A hardware ZABBIX Agent made with Arduino Mega

[levkov]

Hi all,

I created a stand alone, hardware ZABBIX Agent (running Zabbix Agent-like firmware directly on micro-controller) using Arduino Mega 2560 Board + Ethernet Shield (Wiznet W5100). This device equipped with DHT22 temperature-humidity sensor.

Current (ZSA1-E model) Features:

1. Measures temperature and humidity using calibrated digital sensor
2. Direct monitoring with Zabbix Server (behave like Zabbix agent in passive mode)
3. Can support PoE 802.3 (need special Ethernet Shield with PoE support)
4. Cheap: 50~60$ for all parts price (based on Alibaba and Sparkfun prices, shipping included)
5. Can be easy assembled (minimal soldering and enclosure modification)
6. Web based network setting setup (save network settings in EEPROM)

It's firmware and design will be free and open source. (I will post it on Github after code cleanup+documentation). Also Wi-Fi version (with the same form factor) and support for additional sensors (dust, motion, light, Co2..etc) will be implemented in near future.

Pictures and Screenshots:

[dimi]

Hi levkov
very nice work! You have implemented the Zabbix protocol inside Arduino? Is it possible to configure as Zabbix Active Agent (better for NAT enviroment)?
Thanks so much

[levkov]

Yes Zabbix recognize Arduino as Zabbix Agent host.
I am going to implement active checks in near future (although it's not trivial).

Meanwhile I am posting source code of first version of Arduino based Hardware Zabbix Agent with DHT22 temperature-humidity sensor:

https://github.com/levkov/sensor.im/blob/master/ZSA1-E/ZSA1E.ino

Item Names:
agent.ping - Zabbix Agent ping
agent.version - return agent version
humidity.read - % of air humidity
temperature.read - air temperature (Celsius)

Soon I will post assembly instructions with pictures.

[levkov]

Electronic Diagram:

https://github.com/levkov/sensor.im/wiki/Electronic-Diagram

[alfsolli]

Way cool!

I've been thinkering with the Zabbix agent protocol on atmega 328, but it's been dead for a while as my charming wife and insane kids takes up alot of time.

But question; Is there a reason you used a Mega 2560 ? Will this run on an AVR with less memory, like the 32KB 328 ?

Is it stable?

Awesome work

[Colttt]

Very nice work!!

how many sensors can i use for this system?! "only" 2 ?

maybe you can use something like this:
sensor.1
sensor.2
sensor.3
and so on..

[levkov]

alfsolli:
Thank you. I choose Mega because form factor ( In enclosure it's hard to access IO pins on the top of Ethernet shield. I will explain it when I will post assembly instructions). It will run on AVR with less memory, current compiled firmware is around 20K size, so 32K is enough.
Yes, it's very stable. No OS, no services, no drivers...It's just running directly on hardware chip

Shad0w:
In the future version of firmware it will be possible to change item names using web config page.

It's possible to connect many sensors to the board. 54 digital pins on the Mega can be used as an input or output,16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports)

[alfsolli]

What Zabbix version are you running?

I just tested this on a Arduino Ethernet with PoE, and it works just fine.

agent.ping however, returned a value ("ZBXD1") which was not a suitible reply for the templated Zabbix agent ping. I rewrite it to simply server.println("1"); and it worked as expected.

if(cmd.equals("agent.ping")) {
server.println("ZBXD1"); <- skip "ZBXD"

Just wondering, what version are you running? I'm at 2.0.3.

[levkov]

As I found in in documentation, agent.ping answer have to be "ZBXD\1" so "ZBXD1" is incorrect, but it worked with my test Zabbix VM.

I use 2.0.3 at work and 1.8.x in test Zabbix VM.

Soon I will change it to return "1" and update source code. Thank you for your fix.

[levkov]

Assembly pictures

Here are assembly pictures. As you can see, enclosure size make it almost impossible to use pins on the top of Ethernet shield. This is the main reason why Arduino Mega was chosen for this project - because additional, accessible pins to connect sensors.

[levkov]

Source code fixed to return "1" on agent.ping request.

https://github.com/levkov/sensor.im/blob/master/ZSA1-E/ZSA1E.ino

[alfsolli]

Hi

levkov, don't know if you've dropped by here yet, but I sent you a pm.

[levkov]

alfsolli,
I sent you reply using P.M. but I don't see it in sent messages. Please inform me if you didn't received it.

[levkov]

New enclosure and camera

I have found new enclosure for my Zabbix (Arduino Based) Sensor Agent project. It it looks more solid


Also I had success to connect camera to the agent. It's used to detect movement. It can be used in day and night (built in "night vision"). So now it possible to monitor movement using Zabbix.






Relevant source code for movement detection we be published in near future on Github. I will inform about it here.

[qix]

Awesome! I had been planning to do this myself for a while now.

I'll test your code as soon as I get a chance :-)
(my arduino's are at my local hackerspace currently and I don't think I'll go there for about 2 to 3 weeks.)

I'll let you know if it works!