Configuring Zabbix Observer jobs

Using the Zabbix Observer functionality, you can load monitored servers and their associated network resources, and then visualize this data as a topology view in the Agile Service Manager UI. It is installed as part of the core installation procedure.

Before you begin

The Zabbix Observer supports Zabbix Versions 4.0.3, 6.0.3 and 6.4.11.

Ensure you have the Zabbix server details to hand, such as the username, password and SSL TrustStore.

About this task

A Zabbix Observer job extracts server information and its associated network resources from Zabbix via REST RPC. The Observer loads and updates the resources and their relationships within the Netcool Agile Service Manager core topology service.

You define and start the following job.
Full Topology Upload job
By default, these jobs are one-off, transient jobs that carry out a full upload of all requested topology data when they are triggered.
You can also run these jobs (again) manually from the Observer UI, or schedule them to run at set times when you configure them.

Procedure

  1. On the Observer jobs page, perform one of the following actions:
    To edit an existing job
    Open the List of options overflow menu next to the job and click View & edit.
    To create a new job
    Click Add a new job + and select the Zabbix Observer tile.
  2. Enter or edit the following parameters, then click Save to save your job and begin retrieving information:
    Table 1. Zabbix Observer parameters
    Parameter Action Details
    Unique ID Enter a unique name for the job. Required
    The datacenter of zabbix server Specify the data center in which the Zabbix instance runs. Required. If more than one, list them (comma-separated).
    The hostname of zabbix server Enter the Zabbix virtual hostname. Required
    The username of zabbix server Specify the Zabbix username. Required
    The password of zabbix server Specify the Zabbix user password. Required. Use plain text.
    Zabbix ssl certificate Specify a certificate file name.
    Required. For more information, see Configuring observer job security.
    On-premises
    Create and store the certificate in the ASM_HOME/security directory.
    OpenShift Container Platform
    Obtain the authentication certificate by using OpenSSL and store it as a secret.
    SSL Validation Choose whether to use SSL validation ('true' or 'false'). If false, HTTPS is used, but without hostname validation. Optional
    HTTPS trustStore file name Specify the trustStore file name.
    Tip: You can use the observer name (<observer>.jks) for example Zabbix.jks.
    		 Required. For both on-prem and OCP, provide the JKS name, and the observer will then create the JKS file accordingly.
    trustStore file password Specify the trustStore password to decrypt the HTTPS trustStore file. Required. Use plain text.
    Zabbix connection timeout (milliseconds) (optional) Timeout, in ms, when querying the Zabbix REST API. Optional. Default is 5000 (5s).
    Access scope

    Enter text to provide a scope for the resources.

    Access scope can help map alerts to resources when resources in different scopes share parameters, such as matchTokens.

    		 Optional.
    Tip: You can define access scope for locations, project names, namespaces, and so on.
    Generate debug support file
    Set the optional Generate debug support file parameter to True to capture the output of the next scheduled job run as a file. This file is stored with an observer's log files and can be used to debug observer issues, for example at the request of your designated Support team, or while using a test environment. For one-off jobs (that is, Load jobs), this parameter reverts to False after the next completed run. To examine the output produced, you can load the generated debug file using the File Observer. The file is saved to the following locations:
    On-premises
    $ASM_HOME/logs/<obs>-observer/
    On OpenShift Container Platform
    /var/log/itsm/<obs>-observer
    		 Optional
    Observer job description Enter additional information to describe the job. Optional
    Job schedule

    Specify when the job should run, and whether it should run at regular intervals.

    By default the job runs immediately, and only once.

    Optionally you can specify a future date and time for the job to run, and then set it to run at regular intervals after that.

    Optional. Transient (one-off) jobs only.

    If you set a job schedule, the run intervals must be at least 90 seconds apart. If you set them at less than 15 minutes, a warning is displayed, as the frequency can impact system performance.
    SSL requirements: To acquire SSL certificates and build SSL truststores, use the relevant instructions in the following section: Configuring observer job security