Switching to Zabbix, an open source solution for monitoring computer networks, allowed the Dansk BiblioteksCenter (DBC) to unify its IT management. It replaced a collection of some six other IT system monitoring tools, both proprietary and open source. "It is really easy to enter data into Zabbix. This helps to create all kinds of monitoring solutions and makes it easy to use for troubleshooting", says Erik Skytthe, system monitoring specialist at DBC.
The DBC is using Zabbix to manage over 500 devices. Mostly of these run the open source Linux operating system, yet there are a few running propriety operating systems. Zabbix is used to monitor the network connections, the storage networks and both the open source Xen virtual machine monitor and as well as a proprietary alternative, and "a huge base of in-house developed applications, some of which are very old."
Skytthe presented on DBC's use of the monitoring tool at the Zabbix 2013 conference, which took place in Riga, the capital of Latvia, last week.
Admirable capabilities
In Riga, he pointed out that it is important to be structured in the set-up of monitoring systems. He showed how DBC used the hierarchy from their Configuration Management Database for the set-up and for the integration with other systems.
Using Zabbix helps the IT system administrators and the non-technical users in DBC to understand the application hierarchy and map the systems dependencies. "We're now all speaking the same language", Skytthe says. Zabbix is part of DBC's ITIL (a well-known approach to IT management).
He admires the tool's capability to customise screens for systems and applications. These give the IT administrators an easy overview of even complex IT system hierarchies. Such dashboards are especially handy when problems occur, aggregating various triggers and alerts.
Graphs for management
The tool also allows the sysadmins to create graphs, collating one or more applications. "Management loves these graphs, showing performance of the main services and applications."
Zabbix can be a bit complex, he says, because of its many menus. However, at the conference, he showed how a few main screens helped resolve that problem, making Zabbix a central place for linking to the system and application documentation.
More information:
Erik Skytthe's presentation (pdf)
Zabbix conference site
DBC