Is it feasible to use “snmp agent” instead of “zabbix agent” to monitoring the servers with Zabbix?

Question

I want to monitor some servers in a cluster with Zabbix. if it is feasible to use "snmp agent" instead of "zabbix agent" to monitoring the servers, I will not install zabbix agent in every server. So what is the advantage of zabbix agent than the snmp agent?

Answer 1

It depends on which parameters would you like to monitor. We are using SNMP monitoring on hosts (clusters and standalones) where vendor does not allow installation any other application except from himself.

Even in case of SNMP you need to modify configuration of your SNMP daemon on monitored host. But in some cases default configuration is sufficient to monitor at least some values without any installation/configuration/modification on monitored host. Be advised that the network must allow SNMP traffic (161/udp). I don't need to mention that SNMP v1 and v2c can be seen by somebody listening on the network. Values which can be monitored by SNMP daemon are listed in OID list http://www.alvestrand.no/objectid/top.html .

On the other hand Zabbix agent can monitor similar values like SNMP daemon. Additionaly there are some parameters which are more complex (like DNS response etc.). The list of values which can be monitored by Zabbix agent is on https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/2.2/manual/config/items/itemtypes/zabbix_agent