Administration Guide

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Glossary

alert

Email or page sent as a result of an event.

data point

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).

data source

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

device

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

device class

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

device component

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

discovery

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

event

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).

event class

Categorization system used to organize event rules.

event rules

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

graph

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

managed resource

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

model

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

monitoring template

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

organizer

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

resource component

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

threshold

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.

zProperty

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.