1 Configuring a host

1 Configuring a host

Overview

To configure a host in Zabbix frontend, do the following:

Go to: Configuration → Hosts or Monitoring → Hosts
Click on Create host to the right (or on the host name to edit an existing host)
Enter parameters of the host in the form

You can also use the Clone and Full clone buttons in the form of an existing host to create a new host. Clicking on Clone will retain all host parameters and template linkage (keeping all entities from those templates). Full clone will additionally retain directly attached entities (applications, items, triggers, graphs, low-level discovery rules and web scenarios).

Note: When a host is cloned, it will retain all template entities as they are originally on the template. Any changes to those entities made on the existing host level (such as changed item interval, modified regular expression or added prototypes to the low-level discovery rule) will not be cloned to the new host; instead they will be as on the template.

Configuration

The Host tab contains general host attributes:

All mandatory input fields are marked with a red asterisk.

Parameter		Description
Host name		Enter a unique host name. Alphanumerics, spaces, dots, dashes and underscores are allowed. However, leading and trailing spaces are disallowed. Note: With Zabbix agent running on the host you are configuring, the agent configuration file parameter Hostname must have the same value as the host name entered here. The name in the parameter is needed in the processing of active checks.
Visible name		Enter a unique visible name for the host. If you set this name, it will be the one visible in lists, maps, etc instead of the technical host name. This attribute has UTF-8 support.
Templates		Link templates to the host. All entities (items, triggers, graphs, etc) will be inherited from the template. To link a new template, start typing the template name in the Link new templates field. A list of matching templates will appear; scroll down to select. Alternatively, you may click on Select next to the field and select templates from the list in a popup window. The templates that are selected in the Link new templates field will be linked to the host when the host configuration form is saved or updated. To unlink a template, use one of the two options in the Linked templates block: Unlink - unlink the template, but preserve its items, triggers and graphs Unlink and clear - unlink the template and remove all its items, triggers and graphs Listed template names are clickable links leading to the template configuration form.
Groups		Select host groups the host belongs to. A host must belong to at least one host group. A new group can be created and linked to the host group by adding a non-existing group name.
Interfaces		Several host interface types are supported for a host: Agent, SNMP, JMX and IPMI. No interfaces are defined by default. To add a new interface, click on Add in the Interfaces block, select the interface type and enter IP/DNS, Connect to and Port info. Note: Interfaces that are used in any items cannot be removed and link Remove is grayed out for them. See Configuring SNMP monitoring for additional details on configuring an SNMP interface (v1, v2 and v3).
	IP address	Host IP address (optional).
	DNS name	Host DNS name (optional).
	Connect to	Clicking the respective button will tell Zabbix server what to use to retrieve data from agents: IP - Connect to the host IP address (recommended) DNS - Connect to the host DNS name
	Port	TCP/UDP port number. Default values are: 10050 for Zabbix agent, 161 for SNMP agent, 12345 for JMX and 623 for IPMI.
	Default	Check the radio button to set the default interface.
Description		Enter the host description.
Monitored by proxy		The host can be monitored either by Zabbix server or one of Zabbix proxies: (no proxy) - host is monitored by Zabbix server Proxy name - host is monitored by Zabbix proxy “Proxy name”
Enabled		Mark the checkbox to make the host active, ready to be monitored. If unchecked, the host is not active, thus not monitored.

The IPMI tab contains IPMI management attributes.

Parameter	Description
Authentication algorithm	Select the authentication algorithm.
Privilege level	Select the privilege level.
Username	User name for authentication. User macros may be used.
Password	Password for authentication. User macros may be used.

The Tags tab allows you to define host-level tags. All problems of this host will be tagged with the values entered here.

User macros, {INVENTORY.*} macros, {HOST.HOST}, {HOST.NAME}, {HOST.CONN}, {HOST.DNS}, {HOST.IP}, {HOST.PORT} and {HOST.ID} macros are supported in tags.

The Macros tab allows you to define host-level user macros as a name-value pairs. Note that macro values can be kept as plain text, secret text or Vault secret. Adding a description is also supported.

You may also view here template-level and global user macros if you select the Inherited and host macros option. That is where all defined user macros for the host are displayed with the value they resolve to as well as their origin.

