Integrate Opsgenie with Zenoss

Overview

What does the integration offer?

The Zenoss integration plugin utilizes the full capabilities of Opsgenie and provides bi-directional integration with Zenoss. The integration leverages Opsgenie’s Zenoss-specific executable and OEC utility to create alerts automatically and synchronizes alert status between Zenoss and Opsgenie.

Set up the integration

The following steps describe integrating Opsgenie and Zenoss using the Opsgenie Zenoss integration plugin. Note that slight alteration to these instructions may be necessary depending on the exact Linux distribution and your Zenoss configuration.

Installation prerequisites

The installation packages support the following systems:

• RedHat-based Linux distributions

• Debian-based Linux distributions

Install the Opsgenie plugin for Zenoss

Opsgenie Edge Connector (abbreviated as OEC) is a prerequisite for configuring the outgoing authentication of Zenoss integration. You can combinedly use OEC and Zenoss scripts to update alerts on Zenoss. With this setup, you can deploy your own script, modify the ones provided, or run customized actions on Zenoss. Download the latest version of the Zenoss package from this repository.

Instructions for RedHat-based distributions

Run the following command: 

rpm -i opsgenie-zenoss-<your_version>.rpm

Before rpm upgrades, back up your configuration files.

The rpm package does not overwrite the existing configuration during upgrades. It saves the new default configuration file as integration.conf.rpmnew. To upgrade from version 201X-XX-XX to 2.X.X, add the --force parameter. For example: rpm -U --force opsgenie-zenoss-<your_version>.rpm

Learn more about config file handling for rpm upgrades.

Instructions for Debian-based distributions

Run the following command: 

dpkg -i opsgenie-zenoss-<your_version>.deb

Add a Zenoss integration

To add a Zenoss integration in Opsgenie:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations.

2. Select Add integration.

3. Run a search and select “Zenoss”.

4. On the next screen, enter a name for the integration.

5. Optional: Select a team in Assignee team if you want a specific team to receive alerts from the integration.

6. Select Continue.
   The integration is saved at this point.

7. Expand the Steps to configure the integration section and copy the API key.
   You will use this key while configuring the integration in Zenoss later.

8. Select Turn on integration.
   The rules you create for the integration will work only if you turn on the integration.

Configure the Opsgenie plugin in Zenoss

The plugin uses a golang-executable file (included in the plugin as send2opsgenie) to create, acknowledge, and close alerts in Opsgenie. To make send2opsgenie work, you need to make some configurations. The following table lists the parameters and states if they are mandatory.

Configure the golang-executable file in any of the following three methods:

Method 1: Configure from conf file

Configure from the /home/opsgenie/oec/conf/integration.conf file. This overwrites any configuration you previously made in the script.

Method 2: Configure by using Golang flags

Configure by entering flags into the command of the notification created in Zenoss, described in “Configure triggers in Zenoss”. Use -apiKey flag for your apiKey.

To send additional custom arguments, add them after the flags. For example, customArgName1 customArgValue1 customArgName2 customArgValue2. Parse custom arguments by adding {{_payload.customArgName}} to wherever is needed in the input fields. To learn more about using raw parameters, see dynamic fields.

Method 3: Configure from script

Configure apiKey send2opsgenie.go script. Build the script again and put the new executable into the /home/opgenie/oec/scripts directory. Learn more about the location of the send2opsgenie.go and how to build a go script in the “Source for and recompiling send2opsgenie” section in this article.

Configure triggers in Zenoss

1. Select Events > Triggers from the Navigation menu.

2. Create a trigger named Opsgenie.

3. Select Events > Triggers from the Navigation menu.

4. Select Notifications from the left panel.

5. Create a notification.

6. Select the notification created earlier and select Edit.

7. Under the "Notification" tab, enable the notification and select the "Send Clear" checkbox.

8. Select the trigger you created earlier from the list and select Add.

9. Under the "Content" tab:
10. Add optional -eventState=close to Clear Command. send2opsgenie executable does not try to get event details from Zenoss and directly closes the event's alert in Opsgenie. /home/opsgenie/oec/scripts/send2opsgenie -evid=${evt/evid}

11. Under the "Subscribers" tab, select the subscribers and select SUBMIT.

Configure Opsgenie to update Zenoss

This step is optional.

