Tech Talk: Freenas

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Install Zabbix agent on TrueNAS

In my previous article from 2018 I did mention how to install teh Zabbix agent on FreeNAS.

Since then two years are passed and FreeNAS has been replaced by TrueNAS provides the same functionality in a new version with a new name.

The steps for installation are remained the same, but you won't need to build the agent package yourself, you can use the packages provided from Zabbix for FreeBSD.

So lets see what you have to do now:

1. Download the binary package from the Zabbix webpage at https://www.zabbix.com/de/download_agents?version=4.0+LTS&release=4.0.25&os=FreeBSD&os_version=11.2&hardware=amd64&encryption=GnuTLS&packaging=Archive

It's no problem that FreeBSD 12.x is not listed, the 11.2 packages still work

2. Unpack the /bin and /sbin folders into /usr/local of your TrueNAS server

3. Unpack the /conf/* into /etc

4. Create a use and group zabbix so your agent wont run as root, you need to do this via GUI, otherwiese the account will be gone after reboot

5. Edit your /etc/zabbit_agentd:conf to match your needs

6. Enable daemon

echo 'zabbix_agentd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Create /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd:

#!/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: zabbix_agentd
# REQUIRE: DAEMON
# KEYWORD: shutdown
#
# Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf.local or /etc/rc.conf to
# enable zabbix_agentd:
#
# zabbix_agentd_enable (bool): Set to NO by default.  Set it to YES to
#         enable zabbix_agentd.
#

. /etc/rc.subr

name="zabbix_agentd"
rcvar=zabbix_agentd_enable
start_precmd="zabbix_precmd"
required_files="/etc/zabbix_agentd.conf"

# read configuration and set defaultsc
load_rc_config "$name"
: ${zabbix_agentd_enable="NO"}
#: ${zabbix_agentd_pre:=/etc/${name}.pre.sh}

zabbix_agentd_conf="/etc/zabbix_agentd.conf"

if [ ! -z "$zabbix_agentd_conf" ] ; then
  zabbix_agentd_flags="${zabbix_agentd_flags} -c ${zabbix_agentd_conf}"
  required_files=${zabbix_agentd_conf}
fi

zabbix_precmd()
{
  if [ ! -z "$zabbix_agentd_pre" ] ; then
    if [ -e $zabbix_agentd_pre ] ; then
      . $zabbix_agentd_pre
    fi
  fi
}

command="/usr/local/sbin/${name}"

run_rc_command "$1"  run_rc_command "$1"

Make executable:

```
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd
```
Start daemon:
```
/etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd start
```

Make config files persistent and survive reboots:

cp /etc/rc.conf /conf/base/etc/
cp /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd /conf/base/etc/rc.d/
mkdir /conf/etc/zabbix_agentd
cp /etc/zabbix_agentd.* /conf/base/etc/
cp /etc/zabbix_agentd.* /conf/base/etc/

Zabbix configuration

Use the template from the zabbix wiki for the host monitoring http://zabbix.org/wiki/File:Template_OS_FreeNAS.xml

Monday, July 2, 2018

Install Zabbix agent on FreeNAS 11.x

There is no official Zabbix Agent binary for FreeNAS, so it has to be compiled from source on another machine. There are several options to do so, I decided to just spin up a FreeBSD Vagrant VM to build the binary.
This post is based on the post from [1] with some enhancements

For more recent howto see here

Vagrant VM

Setup VM & Build Environment

Create Vagrantfile:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "freebsd/FreeBSD-11.1-STABLE"
  config.vm.base_mac = "000000123456"
end

Start VM: vagrant up
Enter VM: vagrant ssh

Install dependecies:

sudo pkg install -y curl autoconf automake gettext gcc pcre

Compile Zabbix Agent

Download source: https://www.zabbix.com/download_sources#tab:40LTS

curl -fsSL "https://sourceforge.net/projects/zabbix/files/ZABBIX%20Latest%20Stable/3.4.14/zabbix-3.4.14.tar.gz/download" | tar zxvf -
cd zabbix-3.4.14
curl -fsSL "https://sourceforge.net/projects/zabbix/files/ZABBIX%20Latest%20Stable/4.0.3/zabbix-4.0.3.tar.gz/download" | tar zxvf -
cd zabbix-4.0.9

Build with TLS support for encryption:

./configure --enable-agent --with-openssl --enable-ipv6
sudo make install

Transfer compiled binary to FreeNAS system:

scp /usr/local/sbin/zabbix_agentd root@$FREENAS_IP:/usr/local/sbin/

Leave VM: exit
Destroy VM (optional): vagrant destroy

FreeNAS

After the zabbix_agentd binary is transferred to the FreeNAS system, it’s time to SSH into it to configure the agent.

Zabbix Agent Configuration

~~Add user:~~

pw groupadd zabbix
pw useradd zabbix -c "Daemon user for Zabbix agent" -d /nonexistent -s /usr/sbin/nologin -w no -g zabbix 
Create zabbix user and group via WebUI, otherwise they won't suvive a reboot

Create /etc/zabbix_agentd.conf:

Server=$ZABBIX_SERVER_IP
ServerActive=$ZABBIX_SERVER_IP
Hostname=$ZABBIX_AGENT_HOSTNAME
LogFile=/tmp/zabbix_agentd.log

Daemon Configuration

Enable daemon:

echo 'zabbix_agentd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

Create /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd:

#!/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: zabbix_agentd
# REQUIRE: DAEMON
# KEYWORD: shutdown
#
# Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf.local or /etc/rc.conf to
# enable zabbix_agentd:
#
# zabbix_agentd_enable (bool): Set to NO by default.  Set it to YES to
#         enable zabbix_agentd.
#

. /etc/rc.subr

name="zabbix_agentd"
rcvar=zabbix_agentd_enable
start_precmd="zabbix_precmd"
required_files="/etc/zabbix_agentd.conf"

# read configuration and set defaultsc
load_rc_config "$name"
: ${zabbix_agentd_enable="NO"}
#: ${zabbix_agentd_pre:=/etc/${name}.pre.sh}

zabbix_agentd_conf="/etc/zabbix_agentd.conf"

if [ ! -z "$zabbix_agentd_conf" ] ; then
  zabbix_agentd_flags="${zabbix_agentd_flags} -c ${zabbix_agentd_conf}"
  required_files=${zabbix_agentd_conf}
fi

zabbix_precmd()
{
  if [ ! -z "$zabbix_agentd_pre" ] ; then
    if [ -e $zabbix_agentd_pre ] ; then
      . $zabbix_agentd_pre
    fi
  fi
}

command="/usr/local/sbin/${name}"

run_rc_command "$1"  run_rc_command "$1"

Make executable:
```
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd
```
Start daemon:
```
/etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd start
```

Make config files persistent and survive reboots:

cp /etc/rc.conf /conf/base/etc/
cp /etc/rc.d/zabbix_agentd /conf/base/etc/rc.d/
cp /etc/zabbix_agentd.* /conf/base/etc/
 

Exit vagrant

in the ssh sesion type: exit

vagrant destroy

Zabbix configuration

Use the template from the zabbix wiki for the host monitoring

http://zabbix.org/wiki/File:Template_OS_FreeNAS.xml