Windows "status" item 1.1.6

[Raph]

Greetings!

I'm having an issue with the agent item "status"
here's the item (i didnt create this, it was defaulted in the windows template)

Description : Host status
Type: zabbix agent
Key: status
Type of info: Numberic (integer 64bit)

Now for some reason my hosts aren't updating this information, some date to almost 4 days ago since it was updated. This is about the same time as I updated my clients to 1.1.6.

My question is, what 'status' does this item check for? the host is up? status of the connection to host?

And ofcourse why isn't this reporting anymore, I dont get any "not supported" for this item on any host.

Any ideas would be greatfully appreciated!

[dantheman]

Ok here is my understanding of that item.

The item agent.status is unique in that it only updates when there is a change in the status .. no matter what you set for an update interval it just doesn't do it.. so I think when the server was shutdown and restarted, it hasn't received any value from teh agent since then. If you were to bring each agent down it would then get an updated status, and then appear good again.

So nothing appears to be wrong with the setup, the agent just hasn't changed it's state since the update.

[bbrendon]

To add to this, my understanding is that status is useless for active agents.

[Raph]

Ok here is my understanding of that item.

The item agent.status is unique in that it only updates when there is a change in the status .. no matter what you set for an update interval it just doesn't do it.. so I think when the server was shutdown and restarted, it hasn't received any value from teh agent since then. If you were to bring each agent down it would then get an updated status, and then appear good again.

So nothing appears to be wrong with the setup, the agent just hasn't changed it's state since the update.

not sure if it matters, but the key is just "status" not "agent.status".

I'm puzzled.. I tried to test what you said, but just turning off the service for the windows zabbix client (1.1.6).. If i watch "latest data' I just no longer get any more values. The Host Status stays the same, and no flags go off :/

Perhaps i'm confused as to how the server gets notified that an agent is no longer running on the machine...

not sure if it matters, but with my setup all the users I am monitoring (~25) are outside of my network, and are using the same 'listenport'.

[Raph]

not sure if it matters, but the key is just "status" not "agent.status".

I'm puzzled.. I tried to test what you said, but just turning off the service for the windows zabbix client (1.1.6).. If i watch "latest data' I just no longer get any more values. The Host Status stays the same, and no flags go off :/

Perhaps i'm confused as to how the server gets notified that an agent is no longer running on the machine...

not sure if it matters, but with my setup all the users I am monitoring (~25) are outside of my network, and are using the same 'listenport'.

Well i tried even further, I turned OFF the server being monitored. it's been about 10-15 minutes since I shut down said windows server, and zabbix has YET to figure out that's it's gone. Under hosts it still says "available", and no values have ben updated for the host.

Any ideas here? everything is 1.1.6

[James Wells]

Greetings,

Status is a calculated item, on the server only. It is calculated based on other item checks. If those other checks are passing, then status passes, if they are failing then status fails. Having said that however, status does not update when you are using Zabbix Agent (Active) and the server is does not receive updates. It will only update in that mode, when you receive updates.

Additionally, status starts out as unknown when the server starts, and will not become pass or fail until the server has an item that is passed or failed. Again, when you are using Zabbix Agent (Active), it will remain unknown until the server receives data from the agent indicating a pass or fail.

Now the situation you are describing, indicates that your agent servers are unable to talk to the Zabbix server, as such, your status item will never change states until you restart the server, at which point status will become unknown again.

[Raph]

Greetings,

Status is a calculated item, on the server only. It is calculated based on other item checks. If those other checks are passing, then status passes, if they are failing then status fails. Having said that however, status does not update when you are using Zabbix Agent (Active) and the server is does not receive updates. It will only update in that mode, when you receive updates.

Additionally, status starts out as unknown when the server starts, and will not become pass or fail until the server has an item that is passed or failed. Again, when you are using Zabbix Agent (Active), it will remain unknown until the server receives data from the agent indicating a pass or fail.

Now the situation you are describing, indicates that your agent servers are unable to talk to the Zabbix server, as such, your status item will never change states until you restart the server, at which point status will become unknown again.

James,

Thanks for you reply, much appreciated. It's interesting how that works.

My only question is.. lets say I have a server that is monitored, and for kicks I pull the power plug out the back of it.

Immediately after that, the Zabbix server will stop receiving data from the client, and it's monitored values start being marked as unknown? (on my test run, nothing was changed.. all values were just frozen with the last update it got.. Eventually the server dubbed the client 'unreachable', but it took a while). If the server relies on a failure NOTICE from the client, how could it get such a thing if the client is OFF? I'm assuming there's a connect time out maybe? how long until it notes the server as unreachable? There must be a more immediate way to tell if a client is down... Funny thing is, when I turned the server back, values started to be updated again but the client is still dubbed 2 (unreachable).

I know, alot of questions - I'm just trying to fully understand how it works.

Thanks again for the help!

[James Wells]

My only question is.. lets say I have a server that is monitored, and for kicks I pull the power plug out the back of it.

Immediately after that, the Zabbix server will stop receiving data from the client, and it's monitored values start being marked as unknown? (on my test run, nothing was changed.. all values were just frozen with the last update it got.. Eventually the server dubbed the client 'unreachable', but it took a while). If the server relies on a failure NOTICE from the client, how could it get such a thing if the client is OFF? I'm assuming there's a connect time out maybe? how long until it notes the server as unreachable? There must be a more immediate way to tell if a client is down... Funny thing is, when I turned the server back, values started to be updated again but the client is still dubbed 2 (unreachable).

First off, you need to understand that unreachable/unavailable are calculated differently than status is. Status is calculated based on agent communication whereas unreachability/unavailability are calculated based on data communication. For ease of explanation, I will try to break this down by passive mode and active mode, and then try to explain how status is affected by passive and active.

In passive mode, the Zabbix Server directly queries the Zabbix Agent. In this mode, the availability is calculated based on any successful network communication. So, if the Server is able to make a successful connection to the Agent, it will mark the server as available.

In Active mode, the Zabbix Server simply waits for the Zabbix Agent to send it data. In this mode, the availability is calculated based on a specific successful network communication, however, it will not change from good to bad, until a certain time period has passed without hearing from the Agent. Unfortunately, I have traced out where that time period is coded to know what that period is. Anyway, once the Agent connects to the Server, the Agent is calculated as available. From what I can tell, it is based on the Agent querying the server for a list of items to monitor.

The Zabbix Server calculates status based on the first successful Agent query that passes a trigger. Prior to this time, status is listed as unknown. Status will then change only when the first Agent query fails to pass a trigger or the availability changes to unavailable, whichever comes first. In passive mode, this is fairly reliable.

Status when dealing with active mode is a bit more difficult. It is still initialized to unknown until the first query passes a trigger, however, it does not change state again until the server is listed as unavailable, unless you use the nodata trigger functions.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.