Several ideas to improve zabbix

[tpoder]

Thank for zabbix. I very like this system, but I have a several ideas to improve the next releases of zabbix. Maybe some of them might by interesting.

* Allow text input for the External checks. This could be done by adding the similar textbox which we can know from SSH, or Database Monitor. The content of the textbox should be placed as stdin of the external monitoring script or placed somewhere in a temporary file which name could be taken from a environment variable. Of course all macros should be applied to this text. This allows to create more complex external scripts including queries or other inputs.

* The value/label object on the map. This object should show the value of the selected item. This allows to create maps like this https://zabbix.cis.vutbr.cz/zview/index.php?view=kou-el or https://zabbix.cis.vutbr.cz/zview/index.php?view=kou-tm . The shown numbers are simple values of the monitored items.

* Remove or correct Database Monitor feature. I spend a huge amount of time to use this feature. It looks that there is a some overwrite memory problem in this code. Only some of the attempts works and using of this test hugely decrease stability of the zabbix_server process (Ends up with core dumps and other disasters).

* It would be nice to have possibility show graphs in the MRTG style (separate graph for daily, weekly, ....). Generally I don't like MRTG so much, but many users are used to viewing this graphs.

* Authenticated but not existing users . Actually every user must be placed in the user database. We have a plenty of users which have the same rights, but every user must be created in the zabbix system. This feature should either automatically create the new user or take rights from a special "Authenticated" account.

* Parametrized the queue value. Actually there is only zabbix[queue] item which shows total number of requests in the queue. I would be very useful to have possibility to say: "I want to monitor the number of the items in queue which are older than 30 seconds, or 1 minute. There are also many items which are in the queue for 5 or 10 seconds, but this items are not problematic.

* Arrays in the items/dynamic items. I know that this would be very difficult to implement but it is really what I hardly miss in zabbix. This mean that i should be able to define items like "free space on all disks" or "traffic on all interfaces". This definition finally should create the same number of the item which are available. I know that it is a problem because the zabbix protocol don't support multiple results :-(.

* Parameter which allow hide "Keep history (in days)" and "Keep trends (in days)" on the web interface. We are using zabbix with disabled house keeper due to performance reason (house keeper is a really kind of database killer on 100 Gig databse :-)) ). We are using separate partition for each month and data are removing by cleaning the partition. This two items generally don't have any sense and it's a bit confused for people who works with the zabbix.


Sorry for such long message and thanks for attention.
Tomas

[richlv]

* Allow text input for the External checks. This could be done by adding the similar textbox which we can know from SSH, or Database Monitor. The content of the textbox should be placed as stdin of the external monitoring script or placed somewhere in a temporary file which name could be taken from a environment variable. Of course all macros should be applied to this text. This allows to create more complex external scripts including queries or other inputs.

you can pass parameters to external checks. by default, first positional parameter is host connections string (ip or dns, depending on what you have configured), the rest are passed params. external check (usually a script) then can use these for whatever purposes, thus i believe this should already be supported.

* The value/label object on the map. This object should show the value of the selected item. This allows to create maps like this https://zabbix.cis.vutbr.cz/zview/index.php?view=kou-el or https://zabbix.cis.vutbr.cz/zview/index.php?view=kou-tm . The shown numbers are simple values of the monitored items.

you can use arbitrary item values in map element or link labels using macros, so this is also supported

[bashman]

Can I add a suggestion?. It would be good to have possibility to send a message when you disable a host to inform other users. The idea is when a user changes host status to "Not Monitored", the rest of the users could know what had happened by a message.

[tpoder]

you can pass parameters to external checks. by default, first positional parameter is host connections string (ip or dns, depending on what you have configured), the rest are passed params. external check (usually a script) then can use these for whatever purposes, thus i believe this should already be supported.

True, It is possible to pass any arguments to a executed script, but there are 2 limitations. The length of the key field (script name + arguments) is limited, so you not able to pass some longer arguments. Another problem is that the format of the line. The fact that arguments are also part of the item key complicates life. Any change of the argument means chenge of the key and it causes troubles when you have some external applications connected throu this key field.

I can use an example. I have external check as the replacement of the ODBC checks. I'd like to pass arguments like this:

odbc=netis
SQL=SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT user_name) FROM radiuslog WHERE auth_result = 'accept' AND first_request > DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 60 MINUTE)

An another example is with netflow. I have an another external check which defined the filter and the definition of aggregation fornfdump (http://nfdump.sourceforge.net/) toll. The arguments looks like this:

args=-A srcip -l +1" "ipv4 and (proto 41 or (proto udp and dst port 3544)) and in if 1"

It is similar example to the previous one.

I know that I can pas a short identificator as the argument and look up the proper data from a file. It is a way how I do it now. But the suggested sulution looks for me more clear. Everything is on one place and people who will write own queries can do it without having access to file system on zabbix server.

you can use arbitrary item values in map element or link labels using macros, so this is also supported

Really. It required some time, but I found http://www.zabbix.com/forum/showthre...bandwidth+Maps . It looks great and useable. Unfortunately the label must be always associted with some object (Image, Server, Map, ...). It would be great if there was some kind of a dumy object, kind of the "label only" element with possibility to change a look and a font formating.

An another idea. All items taken from macro could be automaticly clicable.

Thanks for your time.