Introducing Monitoring as a Service – Powered by Zabbix

Monitoring as a Service (MaaS) – powered by Zabbix – offers a wide range of solutions to help you easily install, configure, and manage one of your most critical monitoring components. It also provides customers with a quick, managed deployment of a fully functional Zabbix instance. This post will provide the basic steps to get you up-and-running quickly.

If you haven’t already done so, you’ll need to deploy a MaaS instance. Setup is quick and easy! You’ll receive an email as soon as your instance is ready to use.

Configuring a Site Proxy

ZaaS can receive data directly from your datacenter agents, or your can configure a site proxy to pass data to your ZaaS portal. For security and optimization reasons, it is highly recommended that you configure a site proxy. If you maintain a very small environment, or are simply evaluating the ZaaS offering, you can skip this section and proceed to the section titled Configuring Your First Agent.

1. Download the proxy application.

Download the Zabbix proxy rpm or the Zabbix proxy container from the Zabbix website.

NOTE: Be sure to select Zabbix version 6.0 LTS and Proxy Zabbix component.

2. Install the proxy server.

Proxy installation instructions are listed on the same page where you downloaded the Zabbix proxy. Note that the the database you select will need to be installed separately.

3. Configure the proxy.

For an rpm deployment, modify the zabbix_server.conf file with the following:

Server=<customer>.gam.galileosuite.com:<port>
Hostname=zaas-proxy

For a container deployment, you will need to specify the following flags (in addition to those listed on the Zabbix website):

-e ZBX_SERVER_HOST="<customer>.gam.galileosuite.com:<port>" -e ZBX_HOSTNAME="zaas-proxy"

The Server / ZBX_SERVER_HOST information can be found in your welcome email. The Hostname / ZBX_HOSTNAME is the name you want to give the proxy. You can keep the zaas-proxy name as shown or you can change it to anything you want. Just be sure to make note of this name since you’ll need it for the next step.

4. Set up the proxy in your ZaaS portal.

Refer to the Zabbix proxy documentation to set up your proxy in your MaaS portal. The Proxy name is the Hostname that you gave your proxy in the last step. All other parameters for the proxy can be left as the default.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• By default, the proxy will communicate with your MaaS instance WITHOUT encryption. If you want to enable encryption, refer to the Zabbix documentation to enable encryption.
• Be sure that your firewall rules allow for outbound communication from the Proxy server to the cloud server on the specified port.

Configuring Your First Agent

1. Download and install the Zabbix agent.

Download the Zabbix agent rpm or the Zabbix agent container from the Zabbix website. Installation instructions are included for each agent type.

2. Modify the configuration.

For a non-containerized deployment, modify the zabbix_agentd.conf file as follows:

Server=<your-zabbix-proxy-or-server FQDN or IP Address>
ServerActive=<your-zabbix-proxy-or-server FQDN or IP Address>
Hostname=<this-hostname>

For a containerized agent deployment, you will need to specify the following flags (in addition to those listed on the Zabbix website):

-e ZBX_SERVER_HOST="<your-zabbix-proxy-or-server FQDN or IP Address>" -e ZBX_HOSTNAME="<some-hostname>"

3. Start the agent.

For a non-containerized agent deployment, refer to the Zabbix Agent documentation or Agent 2 documentation for start/stop procedures.

For a containerized agent deployment, refer to the Zabbix agent container documentation for start/stop procedures.

4. Configure the agent in your ZaaS portal.

In your MaaS portal, navigate to Configuration > Hosts > Create a Host.

• Specify the “Host name” (from step 2 above).
• Pick a Group (existing group or add a new group).
• Enter the IP address and/or FQDN of the host.
• If you’re using a proxy, select it in the “Monitored by proxy” dropdown.
• Choose an appropriate template from the Templates tab.