zabbix_get missing from package zabbix-server-mysql_1:3.4.13-1+stretch_amd64.deb

[Captain_Paralytic]

I just installed Zabbix 3.4 from the above package and when I went to run zabbix_get I got told that the program wasn't found. I listed the contents of the package and sure enough /usr/bin/zabbix_get isn't in it.

In the end I extracted it from package zabbix-server-mysql_1:3.0.7+dfsg-3_amd64.deb and just copied it in manually, although I don't of course have the man pages correctly installed. It doesn't appear to be in the zabbix-proxy packages for 43.4 either.

[Atsushi]

zabbix_get is not included in the Zabbix server package.
Please install the zabbix-get package separately.

[kloczek]

zabbix_get is not included in the Zabbix server package.
Please install the zabbix-get package separately.

If someone would be asking why this separation is well justified because zabbix_get command is useful only if someone is using passive monitoring.
With growing number of monitored metrics passive monitoring is less and less useful and only possible monitoring is active monitoring (passive one does not scale well).
In other words zabbix_get is completely useless in monitored stacks above some size.

[Captain_Paralytic]

Thanks for that Atsushi. I had tried apt-get install zabbix_get but not with thye hypon instead!

[Captain_Paralytic]

Hi kloczek. If I'm reading the docs correctly (no guarantee there), in general an active monitor differs from a passive one only by whether the host pushes the data to the monitor as opposed to the monitor requesting the data (I know there will be situations where it's more complicated). Anyway from a debugging point of view, it is surely important to be able to see what is getting sent to the monitor. The only obvious way I can see to go about this is to use zabbix_get. Are there better ways?

[dimir]

It's

apt update
apt install zabbix-get

Tha package name contains hyphen (-), while the binary contains underscore (_).

[Captain_Paralytic]

dimir , yes I know that now (as I posted earlier) :-)

I'd be interested in more regarding may later post about my understanding of active vs passive checks and the debugging thereof?

[dimir]

As to your question about active/passive checks. Yes, passive checks are much easier to debug because of zabbix_get. For active checks you can temporarily increase DebugLevel of the server/proxy trapper process, e. g.

zabbix_server -c /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf -R log_level_increase=trapper

View the log server file for active checks, when ready, decrease the noise level back:

zabbix_server -c /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf -R log_level_decrease=trapper

More info: https://www.zabbix.com/documentation...server_process

As to performance, in case of active checks it is less effort for proxy/server, because it doesn't need to track the nextcheck time, generate request etc. So for bigger installations, with lots and logs of agents, Active checks can surely decrease the load of server/proxy.

[Captain_Paralytic]

A little bit confused here. When setting up an item I can chose for it to be Zabbix Agent (active) or a Zabbix trapper. Are you saying the the zabbix trapper process also handles Active Agents?

Also, if I have a (currently) passive UserParameter based agent called "fileage[name, age]" which returns an "ls" style listing of any files matching name older than the specified aged (or the empty string otherwise), then simply changing the Item config from "Zabbix agent" to "Zabbix agent (active)" then it will continue to function as before, except that the Agent will be driving rather than the server doing so? Or is there some other change I would need to make?

[dimir]

Yes, zabbix server/proxy trapper process handles requests to push monitoring data from Active agents and zabbix_sender.
As to your UserParameter question, you are right. You can switch item type from "Zabbix agent" to "Zabbix agent (active)" and agent will be the one initiating the check and pushing the data to server/proxy.

[Captain_Paralytic]

Thanks for your indulgences and prompt responses dimir, it's been really helpful.

But I come back to my earlier comment that the easiest way to debug particularity UserParameter type agents is to use zabbix_get on the server to see what they will be sending. Thus although many items may no longer be passive, the zabbix_get facility still can have an important part to play even with active agents.

[dimir]

Thing is, zabbix_get has nothing to do with Active agent (meaning Active checks). Think of zabbix_get as simulator of server/proxy, because when you use zabbix_get the agent "thinks" it's server/proxy talking to it. I completely agree that debugging UserParameter using passive mode is much easier than using active mode. Then again, you could have both. For example, one could have some UserParameter set up to be monitored using active mode, but testing it using passive mode, that is using zabbix_get. The agent metric is never tied to the mode (active/passive), you can choose either (except for some specific cases, e. g. log items cannot be monitored using passive mode).

[Captain_Paralytic]

Regarding "For example, one could have some UserParameter set up to be monitored using active mode, but testing it using passive mode, that is using zabbix_get.", this is precisely what I was saying.