Monitoring Unifi APs through SNMP using Zabbix Server

Last Updated on March 17, 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 a Unifi AP 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 SNMPv3 on Unifi Controller

In order to allow the Zabbix Server to monitor your APs, we need to enable SNMPv3 on it.

After logging in into your Unifi Controller, navigate to Settings >> System >> SNMP. Make sure SNMP is configured as follows::

• SNMP
  • SNMP Version 1 & 2C: unchecked
  • SNMP version 3: checked
    • User Name: zabbix
    • Password: Pick one password

Click on Apply CHANGES and you are done.

Configuring Zabbix Server through Web UI

The template we are going to use doesn’t come installed in Zabbix Server by default, so we are going to import it first. Visit the community template page and navigate to Network_Devices >> Ubiquiti >> template_unifi_ap_snmpv3 >> 6.0 and click on
template_unifi_ap_snmpv3.yaml file, followed a click on Raw button. Save the file locally.

Go to Configuration >> Templates and click on Import. Click on Choose file in the configuration dialog, select the YAML file previously saved and click on Import. Another dialog will be displayed with the actual content being imported. Click on Import .

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

Go to Configuration >> Templates 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 Unifi AP hostname
  • Templates: UBQT UNIFI SNMP V3 HN
  • 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: 161
      • Description: Do your thing here
      • Monitored by Proxy: (no proxy)
      • SNMP Version: SNMPv3
      • Context Name: empty
      • Security Name: Type the user set in the Unifi Controller
      • Security Level: authPriv
      • Authentication Protocol: SHA1
      • Authentication Passphrase: Type the password set in the Unifi Controller
      • Privacy protocol: AES128
      • Privacy passphrase: Type the password set in the Unifi Controller
• Macros
  • Click on Add
    • Macro: {$SNMP_AUTHPASS}
    • Value: The “Password” created in the previous section
    • Description: be creative or leave empty
  • Click on Add
    • Macro: {$SNMP_PRIVPASS}
    • Value: The SNMP Privacy Password created in the previous section
    • Description: do your thing
  • Click on Add
    • Macro: {$SNMP_USERNAME}
    • Value: zabbix (or whatever “Username” was created in the previous section)
    • Description: leave empty or not

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 Synology NAS server in the Hosts box and finally hit Apply. A list of items should be displayed for it, such as AP Hostname, etc

That is it, have fun!