Network Monitoring Without Vendor Lock-in: LibreNMS and Zabbix Training Course

Introduction to Open Source Network Monitoring

• The evolution of network monitoring: from SNMP to modern telemetry
• Addressing vendor lock-in concerns in commercial solutions
• Overview of the open-source monitoring landscape
• LibreNMS vs. Zabbix: Selecting the appropriate platform
• Hybrid and complementary monitoring strategies

LibreNMS Architecture and Installation

• Overview of LibreNMS architecture and core components
• Installation approaches: manual installation vs. Docker deployment
• Configuring the database (MySQL/MariaDB)
• Setting up the web server (Apache/Nginx with PHP-FPM)
• Configuring and tuning RRDtool
• Initial configuration and validation steps

Zabbix Architecture and Installation

• Zabbix architecture: server, proxy, agent, and frontend
• Installation methods: packages, Docker, or source compilation
• Setting up and optimizing the database (MySQL/PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB)
• Configuring the server and frontend
• Navigating the first-time setup wizard
• Considerations for scalability from the initial setup

Device Discovery and Inventory Management

• Automatic network discovery in LibreNMS
• Network discovery and auto-registration in Zabbix
• SNMP versions and security features (v1, v2c, v3)
• Classifying and grouping devices
• Managing location and contact information
• Import/export workflows and bulk configuration

Deep Dive into SNMP Monitoring

• SNMP protocol fundamentals and MIBs
• Configuring SNMP on network devices (routers, switches, firewalls)
• Monitoring custom OIDs and polling mechanisms
• SNMPv3 security: authentication and encryption
• Troubleshooting SNMP connectivity issues
• Considerations for vendor-specific SNMP implementations

Agent-Based Monitoring

• Installing and configuring the Zabbix agent
• Zabbix agent 2: The Go-based next-generation agent
• LibreNMS agent and check_mk integration
• Using custom scripts and user parameters
• Passive vs. active agent modes
• Deploying agents at scale using Ansible, Puppet, or Chef

Monitoring Windows and Linux Servers

• Windows performance counters and service monitoring
• Linux system metrics: CPU, memory, disk, and network
• Monitoring processes and services
• Log file monitoring and parsing
• JVM and application monitoring
• Container monitoring (Docker, Kubernetes)

Network Equipment Monitoring

• Switch monitoring: port status, VLANs, STP, and MAC tables
• Router monitoring: BGP, OSPF, and routing tables
• Firewall monitoring: sessions, throughput, and rule hits
• Monitoring wireless access points
• Environmental monitoring: temperature, power, and UPS
• Tracking interface utilization and errors

Virtualization and Cloud Monitoring

• Integrating VMware vSphere monitoring
• Proxmox VE monitoring
• Hyper-V monitoring
• AWS/Azure/GCP cloud monitoring APIs
• OpenStack monitoring
• Monitoring container orchestration

Item Types and Data Collection

• Zabbix item types: agent, SNMP, IPMI, JMX, SSH, and Telnet
• Calculated and aggregate items
• Dependent items and preprocessing
• LibreNMS poller modules and OS discovery
• Custom data collection methods
• Data types and units

Alerting and Triggers

• Zabbix trigger expressions and functions
• Trigger dependencies and event correlation
• LibreNMS alert rules and transports
• Notification channels: email, SMS, Slack, PagerDuty, and webhooks
• Escalation and acknowledgment workflows
• Maintenance windows and scheduled downtime

Dashboards and Visualization

• Zabbix dashboards and screens
• Graph widgets and network maps
• Customizing LibreNMS dashboards
• Creating custom graphs and templates
• Network topology maps and discovery
• Grafana integration for advanced visualization

Reporting and Analytics

• SLA and availability reporting
• Capacity planning reports
• Generating custom reports
• Scheduled report delivery
• Trend analysis and forecasting
• API-based report automation

Distributed and High-Availability Monitoring

• Deploying Zabbix proxies for remote sites
• Zabbix server clustering and high availability
• Setting up LibreNMS distributed pollers
• Load balancing across multiple pollers
• Geographic distribution strategies
• Database replication and clustering

Performance Optimization

• Database optimization and tuning
• Poller performance and concurrent checks
• Optimizing history and trend storage
• Housekeeping and data retention policies
• Caching strategies
• Hardware sizing and scaling guidelines

Security and Access Control

• User authentication: LDAP, SAML, and MFA integration
• Configuring role-based access control
• Host group and template permissions
• API security and token management
• Audit logging and compliance
• Secure communications (TLS/SSL)

Automation and Integration

• Using the Zabbix API and scripting
• LibreNMS API and automation
• Webhook integrations for ticketing systems
• Ansible modules for configuration management
• CI/CD pipeline integration
• ChatOps and notification automation

Migrating from Commercial Tools

• Assessing the replacement of commercial monitoring tools
• Data migration strategies and tooling
• Coexistence during the transition period
• Staff training and documentation
• Lessons learned from production migrations

Production Deployment Best Practices

• Backup and disaster recovery procedures
• Upgrade strategies for production environments
• Creating documentation and runbooks
• Testing and validation procedures
• Leveraging community support and contributing