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A Zabbix Believer’s Story……

Jayesh Thakrar

Chief Architect, Mikoomimaking enterprise monitoring virtual

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Topics1. Introduction

2. Comparison : Nagios v/s Zabbix

3. Zabbix : Architecture Overview

4. Zabbix : Browser based GUI

5. Mikoomi : Open-source Value-Add Agents & Consulting Services

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Introduction

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How It All Began…..

• Needed to monitor IT systems - 24x7► Are applications, web servers, databases

and other services up?

• Needed insight into performance► Visibility into current and historical

performance and load► Quantifying, charting and trending of load,

performance and utilization

• Tool for HelpDesk (Level-1 Support)

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Choices: Commercial Players

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Choices: Nagios & Derivaties

www.groundworkopensource.com

www.shinken-monitoring.org

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Choices: Other Open Source

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/nmtf/nmtf-tools.html#contents

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Top Contenders: Nagios & Zabbix

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Nagios: Brief Overview

• Pros► Popular and well-known► Basis for many other open source systems► Template-based and object oriented

inheritance► Based out of Minneapolis, US► Boost (?) by RedHat announcement

http://www.nagios.org/news/77-news-announcements/230-nagios-is-redhats-standard-alerting-system

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Nagios: Brief Overview

• Cons► Requires significant effort for setup► Setup, admin and configuration = text file

based► Monitoring data stored in single flat file

(or via pipe into database)► High I/O on data file from monitoring and UI► Configuration change require reload ► “Primitive” graphing and monitoring UI

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Zabbix : Brief Overview

• Pros► Agent and agent-less monitoring► SNMP support► Template based► Scalable, distributed architecture► Built-in UNIX, log-file, SNMP and URL monitoring► Easy to extend with plug-ins or agents► Active development► Database based monitoring data storage ► Thresholds and alerting separate from monitoring

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Zabbix : Brief Overview

• Pros► Multiple items or attributes per monitored entity► Different items of an entity can be monitored by

different mechanisms► Can define alerts based on comparison of current

item value with historical values, averages, etc.► Can build dependencies between monitored entities► Pre-canned (template-based) graphs as well as ad-

hoc graphs on any monitored item► User-defined maps, screens and slide-shows

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Convinced that N to Z is more than Just a 90°

rotation ??

N Z

Nagios to Zabbix

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ZabbixArchitecture

Overview

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Zabbix Distributed Architecture

Zabbix Server

Zabbix Database

Zabbix OS Agents

Zabbix Distributed Nodes

Proxy Servers or Proxy Agents

Web Server

Zabbix Node (Central)

External monitoring data collectors

External Scripts

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Inside the Zabbix Server

Poller Processeswatchdog

Poller Processeshousekeeper

Poller Processesalerter

Poller Processespoller

Poller Processeshttppoller

Poller Processespinger

Poller Processesdb_config_syncer

Poller Processesdb_data_syncer

Poller Processesnodewatcher

Poller Processestimer

Poller Processesdiscoverer Poller Processesescalator

Zabbix Server Processes

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Zabbix OS Agent

• OS-level agents for most popular platforms► Linux► AIX, HP-UX, Solaris► MacOS► Windows

• OS agents can run external programs to complement / enhance monitoring

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Zabbix Monitoring Approach• Templates

► Define new or modify existing templates► Contains monitoring data elements called items► Contains thresholds (triggers) and actions on item► Collection of pre-defined graphs using items

• Hosts► Hosts = monitored entity

e.g. hosts, applications, databases, etc. ► Define new hosts and link to template► Customize triggers and actions if necessary

• Data Collection – by Server, Agent or Proxy

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Zabbix: Built-in Templates

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Zabbix: Template Items

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Zabbix: Item Configuration

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Zabbix Browser based

GUI

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GUI: Login Page

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GUI: Dashboard

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GUI: Dashboard – Favorites

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GUI: Dashboard – Minimized

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GUI: Menu Options

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GUI: Monitoring Data Display - Tabular

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GUI: Monitoring Data Display - Tabular

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GUI: Monitoring Data Graphs - Adhoc

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GUI: Data Graphs – Pre-canned

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GUI: Data Graphs – Custom

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GUI: Templates and Triggers

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GUI: Trigger Definitions

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GUI: Alert Listing

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GUI: Alert Emails

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GUI: User & Group Administration

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GUI: Group Security

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enterprise monitoring made virtual

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About mikoomi

• Mikoomi, the company -► Develops, distributes and supports

open-source monitoring solutions► Provides custom development and

consulting around monitoring and high availability

► Strong believer in open-source – as a consumer and as a producer

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mikoomi Products & Services

Zabbix Monitoring Framework

MikoomiMonitoring

Agents

Services&

Support

Mikoomi value-add

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mikoomi Products - Appliance

• Mikoomi Monitoring Appliance► Appliance = virtual machine template► Contains Zabbix + Ubuntu + best practices► Zabbix = Best open source monitoring► Ubuntu = One of the best Linux variants► Quick, easy & flexible to deploy► Up and running in less than 60 minutes

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mikoomi Products – Agents • Mikoomi Monitoring Agents

► Add-on monitoring capabilities for databases, application servers, software components, custom apps

► Embed deep product-specific expertise and monitoring best practices

► Covers key health and performance data► Open-source makes them extensible► Minimally “intrusive” on monitored entity► Java JVM and DB2 released► WebSphere, Tomcat, SQL Server, Oracle, ActiveMQ

and others planned for release

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mikoomi Services

• Services► Deployment, implementation and training► Consulting & custom development► Develop custom monitoring for software

vendors to help operations and monitoring of their products

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mikoomi: Sizing and Capacity

• Single node (appliance) with 2 CPUs + 2 GB memory supports monitoring a “sizable” IT environment - ► 10 – 20 servers +► 20 – 40 databases or instances +► 20 – 40 application instances

• Scales horizontally and vertically