Dockbix Agent XXL - Dockerized Zabbix Agent with Docker, host, systemd, sockets monitoring

dockbix-agent-xxl-limited is a 2nd generation of successful (500k+ pulls) zabbix-agent-xxl-limited Docker image - it's a standard Zabbix agent with Docker/host/systemd/socket/stress metrics support, which can be used with any Zabbix server. Tested on CoreOS, RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Boot2docker, Photon OS.

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Overview of Monitoring Artist (dockerized) monitoring ecosystem:

• Dockbix XXL - Zabbix server/proxy/UI/snmpd/java gateway with additional extensions
• Dockbix agent XXL - Zabbix agent with Docker (Kubernetes/Mesos/Chronos/Marathon) monitoring module
• Zabbix templates - tiny Docker image for simple template deployment of selected Zabbix monitoring templates
• Zabbix extension - all templates - storage image for Dockbix XXL with 200+ community templates
• Kubernetized Zabbix - containerized Zabbix cluster based on Kubernetes
• Grafana XXL - dockerized Grafana with all community plugins
• Grafana dashboards - Grafana dashboard collection for AWS and Zabbix
• Monitoring Analytics - graphic analytic tool for Zabbix data from data scientists
• Docker killer - Docker image for Docker stress and Docker orchestration testing

Start Dockbix agent container and monitor all Docker containers on your host. Module Zabbix Docker monitoring is used - all docker module container metrics are available except docker.xnet. Import/assign Dockbix Agent XXL templates + then just start Dockbix agent container:

docker run \
  --name=dockbix-agent-xxl \
  --net=host \
  --privileged \
  -v /:/rootfs \
  -v /var/run:/var/run \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -e "ZA_Server=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME/IP_RANGE>" \
  -e "ZA_ServerActive=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME>" \
  -d monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest

docker run --rm -t monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited version

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Available tags

Public image tags on Docker Hub | Private image tags on Docker Hub

Public limited vs private paid image

Public limited Docker image monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest has almost the same functionality as private paid Docker image monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl:latest. However, limited version:

• doesn't support custom UserParameter(s)
• doesn't support command execution in the container; for example, you can't use system.run[] item
• doesn't support any shell access in the container; for example, you can't use docker exec -ti dockbix-agent-xxl bash
• collects Google Analytics statistics (Docker version, kernel version, execution driver, Dockbix agent container start-up errors), which are used for improvements; statistics may also be used for public presentations

General limitations:

• Dockbix agent container doesn't support docker stop/start container commands
• Dockbix agent container doesn't support docker.xnet container metrics
• host metric support is not complete; CPU and net host metrics are available, filesystem metrics with /rootfs prefix, process (proc.*) are not available due to cgroup limitation

Environment configuration variables

You can use almost any agent config parameter, just add prefix ZA_. If you don't specify a custom setting variable, then default Zabbix agent setting will be used. For example, you want to use StartAgents=10, just add environment variable -e "ZA_StartAgents=10".

Example:

docker run \
  --name=dockbix-agent-xxl \
  --net=host \
  --privileged \
  -v /:/rootfs \
  -v /var/run:/var/run \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -e "ZA_Server=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME/IP RANGE>" \
  -e "ZA_ServerActive=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME>" \
  -e "ZA_StartAgents=10" \
  -e "ZA_Timeout=30" \
  -d monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest

You can't override some parameters: AllowRoot, LoadModulePath, LoadModule, LogType, because Docker monitoring module is used. Also, Zabbix agent configuration from the config file is not supported.

Zabbix templates

Example of Zabbix templates, which can be used with Dockbix agent:

• Templates for Dockbix Agent XXL - discovers and monitors (some) host and Docker metrics
• Templates App systemd services - discovers and monitors systemd services metrics
• Template App TCP Sockets - monitors TCP socket metrics
• Template App UDP Sockets - monitors UDP socket metrics
• Template App UNIX Sockets - monitors UNIX socket metrics
• Template App Zabbix Server Stress 5k passive A - template for Zabbix stress testing

Migration

There is no particular action required to migrate from older Docker image monitoringartist/zabbix-agent-xxl-limited. Just change Docker image name. Environment variables are still the same.

Public test instance of Dockbix Agent XXL

A public test instance of Dockbix agent XXL is available on the address play.monitoringart.com:10050*. It's available for anyone as a public part of the monitoringartist playground. Just create a new host in your Zabbix server with this configuration, and you will see what Dockbix can provide:

Note: There is no guarantee of availability of public test instance of Dockbix Agent container.

How it works

No standard rpm/deb package installation or Zabbix module compilation. Just start dockbix-agent-xxl container and Docker container metrics will be collected from the Docker daemon API or cgroups.

How to monitor dockerized apps

Ideas about monitoring of dockerized apps:

• health endpoint: publish app health as an HTTP endpoint, which can be used for monitoring (item keys: web.page.get, web.page.regexp)
• monitor them as a service: use standard Zabbix TCP/HTTP check (item keys: net.tcp.port, net.tcp.service, net.tcp.service.perf)
• monitor them as a process: use standard Zabbix process check (item key: proc.num)

Still no idea how to monitor your dockerized app? Hire us!

