Zenoss Blog: No Node Left Behind

New and Updated ZenPacks for August

mray@zenoss.com — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:00:57 GMT

New and updated Community ZenPacks arrive all the time and we want to help get the word out on these new and useful extensions to Zenoss. Here's the list of updated ZenPacks for August:

Advanced Device Details (updated): displays additional hardware details when used with a number of other ZenPacks.
Alvarion Wireless (updated): monitors performance of Alvarion Wireless devices.
BlueArc Storage (NEW!): provides SNMP monitoring for BlueArc storage devices.
Chef Client(NEW!): provides modeling (and eventually some monitoring possibly) for devices managed by Chef using the ohai command.
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (updated): monitoring for Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA).
Dell Monitor (updated): provides additional monitoring options for Dell machines.
Distributed Collectors (updated): provides UI for configuring multiple collectors with Zenoss Core.
Domain/SSL Certificate Expiration Monitor (updated): watches for the expiration dates of domain and SSL certificates.
FDS 389 LDAP Servers (updated): provides SSH and SNMP-based monitoring of FDS-based 389 LDAP Server.
Fortigate SNMP Monitor (updated): monitor CPU usage, memory and number of sessions for Fortigate Firewalls.
Funkwerk Router Monitor (updated): monitors performance of Funkwerk brand routers.
Google Search Provider (NEW!): a search provider that incorporates Google results to the search catalog.
HP EVA Monitor (updated): models and monitors HP EVA 4X00/6X00/8X00 devices.
HP ProLiant Monitor (updated): provides full support for HP ProLiant Servers.
Memcached Data Source (updated): a custom MemcachedStats Data Source which automatically brings over the stats for monitoring Memcached.
MGE UPS (updated): monitoring for MGE UPS devices.
MRV Wireless (updated): monitors performance of MRV Wireless devices.
MS SQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of MS SQL databases.
MySQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of MySQL databases.
Netasq (updated): monitors the performance of Netasq firewalls.
nginx Status (NEW!): monitoring for the nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server.
ODBC Data Source (updated): provides the framework for providing ODBC Data Sources.
PostgreSQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of PostgreSQL databases.
Raytalk Wireless (updated): monitors the performance Raytalk Wireless devices via SNMP.
RDBMS Monitoring (updated): provides basic "database" component class.
Show Graph Portlet (updated): adds a portlet called "Show Graph" which enables users to show any graph/multi graph reports on their dashboard.
SQL Data Source (NEW!): a new zenperfsql daemon and SQL data source that can be used with a variety of databases.
Tokyo Tyrant Data Source (NEW!): a custom TokyoTyrantStats Data Source for monitoring Tokyo Tyrant NOSQL databases.
Virtual IP (updated): allows you to create a Device object for Virtual Cluster resources.
WBEM Data Source (updated): creates a new Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Data Source.
WMI Data Source (updated): creates a new zenperfwmi daemon for making Windows Management Interface calls via a WMI Data Source.
WMI Windows Performance (updated): WMI-based ZenPack models and monitors Windows machines.

There are actually a tremendous number more in the ZenPack Publishing Backlog, the 2010 Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest has already had a tremendous response!

We're always happy to have more Community ZenPacks and we have a ZenPacks forum dedicated for their discussion. Email us at community@zenoss.com if you have any questions or new ZenPacks you want to send in!

Zenoss Developer IRC Session Thursday September 2

mray@zenoss.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:31:01 GMT

Zenoss developers will be available for questions on Thursday, September 2 at 11am EDT in the #zenoss IRC channel on irc.freenode.net (port 6667). Please drop in and bring your questions, answers, suggestions and feedback. Zenoss Developer Eric Miller will be attending and answering questions. We can discuss the Summer of ZenPacks Contest, the upcoming Free Training at Zenoss Community Day at Ohio LinuxFest or any other recent or upcoming events in the Zenoss community and anything else.

We’ll log the session and repost them in IRC if you can’t make it.

Don’t forget you can search for answers to common questions by visiting the Forums.

Zenoss Newsletter - August 2010

mrhinkle@zenoss.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:57 GMT

Zenoss 3.0 has been out for over a month and we have gotten a lot of feedback on the new interface, we also have released some updates and updated numerous new ZenPacks. Download Zenoss Core today and see what's new!

Free Zenoss Training at Ohio Linuxfest

Would you like to get a free day of training on how to install, configure and use Zenoss Core to monitor all your infrastructure? Then come to the Zenoss training day in Columbus, OH on Friday, September 10, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. We'll be doing this in conjunction with the Ohio LinuxFest (free registration available) at Columbus Convention Center. Take a look at the schedule and sign-up today space is limited.

