Link and Bandwidth Correlation

[clensert]

I am new to Zabbix and am learning lots. I am looking to utilize the map/screen and slideshow features to monitor my sites and the links between them. Unfortunately, I am having some trouble making two specific things work that I'm not sure if Zabbix can do.....yet

1. Is it possible to have a link status indicator on a map link to more than one trigger, or to correlate it to a trigger's dependencies to give more than two possible values (true or false)? I have created bandwidth triggers for various utilization rates on links and I would like the link to change its color accordingly (green/line for 0-50% utilized, yellow/bold for 50%-75% and red/bold for >75%). Unfortunately, I can only seem to link it to one of these, which will only give me one limit to trigger on and in only one direction (in or out). This leads me to my second question.

2. Is there a way to take two items (bandwidth in and out) and add them together for total bandwidth that can be used as a trigger with the above variable rates? I read some previous posts saying it wasn't possible to do yet and some that said to use the userparameter, but I'm not familar with that and it didn't sound like a recommended method, but more like a hack.

I am using SNMP for gathering the ifInOctets and ifOutOctets values from my routers and am currently using the change function in my trigger expressions to look at the current and previous value and subtract them and compare it to my calculated percentage limits "{Template_Routers:net.if.in[if <,mode>].change(0)}>579000".

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Alexei]

There is a great chance that both 1 and 2 will be implemented in 1.6!

[noxis]

I am new to Zabbix and am learning lots. I am looking to utilize the map/screen and slideshow features to monitor my sites and the links between them. Unfortunately, I am having some trouble making two specific things work that I'm not sure if Zabbix can do.....yet

1. Is it possible to have a link status indicator on a map link to more than one trigger, or to correlate it to a trigger's dependencies to give more than two possible values (true or false)? I have created bandwidth triggers for various utilization rates on links and I would like the link to change its color accordingly (green/line for 0-50% utilized, yellow/bold for 50%-75% and red/bold for >75%). Unfortunately, I can only seem to link it to one of these, which will only give me one limit to trigger on and in only one direction (in or out). This leads me to my second question.

2. Is there a way to take two items (bandwidth in and out) and add them together for total bandwidth that can be used as a trigger with the above variable rates? I read some previous posts saying it wasn't possible to do yet and some that said to use the userparameter, but I'm not familar with that and it didn't sound like a recommended method, but more like a hack.

I am using SNMP for gathering the ifInOctets and ifOutOctets values from my routers and am currently using the change function in my trigger expressions to look at the current and previous value and subtract them and compare it to my calculated percentage limits "{Template_Routers:net.if.in[if <,mode>].change(0)}>579000".

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Question for you Clensert, your traffic graphs - do they match up with any other monitoring software you are using? I am specifying my unit as Bps and I seem to be missing around 10x the traffic (showing 1Mbps instead of 10Mbps).

I am comparing Cacti and Munin graphs against the data gathered by Zabbix. Both Cacti and Munin agree on the values, Zabbix is very far off! Unless Zabbix is showing something like MB/sec instead of Mbps ?

[clensert]

Thanks Alexei...good to hear..keep up the good work!

[clensert]

I'm not using the graphing features yet, just mapping with the triggers for link status. I just set up these test parameters to get a good feel for the software. I did try changing the units (b,B, etc.) and it just changed the way the latest data displayed in the monitoring section (mine units are blank). Once i get into graphing, I will look into this and see how the data compares to MRTG and post it.

I did test the triggers non-scientifically by sending a continuous stream of ICMP requests over the link and the trigger never tripped (I set it to 10% of the T1 1.544 Mbps speed). I then started dragging and dropping large files to a remote computer and after a couple of intervals the trigger tripped. I also set up 50%, 75% and 100% triggers and they all tripped in order and went away in reverse order when the data transfer was stopped. So, from my crude testing methods, it seems like they were working correctly with the right values. I did look at MRTG when I was transferring data and the link maxed out at about 80% inbound, which correlates with the triggers that tripped during the test (10%,50% and 75%), but like I said, I didn't look at specific graph values and compare them to MRTG.

