multiselect fields made template and host management very limited. And many other small things which hardly can be named as improvements.

Now the question - what to do? I honestly don't have any solutions or workarounds to these problems. In my setups I try to adapt the templates and the usage habits to the new limi... erm, functionality.

During some recent event I have discussed this very problem with some who might have an influence on the features and development of Zabbix. And also expressed how bad it is for the community to be left without the features used for years. I hope that this message was heard clearly enough. One positive thing is that regarding the missing last value Zabbix is now thinking how to return this by probably introducing a new column in Problems page or something. I don't know and not sure anyone knows yet. I just hope this will be implemented still in 4.0, not that we have to wait for 4.2.

[BP_Vital]

Thank you, Ingus for a very detailed response.
I just looked up request to revert it. Hope the message will be heard - the {ITEM.LASTVALUE} in problems widget is being used heavily. Currently this is the main blocker that stops us from upgrading to 4.0

[richlv]

To aid those who are upgrading, there's an (incomplete) list at https://zabbix.org/wiki/Features_removed .

[maloz]

I really hope they bring this back.

I think ITEM.LASTVALUE is used very heavily in trigger names and therefore people won't upgrade or they did and didn't even notice this change until some disk space runs out but Zabbix dosplays still free disk space.

Whoever googled and finds this please register to Zabbix support page and bump/write a comment at https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4792

[ingus.vilnis]

Now don't get me wrong. I do miss the ITEM.LASTVALUE in my triggers as well. My vote is there, I have already expressed my thoughts about this loss. But facing the fact there are no solutions yet in 4.0 we have to adapt a little.

Give it a thought. What are the triggers for? Usually to notify about a problem. What should you do when there is a problem? Usually go and fix it.

ITEM.LASTVALUE in triggers somehow reminds me the meme with the dog sitting in a room full with fire, drinking tea and saying "This is fine".

I am now looking at a Problems page in Compact view with Highlight the whole row selected, sorted by Severity descending. The page bleeding red from Disaster triggers being there for months already. And that makes me wonder - do these triggers really represent a problem? A server has been low on memory for a week already, less than 50M available but it is working stable and nothing is wrong with it. So does this one deserves a place in the Problems page as Disaster? Or we just acknowledge it by saying "yeah, well it's a problem but not really..."

ITEM.LASTVALUE gave us the possibility to see how bad the trigger really is when it had reached its level of "badness", that is true. But what I am going to do is that I will carefully consider the thresholds of all my triggers to make them as meaningful as possible, avoiding the noise of false positives and work on more meaningful trigger dependencies. It requires some effort but I believe that it will make us all look at our problems differently. Till the release when Zabbix devs come back to their minds and return the ITEM.LASTVALUE.

[maloz]

I know what you mean and partially agree with you.

If I would do the monitoring alone I think I won't use/need {ITEM.LASTVALUE}.
But we have team(s) which are responsible for running and maintaning our systems/servers/services and they rely on detailed informations in triggers. So they know "Need to check immediately" or "can check later". We monitor 500+ servers (network equipment not included) world wide of which are 90% VMs.
We also used latest values in trigger name in our predecessor Nagios and it was a must-have feature in Zabbix for the monitoring system change.

I also cannot understand (or to dumb to find) anything mentioning in the Zabbix 4.0 release notes that {ITEM.LASTVALUE} won't act as in the past.

https://www.zabbix.com/rn/rn4.0.0

I hope they bring back old {ITEM.LASTVALUE} asap. Or a working workaround.

[ingus.vilnis]

It is kind of documented but you really got to know the internals of Zabbix to tell what changes in this section really mean.

https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/4.0/manual/installation/upgrade_notes_400#problem_name_generation

[BP_Vital]

Just a quick addition to what Ingus said.
The point is that pre-4.0 {ITEM.LASTVALUE} behaviour is essential in current zabbix pocedures, at least in those installations and companies I have access to.
For examaple, operations team seems to watch trigger values on problems screen, and plan to fix them accordingly during upcoming maintenance times. So LASTVALUE in triggers name, not severity is the key to "fix it right now", or "it can wait till next month".
Another example is the person that responsible for printer supplies and doing their "Order toner/Take it from storage room/put in she shelf by printer/replace" is relying on LASTVALUE.
In many cases, severity of the triggers is tied only to the way the notifications will be sent, and sometimes corresponding recepients, while LASTVALUE is the main indicator of how bad the problem is, and how we going to deal with it.
And as Ingus already said, we have to review all our templates, if we ever try to migrate to 4.0. It is very hard to convince zabbix users to upgrade to 4.0 right now, because we are losing a funcionality that is essential to our work porcedures and habbits, and the improvements we are getting just not worth it.

[ingus.vilnis]

https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4792

Vitaly Zhuravlev added a comment - Yesterday
There will be a solution for this issue available in one of the upcoming 4.0.x releases. Please stay tuned.

Let's see what the proposed solution will be.

[BP_Vital]

Fingers crossed!

[BP_Vital]

A workaround implemented in 4.0.3rc3: https://www.zabbix.com/rn/rn4.0.3rc3
just tested it - still useless for me at current state.
Yes, you can see latest values in the new column, but this is still useless on a kiosk dashboard.

[maloz]

Same for me. Is there a follow up ZBXNEXT item in Jira?

--> https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBXNEXT-4942