Administration Guide

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2. Installing ZenPacks

ZenPacks are generally distributed as .egg files. Zenoss also supports .zip files.

You can install ZenPacks from the command line on the Zenoss server, or from the Zenoss user interface.

2.1. Installing from the Command Line

The following ZenPack command can be used from the command line to install ZenPack files. After installing or updating ZenPacks you need to restart:

zenpack --install <filename>
zenoss restart

If you have the source code for the ZenPack you can install directly from that rather than from a .egg or .zip file. The command is the same, you just specify the directory containing the source code. This copies the source code into either $ZENHOME/ZenPacks (for newer egg ZenPacks) or $ZENHOME/Products (for older style ZenPacks.)

zenpack --install <directoryname>
zenoss restart

If you are developing a ZenPack you usually will want to maintain your source code outside of $ZENHOME/ZenPacks or $ZENHOME/Products. This is advisable for two reasons. First, if you issue a zenpack --remove command it will delete your code from either of those two locations and you would lose your files unless you had them backed up elsewhere. Second, if you are maintaining your source code in a version control system it is frequently more convenient to have the files reside elsewhere on the file system. Using the --link option you can install the ZenPack but have Zenoss use your code from its current location. Instead of installing your code in $ZENHOME/ZenPacks or $ZENHOME/Products Zenoss will create a link in one of those locations that points to your source code directory.

zenpack --link --install <directoryname>
zenoss restart

2.2. Installing from the User Interface

You can upload and install a ZenPack .egg or .zip file via the user interface. To do this:

  1. From the navigation menu, select Settings.

  2. Click the ZenPacks tab.

  3. From the Loaded ZenPacks table menu, select Install ZenPack.

    The Install ZenPack dialog appears.

  4. Browse to and select the .egg or .zip file you want to install, and then click OK.

    The file is uploaded to the Zenoss server and installed.

After installing the ZenPack, you should restart Zenoss.

2.3. Installing All Core ZenPacks via RPM

The Zenoss Core ZenPacks, along with third party ZenPacks, are available for download individually from http://www.zenoss.com/community/projects/zenpacks/. Also on that page is a link to download an RPM that includes the most popular Core ZenPacks. To install via the Core ZenPacks RPM follow these steps:

  1. Download the appropriate file from the Zenoss ZenPacks download area specific to your version.

  2. Make sure ZEO is running (as zenoss user):

    zeoctl start
  3. Install the rpm (as root user):

    rpm -ihv <rpm file>
  4. Restart Zope and ZenHub:

    zopectl restart
    zenhub restart