In pursuit of a monitoring solution for CentOS Linux: Part VI - Zabbix Agent Installation

Continuation of "In pursuit of a monitoring solution for CentOS Linux"
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V 

Part VI - Zabbix Agent Install [Linux Specific]

0. Login as root on the server to be monitored.

1. Install prerequisite packages
yum install gcc

2. Copy Zabbix tarball and extract
mkdir /temp/zabbix && cd /temp/zabbix
copy the zabbix tarball into this folder (via scp from server, or it can be re-downloaded)
tar -xzvf zabbix-1.8.1.tar.gz
cd zabbix-1.8.1.tar.gz

3. Install the zabbix agent
./configure --enable-agent --prefix=/usr/local/zabbix
make install

4. Create the Zabbix User
useradd zabbix

5. Configure Zabbix Agent
echo 'zabbix_agent 10050/tcp' >> /etc/services
echo 'zabbix_trap 10051/tcp' >> /etc/services

6. Copy the sample configs for the agentd.
mkdir /etc/zabbix
cp misc/conf/zabbix_agentd.conf /etc/zabbix

7. Edit agentd config
nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf

Server=Your.Zabbix.Server.IP
Host_name=your_server_name ***[Remember this name! Case Sensitive]

8. Configure Agent to Automatically start
cp misc/init.d/redhat/zabbix_agentd_ctl /etc/init.d/zabbix_agentd
nano /etc/init.d/zabbix_agentd
Just below #!/bin/sh: add these two lines, including the # hash marks.

# chkconfig: 345 95 95
# description: Zabbix Agentd

Edit the following parameters:

BASEDIR=/usr/local/zabbix
ZABBIX_AGENTD=$BASEDIR/sbin/zabbix_agentd

chkconfig --level 345 zabbix_agentd on 


9. Edit hostsfile to allow communication
nano /etc/hosts.allow

ALL: your.zabbix.server.ip : allow

10.Depending on your firewall setup, open the follwoing ports: 10050 and 10051.

11. Start the Zabbix Agent Service
service zabbix_agentd start

12. Make sure the agent is operational
cat /tmp/zabbix_agentd.log

The expected output is a few lines, one of which should say Zabbix Agent is running...

Now login to the Zabbix Server web interface/ GUI.

13.  Setup the host on the server
Go to Configuration –> Hosts –> Create Host
Host: Your Server Name(use the same name from step 7)
DNS name: your dns info [your dns name only]
IP address: 192.168.x.x [Your Host ip address]
Port: 10050
Status: Monitored [We will change this after installing the agent]
Link with Template: Template_Linux


Save!

Documentation of Triggers and other necessary information on further configuration can be found on the Zabbix Website.


-n