Creating A ZenPack

Introduction

A ZenPack is a package that adds new functionality to the Zenoss Core or Enterprise Edition. A ZenPack may add Action Rules, Event Classes, Event Commands, User Commands, Service Classes, Data Sources, Graphs, Performance Templates, Reports, Model Extensions or Product Definitions. A ZenPack may also add new daemons and new UI features such as menus.

This guide is intended to provide a step by step guide for adding existing components to a ZenPack using the Zenoss web interface. It does not cover the advanced topics of Model Extensions, new daemons or UI modifications.

The basic steps for creating a new ZenPack are:

1. Create the new ZenPack "container"

2. Add your objects to it

3. View your ZenPack Contents

4. Export it for others to use

Step 1: Create the Zenpack container

The first step is to log into the Zenoss Web Interface. At the bottom of the left hand navigation bar is the Management Section. Click on "Settings" as shown below:

If you don’t see the navigation bar, it is hidden. Click on the menu button under the Zenoss banner to expand the menu and it will appear:

Now, click on the ZenPacks Tab:

This will give you a listing of all the ZenPacks installed on your system as shown below:

Next, click on the drop down menu button and select "Create a ZenPack"

A "Create A New ZenPack" dialog will appear. Simply fill in the requested information. The id must be unique to your deployment.

Click "Ok" and you have created the container for the objects that will make up your new ZenPack.

Step 2: Add Objects to ZenPacks

Now that you have a new, yet empty ZenPack, lets start adding objects to it. The easy way to tell if an object can be added is to check the drop down menu on a page see if the "Add to ZenPack" option is listed.

Performance Template Example

Let say you have created a new or customized performance template for a device type, application or subsystem. To add this template to your ZenPack, go to the template page:

Click on the menu button and select "Add To Zenpack" as shown below:

This will cause a dialog will appear, with a list of all the ZenPacks defined on your system:

Select the ZenPack that you just created and click "Add". The Template is now associated with your Zenpack.

Step 3: View the Contents of a ZenPack

To see a list of the object in your ZenPack, return to the ZenPack listings by clicking on "Settings" from the left hand navigation bar and select the "ZenPacks" tab as before.

Find your ZenPack in the list and click on the name - A listing of all the objects in that ZenPack will be shown as illustrated below:

Simply continue to add objects until your ZenPack is complete.

Step 4 : Exporting ZenPacks

If you would like to share your ZenPack with others or copy it to another Zenoss instance, all you need to do is "Export" the ZenPack.

Click the "Export" button as seen in the image above. A new Zip file will be created in $ZENHOME/export named <ZenPackName>.zip.

This file can be copied to other Zenoss instances and imported using the ZenPack command:

zenpack –-install <ZenPackName>.zip