Item Created to display TEXT -- No TEXT displayed on Dashboard

[lslamp]

Greetings All,

I am a newbie to Zabbix, have been working with linux for a while.
I have a script that when it is run, generates a text file /var/log/CertResult.txt

The content of the script is below.

22-02-2021 = atlantic-kids-academy.com (80 days)
23-02-2021 = dawnsdays.com (81 days)
22-02-2021 = dunnsland.com (80 days)
23-02-2021 = e2snail.com (81 days)
23-02-2021 = hockeysticks4clubs.com (81 days)
24-02-2021 = icanevents.net (82 days)

So then I created an item as shown below.


I also created a trigger as follows.


In the item config, if I run a test I get the needed content of the text file.



So as far as I understand things. this all works as expected.

I now create Dashboard Widget to display the results, but when I add the display, no data is displayed on the dashboard and I have no idea why.


Below is the Dashboard result.


Does anyone have any idea why the dashboard is not being populated with the text file results?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Regards
Lawrence

[Hamardaban]

check the latest data to see if you are getting values for item? (not check now, but the latest data).
uncheck Show text as HTML in widget.

[Hamardaban]

In my opinion, you need to do it in a different way!
After getting the contents of the text file in items (and converting it to json using JS preprocessing), you need to make LLD dependent items based on it, each of which will contain the value of the number of days for one certificate (an integer). Then, based on this data, you can build triggers normally and display values and build graphs normally.
Perhaps you should create a normal json file on the server instead of a text file?

links
https://www.zabbix.com/documentation.../preprocessing
https://www.zabbix.com/documentation...evel_discovery
https://www.zabbix.com/documentation...ependent_items

[lslamp]

Hamardaban Thanks for your input but looking at the links that you posted, this seems a little outside of my knowledge and experience with zabbix.

I also took a look at last data, I see the failures but have no clue why this is happening. See screenshot below.



Now just to clarify, I have created 2 monitors manually. 1. Web Site Monitoring.



and then I have the tracking of the SSL Certificates.

So when I look at the latest data, I do not understand why and where the failed scenarios come from and why the names cannot be resolved.
Also what error is given for teh text data not being presented.

I have no idea?

Lawrence

[lslamp]

I have also tried to make some changes ...

Instead of using only the name of the domain I changed it all to reflect the whole URL.

I still do not see any errors related to the text not displaying on the dashboard.

Sorry for being cheeky but looking at the list below, I see two items that are confusing.
1. the error "Failed step of scenario" what is this referring to?
2. the error "Couldn't connect to server: Failed to connect to ${DOMAIN} port 443: Connection refused" - is this a config issue because all teh sites have valid certificates and do open with https.

ICANWeb	HTTPS service (31 Items)
			Download speed for scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	159.72 KBps	+36.61 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	64.79 KBps	+16.74 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:26	28.41 KBps		Graph
			Download speed for scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 13:14:46	4.92 KBps	-5.75 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	801 Bps	-1.42 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for step "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com" of scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	159.72 KBps	+36.61 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for step "https://www.dawnsdays.com" of scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	64.79 KBps	+16.74 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for step "https://www.dunnsland.com" of scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:26	28.41 KBps		Graph
			Download speed for step "https://www.e2snail.com" of scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 13:14:46	4.92 KBps	-5.75 KBps	Graph
			Download speed for step "https://www.icanevents.net" of scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	801 Bps	-1.42 KBps	Graph
			Failed step of scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	0		Graph
			Failed step of scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	0		Graph
			Failed step of scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:26	0		Graph
			Failed step of scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 13:14:46	0		Graph
			Failed step of scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	0		Graph
			HTTPS service is running	2020-12-04 13:15:32	Up (1)		Graph
			Last error message of scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 12:34:14	Couldn't connect to server: Failed to connect to www.atlantic-kids-academy.com port 443: Connection refused		History
			Last error message of scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 12:34:18	Couldn't connect to server: Failed to connect to www.dawnsdays.com port 443: Connection refused		History
			Last error message of scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 12:34:20	Couldn't connect to server: Failed to connect to www.dunnsland.com port 443: Connection refused		History
			Last error message of scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 12:34:41	Couldn't connect to server: Failed to connect to www.e2snail.com port 443: Connection refused		History
			Last error message of scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 12:47:25	response code "404" did not match any of the required status codes "200"		History
			Response code for step "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com" of scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	200		Graph
			Response code for step "https://www.dawnsdays.com" of scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	200		Graph
			Response code for step "https://www.dunnsland.com" of scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:26	200		Graph
			Response code for step "https://www.e2snail.com" of scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 13:14:46	200		Graph
			Response code for step "https://www.icanevents.net" of scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	200		Graph
			Response time for step "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com" of scenario "https://www.atlantic-kids-academy.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	454.89ms	-134.97ms	Graph
			Response time for step "https://www.dawnsdays.com" of scenario "https://www.dawnsdays.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	66.24ms	-23.06ms	Graph
			Response time for step "https://www.dunnsland.com" of scenario "https://www.dunnsland.com".	2020-12-04 13:15:26	67.4ms	+0.053ms	Graph
			Response time for step "https://www.e2snail.com" of scenario "https://www.e2snail.com".	2020-12-04 13:14:46	193.17ms	+103.66ms	Graph
			Response time for step "https://www.icanevents.net" of scenario "https://www.icanevents.net".	2020-12-04 13:15:33	202.87ms	+130.22ms	Graph

