slide 1 © mikoomi, 2010 a zabbix believers story…… jayesh thakrar chief architect, mikoomi...

Slide 1© Mikoomi, 2010

A Zabbix Believer’s Story……

Jayesh Thakrar

Chief Architect, Mikoomimaking enterprise monitoring virtual

Slide 2© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 3© Mikoomi, 2010

Introduction

Slide 4© Mikoomi, 2010

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)

Slide 5© Mikoomi, 2010

Choices: Commercial Players

Slide 6© Mikoomi, 2010

Choices: Nagios & Derivaties

www.groundworkopensource.com

www.shinken-monitoring.org

Slide 7© Mikoomi, 2010

Choices: Other Open Source

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

Slide 8© Mikoomi, 2010

Top Contenders: Nagios & Zabbix

Slide 9© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 10© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 11© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 12© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 13© Mikoomi, 2010

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

rotation ??

N Z

Nagios to Zabbix

Slide 14© Mikoomi, 2010

ZabbixArchitecture

Overview

Slide 15© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 16© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 17© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 18© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 19© Mikoomi, 2010

Zabbix: Built-in Templates

Slide 20© Mikoomi, 2010

Zabbix: Template Items

Slide 21© Mikoomi, 2010

Zabbix: Item Configuration

Slide 22© Mikoomi, 2010

Zabbix Browser based

GUI

Slide 23© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Login Page

Slide 24© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Dashboard

Slide 25© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Dashboard – Favorites

Slide 26© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Dashboard – Minimized

Slide 27© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Menu Options

Slide 28© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Monitoring Data Display - Tabular

Slide 29© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Monitoring Data Display - Tabular

Slide 30© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Monitoring Data Graphs - Adhoc

Slide 31© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Data Graphs – Pre-canned

Slide 32© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Data Graphs – Custom

Slide 33© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Templates and Triggers

Slide 34© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Trigger Definitions

Slide 35© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Alert Listing

Slide 36© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Alert Emails

Slide 37© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: User & Group Administration

Slide 38© Mikoomi, 2010

GUI: Group Security

Slide 39© Mikoomi, 2010

enterprise monitoring made virtual

Slide 40© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 41© Mikoomi, 2010

mikoomi Products & Services

Zabbix Monitoring Framework

MikoomiMonitoring

Agents

Services&

Support

Mikoomi value-add

Slide 42© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 43© Mikoomi, 2010

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

Slide 44© Mikoomi, 2010

mikoomi Services

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

vendors to help operations and monitoring of their products

Slide 45© Mikoomi, 2010

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