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5660 Views 7 Replies Latest reply: Jun 8, 2012 11:49 AM by Kaya Saman RSS
Kaya Saman Rank: White Belt 12 posts since
Jun 6, 2012
Currently Being Moderated

Jun 8, 2012 9:28 AM

Confusion about monitoring Windows through Zenoss

Hi,

 

How does one monitor Windows on Zenoss??

 

Of course this question has been answered but in multiple ways and I need someone to clarify a few things; so far I have read:

 

thread/3461;jsessionid=DEC48983FA68953FE45D3CEFE0403795.node0?decorator=print&displayFullThread=true

 

http://binarynature.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/configure-windows-device-for-zenoss.html

 

thread/2109

 

 

This is where my confusion lies....

 

 

In one of those links it talks about using a zenwin to monitor the OS.... I am assuming that this is a separate installable service that uses configurable ports.

 

Another one of those links talks about using SNMP and WMI, and the other claims that one only need provision the Windows server from Zenoss Web UI and the services will immediately start showing.

 

 

Would it be possible to clarify this?

 

 

Additionally if I need to run the Zenwin daemon on the Windows box where do I find it from?

 

 

Currently I am using Zenoss installed from Ports on FreeBSD.

 

 

I have no knowledge of MS systems but need to relay the information over to the guys that do :-)

 

 

Thanks.

  • jcurry ZenossMaster 1,021 posts since
    Apr 15, 2008

    The answer is that you can choose your monitoring protocol - or use a mixture of both SNMP and WMI.

     

    Out of the box, a device placed in the /Server/Windows device class will use SNMP for basic system information and for networking information.  It will also use SNMP to get info on CPU / Disks / Memory but these items rely on your target device having the Informant MIB installed - and most don't! you can get it and install it (it is free) but you have the hassle of installing it on all your Win servers.  Obviously, you will need to configure SNMP on your Windows devices and make sure that the Zenoss server configuration matches these parameters (SNMP version, community name).

     

    Also out-of-the-box, a /Server/Windows device will gather Windows Services information using WMI and it wil gather events from Windows events logs using WMI (the services are collected by the zenwin daemon on the Zenoss Server - you don't need the zenwin daemon on your Windows servers).  This means that you need to have a user on your Windows server that permits remote access using WMI and the Zenoss Server needs to be configured with this userid and password.

     

    That's the starting point.  You don't have to use SNMP.  Many folk get the WMI Data Source and WMI Windows Performance ZenPack add-ons.  These let you monitor a Windows server entirely using WMI and gets you similar info to that which you got with SNMP (system, interfaces, disk, cpu, memory).  There's a bunch of other add-ons that build on top of these ZenPacks to monitor Exchange, IIS and MSSQL.

     

    Other folk don't want to use WMI so they simply rely on what SNMP can provide, especially if their Windows server supports the standard Host Resources MIB (in which case they can get lots of system stuff without having to install the Informant MIB).

     

    Cheers,

    Jane

  • jcurry ZenossMaster 1,021 posts since
    Apr 15, 2008

    Have a look at the MSSQL Zenpack here - docs/DOC-4641 . I haven't used thsi one but it looks pretty comprehensive.  Note that it pre-reqs the WMI Data Source ZenPack.

     

    Cheers,

    Jane

  • jcurry ZenossMaster 1,021 posts since
    Apr 15, 2008

    What version of Zenoss are you running and what version of the SQLDataSource ZenPack have you downloaded??  This is the message you usually get if you have incompatible versions of Zenoss adn ZenPack.

    Cheers,

    Jane

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