Thanks in advance
Lawrence

[lslamp]

I am sorry, I do see that I have screwed up and mixed errors. Please ignore the https errors, I will open a second question with regards to this.

Lawrence

[lslamp]

cyber Thanks for your reply. I did a check and I only have 1 step and as far as I can gather that is successful, according to what you say if there is a "0" then failure should not be present.



Step #1


and yet I still see the failure. Also looking at what you said about the value being a "0", looking at the latest data it is showing a "0" so why is it showing as a failure?



A little confusing.
Thanks
Lawrence

[lslamp]

cyber Thanks a million for the help and advice. I will read and see if I can get my head around it.

Do you have any advice about the text file not being presented on the dashboard?

Lawrence

[lslamp]

cyber
I have now read the page and it seems that there is nothing wrong. I read it as a false positive, but what I see there is the correct response. It is supposed to show the number of previous failures, and if there are non then the return is a 0 and that is what I see. So all good. It was me not understanding the alert.

Thanks for the followup.
Lawrence

[lslamp]

I don't know what I am missing here but no matter what I do I cannot seem to figure out why the contents of a text file will not be displayed on the zabbix dashboard.

I have now reverted to deleting the trigger I created and now only have an item called Check SSL Certs. I have used the following key to read the file contents. "vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]". Looking at the zabbix_server.log file I see the follwoing

extract from log file.

570077:20201208:003500.096 itemid:34282 hostid:10084 key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003522.852 In substitute_key_macros_impl() data:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003522.852 End of substitute_key_macros_impl():SUCCEED data:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003522.852 In get_value() key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003522.852 In get_value_agent() host:'Zabbix server' addr:'127.0.0.1' key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]' conn:'unencrypted'
570109:20201208:003522.852 Sending [vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]]
570077:20201208:003600.673 itemid:34282 hostid:10084 key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003622.111 In substitute_key_macros_impl() data:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003622.111 End of substitute_key_macros_impl():SUCCEED data:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003622.111 In get_value() key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]'
570109:20201208:003622.111 In get_value_agent() host:'Zabbix server' addr:'127.0.0.1' key:'vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]' conn:'unencrypted'
570109:20201208:003622.111 Sending [vfs.file.contents[/var/log/CertResult.txt,ANSI]]

So I assume that the file isbeing read, but I cannot figure out how to display the contents on the dashboard.

I have tried to add a Plain Text Widget, but no data is presented to the dashboard.
Is it possible that I have to have a trigger associated to teh item before data can be presented on the dashboard?

Any suggestions are very much appreciated.
Thanks
Lawrence

[lslamp]

cyber Thanks for the feedback. I am happy with this now, but am still having an issue creating the text display on the dashboard.

do you have any ideas?

Lawrence

[Matgou]

Hi cyber and lslamp,

I'm not sure but data can't be displayed if you select : "do not keep history" in item definition.
You know with this configuration, dependents items are evaluated, but history table doesn't have any data about this item. In the "Latest data", you don't see this item because you must check "Show items without data" to see it but it will be empty.

So, define a storage period and you will see your data. If you don't want many data for this item, add a preprocessor step with : "discard unchanged".

Regards,

[lslamp]

Matgou
Thanks for your input, but can you please clarify something. If I have created the item and set a storage period, do I need a trigger?
The reason I am asking is because looking at the trigger I see an error that says not enough data.

That makes no sense to me cause there are no other input fields where I can add any more data.

as a test I will remove the trigger and see what happens.

Thanks
Lawrence

[lslamp]

Matgou
I removed the trigger and now I have the following display



I have added an extra line in the text file to push the half cut off line away out of shot.

I am happy. It works now thanks.

Seems I was making it more complicated than was necessary.

Thanks for the pointer
Lawrence

[Matgou]

lslamp

Item collect data and trigger evaluate item's data to create problem. And If I correctly understand your issue, you don't need to perform any check on your file content, because you don't want any alert., just display.
So trigger wasn't need but the trigger wasn't block data displaying.

If trigger become "unsuported" and display an errror : "not enough data", it's not a error in your configuration but it's with item data (history). Here you build a trigger to check if the "#1" last item data are equal to "0" (so if file content equal to "0"), your item didn't have any history data, so the check couldn't be perform.

Take care,
Mathieu