Had a problem with Zabbix showing hosts being down when they weren't. Spent ages looking through the logs and testing things manually, eventually tracked it down to FpingLocation not being specified in zabbix_server.conf, which was probably caused by a Debian apt-get dist-upgrade.
What annoyed me about this problem was that:
a) there was no mention at all of this in the zabbix_server.log with DebugLevel at the default [3]. If the lack of fping doesn't merit a warning, then what does?
b) there was no mention of this in the UI; given that ping checks are useless without it, it would be nice to see a little hint in the web interface as to why it might not be working
c) No mention when starting the zabbix-server service that pinging wasn't going to work. The parsing of the config would be a good time to alert the administrator of potential problems, or potentially even refuse to start.
d) why can't Zabbix work this out for itself by looking at $PATH, with the opportunity for the more experienced Zabbix administrator to manually specify FpingLocation as needs dictate?
This problem would have been resolved much more easily and quickly had Zabbix done any of the above.
What annoyed me about this problem was that:
a) there was no mention at all of this in the zabbix_server.log with DebugLevel at the default [3]. If the lack of fping doesn't merit a warning, then what does?
b) there was no mention of this in the UI; given that ping checks are useless without it, it would be nice to see a little hint in the web interface as to why it might not be working
c) No mention when starting the zabbix-server service that pinging wasn't going to work. The parsing of the config would be a good time to alert the administrator of potential problems, or potentially even refuse to start.
d) why can't Zabbix work this out for itself by looking at $PATH, with the opportunity for the more experienced Zabbix administrator to manually specify FpingLocation as needs dictate?
This problem would have been resolved much more easily and quickly had Zabbix done any of the above.