Zabbix
| Zabbix
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
 Zabbix 4.0 |
|
| Basic data
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| Maintainer | Alexei Vladishev |
| developer | Zabbix LLC |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| Current version | 4.4.9 (May 25, 2020) |
| Current preliminary version | 5.0.1 (May 25, 2020) |
| operating system | GNU / Linux, Solaris , macOS , HP-UX , NetBSD , FreeBSD , IBM Power Systems, AIX |
| programming language | C , PHP , Java |
| category | Network monitoring |
| License | GNU General Public License, version 2 |
| German speaking | Yes |
| www.zabbix.com | |
Zabbix is an open-source - network monitoring system , which was developed mainly by Alexei Vladishev. Zabbix is now being further developed by Zabbix SIA. It is used to monitor IT infrastructures. The first version was published in 2001.
Components
Basically, Zabbix is divided into the Zabbix server , the Zabbix proxy and the Zabbix agent .
The server software in turn consists of several different sub-processes, which can all run on the same or separate machine (s), which means that Zabbix scales very well and is therefore also suitable for very large infrastructure environments.
server
The server is responsible for collecting and evaluating the monitoring data. Collected data is stored in a database.
The devices can be queried passively via SNMP / IPMI , ssh or simply via ping , but the data can also be actively collected on the hosts by the Zabbix agent . In addition, standardized data (time stamp, variable, value) can be actively sent to the server with the Zabbix transmitter .
If the recorded values exceed certain threshold values, the Zabbix server can trigger actions, such as B. send notifications or carry out measures directly on the monitored systems.
A "discovery" function is integrated, with which new devices in the network can be recognized and automatically added to the monitoring.
The Zabbix server can be installed on all UNIX-like operating systems, but still requires a database for its operation. All common SQL database systems can be used for this:
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Oracle RDBMS
- SQLite
- IBM DB2
- TimescaleDB
- Elasticsearch (experimental, for history data)
The Zabbix server consists of various sub-processes. How many of these processes are running can usually be set in the zabbix_server.conf.
In detail these are:
- bollard
- collects the data from the Zabbix agent
- unreachable bollards
- checks whether unreached hosts are still unreachable
- trapper
- accepts all incoming data from active Zabbix agents / proxies
- icmp pinger
- pings individual hosts
- alerter + alert manager
- are responsible for sending notifications
- housekeeper
- Clean up job, deletes old data
- history syncer
- writes the collected data to the database
- proxy bollard
- collects the data from the passive proxies
- http poller
- checks the availability and, if necessary, the return code of web servers / pages (website monitoring)
- ipmi bollard
- collects the data via [IPMI]
- vmware collector
- responsible for VMware monitoring
- timer
- is responsible for time-dependent triggers
- db watchdog
- checks whether the database is available - if not, this is logged and (depending on the configuration) a notification is sent
- escalator
- responsible for escalating each trigger
- discoverer
- responsible for network scan ("autodiscovery")
- preprocessing manager + worker
- responsible for preprocessing data before it is written to the history cache
Web interface
The entire monitoring is managed via a web interface written in PHP , so that a normal browser is sufficient as a client. Using a combination of hosts / actions / items / triggers, every conceivable scenario for collecting data can be implemented. In particular, the display of hosts on maps of various types (maps, infrastructure plans, etc.) is already integrated and very conveniently implemented. A JSON interface offers the option of automating the management of the entire system.
For each "item" (a value to be recorded), a time graph can be called up directly or it can be defined yourself. Several graphs can be freely configured on an overview page (now also referred to as a "dashboard"). There are ready-made templates for the various applications so that the initial effort for configuring the Zabbix "items" is minimal.
For external alarm handling, there is the option of sending "events" via e-mail, Jabber or SMS / GSM . You can also integrate your own scripts that implement special forms of notification.
Passive or agent-free monitoring
Without installing software on the host to be monitored, the Zabbix server can collect data from its protégés via SNMP , IPMI or WMI (from Zabbix 2.2). Simple tests such as B. Open ports and / or response times from websites can also be configured directly in the Zabbix server.
From version 2.2, Zabbix can monitor Java application servers (such as JBoss or Apache Tomcat ) using the JMX interface .
Active - with an agent
If monitoring via ping , IPMI or SNMP is not sufficient, the Zabbix agent is installed on the computer to be monitored. This is a (C-) program that does much more and z. T. also collects more precise data on the host and sends them to the Zabbix server. The connection between Zabbix server / proxy and Zabbix agent as well as between Zabbix server and proxy can be encrypted from version 3.0. It is also possible to execute scripts / commands directly on the monitored host with the agent via so-called "actions".
The agents are available precompiled for the following platforms:
Proxy
A Zabbix installation can be distributed to several locations or separate networks via Zabbix proxies. Zabbix proxies synchronize regularly with the Zabbix server and carry out the monitoring on behalf of the main Zabbix server.
In this way, network boundaries can be overcome and the Zabbix server can be relieved.
Zabbix SIA
Zabbix SIA was founded in 2005 with a focus on professional technical support for Zabbix. Partner programs, integration services and update services are offered.
Zabbix is under the GNU GPL Version 2 and is therefore free software .
Trainings
There are also globally available training courses in multiple languages.
See also
literature
- Diego Wyllie: Network Management and Monitoring. The best web tools for server admins . In: Computerwoche . February 16, 2015 ( online ).
- Diego Wyllie: Zabbix: Enterprise-class open source monitoring . In: Computerwoche . No. 41 , October 8, 2012 ( online ).
- Jürgen Donauer: Open Source Server Monitoring. Server and client monitoring with Zabbix 1.4.2, part 1 . In: Computerwoche. tecChannel.de . November 7, 2007 ( online ).
- Jürgen Donauer: Open Source Server Monitoring. Server and client monitoring with Zabbix 1.4.2, Part 2: Frontend . In: Computerwoche. tecChannel.de . November 16, 2007 ( online ).
Web links
- official website
- Zabbix Share
- System monitoring with Zabbix
- Zabbix 4.2 with numerous innovations
- Monitoring IT infrastructures with Zabbix (IT administrator magazine)
- Monitoring with Zabbix (ADMIN magazine)
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.novell.com . (PDF) - (accessed April 29, 2017).
- ↑ www.zabbix.com . (accessed on February 5, 2017).