Use Opsgenie’s OEC and the Zenoss script to update alerts on Zenoss. This enables deployment of your own scripts/ability to modify the ones provided and execute customized actions on Zenoss. To execute actions in Zenoss, OEC gets the configuration parameters from the configuration file at /home/opsgenie/oec/conf/config.json.

The downloaded package includes the OEC utility (found in /usr/local/bin) and the script that OEC needs to run (found in /home/opsgenie/oec/scripts). Be sure to run OEC after configuring it. Learn more about running OEC.

Source for and recompiling send2opsgenie

The source for the executable send2opsgenie is found in /usr/bin/ and send2opsgenie.go, in /home/opsgenie/oec/scripts respectively and is also available in this repository. To change the behavior of the executable, edit send2opsgenie.go and build it by using the following command: go build send2opsgenie.go

For installing go, refer to http://golang.org/doc/install. Note that the executable in the plugin is built for linux/386 systems.

FAQ and troubleshooting

If the integration is not working, review this section and follow the prescribed guidelines.

Zenoss alerts are not getting created in Opsgenie

Run the following test command from the shell and check if a test alert is created in Opsgenie: 

/home/opsgenie/oec/scripts/send2opsgenie -test

• If you get a "Trace/breakpoint trap" error, the send2opsgenie plugin isn't compatible with the server distribution. Rebuild send2opsgenie.go according to the specific server environment as described in the “Source for and recompiling send2opsgenie” section in this article.

• If the alert is created in Opsgenie, the integration is configured correctly. Zenoss is probably not notifying theOpsgenie contact for alerts. Check your Zenoss alert notifications log.

• If the alert is not created in Opsgenie, check the logs at /var/log/oec/send2opsgenie.log.
  Look for the following errors in the log file:

  • If you see "RestException[Could not authenticate.]" in the logs, Opsgenie couldn't identify the API key. Check if the API key is set correctly per the steps outlined in “Configure the Opsgenie plugin in Zenoss“ in this article.

  • If unsure of the problem, set the plugin's log level to debug and try again. Contact us and share the logs.

• If there is no /var/log/oec/send2opsgenie.log file or there are no logs in it, check the following:

  • Check if the Zenoss user has permission to write to /var/log/oec directory. The installation package should automatically do this for you. If you face issues, run the following command: 
    chown -R zenoss:opsgenie /var/log/oec

  • Check the Zenoss server logs at /opt/zenoss/log/zeneventd.log. See if there are error logs regarding send2opsgenie. Contact us with the logs as needed.

Setting send2opsgenie plugin's log level to DEBUG

Set the send2opsgenie plugin's log level to DEBUG. Open the /home/opsgenie/oec/conf/integration.conf file and change the line send2opsgenie.logger=warning to zenoss2opsgenie.logger=debug.

The Zenoss alert is not acknowledged when the alert is acknowledged in Opsgenie

Check the alert logs.

• If "Posted [Acknowledge] action to Zenoss.." is not present in the log, Opsgenie didn't send the Acknowledge action to Zenoss. Check the integration configuration, it might not have a matching the alert action.

• If only the "Posted [Acknowledge] action to Zenoss.." log occurs followed by no related logs, it might mean OEC is having connection problems. Check the logs.

Could not open Zenoss RPM package

• If you figure out while installing the rpm package that the package is obsolete, use rpm -i opsgenie-zenoss-1.0.4-rpm-x86-64.rpm --nodeps instead.

• If you get "is already installed" error, use rpm -i opsgenie-zenoss-1.0.4-rpm-x86-64.rpm --force instead.