ZABBIX documentation

[StanZoid]

Complete the documentation

There are places, such as in the IT services section (please?), where there is no documentation at all! I would use that if I could figure it out!

Also, the sections on events and platforms are not complete and inconsistent. For example, the log[] function is not there, and the web functions are in some places but not others. Also, the lists by platform are not current with releases.

There are some other areas, like SNMP implementation, where the documentation seems to assume more knowledge on the part of the reader than what is actually there (like me). A more complete explanation would be helpful.

I think a review of hot topics in the forum would also give some idea of what needs more documentation...

StanZoid

[jawanda]

QUICK START GUIDE - A great starting point for newbies

Moreover I wud like to appreciate the "Quick start guide" option, as it greatly helps me a lot in understanding the basics of zabbix, and setting up the initial server.

But Im still unable to understand the some terms, how to set them, like
1. how to make custom parameters ( this section must b included in Quick start guide )
2. wat zabbix can do, must be stated in layman's language, so that one may not confuse in technical terms.

thnx

[Maveric]

Could you document the purpose of "Applications" in the "Configuration\Hosts" menu ?
What is the exact scope of "Applications" ? Can it be used to moniter a distributed (on several host) application ? Any other purposes ?
I could not find any clue in the manual.

Many thanks,

[lcondado]

No line in network map connection

A "no line" option when creating a connection between two elements in a map would be useful to use two or more connections, each one for a different severity (info, warning, alert). Then, we can see a green line if the severity is warning, or a red line if the severity is alert.
THANKS.

[limo]

Better help in www frontend

I am voting for better help inside frontend..
There are some places where users are lost..

Eg. color of triggers. Sometimes it is red, sometime gree, sometimes blinking. Nobody knows what it means. Did I lost some point of documentation ?
Same with IT services.

[welkin]

http://www.zabbix.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5465

Here's something for the TriggerBlinking
mfg
welkin

[bobster]

Software=very good. Doco=pretty bad

My overall opinion of the manual is that's simply not thorough enough.

From the beginning of my efforts - even installation of prerequisite software - Apache and PHP along with the godawful missing libphp5.so [Solaris SPARC environment] was a weeklong study onto itself and most of the help I received was from numerous 3rd party articles and webpages NOT the Zabbix documentation. As far as working out bugs or trying to get things working in the front end, the forum was somewhat helpful but there was no clue whatsoever in the main (.pdf) manual that i downloaded along with the original source code.

Even an unorganized collection of 6-10 examples - explaining, for example - how to set up remote commands in the "cookbook section" . It would be far better than the usual format of "syntax chart along with small amount of text that has not been proof-read."

While my opinion of the documentation is low, my opinion of the softare
is very high indeed. Hats off and a big bravo to the developeers.

[Vanyuan]

Yaaay!!! :-)))))

Alo all,

This is absolutely great news!

* How about a quick-start guide on getting zabbix to run for the impatient?
* Tutorials on adding a single trigger, action & item that will better explain how everything fits together?

V.

[kberrien]

Well put

My overall opinion of the manual is that's simply not thorough enough.

From the beginning of my efforts - even installation of prerequisite software - Apache and PHP along with the godawful missing libphp5.so [Solaris SPARC environment] was a weeklong study onto itself and most of the help I received was from numerous 3rd party articles and webpages NOT the Zabbix documentation. As far as working out bugs or trying to get things working in the front end, the forum was somewhat helpful but there was no clue whatsoever in the main (.pdf) manual that i downloaded along with the original source code.

Even an unorganized collection of 6-10 examples - explaining, for example - how to set up remote commands in the "cookbook section" . It would be far better than the usual format of "syntax chart along with small amount of text that has not been proof-read."

While my opinion of the documentation is low, my opinion of the softare
is very high indeed. Hats off and a big bravo to the developeers.

Well put, and totally agree. People very well might skip the project all together due to poor and inaccurate documentation.

[limo]

Absolutly sure. I ithink it is time to do documentation job now. there are enaught features in 1.4... Better to document anything.

[Niels]

I also agree with bobster. While the manual (pdf) does have a glossary, things simply aren't explained enough. It's often difficult to understand what is meant, if there's any mention at all about one's current problem.

Here's an example:

5.10.3. SNMP Agent
ZABBIX must be configured with SNMP support in order to be able to retrieve data provided by SNMP agents.

A number of question spring to mind:
- Is this a new executable, or just the Zabbix agent?
- Which program must be configured thusly -- the server, the agent or, possibly, the new agent?
- Which program receives what?

[Niels]

1.4 is out (congratulations!) and so is rev 7 of the manual. The manual is obviously not complete and free from errors. Here's an easy one to fix:

In the section about creating the initial database for MySQL, the paths in the manual don't match the ones on the tarball.

[zombiehunter]

yep

1.4 is out (congratulations!) and so is rev 7 of the manual. The manual is obviously not complete and free from errors. Here's an easy one to fix:

In the section about creating the initial database for MySQL, the paths in the manual don't match the ones on the tarball.

I kept getting stuck during/after compilation due to inaccurate install instructions. I'm only partially familiar with compiling my own source so a step-by-step install guide needs to be accurate. This info will help, but what are the correct paths? Another example is that when I went to "make install" it would fail and with recursive errors. Is this related to the broken MySQL paths?

[Niels]

No, make errors are not related to this. The section I'm talking about is where 3 SQL files are loaded into the database. It should read:

shell> mysql -u <username> -p
mysql> create database zabbix;
mysql> quit;
shell> cd create
shell> cat schema/mysql.sql | mysql -u <username> -p zabbix
shell> cat data/data.sql | mysql -u <username> -p zabbix
shell> cat data/images_mysql.sql | mysql -u <username> -p zabbix

It ought to explain how to set up the user and give privileges to the Zabbix database.

[dratliff]

document, document, document

A lot of great input from this forum. I think this forum and it's users should be complimented for the sharing of their knowledge and experience. I have found a lot of great information searching the forums. That has it's draw backs though. It can take about a week to figure out zabbix. I think a quick start guide, a little more thorough documentation and ton's of examples.

I know there is a wiki associated with this site. We use a wiki page within our organization (a county within Minnesota) to organize our data on systems, status and general information. Has anyone expanded that idea to further the wiki concept to the zabbix movement?

I have been documenting the zabbix work I have done in our wiki for all to read. Not that anyone has time to leisurely read wiki entries, but in this scenario, it might help with the documentation effort and provide a great starting point. The cookbook is great, but I think it is lacking some direction. Is the cookbook what is intended to share information?

Just my $0.02 worth.