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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