The Zabbix server can do monitoring using lots of different methods: it can communicate with Zabbix agents, SNMP devices, and IPMI devices; run commands; and do a whole lot of other things. A problem arises when the number of devices to be monitored increases; a single endpoint (our Zabbix server) is supposed to communicate with lots of others, and a large number of connections can cause problems both on the Zabbix server and in the network components between the Zabbix server and monitored devices.
It gets worse if we have to monitor remote environments—be it a branch office, another data center, or a customer site. Zabbix agents? Port 10050 must be open to all servers. SNMP? Port 161 must be open to all devices. It becomes unmanageable really quickly.
A solution is to use Zabbix proxies. A Zabbix proxy is a remote data-collector process that is capable of collecting data using all the methods the Zabbix server supports. In this chapter, we will set up a Zabbix proxy, use it for gathering data, and discuss the best methods to determine whether the proxy itself is available.
We will cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Active proxies and passive proxies
- Setting up an active proxy
- Proxy benefits
- Proxy limitations
- Proxies and availability monitoring
- Setting up a passive proxy
- Tweaking the proxy configuration