Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks for Using Zenoss

Google Maps Traffic Report — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

Here in the office we've got the Zenoss dashboard up on a large LCD on the wall so we can keep an eye on our servers. As a service to the people here that commute into Dallas on the way home I have ...

Create Professional Alert E-mails — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

The default Zenoss alert E-mail messages are very plain, luckily you can liven them up by customizing the content with "Some" html. You have to keep in mind that Zenoss will add a return character to ...

LDAP/ActiveDirectory Authentication/Authorization — by Nathaniel McCallum — last modified 2008-03-13 01:36PM

HowTo Use LDAP or ActiveDirectory to do both Authentication AND Authorization

zendmd - playing with interfaces — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

=== Introduction === As of version 2.1.72 all interfaces of newly discovered/added devices are monitored too. If you check the device's interfaces and select one you can see that for the field ...

How to setup a Zenoss Kiosk or overview monitor — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

You can set up a dashboard-display on an overview monitor like this:

zendmd Tips and Tricks — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:08AM

Do you already know what the zendmd is? This is far the most advanced part of zenoss. Let me give you some tips to enhance zenoss.

Show the % usage in a filesytem threshold? — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:10AM

Ever needed the need to see the %usage of a filesystem threshold event?

Generate an event for unmounted filesystems — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:11AM

When a filesystem gets unmounted you can get an event generated.

Create a device dependency — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:11AM

e.g: do not generate events of an application server when the database server is down.

What is the data_source_type_id in the cacti XML — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:12AM

If you are converting cacti XML files into zenoss datasources, you would need to understand the datasource type.

use a zendmd script as standalone program — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:13AM

Wouldn't it be cool to run a python script directly without using the zendmd program?

Create rotating daily backups — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:14AM

By default zenoss creates daily backups in the $ZENHOME/backup dir. Here is how to change that and create a rotating system.

Create a HighAvailable zenoss — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-19 09:17AM

This howto explains how to create a zenoss cluster using Opensource tools.

3Com Device Model — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

Model 3Com Switch Data Many manufacturer specific data is supported by default, but 3Com was left out. This page will show you how to retrieve the switch serial number, product number, and software ...

How to clean your events database — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-03-31 09:20AM

My events database was growing a lot although I already had used the cleanupscripts of zenoss. Here is how to clean more.

Percentage Used for Filesystem Threshold - Improved — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

Special thanks to the tip at http://www.zenoss.com/Members/netdata/show-the-usage-in-a-filesytem-threshold/ for helping me solve the problem with getting the percentage of used space shown in the /...

Change Event Severity Based on Event Message Text — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

If you have events being mapped to a particular event class, generally one event severity gets applied to all of those events. If, however, you want to change the event severity of certain events ...

Move an event in Zenoss from one event class to another based on event text — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

Many events map to the /App/Failed event class, most notably the Windows Application Error_1000 error (http://<your Zenoss server>:8080/zport/dmd/Events/App/Failed/instances/Application%...

Moving a Zenoss event to history via the Transform expression — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

There are cases where certain events are just noise and you want them moved to history automatically, but perhaps without having ALL of the events in that event class moved to history. For example, ...

Creating custom calculated graphs based on multiple data points — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

If you want to make a custom graph in Zenoss based on more than one data point (such as a ratio or other calculation), you will need to enter a custom graph definition for RRDTool to use. I found ...

Find event classes with transforms — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

If you have entered transforms but can't remember where you entered them, type the following in zendmd:

Export devices to file — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

First start zendmd from the command line:

Create manual device dependency's — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-04-09 07:46AM

Here is how you could create manual device dependency's

Zenoss Logfiles are to big — by Wouter DHaeseleer — last modified 2008-04-10 06:48AM

Especially when you use zenjmx your log files can be to big. Here is how you could solve this.

Creating data sources, graphs with an example of COMMAND (IPSLA) — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

=== Introduction === First of all the result of this document are simple graphs from devices (e.g., Cisco) which do IPSLA monitoring. In my case I retrieve simple ICMP RTT values from my devices ...

Make zenwin and zenwinmodeler ignore WMI errors — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

At least in version 2.1.1, zenwin, zenwinmodeler, and zeneventlog have (IMO) a critical defect: if there are any /Status/WMI/Conn issues not in history for the device, they ignore the device. On ...

Bulk Add Locations to Zenoss using zendmd — by Jim Shank — last modified 2008-04-15 02:02PM

A way to use a text file to load locations directly in to Zenoss

Import Devices from CSV with Location Information — — last modified 2008-09-18 02:29AM

I needed to insert roughly 150 devices that do not support SNMP and wanted to do so with the location, manufacturer and model information. Here is a python script that reads a csv and can be easily ...

Event Mapping — by nv — last modified 2008-09-02 08:48AM

 

Bulk Add Devices from a text file — by Scott L. Miller — last modified 2008-09-25 08:46AM

Two scripts to help add many devices into Zenoss

How to test for a process that runs too long — — last modified 2008-10-06 03:08PM

On a recent forum post I asked how to add a test for a process that runs too long. Under normal circumstances this process should start, run for five minutes, then end. If it runs for over an hour, ...