One thing I can think of to check is are the units being compared. Are they both bits or bytes on both applications? I know MRTG graphs bytes by default (not sure what Cacti and Munin use), but I added routers2.cgi on top of it and it changed it to bits (which are more relevant for me). I know it sounds basic, but you gotta start somewhere

[noxis]

I'm not using the graphing features yet, just mapping with the triggers for link status. I just set up these test parameters to get a good feel for the software. I did try changing the units (b,B, etc.) and it just changed the way the latest data displayed in the monitoring section (mine units are blank). Once i get into graphing, I will look into this and see how the data compares to MRTG and post it.

I did test the triggers non-scientifically by sending a continuous stream of ICMP requests over the link and the trigger never tripped (I set it to 10% of the T1 1.544 Mbps speed). I then started dragging and dropping large files to a remote computer and after a couple of intervals the trigger tripped. I also set up 50%, 75% and 100% triggers and they all tripped in order and went away in reverse order when the data transfer was stopped. So, from my crude testing methods, it seems like they were working correctly with the right values. I did look at MRTG when I was transferring data and the link maxed out at about 80% inbound, which correlates with the triggers that tripped during the test (10%,50% and 75%), but like I said, I didn't look at specific graph values and compare them to MRTG.

One thing I can think of to check is are the units being compared. Are they both bits or bytes on both applications? I know MRTG graphs bytes by default (not sure what Cacti and Munin use), but I added routers2.cgi on top of it and it changed it to bits (which are more relevant for me). I know it sounds basic, but you gotta start somewhere

I appreciate your feedback, i'll be interested in your graph test results. I am doing all the testing myself for proof of concept. Zabbix is a awesome piece of software I am very please so far. One of the last things on my list is to fully grok the bandwidth graphing and units as its obviously just dealing with whatever numbers I throw at it.

[elvar]

Question for you Clensert, your traffic graphs - do they match up with any other monitoring software you are using? I am specifying my unit as Bps and I seem to be missing around 10x the traffic (showing 1Mbps instead of 10Mbps).

I am comparing Cacti and Munin graphs against the data gathered by Zabbix. Both Cacti and Munin agree on the values, Zabbix is very far off! Unless Zabbix is showing something like MB/sec instead of Mbps ?

Did you ever find a solution to make it show Mbps instead of MB/sec? I'm having this same problem.

[alixen]

Did you ever find a solution to make it show Mbps instead of MB/sec? I'm having this same problem.

If your item is defined in bytes and you want Mbps instead of MB/s, you should set your item as:
Type of information : Numeric (float)
Use multiplier : Custom multiplier
Custom multiplier : 8
Units : bps
Store value : Delta (speed per second)

Hope this helps
Alixen

[elvar]

If your item is defined in bytes and you want Mbps instead of MB/s, you should set your item as:
Type of information : Numeric (float)
Use multiplier : Custom multiplier
Custom multiplier : 8
Units : bps
Store value : Delta (speed per second)

Hope this helps
Alixen

Yep, this definitely helps!

Thanks!

[corebug]

If your item is defined in bytes and you want Mbps instead of MB/s, you should set your item as:
Type of information : Numeric (float)
Use multiplier : Custom multiplier
Custom multiplier : 8
Units : bps
Store value : Delta (speed per second)

Hope this helps
Alixen

Thanks a lot!

[igloo_kem]

If your item is defined in bytes and you want Mbps instead of MB/s, you should set your item as:
Type of information : Numeric (float)
Use multiplier : Custom multiplier
Custom multiplier : 8
Units : bps
Store value : Delta (speed per second)

Hope this helps
Alixen

But if to use bps - zabbix will use 1000 to calculate K, M, G, instead of 1024...

"If a unit symbol is set, Zabbix will add post processing to the received value and display it with the set unit postfix.
By default, if the raw value exceeds 1000, it is divided by 1000 and displayed accordingly. For example, if you set bps and receive a value of 881764, it will be displayed as 881.76 Kbps.
Special processing is used for B (byte), Bps (bytes per second) units, which are divided by 1024. Thus, if units are set to B or Bps "

So, how to display megabits per second in a correct way?