Installation woes

[Guest]

This is the second try I've had at installing Zabbix and no luck. The first time was a failed attempt at installing from source. The documentation is less than stellar regarding doing the installation, so I went to another server (Fedora 9) and installed the RPM version. That went better, but now I'm stuck on the web installation section. After fixing the couple of issues with php.ini settings I was able to get all the way to the zabbix.conf.php file. Here's where things fail badly.

Every time I try to test this I get this at the top of the page:

* Undefined variable: NC[/etc/zabbix/zabbix.conf.php:34]
* Undefined variable: NC[/etc/zabbix/zabbix.conf.php:34]
* Incorrect configuration file[/usr/share/zabbix/conf/zabbix.conf.php]
* mysql_pconnect() [function.mysql-pconnect]: Access denied for user 'zabbix'@'localhost' (using password: YES)[/etc/zabbix/db.inc.php:46]


Now, the MYSQL problem was tested (and told me OK) so why this is showing up is beyond me. The undefined variable in line 34 of the conf file isnt undefined that I could see.

But beyond that, when I save the new config file and place it where it tells me to (/usr/share/zabbix/conf/) and do a 'retry', it still fails.

I'd really like to try out this piece of software, but this is getting silly. Any ideas?

[bbrendon]

Sorry, not too familuar wed red hat, but I know the debian version is simple to install

If you're installing the beta, which it sounds like you are and if you're unexperienced with unix, I would run 1.4.x.

mysql_pconnect() [function.mysql-pconnect]: Access denied for user 'zabbix'@'localhost'

It looks like you are not authenticating to the database.

* Undefined variable: NC[/etc/zabbix/zabbix.conf.php:34]

I think these were fixed in a newer build.

[MarcusCrassus]

More info

I'm not using a beta version, I was using 1.4.5 RPM version that is available with Fedora 9. I was able to authenticate with the database based on the 'Test connection' page just prior to the configuration page, so this shouldn't be a problem here. That's what has got me confused.

[Aly]

I've encountered several times that RPM version have been modified, so I can't help you..

[MarcusCrassus]

Sadly moving on

Yeah it doesn't look like anyone can help me. The Documentation for even installing from source is horrible, so that is no help to me. I've tried from source and RPM and honestly, I got farther with the RPM version than I ever did with source.

I had high hopes for this package. I had wanted to test it to see how it fared to Nagios, et al. But if a seasoned linux geek can't get it. And there are no helpful hints online, or, indeed in this forum, I have to say I am disappointed. Maybe I'll come back later when this package is more mature.

[Tenzer]

What in the documentation do you think is horrible? It can't be all of it

You could also try the version of the documentation meant for the next stable version of Zabbix, it may be better for you, and the installation procedure should be the same: http://www.zabbix.com/downloads/ZABBIX Manual v1.6.pdf

[bbrendon]

Yeah it doesn't look like anyone can help me. The Documentation for even installing from source is horrible, so that is no help to me. I've tried from source and RPM and honestly, I got farther with the RPM version than I ever did with source.

I had high hopes for this package. I had wanted to test it to see how it fared to Nagios, et al. But if a seasoned linux geek can't get it. And there are no helpful hints online, or, indeed in this forum, I have to say I am disappointed. Maybe I'll come back later when this package is more mature.

Zabbix is very mature by now. Its your distribution that is providing the packages that is not. If you don't understand the intricacies of compiling, try debian. Its a snap to install.

If all else fails, you could hire someone to install it.

[MarcusCrassus]

Installation

I do understand the intricacies of compiling. That, in itself isn't the problem. The /documentation/ is. I can compile until I'm blue in the face, but without documentation that tells me /how/ to continue setting up after that, a built binary is pointless.

As for the RPM being out of date, it's v 1.4.5. So it's not /that/ out of date. As I said, I got farther with the RPM that I did trying to follow the setup instructions compiling from source. Nowhere in the docs does it tell you /how/ to setup the web interface. Is the web interface a separate source? Does it need compiling, etc. I did manage to get figure it out, but I don't have time to spend digging through layers of code guessing at what comes next. If it's this big a pain to install, if the installation is that complex that even the devs can't document it completely, I'm not sure I want to spend time on making it work.