>> Read More

Tip of the Month: Writing Search Providers with Google Example

In the new Zenoss 3.0 user interface, device search is provided by the Global Device Search ZenPack. While similar in functionality to the device search in previous releases, it actually takes advantage of a new API for plugging in new search providers. There are a pair of interfaces (ISearchProvider and ISearchResult) provided by the Products/Zuul/search/interfaces.py that specifies the need to provide a few basic methods for plugging in your own search.

>> Read More

Summer of ZenPacks Contest

We're off to a great start to the 2010 Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest with quite a few updated and new ZenPacks. So far we have published 15 new ZenPacks developed by the Zenoss Community and we have many more coming in every day. Stop by and check them out or upload your own and earn a chance to win prizes.

>> Read More

2010 Trends in Open Source Systems Management

Zenoss conducted surveys on systems management in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to determine systems management usage trends among IT professionals. Visit the Zenoss blog and find out the biggest trends in Open Source Systems Management in 2010.

>> Read More

Thank you for your interest and support of Zenoss.

Best Regards,

Mark R. Hinkle
Vice President, Community
Zenoss Inc.
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mrhinkle

Getting Started with Zenoss

Learn how to install, configure and monitor your network with Zenoss Core in this one hour webinar with live questions and answers.

Events

8/30 - 9/2
VMWorld 2010
San Francisco, CA

9/1
Overcoming the Challenges of Building and Managing Cloud infrastructures
Webinar

9/7
Getting Started with Zenoss
Webinar

9/9
Virtualize More, Monitor Everything
Webinar

9/10
Zenoss Community Day
Columbus, OH

9/10 - 9/12
Ohio Linuxfest
Columbus, OH

9/23
Virtualize More Servers...and Manage them too!
Webinar

Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest Status Update

mray@zenoss.com — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:10:57 GMT

We're off to a great start to the 2010 Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest with quite a few updated and new ZenPacks. We thought we'd post a quick rundown of the entries so far since these are all Zenoss 3.0 Compatible:

Alvarion Wireless (updated): monitors performance of Alvarion Wireless devices.
Asterisk SSH (3.0 verified): SSH-based Asterisk VOIP system monitoring.
Funkwerk Router Monitor: (updated): monitors performance of Funkwerk brand routers.
MRV Wireless (updated): monitors performance of MRV Wireless devices.
MS SQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of MS SQL databases.
MySQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of MySQL databases.
Netasq (updated): monitors the performance of Netasq firewalls.
nginx Status (3.0 verified): monitoring for the nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server.
ODBC Data Source (updated): provides the framework for providing ODBC Data Sources.
pfSense (3.0 verified): provides monitoring for pfSense router/firewalls.
PostgreSQL ODBC Database Monitor (updated): ODBC-based monitoring of PostgreSQL databases.
Powerware UPS (3.0 verified): provides voltages stats, load, ambient temperature, battery capacity and more for Powerware UPS products.
Raytalk Wireless (updated): monitors the performance Raytalk Wireless devices via SNMP.
Show Graph Portlet (updated): adds a portlet called "Show Graph" which enables users to show any graph/multi graph reports on their dashboard.
SQL Data Source (NEW!): a new zenperfsql daemon and SQL data source that can be used with a variety of databases.

There are actually a tremendous number more in the ZenPack Publishing Backlog, so keep sending in your entries to the 2010 Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest!

Come See Zenoss at VMworld!

josh@zenoss.com — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:03:02 GMT

To say we are excited about VMworld would be a bit of an understatement (and its not just because there are a few of us that are huge fans of INXS). We have some big news to announce next week and are also looking forward to attending some of the in-depth best practice sessions.

We have a lot going at the event and would love it if you stopped by to say hi if you are attending. We are going to be in booth #1512 inside the Solutions Exchange and will have some cool goodies to give away.

Here is a list of everything Zenoss has planned for next week. Hope to see you there!

Eat! Drink! Play in the Clouds! – Party with Zenoss and Hosting.com
Join Zenoss & Hosting.com for cocktails, appetizers and networking at the Cartoon Art Museum. Stop by the Zenoss booth (#1512) during the VMworld Welcome Reception on Monday to pick up your wristband.
Date: Monday, 8.30.2010
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
(less than 2 blocks from Moscone!)

View the invite! http://bit.ly/b3VYv9

VMworld Hall Crawl

Instead of a Pub Crawl, stop by participating booths to try different beers (Bonus: it’s a much shorter walk between booths than between pubs!).

