Administration Guide

Email or page sent as a result of an event.

Data returned from a data source. In many cases, there is only one data point for a data source (such as in SNMP); but there may also be many data points for a data source (such as when a command results in the output of several variables).

Method used by Zenoss to collect monitoring information. Example data sources include SNMP OIDs, SSH commands, and perfmon paths.

Primary monitoring object in Zenoss. Generally, a device is the combination of hardware and an operating system.

Special type of organizer used to manage how the system models and monitors devices (through zProperties and monitoring templates).

Object contained by a device. Components include interfaces, OS processes, file systems, CPUs, and hard drives.

Process by which Zenoss gathers detailed information about devices in the infrastructure. Results of discovery are used to populate the Zenoss model.

Manifestation of important occurrence within the system. Events are generated internally (such as when a threshold is exceeded) or externally (such as through a syslog message or SNMP trap).

Categorization system used to organize event rules.

Controls how events are manipulated as they enter the system (for example, changing the severity of an event). zProperties configure event rules.

Displays one or more data points, thresholds, or both.

Servers, networks, virtual machines, and other devices in the IT environment.

Representation of the IT infrastructure in Zenoss. The model tells Zenoss "what is out there" and how to monitor it.

Description of what to monitor on a device or device component. Monitoring templates comprise four main elements: data sources, data points, thresholds, and graphs.

Hierarchical system used to describe locations and groups. Zenoss also includes special organizers, which are classes that control system configuration.

Interfaces, services and processes, and installed software in the IT environment.

Defines a value beyond which a data point should not go. When a threshold is reached, Zenoss generates an event. Typically, threshold events use the /Perf event class.

Configuration property defined on a device or event class. zProperties control a large part of how monitoring is performed in Zenoss. Configuration of zProperties relies on inheritance.