[Zabbix-developers] Request for comment on external item implementation

[Colin S. <co...@in...>]

Also testing if there's actually any activity on the damn list.

My patch adds 'ExternalScriptsPath' to zabbix_server.conf, it is a path =
to a directory with executables, the names for which become the item =
keys. Anything within [ and ] is passed to the executable as command =
line arguments. If the file cannot be read or executed it should be =
tagged as "unsupported" and become disabled.

I think the UserParameter statements are brilliant for agent =
configuration, but you cannot run an agent everywhere, and the ability =
for Zabbix to run external scripts from the server itself is essential =
in order to achieve the flexibility it needs to become a good all round =
monitoring/alerting system.=20

It also means agent reconfiguration and restart, as well as the ideal of =
maintaining a modification history for individual agent configurations =
is not necessary.

This is just a request for comment really. Can anyone see any major =
drawbacks to this (multiple layers of fork/context switches yes I know), =
or any problems with the code that I've not anticipated ? Any =
suggestions etc ?

I think a flexible compiled plugin system would be more ideal for =
extending Zabbix with a reasonable level of assurity that the function =
performed is trustworthy and the type and extent of results will be =
guaranteed. Has anyone started work on something like that ?

This is unfortuanetly only against 1.1alpha9, as I'm yet to update to =
1.1alpha10.

Example for external items,

[root@zabbix zabbix]# ls -l /usr/lib/zabbix/external/
total 32
-rwxr-xr-x  1 zabbix zabbix 363 May 31 17:33 latency
-rwxr-xr-x  1 zabbix zabbix 794 May 31 18:25 packetloss
-rwxr-xr-x  1 zabbix zabbix 398 May 31 17:33 ping
-rwxr-xr-x  1 zabbix zabbix 970 May 31 17:43 temptraxe

[root@zabbix zabbix]# cat /usr/lib/zabbix/external/temptraxe
#!/bin/sh

CHECK_TEMPTRAXE=3D"/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/contrib/check_temptraxe"

HOST=3D"${1}"
PROBE=3D"${2}"

if [ -z "${HOST}" ]
then
        echo "Usage: ${0} <HOST> [<PROBE>]"
        exit 1
fi

if [ -z "${PROBE}" ]
then
        PROBE=3D1
fi

RESULT=3D`${CHECK_TEMPTRAXE} --celsius -H ${HOST} -p ${PROBE} | grep =
^Temp | sed -e "s/^.*=3D\ //" -e "s/\ C.*$//"`

if [ -z "${RESULT}" ]
then
        echo "999.0"
else
        echo "${RESULT}"
fi

# EOF

mysql> SELECT key_, hostid, nextcheck, lastvalue, status, units, delta =
FROM items WHERE type=3D'8' AND key_ LIKE '%temptrax%';
+--------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+------=
-+
| key_         | hostid | nextcheck  | lastvalue | status | units | =
delta |
+--------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+------=
-+
| temptraxe[1] |  10059 | 1117785600 | 13.4      |      0 | =B0C    |    =
 0 |
| temptraxe[2] |  10059 | 1117785600 | 24.9      |      0 | =B0C    |    =
 0 |
| temptraxe[4] |  10059 | 1117785600 | 25.7      |      0 | =B0C    |    =
 0 |
| temptraxe[3] |  10059 | 1117785600 | 30.1      |      0 | =B0C    |    =
 0 |
+--------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+------=
-+
4 rows in set (0.03 sec)

mysql> SELECT key_, hostid, nextcheck, lastvalue, status, units, delta =
FROM items WHERE type=3D'8' AND hostid=3D'10018';
+------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+=

| key_       | hostid | nextcheck  | lastvalue | status | units | delta =
|
+------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+=

| latency    |  10018 | 1117531500 | 15.7      |      0 | ms    |     0 =
|
| packetloss |  10018 | 1117531500 | 0         |      1 | %     |     0 =
|
+------------+--------+------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+=

2 rows in set (0.01 sec)

Regards

Colin Stubbs

Systems Engineer

IntraPower Pty Ltd
Level 14, 167 Eagle Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
Australia
Phone: +61 7 3032 3030
Fax +61 7 3032 3001
Email: su...@in...