Possible project

  • At least, 200x Raspberries in different locations
  • We can have two or three Raspberries in the same location.
  • Firewall in all locations
  • No starting date known
  • Installation from the same image so the hostname is the same in all of them.
  • Nobody can log in

Question

How to monitor those Raspberries with Zabbix?

Key

Zabbix (2.2) uses the hostname as key field. It’s not possible to repeat that hostname on the server, so how to proceed?

Workflow

In zabbix-agent:

  1. Configure agent as active, disable passive (firewall installed, do you remember it?)
  2. I need to create a new Raspberry Pi and assign it a unique hostname. The hostname should be generated based on the Raspberry Pi’s MAC address or a unique identifier.
  3. Install Zabbix agent on each Raspberry Pi and configure it with the generated hostname.

Step-by-step:

  1. Generate Unique Hostname:

    To generate a unique hostname for each Raspberry Pi, you can use the following script:

    hostnamectl set-hostname raspberry-$(echo $RANDOM | md5sum | cut -c 1-8)

  2. Install Zabbix Agent:

    Install the Zabbix agent on each Raspberry Pi using your package manager. For example, on a Debian-based system:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install zabbix-agent

  3. Configure Zabbix Agent:

    Edit the /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf file and set the following parameters:

    Server=your_zabbix_server_ip
ServerActive=your_zabbix_server_ip
Hostname=$(hostname)

  4. Restart Zabbix Agent:

    Restart the Zabbix agent to apply the changes:

    sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent

  5. Register Raspberry Pi in Zabbix:

    • Go to the Zabbix web interface and navigate to Configuration > Hosts.
    • Click on “Create host” and enter the hostname you generated earlier.
    • Assign the Raspberry Pi to a suitable template or group.

  6. Configure Triggers, Items, and Actions:

    Create triggers, items, and actions as needed for monitoring the Raspberry Pi’s performance and status.

That’s all. Your Raspberry Pi should now be registered with Zabbix and monitored accordingly.