Opensource ICT Solutions
Opensource ICT Solutions ZABBIX BeNeLux conference 2023 Zabbix in an MSP environment Whoami Brian van Baekel Zabbix trainer / Consultant Opensource ICT Solutions Your Zabbix partner in: • The Netherlands •   United Kingdom •  United States Opensource ICT Solutions
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
Technical Support Get technical advice Let Opensource ICT Solutions build Your monitoring environment from scratch https://oicts.com Zabbix Benelux conference 2023 Opensource ICT Solutions

Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
4 Zabbix Benelux conference 2023 ↓  Opensource ICT Solutions • Why use Zabbix? • Cost effective • Flexible • Extendable • Consideration: •  A single instance (global) •  Many small ones (one per customer)
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• One instance •  Easy to manage •  License costs (OS, DB etc) • Upgrade: just 1 component (but higher impact)
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Many instances
•  Each instance is smaller -> less performance tuning needed • Upgrade: many small upgrades, with smaller impact per upgrade
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Single server: One view to see them all • Many servers: “impossible” without custom coding or Grafana • But still: consistency is possible/easy Zabbix 7.2 Planned release date: Q2 2024 Distributed monitoring lity to display data from multiple Zabbix servers on a single dashboard to enable multi-DC monitoring scenario
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
• Uniformal configuration
• Templates, naming conventions etc. • Uniformal monitoring •  When using templates, the monitoring is always consistent between various systems • Uniformal alerting • Setup a structure once and Copy/Paste it for every customer
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

6.4 6.2 6.0 LIS 5.0 LTS 4.0 LIS Release Notes 6.4 ?  × Cancel Opensource
• Integration with • CMDB? • Ticketing? • Authentication? • API calls are available "value": "123321" "macro": "{$USER_LOCATIOn ""value": "0:0:0" "description": "latitude, longitude and altitude coordinates" 'inventory_mode": 0 inventory": 'macaddress a": "01234 icaddress b": "56768 "id": 1 Zabbix Benelux conference 2023 Opensource ICT Solutions
↓  Opensource ICT Solutions
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Zabbix down? You are blind. i, This site can’t be reached zbxmspsrv refused to connect. Try: • Checking the connection •  Checking the proxy and the firewall ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Details Reload
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• How to scale your instance?
And so it begins…. 4 Opensource ICT Solutions • How many hosts? How many items? Update interval? History storage period? Trends? Expansion?
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• What to think about before starting?
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

Add Cancel
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
4 Opensource ICT Solutions
• Used for logical grouping and permissions Host groups Name ▲ Windows Name ▲ Hess Hess/Linux Hess/Windows
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Host names, conventions etc
<4 digit customername>-<type><3letter location code>-<env><role><2 digit incrementing number> HESS-PAMS-DEVO-SQL01

Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Templates, naming conventions IIS by Zabbix agent active Linux by Zabbix agent Linux by Zabbix agent active Windows by Zabbix agent Windows by Zabbix agent active What How
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Actions? Of course! Trigger actions ∨ Name Enabled Disabled Name ムHess/Report Linux problems/All media Hess/Report Windows problems/All media
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
• Special love for VMWare host prototypes
Cannot create group: group with the same name "(vm)" already exists Cannot create host: host with the same visible name "This-hurts-in-a-MSP-ENV" already Host prototypes Fix? 1) Duplicate templates and add customer name in the host prototype Discovery list  /  Discover VMware VMs Item prototypes Trigger prototypes Graph prototypes | Host prototypes 1 Host Encryption Inventory Macros 1 {#VM.UUID} - Customer Visible name {#VM.NAME} - Customer1 Templates Name VMware Guest type here to search Action Unlink Select o -'--'
• Fix 1: • Duplicate templates and add customer name in the host prototype Host prototypes All templates /  VMware      Discovery list /  Discover VMware VMs      Item prototypes      Trigger prototypes Graph prototypes     Host prototypes 1 Macros 1 Inventory
• Fix 2: • Just add an usermacro in the name - that way it should become dynamic! Nope.... Host prototypes / Details ▲ Cannot update host prototype Invalid parameter "/1/host": invalid host name Select

Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• Fix 2: • Just add an usermacro in the name - that way it should become dynamic! But “hide” it in a LLD macro ♕ Host prototypes Updab Full done Delete Template available: https://github.com/OpensourceICTSolutions/custom-vmware-template Zabbix Benelux conference 2023 Opensource ICT Solutions
• How to work with hundreds of dashboards
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
4 • Ahhh. The. Most. Important. Ever.
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

• SuperAdmin == Root • Admin follows permissions(read/read-write) set per usergroup • User = Readonly permissions as set per usergroup
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
• Who can see what? Customer 1 • Permissions are fully respected cust1-agent1: Zabbix agent ping Up Item value No permissions to referred object or it does not exist! Opensource ICT Solutions
User roles Access to UI elements Dashboards * At least one UI element must be checked. Default access to new UI elements Opensource ICT Solutions 4
Customer 1 (Admin, RW on customer1 hostgroup) Super Admin
Default access to new UI elements Update Clone Delete Cancel 4 Opensource ICT Solutions
• Equally important. Super Admin Customer 1 (Admin, RW on customer1 hostgroup)
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
• Yes, it is possible to use Zabbix in a MSP environment, permission Wise • NO do not make your customers SuperAdmin, ever. • Provision them as ‘User’ and only upon request as ‘Admin’ to their own groups.
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023

Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
Opensource ICT Solutions 4 • Zabbix <6.4: • Upgrade Server + Proxies at “the same time” due to incompatibility • Agents can be done later • Zabbix >6.4: • Upgrade Server • Upgrade Proxy (can be done at convenient moment) • Upgrade agent Proxies Name
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
• Zabbix in a MSP environment? Yes! • But a few considerations must be taken in account before building the environment
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023
Opensource ICT Solutions B.V. Agriport 38D 1775TB Middenmeer The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 72 743 65 83 E. info@oicts.nl W. https://oicts.nl Opensource ICT Solutions LLC 251 Little Falls Drive Wilmington, DE 19808 United States T. +1 (929) 377 1253 E. info@oicts.com W. https://oicts.com Opensource ICT Solutions LTD 5-7 Cranwood Street London EC1V 9EE United Kingdom T. +44 (0) 20 4551 1827 E. info@oicts.co.uk W. https://oicts.co.uk
Zabbix Benelux conference 2023