Monitoring APC UPS through SNMP using Zabbix Server

Last Updated on January 1, 2023 by Thiago Crepaldi

From previous posts, we have deployed Zabbix Server on a Proxmox container. We also hardened the installation through Let’s Encrypt certificates for the web frontend and TLS encryption for the communication between Server and Agents/Proxies, after all, although encrypted Zabbix Server <-> Agent/Proxy communication with PSK or SSL certificates 🙂

In this post I will cover how to monitor APC UPS using Zabbix Agent template. Templates are great because they already pack a bunch of monitoring items, actions, triggers, etc that we would have to add one by one otherwise. Using template is smart because when we need to make changes, we just do it in the template and all hosts that use them will see the new settings. On a manual setup, you would have to make the change in each host, one by one…

Configuring SNMPv1 on APC UPS

In order to allow the Zabbix Server to monitor APC UPS, we need to enable SNMPv1 on the UPS.

After logging in into your UPS, navigate to Configuration >> Network >> SNMPv1 >> Access, check the Enable toggle for the SNMPv1 Access menu and Apply. Next navigate to Configuration >> Network >> SNMPv1 >> Access Control and click on the public community:

• Access control
  • Community name: public
  • NMS IP/Host Name: 0.0.0.0
  • Access type: read

Click on Apply to complete and then click on private community:

• Access control
  • Community name: private
  • NMS IP/Host Name: 0.0.0.0
  • Access type: write

Click on Apply and you are done.

Configuring Zabbix Server through Web UI

Although we don’t need to install a Zabbix Agent on the UPS, we still need to create a Host on Zabbix Server to specify the UPS address, etc

Go to Configuration >> Hosts and click on Create Host button. When the configuration dialog open, the Host tab should be the default one. Fill in the following fields and leave the rest as-is:

• Host
  • Host name: Type the APC UPS hostname
  • Templates: APC UPS by SNMP
  • Host Groups: Agentless or whatever describes your Agent
  • Interfaces:
    • Add a new interface
      • Type: SNMP
      • IP Address: Type the server IP to be ping’ed
      • DNS Name: Type the server FQDN to be ping’ed
      • Connect to: Select IP or DNS
      • Port: 10050
      • Description: Do your thing here
      • Monitored by Proxy: (no proxy)

Finish the host creation by clicking Update.

That is it, let’s try it. Go to Monitoring >> Latest data. In the filter section, type the name of your Proxmox server in the Hosts box and finally hit Apply. A list of items should be displayed for it, such as Output current, etc

That is it, have fun!