I'm not some 'out of the Windows world' n00b. But I do rather expect a more full featured set of docs for a complex application. Zabbix's doesn't cut it in my book. I fully expected to spend a decent amount of time configuring my /devices/ NOT the app itself.

As I said, the Fedora RPM worked great except that one minor glitch with the config file. I gave you all the information I figured you needed in the initial post, and all I get is, it's an RPM it's the distros problem. I tell you, it's not the distros problem with the RPM does what it's supposed to do. The app setup is flawed. So far, I've received no help on this matter other than a good bash at the RPM package. To me, that's unaccpetable. The package is precompiled and the web interface is PHP. It's not rocket science. So why am I getting that error? It seems no one knows, nor does anyone know where to begin the debug process. The server and agent binaries ran fine, but what good does that do me when I can't get the web UI to get past the configuration file? The file, based on what I saw, was good. It just wasn't accepting it. I am sure I'd have had the same problem using the tarball php code directly in apache rather than the RPM for the web interface.

If the forums only answer is 'try debian', then I am saddened that no more knowledgeable answer is available.

This tells me, this product isn't as mature as it's made out to be. This has been a pretty miserable experience, one of the worst I've had from an open source project. Therefore, I've scrapped Zabbix and moved on. I had high hopes, but this truly makes me wonder what kind of support I'd get if I had some other problem in the future while running it.

[bbrendon]

Sorry if your post made me chuckle a little bit. And I'm going to stick up for Zabbix.

That was quite a rant... It sounds like you have the experience to install zabbix but don't want to apply it? Zabbix is very simple compared to postfix/cyrus/spam configurations. Its just a few binaries and a php web interface.

Seriously, though. If you don't want to parse through some php, then like I said, debian is a great solution.

You failed for a few reasons:
-You have a permission issue with mysql
-You didn't post your zabbix.conf.php
-You were lazy (inferred based on your experience)

The installation of Zabbix is very similar (process and difficulty) to any other LAMP application except for the zabbix_server binary, which it sounds like wasn't an issue.

Good luck in your open source quest. Its free, so don't complain. Try BMC Patrol instead.

[nelsonab]

I'm of a similar opinion to Infinity on this one. The reason for "bashing" the RPM is simple. Zabbix SA, DOES NOT PROVIDE ONE! The RPM was built by a third party. I'm sorry but saying there's a problem with the RPM will fall mostly on deaf ears.

With that said, I can appreciate your frustration. I have ranted about the Zabbix docs *many* times. I have a love hate relationship with them. Some days they are a godsend, others, we'll we won't go there.

I do however feel that the installation portion of the documentation is overall fairly cleanly written. Yes it can use some more details and background but overall it's very straight forward.

The "standard" (very abbreviated) install procedure is this:
1) Download the source form the Zabbix website then untar
2) Run the configure script with the options you want and compile.
3) Create the Zabbix user
4) Setup the mysql database. This is documented well.
5) Copy the example zabbix_agentd and zabbix_server config files to the /etc/zabbix directory. They can be found in the misc/conf directory. You only need zabbix_agent (no d) if you are using inetd to run the agent. Yes this is not 100% clear in the docs. You will also need to edit the files to match your environment.
6) Copy one of the init scripts which closely matches your distro from misc/init.d. You may need to tune this file with your path information. You may also need to "enable" the config script with chkconfig --add zabbix_agentd/serverd then chkconfig zabbix_agentd/server on
7) Copy the frontend to your web server directory. It is suggested that during install all directories and files in the web server directory be owned and are writable by the user running the web server process. (This saves time later)
8) Point your web browser to the Zabbix server.
9) Follow the wizard. The phptimezone is about the only thing not 100% clear on how to setup, but google and forum search are your friends.
10) Start the agent and server
11) Enjoy

12) come back to the forum and share your thoughts. Make specific points on what sucked, what was good, and how to make an improvement. Also share what you learned and what was not clear going into it. People search the forums and your experience will help someone else.