Date: Tuesday, 8.31.2010

Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm

Location: Zenoss booth at VMworld (#1512)

Zenoss Solutions Exchange Theater Presentation

Go Ahead, Virtualize Everything: Drive your Virtualization Journey with Dynamic Service Assurance – Presentation from Kent Erickson, Zenoss VP of Product Management, and Chet Luther, Zenoss Principal Engineer.

Date: Wednesday, 9.1.2010

Time: 4:30 – 5:00 pm

Location: Solutions Exchange Theater

*VMware will giveaway an iPod Nano to one lucky attendee at the session

and if you are not going to be able to make the event this year, we still have something to offer:

VMworld Europe Giveaway

You still have time to enter the Zenoss Try and Fly contest. The winner will be announced live at VMworld but you do NOT have to be present to win. The winner gets a trip for 2 to VMworld Europe in Copenhagen!

Date: Thursday, 9.2.2010

Time: 12:00 pm

Location: Zenoss booth at VMworld (#1512)

Tip of the Month: Extending Zenoss with Search Providers

mray@zenoss.com — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:49:28 GMT

This month's tip covers one of the new developer features for extending Zenoss 3.0, with an example provided by Zenoss Developer Chip Holden.

In the new user interface, device search is provided by the Global Device Search ZenPack. While similar in functionality to the device search in previous releases, it actually takes advantage of a new API for plugging in new search providers. There are a pair of interfaces (ISearchProvider and ISearchResult) provided by the Products/Zuul/search/interfaces.py that specifies the need to provide a few basic methods for plugging in your own search.

But what can you search? The short answer is that the sky's the limit, whatever you can code in Python. Search Providers could be written to check files, APIs or databases; even search for different results from the Zenoss object database (e.g. MAC addresses or Contacts). As an example, we've provided the Google Search Provider, conveniently packaged as a ZenPack.

Browsing through the source of the Google Search ZenPack (conveniently available at http://zenpacks.zenoss.org with source for over 100 other Community ZenPacks), there are essentially 3 files you will need to provide.

ZenPacks/community/GoogleSearch/configure.zcml

points to the ".google" directory, which provides the 2 files for implementing search.

ZenPacks/community/GoogleSearch/google/configure.zcml

registers the GoogleSearchProvider in the UI.

ZenPacks/community/GoogleSearch/google/adapters.py

provides the implementation of the ISearchProvider and ISearchResult interfaces. Note the method doMySearch, which provides the calls to the Google API and returns the populated GoogleSearchResults.

We really hope this will spark some interest in Zenoss Community developers and we encourage you to enter whatever you may come up with in the 2010 Summer of Community ZenPacks Contest!

Free Training - Zenoss Community Day Ohio

mrhinkle@zenoss.com — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:21:09 GMT

How would you like to get a free day of training on how to install, configure and use Zenoss Core to monitor all your infrastructure? Then come to the Zenoss training day in Columbus, OH on Friday, September 10, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM. We'll be doing this in conjunction with the OhioLinux Fest at Columbus Convention Center. Take a look at the schedule and sign-up today space is limited.

Zenoss Community Day Ohio

You will spend the day learning about Zenoss Core, an open-source network monitoring and server monitoring product. Participants will learn how to use Zenoss to monitor applications, servers, networks, cloud infrasctructue and much, much more. The instructor led class will be conducted by the members of the Zenoss Core project as well as professional trainers from Zenoss Inc.

What will we do at Zenoss Community Day?

9:00 - 9:15 - Welcome - Matt Ray, Zenoss Community Manager
9:15 - 12:00 - Introduction to Zenoss
- Zenoss Core Overview
- Installing Zenoss Core
- Zenoss Architecture
- Adding Devices to Zenoss
12:00 -1:00 - Lunch
1:00 - 3:30 - Configuring and Using Zenoss
3:30 - 4:30 - Questions and Answers about all things Zenoss including feedback session
4:30-5:30 - Zenoss Meet-Up Columbus - TBD - Drinks and Zenoss discussion with the team and other Zenoss users

Getting Started with Zenoss Core Webinar August 24

mray@zenoss.com — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:40:24 GMT

Have you recently downloaded Zenoss Core, or do you have questions about implementing the solution in your environment? If so, please register to attend our bi-weekly Getting Started With Zenoss Core Webinars. The next session is August 24th and is still open for sign-up. If you can’t make this session the next is already listed as well. You can register here:

August 24th Getting Started Webinar

September 7th Getting Started Webinar

Here’s what you’ll get out of the session:

Installing the software properly
Preparing your environment
Logging in to get started
Adding, classifying and auto-discovering your devices
Getting and staying organized
Seeing the “big picture” (dashboard, network map, event console, Google Maps, etc.)
Avoiding common mistakes

We also have a Zenoss engineer available to answer questions live – and there are usually lots of questions submitted! If you’re interested in seeing past Q&A logs, take a look at some of the previous [Getting Started with Zenoss Q&A | javascript:;] sessions where we recorded some of the questions submitted along with answers.

5 Tips for Improved Monitoring with Zenoss

mrhinkle@zenoss.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:26:08 GMT

Every month we try to publish a tip that helps you get the most out of Zenoss, here are some recent tips we hope our newest users find helpful. This advice comes from both experienced Zenoss users and Zenoss engineers on advanced features that can help you get the most out of you network monitoring.

1. Loading Multiple Devices into Zenoss

As you may know you can use Zenoss discovery capabilities to add devices to Zenoss to be monitored. Another options is to use the batchload command line tool for loading a list of devices into Zenoss. While the Zenoss web interface allows you to discover devices and manually manage them, many sysadmins maintain a list of their devices and may choose to push them into Zenoss automatically. zenbatchload will allow fine-grained control over each device and Device Class, setting individual zProperties during the loading process. >> Read More

2. Tweeting Events to Twitter with Event Commands

This tip comes from Zenoss Community member Stacy Uden that shows how to take advantage of the flexibility of Event Commands within Zenoss. Event Commands allow the system to run arbitrary shell commands when events occur that match pre-configured criteria. This allows almost any action to be taken in response to events that occur. Including updating your status on Twitter. >> Read More

3. Adding External Content to Your Dashboard

As you may already know the Zenoss dashboard is very customizable through the use of widgets we call portlets. The Site Window Portlet allows you to embed any website on your Zenoss dashboard, and you can have multiple Site Windows on your dashboard. A common use of the Site Window is for logging into trouble ticketing systems, adding custom maps or keeping track of other infromation like your company wiki. >> Read More

4. Dynamically Creating Maintainence Windows

Maintenance windows are useful for scheduled downtime periods, but there are situations where being able to dynamically schedule a maintenance window for an individual device is useful. This tip submitted by Zenoss power user Jeff Schroeder describes how to create an event that can create a short (10 minute) window with an event mapping. >> Read More

5. Performance Tuning for Zenoss Storage

Many administrators who are new to Zenoss will understandably try to scale their monitoring infrastructure based on the number of devices they intend to monitor. While this is a good start, Zenoss monitoring daemons are focused on RRD Datasources, not devices so you need to understand what data you are collecting. Rackspace's Chris Krough shares his tips on how to maximize performance of your Zenoss monitoring data. >> Read More

If you would like to see future tips and tricks for using Zenoss, you can watch the tip-of-the-month tag for the latest and greatest tips and trickshttp://community.zenoss.org/blogs/zenossblog/tags/tip-of-the-month.

Zenoss QA Test Day and Developer IRC Session Thursday August 19

mray@zenoss.com — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:00:57 GMT

Zenoss QA will be available for questions Thursday, August 19 in the #zenoss-testing IRC channel on irc.freenode.net. They'll be answering any questions you have on the new Zenoss Core 3.0.1 release and looking for issues with upgrades and the new UI. Your feedback helps direct testing and development for each Zenoss release.

Zenoss Developers will be available for assistance on Thursday, August 19 at 11am EDT in the #zenoss IRC channel on irc.freenode.net (port 6667). Please drop in and bring your questions, answers, suggestions and feedback. Zenoss Developer Chad Gibbons will be attending and answering questions. We can discuss the new release and the Summer of ZenPacks Contest or any other recent events in the Zenoss community and anything else.

We’ll log the sessions and repost them in IRC if you can’t make it.

Don’t forget you can search for answers to common questions by visiting the Forums.

Using Zenoss Enterprise to Manage Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)

josh@zenoss.com — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:29:51 GMT

With the release of Zenoss Enterprise 3.0, we have added the capability to visualize the dynamic linkages between the devices you are monitoring across your infrastructure. From these views, you can track the event status for all the objects and easily identify potential points of failure in your environment.

When it comes to the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), the Zenoss model works with the XML-based management API of UCS to give operations the insights needed to manage their datacenter (what we call Business to Blade Management™). Zenoss Enterprise automatically discovers and monitors all of the UCS elements. For each of the elements, Zenoss provides real-time performance, availability, and event management, along with configuration and workload dependency tracking. As service relationships in the environment change, Zenoss automatically identifies the impact and updates its service dependency map in real time.

To help illustrate, we have an updated demo that shows the management of an e-mail system deployed using VMware's vSphere on a UCS server. In this demo, you will see the discovered linkages between the Cisco UCS servers, the virtual machines, and the application. Check it out below:

Learn more about Zenoss Enterprise Business-to-Blade management for Cisco UCS here and see it in action in our Test Drive environment.

Zenoss Core 3.0.1 is Now Available!

mray@zenoss.com — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:09:41 GMT

We are pleased to announce the release of Zenoss Core 3.0.1! This is primarily a maintenance release, recommended for all Zenoss 3.0 users and available for download from: Zenoss Core Downloads

Zenoss Core 3.0.1

Zenoss Core 3.0.1 includes the following upgrades:

The Global Device Search Core ZenPack is available for installation, providing search by hostname or IP with support for wildcards.
Improved reliability with the following defects closed: http://tinyurl.com/29a7h5w
Documentation has been updated, specifically the Zenoss Administration Guide, the Zenoss Extended Monitoring Guide and the Zenoss Installation Guide.

The Zenoss Core 3.0.1 Release Notes are available in EPUB, HTML, PDF and TXT formats:

http://community.zenoss.org/community/documentation/official_documentation/release_notes

Installation and upgrades are covered in the Zenoss Installation Guide in EPUB, HTML and PDF formats:

http://community.zenoss.org/community/documentation/official_documentation/installation-guide

Downloads are available at our Download page.

Zenoss thanks everyone who contributed to the testing effort for this release!

2010 Trends in Open Source Systems Management

mrhinkle@zenoss.com — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:01:51 GMT

Zenoss conducted surveys on systems management in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to determine systems management usage trends among IT professionals who attended the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference. These results have been compared against data gathered from the Zenoss user community.

Here are some of the findings and observations of the survey for 2010:

More than 50% of all respondents managed more than 100 devices and defined their roles as Network Operations, Server Management or Engineering.
More than 98% of the survey respondents indicated usage of open source in their enterprises
More than 66% of Zenoss Community respondents indicate that they prefer to use open source software whenever possible.
The compelling factors for using open source according to the Zenoss Community were Flexibility (73.9%) followed by Cost Savings (71%) while 57.1 % of USENIX LISA respondents indicated Lower Cost followed by Flexibility (52.4%) as the most popular drivers for open source usage.
39.8% of Zenoss Community members indicate the economy as a driver for increased usage of open source while 28.5% of USENIX LISA participants indicate economic factors as effecting their decision to investigate open source usage. Availability of Source Code was only a consideration for 33.3% of USENIX LISA users and 30% of Zenoss Open Source Community Users.
The top priority for most organizations for 2010 was Monitoring followed by Security, Patching and Provisioning and Configuration Management.
The most popular open source management tools for both groups of survey respondents included Nagios, MRTG/RRDTool, Snort and Zenoss.

Your are welcome to download the the full survey results here:

Getting Started with Zenoss Core Webinar August 10

mray@zenoss.com — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:26:25 GMT

Have you recently downloaded Zenoss Core, or do you have questions about implementing the solution in your environment? If so, please register to attend our bi-weekly Getting Started With Zenoss Core Webinars. The next session is August 10th and is still open for sign-up. If you can’t make this session the next ones will be added to the schedule soon. You can register here:

August 10th Getting Started Webinar

Here’s what you’ll get out of the session:

An introduction to the Zenoss Community
Installing the software properly
Preparing your environment
Logging in to get started
Adding, classifying and auto-discovering your devices
Getting and staying organized
Seeing the “big picture” (dashboard, network map, event console, Google Maps, etc.)
Avoiding common mistakes

We also have a Zenoss engineer available to answer questions live – and there are usually lots of questions submitted! If you’re interested in seeing past Q&A logs, take a look at some of the previous Getting Started with Zenoss Q&A sessions where we recorded some of the questions submitted along with answers.

Send Zenoss Events to RSS

mray@zenoss.com — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:16:17 GMT

Just wanted to share an interesting Integration from the Zenoss Community Wiki: Push Events to RSS feed.

These scripts push out Zenoss events into a pair of RSS feeds that may be used to watch events as they are generated and as they clear or are moved to history. This could be used to allow read-only access without a login for customers or for passively watching events as they are captured. They require a webserver to serve them up and Event Commands to call the scripts. Another great example of using Event Commands with Zenoss, thanks Eric!