14 Use of Proxies
Zabbix Proxies may greatly simplify maintenance of Zabbix environment and increase performance of the central Zabbix server.
Also, use of Zabbix Proxies is the easiest way of implementing centralized and distributed monitoring, when all Agents and Proxies report to one Zabbix server and all data is collected centrally.
1 Why use Proxy?
Zabbix Proxy can be used for many purposes:
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Offload Zabbix Server when monitoring thousands of devices
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Monitor remote locations
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Monitor locations having unreliable communications
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Simplify maintenance of distributed monitoring
2 Proxy v.s. Node
When making a choice between use of a Proxy or a Node, several considerations must be taken into account.
| Lightweight | GUI | Works independently | Easy maintenance | Automatic DB creation1 | Local administration | Ready for embedded hardware | One way TCP connections | Centralised configuration | Generates notifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Node | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Proxy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
3 Configuration
3.1 Managing proxies
To open Zabbix proxy management, go to Administration → DM and select Proxies in the dropdown in the upper right corner. Here you can create, edit and delete proxies. For each proxy the last time when it contacted the server (either to send in new data or because of the heartbeat connection) is displayed.
Opening the proxy properties form allows you to select the hosts that should be monitored by that proxy.
3.2 Monitoring a host by a proxy
Each host can be monitored either by Zabbix Server or by Zabbix Proxy. Monitoring by a proxy is set up in Configuration → Hosts → open the host definition form:
If a host is configured to be monitored by a Proxy, the Proxy will perform gathering of performance and availability data for the host. The data will be collected by the Proxy and sent to Zabbix Server for further processing.
Data source: Zabbix