For convenience, links to respective templates and global macro configuration are provided. It is also possible to edit a template/global macro on the host level, effectively creating a copy of the macro on the host.

The Host inventory tab allows you to manually enter inventory information for the host. You can also select to enable Automatic inventory population, or disable inventory population for this host.

If inventory is enabled (manual or automatic), a green dot is displayed with the tab name.

Encryption

The Encryption tab allows you to require encrypted connections with the host.

Parameter	Description
Connections to host	How Zabbix server or proxy connects to Zabbix agent on a host: no encryption (default), using PSK (pre-shared key) or certificate.
Connections from host	Select what type of connections are allowed from the host (i.e. from Zabbix agent and Zabbix sender). Several connection types can be selected at the same time (useful for testing and switching to other connection type). Default is “No encryption”.
Issuer	Allowed issuer of certificate. Certificate is first validated with CA (certificate authority). If it is valid, signed by the CA, then the Issuer field can be used to further restrict allowed CA. This field is intended to be used if your Zabbix installation uses certificates from multiple CAs. If this field is empty then any CA is accepted.
Subject	Allowed subject of certificate. Certificate is first validated with CA. If it is valid, signed by the CA, then the Subject field can be used to allow only one value of Subject string. If this field is empty then any valid certificate signed by the configured CA is accepted.
PSK identity	Pre-shared key identity string. Do not put sensitive information in the PSK identity, it is transmitted unencrypted over the network to inform a receiver which PSK to use.
PSK	Pre-shared key (hex-string). Maximum length: 512 hex-digits (256-byte PSK) if Zabbix uses GnuTLS or OpenSSL library, 64 hex-digits (32-byte PSK) if Zabbix uses mbed TLS (PolarSSL) library. Example: 1f87b595725ac58dd977beef14b97461a7c1045b9a1c963065002c5473194952

Value mapping

The Value mapping tab allows to configure human-friendly representation of item data in value mappings.

Creating a host group

Only Super Admin users can create host groups.

To create a host group in Zabbix frontend, do the following:

Go to: Configuration → Host groups
Click on Create Group in the upper right corner of the screen
Enter parameters of the group in the form

All mandatory input fields are marked with a red asterisk.

Parameter Description

Group name Enter a unique host group name.
To create a nested host group, use the ‘/‘ forward slash separator, for example Europe/Latvia/Riga/Zabbix servers. You can create this group even if none of the three parent host groups (Europe/Latvia/Riga) exist. In this case creating these parent host groups is up to the user; they will not be created automatically.
Leading and trailing slashes, several slashes in a row are not allowed. Escaping of ‘/‘ is not supported.
Nested representation of host groups is supported since Zabbix 3.2.0.

Apply permissions and tag filters to all subgroups Checkbox is available to Super Admin users only and only when editing an existing host group.
Mark this checkbox and click on Update to apply the same level of permissions/tag filters to all nested host groups. For user groups that may have had differing permissions assigned to nested host groups, the permission level of the parent host group will be enforced on the nested groups.
This is a one-time option that is not saved in the database.
This option is supported since Zabbix 3.4.0.

Parameter	Description
Group name	Enter a unique host group name. To create a nested host group, use the ‘/‘ forward slash separator, for example `Europe/Latvia/Riga/Zabbix servers`. You can create this group even if none of the three parent host groups (`Europe/Latvia/Riga`) exist. In this case creating these parent host groups is up to the user; they will not be created automatically. Leading and trailing slashes, several slashes in a row are not allowed. Escaping of ‘/‘ is not supported. Nested representation of host groups is supported since Zabbix 3.2.0.
Apply permissions and tag filters to all subgroups	Checkbox is available to Super Admin users only and only when editing an existing host group. Mark this checkbox and click on Update to apply the same level of permissions/tag filters to all nested host groups. For user groups that may have had differing permissions assigned to nested host groups, the permission level of the parent host group will be enforced on the nested groups. This is a one-time option that is not saved in the database. This option is supported since Zabbix 3.4.0.

Permissions to nested host groups

When creating a child host group to an existing parent host group, user group permissions to the child are inherited from the parent (for example, when creating Riga/Zabbix servers if Riga already exists)
When creating a parent host group to an existing child host group, no permissions to the parent are set (for example, when creating Riga if Riga/Zabbix servers already exists)