Included projects

• zabbix-module-systemd - loadbable agent module for systemd monitoring
• zabbix-module-sockets - loadbable agent module for sockets monitoring
• zabbix_agent_bench - utility to test performance of Zabbix agent
• zabbix-server-stress-test - loadbable agent module for stress testing

Zabbix agent stress testing:

$ docker run \
  --name=dockbix-agent-xxl \
  --net=host \
  --privileged \
  -v /:/rootfs \
  -v /var/run:/var/run \
  -e "ZA_Server=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME/IP RANGE>" \
  -e "ZA_ServerActive=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME>" \
  -d monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest

# used HW - 8xCPU Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E31270 @ 3.40GHz:
$ docker exec -ti dockbix-agent-xxl zabbix_agent_bench -host 127.0.0.1 -timelimit 30 -key stress.ping --threads 50
Testing 1 keys with 50 threads (press Ctrl-C to cancel)...
stress.ping :	1225787	0	0

=== Totals ===

Total values processed:		1225787
Total unsupported values:	0
Total transport errors:		0
Total key list iterations:	1225787

Finished! Processed 1225787 values across 50 threads in 30.002141605s (40856.650040 NVPS)

Integrations/Docker orchestrations

• Kubernetes - please visit https://github.com/monitoringartist/kubernetes-zabbix for inspiration
• Puppet for dockbix-agent-xxl-limited
• Ansible for dockbix-agent-xxl-limited
• docker-compose for dockbix-agent-xxl-limited
• systemd service unit file - see section below

Please feel free to create a pull request for other Docker orchestration tools: AWS ECS, Docker Swarm, Mesos/Marathon, Cloud Foundry, CoreOS Fleet, Azure ACS, Nomad, Zenoss Control Center, ...

3rd party projects:

• https://github.com/ThomasVdBerge/zabbix-docker-terraform

Dockbix Agent XXL service managed by systemd

Example of systemd service unit file for Dockbix agent XXL - don't forget to edit environment variables. Then you can manage Dockbix agent XXL as a standard OS service:

$ wget -P /usr/lib/systemd/system/ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl/master/systemd/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
# edit env variables: vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
$ systemctl enable docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service to /usr/lib/systemd/system/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service.
$ systemctl start docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
$ systemctl status docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
● docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service - Dockbix Agent XXL www.monitoringartist.com
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sat 2016-08-20 00:17:04 BST; 5s ago
  Process: 72712 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/docker pull monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 72719 (docker)
   Memory: 8.6M
   CGroup: /system.slice/docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service
           └─72719 /usr/bin/docker run --rm -e ZA_Server=<ZABBIX SERVER IP/DNS NAME> --name docker-dockbix-agent-xxl.service -h dockerhost --net=host --privileged -v /:/rootfs...

Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.575 IPv6 support:          YES
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.575 TLS support:           YES
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.575 **************************
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.575 using configuration file: /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.581 loaded modules: zabbix_module_docker.so, zabbix_module_stress.so
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 11:20160819:231705.583 agent #0 started [main process]
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 12:20160819:231705.583 agent #1 started [collector]
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 14:20160819:231705.583 agent #3 started [listener #2]
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 13:20160819:231705.584 agent #2 started [listener #1]
Aug 20 00:17:05 dockerhost docker[72719]: 15:20160819:231705.586 agent #4 started [listener #3]
$ docker ps | grep dockbix-agent-xxl
b2ecbf3a7df0        monitoringartist/dockbix-agent-xxl-limited:latest   "/dockbix-agent-xxl"       25 seconds ago      Up 24 seconds       0.0.0.0:10050->10050/tcp   docker-zabbix-agent-xxl.service

Support

First try to troubleshoot problems yourself. Increase debug level -e 'ZA_DebugLevel=5' and check the container logs docker logs dockbix-agent-xxl. Try to obtain raw values from the agent, for example:

$ docker exec -ti dockbix-agent-xxl zabbix_get -s 127.0.0.1 -k docker.mem[/dockbix-agent-xxl,rss]
2977792

Other options:

• Try to ask Zabbix community http://www.zabbix.org/wiki/Getting_help
• If you need support directly from the author, then don't hesitate to contact him and ask for paid support

All reported issues, which are not real issues, but requests for support will be closed with reference to this README section.

Author

Devops Monitoring Expert, who loves monitoring systems and cutting/bleeding edge technologies: Docker, Kubernetes, ECS, AWS, Google GCP, Terraform, Lambda, Zabbix, Grafana, Elasticsearch, Kibana, Prometheus, Sysdig, ...

Summary:

• 2000+ GitHub stars
• 10 000+ Grafana dashboard downloads
• 1 000 000+ Docker image pulls

Professional devops / monitoring / consulting services: